I got a little confused in places and Inform makes it complicated to know what can and can't be done at any given moment but I'm a fan of the mechanics I was able to understand! ❤
Viewing post in Seize The Horny! jam comments
Well, I couldn't figure out how to make the keys work - I got the sense that I needed to collect all of them, and in some way use them to open the final door, but neither "unlock" nor "use" seemed to work, and they failed in ways which seemed like the standard Inform "this command isn't implemented on this thing" fashion, rather than a "this would work except you lack a prerequisite" way.
I also could never figure out the use of the "seizethehorny" custom command, which seemed to fail or succeed depending on the relevant stat, but never to do anything useful - sort of like when you say "xyzzy" at the wrong time in Adventure: it clearly does a thing when used in the right context, but outside that context it quietly does not a thing.
Now that I think about it, I start to feel like maybe the latter question answers the former...
(Also, though it's been a minute, I'm pretty sure it is possible to implement multi-word commands that don't treat their trailing words as arguments, such that the command might be "seize the horny" instead - I want to say something like 'Seizing is an action applying to nothing. Understand "seize the horny" as seizing. Instead of seizing, [...]' might work, but haven't tried it, so can't make a promise there.)
ah gotcha, I should have been more clear in the game with the keys and the door. You only need 3 of any of the keys to open the door. And to open the door you have to attack it. I didn't program in a 'use' function, though I understand how that is confusing without it. Couldn't figure out how to get seizethehorny to have spaces between the words for the command so I just defaulted to using the full phrase. And to mitigate confusion on the seize the horny mechanic I explained how high you have to get the horny stat for something to happen. The intended sequence of events for most uses of seize the horny is to typethe command and then attack a monster. Depending on your status then you'll get different outcomes to the fight. It was used as a parody of seize the initiative from D&D and that mechanic would be used to gain the upper hand before a fight starts. Looking back on it there was definitely a lot left unexplained with that mechanic. I added some clarification to the game's main page in the hope that it will help others playing. Thank you for the feedback!