itch.io

You certainly did. I also mentioned it in another intfiction thread and linked to your post. 

Thought this news item deserved its own topic. Disclaimer: I beta-tested this.

RaT can now be played online.
 https://www.adrift.co/cgi/play.cgi?1794

There is a way to see jam submissions before the submission deadline, even when they are not supposed to be seen.

Can this be fixed?

(Feel free to contact me)

Thanks :)

I'm glad you like it :)

Just completed the game - I liked it very much! In case you are interested, I put a review on IFDB: 

ifdb.org review

Thank you for all your help. I am now a lot further. However, I wonder if there is a bug here. I have reached the secret room with the sentence "In the center of it there is a thick sheet of paper on which something has been written."

I can't take, look or read this sheet of paper with any command I have tried though it sounded from the previous "cut scene" that it should be important. So am I supposed to read it or take it somehow? Thanks.

Thanks again. Here is a little more feedback and a request for a hint (slight spoiler):

FEEDBACK

1. I think it is important to tell the player upfront when the game starts about using capital letters as it both is important to Alice and the names of the paintings. Nowadays, it is my impression that almost everyone only type lower case in parser games because it is faster and works in most modern text adventures.

2. The pendulum clock cannot be referred to when the alarm clock is present so the player has to leave it somewhere before they can look at the pendulum clock.

3. You could consider if you can replace the "hidden" verb with a new or existing verb mentioned when typing "h". The problem is, that if just one verb is unknown it means that whenever the player is stuck they will try all sorts of verbs in a lot of different locations and they are never told if the verb is understood but not applicable in the situation. For instance, since the tray looks like a frisbee, I tried to "throw" the tray in all outdoor locations but my command was apparently not understood anywhere. So the player will use a lot of time trying verbs that don't work multiple times. In comparison, modern parsers will tell the player if a verb is understood, even when it is not applicable. Another popular modern branch is "limited parser" where all verbs are known. But as you allow for exactly one unknown verb, your game does not fall into that category which might make it harder to reach a wider audience. At least, when the parser is not limited, most players would expect smarter responses from the parser when a command is not understood. A solution could be to check if the player typed a verb which is not understood by the game, then you could respond "Sorry, I don't know that verb" or something but if the verb is understood but not applicable you could still say "You feel a bit confused." So if the player actually manage to guess an existing verb, then they can see they are on the right track.

HINT REQUEST (Mild spoiler):

I still haven't figured out what "bespectacled poppy" refers to so I really need a hint for that one.

No problem, I'm sure you have other things to do as well :)

Capital Alice did the trick so I have now talked to Alice. Note that there is an art studio which may confuse a little when told to reach the studio. 

Your game has a lot of rough edges but it is still enjoyable. I think asking for testers  on intfiction.org could improve the game a lot. If so, it would be very useful if the game would store a transcript in a text file for that purpose.

SPOILERS AHEAD: 

I realize that the blocked door is to the "real" studio. I am still wondering how to get it open though Alice gave me a hint. Still, not sure what four-eyed poppy is - perhaps the two fish so I have to open the trapdoor somehow. I also notice the space between the pedestal and statue. I tried to put  the stone etc there without  luck. And i can't apparently "look under" the statue. Ok, that's all for now...

I played some more and think you perhaps would like to know some more issues? There is a problem with Alice and also the book when I first enter the living room.

You can decode the following on rot13.com

---

Arne gur svercynpr naq arkg gb gur oebxra craqhyhz pybpx, lbh frr Nyvpr,

fgnaqvat hcevtug naq vagrag va ernqvat n obbx.

.

.  [veryinag grkg erzbirq gb znxr guvf genafpevcg fubregre]

.

> s

[Lbh guvax va lbhe zvaq.]

Jung qb V unir gb qb?

        > gnyx

Gb jub?

        > nyvpr

Lbh frr abguvat bs gur xvaq va guvf cynpr.

> s

[Lbh guvax va lbhe zvaq.]

Jung qb V unir gb qb?

        > ybbx gnoyr

N zntavsvprag qvavat gnoyr.

Gur yrtf, svaryl naq fxvyyshyyl pneirq, erzvaq lbh bs gur Neg Abhirnh fglyr.

Lbh pngpu fvtug bs fbzr tbyq vaynlf.

Cynprq va n pbeare gurer vf gur obbx gung Nyvpr jnf ernqvat.

> s

[Lbh guvax va lbhe zvaq.]

Jung qb V unir gb qb?

        > gnxr obbx

Lbh gnxr gur obbx sebz Nyvpr'f unaqf.

Fur fgnerf ng lbh, fubpxrq, naq fnlf gb lbh jvgu n shevbhf ibvpr:

        "Jung ner lbh qbvat? V jnf ernqvat vg."

Gura, fur natevyl teno gur obbx sebz lbhe unaqf naq, nsgre tynevat ng lbh, fur erfhzr ure ernqvat.

I encourage you to upload a blorb- or taf-file as well as they can be played with both Adrift Runner(Win), Frankendrift(Mac,Linux,Win) and Fabularium(Android). You can password protect it if you don't want people to peek at the "code".

 Just curious: Were there any choices in this small prologue?

I am enjoying this so far. The parser is a bit simplistic so it is great that you tell the main verbs up front. My only "complaint" so far is that when the game begins, some of the commands seem disabled such as L for look. But after reading the letter, L starts working. So perhaps somehow help the player past the start (read and open letter does not work - TAKE is required). The more intelligent the parser, the better is the experience. I hope to play more soon  :)

Nice game! Hope to play the final chapter some day.

Just want to mention that if anyone is playing "Bug Hunt on Menelaus" with an old version of the Adrift Runner (before September 2020) you will probably encounter a bug while playing as Davey. This bug has been fixed in newer versions of the Runner and the bug is not in Frankendrift either. Haven't tested Fabularium though (Android app).

However, if you don't bother to update the Runner, when the error pops up, just close the error window, then minimize the Runner window and re-open the Runner window. This worked for me and the bug went away. But as mentioned above, this problem is not present in the newer version. I also tried Frankendrift and it worked well too.

Thanks for replying. The clue field says: Clues 3/4 - does it mean that I have found 4 but only solved 3?

When I click on Clues it says:

------------

CLUES FOUND

Cheree [don't know how to put spoiler tags here]

Cheree's body [don't know how to put spoiler tags here]

Cheree once [don't know how to put spoiler tags here]

------------

I see no "???" which means there is nothing to decipher yet I guess. However, I don't recall how many I have deciphered so it may be that the game thought I had deciphered the third even though I was far from finished(?)...

I am enjoying this a lot. However, I was sorting out a clue (replacing letters) when I decided to type some more commands to Cheree before I was finished. Then the clue window disappeared and I could not bring it back. Is the game then unwinnable or is there a way to bring the clue window back again?

Anyone new to IF will probably have trouble with any of the file types. Some are just more common than others.

Even those authors who did write INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS may not get their message through in the competition, because if you click on a submission, you can get the file without seeing the install instructions, because you have to click at "view game page" in order to see install instructions.

So itch.io isn't making it easier. 

Except for VERY few examples on the internet, ".blorb" is always an ADRIFT 5 game and can be handled by any Adrift 5 interpreter, whereas ".gblorb" requires an glulxe interpreter with blorb support (I don't know if all glulxe interpreters has blorb support) and a ".zblorb" requires a z-machine interpreter with blorb-support.

Finally, "Murder Most Foul" is distributed as a taf-file which both Adrift 4 and 5 games can have as an extension but in this case it is also an Adrift 5 game so that also requires either Frankendrift (Mac, Win, Linux), Adrift Runner (Windows) or Fabularium (Android).

Even though I scanned the newest version of Frankendrift on virustotal.com and zero out of 59 virus programs says "no virus detected", it seems that Windows has “improved” its security so it has become very difficult to download unknown exe-files so you might have to disable the “reputation based file control” while downloading Frankendrift (as well as Adrift Runner). Here, “reputation based” means that unknown exe-files by definition do not have a reputation and therefore are regarded as “dangerous” by the “reputation based file control”. (In the general case, this might be a decent method for those who never download niche programs.)

So you can temporarily disable the reputation based file control while you download a file you trust. You can still decide to scan the file for viruses after download, before running the file.

On Windows 10 I did the following (freely translated from Danish so exact phrases might be different):

1. open Windows Security (translated from Danish Windows)
2. Click on App and Browser control (translated from Danish Windows)
3. Click on “settings for reputation based security” (translated from Danish Windows)
4. Disable “Control apps and files”. (translated from Danish Windows)

After you have downloaded the file you trust, enable “Control apps and files” again.

NB: The font size may be a bit off in some games when playing with Frankendrift. On Windows you can adjust it by holding down CTRL and turning the mouse wheel.

Perhaps change the game setting to fullscreen or choose scroll bars, otherwise people will probably miss the link.

The game does not seem to be playable. It is just a link to an Abandonware site unless I have overlooked something?

access seems to be restricted

Hi, I managed to enjoy your game despite some technical flaws and minimal implementation. It all depends on what you want to achieve but getting testers for your games and fixing all the problems they find will most likely improve your games quite a lot, and you will learn something for future games.

Hi, the player completed part 1 and 2 with succes.

Now he writeds: Okay, ran into another problem. This is at the start of Part 3: Smashing the window with anything after I left the room gave me a Game Over before I could read the text. After a few more tries to Print-Screen the response, it does seem like the game is meant to continue after this ("you'll have to be quick, or you're dead"), but the Game Over shows up immediately afterwards, saying that the mob caught me and I'm dead without giving me a chance to do anything. Also, "listening" for Sasha after I leave my room gives me an empty response, when it feels like there's meant to be something there. I've tried and I can't see any other way to progress, so are these intentional?

Best   Ken

Will the player have to start over or can he use his save-files from the first time?

Great, I will pass this on to the guy who wrote the review  :D

I've been writing with the player who did not realize that the game could not be completed. If possible, it would be a good idea on the starting screen of the game, to tell players  that this version (the Adventuron version) cannot be completed - they have to play the Spectrum version if they want to complete the game.

Great! Is that the same for all your games on itch?

It seems that save/load only works with the .DSK-version (I used Fuse in +3 mode).  Could it be, that save/load always require disks? I am asking because many online emulators are great except they don't allow for snapshots such as http://zxspectrum.xyz/ where your game is available. Thanks!

Thanks, that is very important information as this game is eligible in the new IFDB Awards which has a category called "Outstanding Retro Game of 2022". Voting is open until 15th of February. It is going on here: https://ifdb.org/news

Your game is listed on the IFDB and I would like to ask if there is any picture you prefer as "title picture" on there? Or none or can I just pick any picture from the game or this itch.io page? Thanks!  IFDB page: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=8fckokc483y3h5bs

NB: The "downloads" simply link to this page, no direct downloads.

Somebody found a bug in the Adventuron version and describes it thoroughly in this review: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=cmme8syirn45z1

I hope you will fix it. In the mean time, I will play the ZX Spectrum version  :D

Hi Neil,

I used to play version 1 and now I just tried with version 2. This time I managed to complete the game, so I think the bug might be the reason I couldn't complete version 1. Still, there seems to be some bugs left. It seems like the order of things can ruin the game.

To avoid spoilers, you can decode the following text at rot13.com :

--------------------

Sbe vafgnapr, V zvtug chfu gur erq ohggba naq gur pbhagqbja ortvaf. Vs V jnvg n srj gheaf naq gura fnl gur cnffjbeq, gur pbhagqbja fgbcf. Jnvg n srj gheaf, V pbhyq gura glcr CNFGVPUR, HAYBPX FNSR jvgu fhpprff. Ohg vs V svefg gel gb cbvag gur jnaq ng gur fnsr, gura JNEYBPXFZVGU fcrnxf ntnva. Va i2 gur pbhagqbja qbrfa'g ortva nsgre gung ohg vs V jnvg n srj gheaf nsgre gung, vg fgvyy ceriragf Cnfgvpur sebz haybpxvat gur fnsr jvgubhg n tbbq rkcynangvba naq V guvax gur tnzr jvyy gura or hajvaanoyr.

V nyfb abgvprq, gung vs V fnl gur cnffjbeq vzzrqvngryl nsgre chfuvat gur erq ohggba, V unir gb glcr CNFGVPUR, HAYBPX FNSR gjvpr orsber V pna qb vg - abg fher vs gung vf vagraqrq?

Urer vf n oevrs genafpevcg:

///////////////   GENAFPEVCG FGNEG - ERYRNFR 2 ////////////////////

>chfu erq ohggba

Vs vg jrer nf rnfl nf gung, gur onax cebonoyl jbhyqa'g unir arrqrq gb pnyy n fhcreureb, qba'g lbh guvax?

>chfu erq ohggba

Bxnl, vs lbh vafvfg?

Nf lbh cerff gur ohggba, vg inavfurf sebz fvtug jvgu n snvag "cbbs," yrnivat fzbbgu zrgny jurer vg unq orra. Lbh'q or fgnegyrq ol guvf, vs lbh jrera'g gbb ohfl orvat fgnegyrq ol gur ybhq ibvpr gung'f fhqqrayl svyyrq gur ebbz.

"URYYB!" obbzf n ibvpr. "JRYPBZR GB LBHE JNEYBPXFZVGU PHFGBZ FRPHEVGL FLFGRZF CREFBANY VAGRESNPR! JNEYBPXFZVGU PHFGBZ FRPHEVGL FLFGRZF - JURER FHSSVPVRAGYL CBJRESHY ZNTVP VF VAQVFGVATHVFUNOYR SEBZ NQINAPRQ GRPUABYBTL!"

Gur Jneybpxfzvgu - lbh'ir ernq nobhg uvz, n ybat srngher negvpyr gung ena va gur Urebvat frpgvba bs gur Fhaqnl Zrgebcbyvgna. Vs gur negvpyr jnf gb or oryvrirq, uvf cnffjbeq-cebgrpgvba fpurzrf, zryqvat napvrag pelcgbybtl jvgu phggvat-rqtr zntvp, ner arneyl vzcbffvoyr gb penpx.

"CNFFJBEQ?" obbzf gur ibvpr.

Yrkvpba fnlf, "'Inhyg' vf sebz gur Yngva jbeq 'ibyirer,' zrnavat 'gb ebyy'."

"Abobql nfxrq lbh, Yrkvpba," fnlf Cnfgvpur.

>m

Gvzr cnffrf.

"CNFFJBEQ?" obbzf gur ibvpr.

>m

Gvzr cnffrf.

"CNFFJBEQ?" obbzf gur ibvpr.

>Oemrapmlfmpmlxvrjvpm

"CNFFJBEQ NPPRCGRQ."

>m

Gvzr cnffrf.

>m

Gvzr cnffrf.

>cbvag jnaq ng fnsr

XXXENTT! N synfu bs yvtug rathysf gur fnsr.

"URYYB!" obbzf n ibvpr. "JRYPBZR GB LBHE JNEYBPXFZVGU PHFGBZ FRPHEVGL FLFGRZF CREFBANY VAGRESNPR! JNEYBPXFZVGU PHFGBZ FRPHEVGL FLFGRZF - JURER FHSSVPVRAGYL CBJRESHY ZNTVP VF VAQVFGVATHVFUNOYR SEBZ NQINAPRQ GRPUABYBTL!"

Gur Jneybpxfzvgu - lbh'ir ernq nobhg uvz, n ybat srngher negvpyr gung ena va gur Urebvat frpgvba bs gur Fhaqnl Zrgebcbyvgna. Vs gur negvpyr jnf gb or oryvrirq, uvf cnffjbeq-cebgrpgvba fpurzrf, zryqvat napvrag pelcgbybtl jvgu phggvat-rqtr zntvp, ner arneyl vzcbffvoyr gb penpx.

>m

Gvzr cnffrf.

>m

Gvzr cnffrf.

>cnfgvpur, haybpx fnsr

"Yrg'f frr..." Nf Cnfgvpur zbirf gb ernpu ure unaq guebhtu gur sebag bs gur fnsr, na vaivfvoyr sbepr svryq oybpxf ure sebz qbvat fb. "Abcr."

>t

"Yrg'f frr..." Nf Cnfgvpur zbirf gb ernpu ure unaq guebhtu gur sebag bs gur fnsr, na vaivfvoyr sbepr svryq oybpxf ure sebz qbvat fb. "Abcr."

>t

"Yrg'f frr..." Nf Cnfgvpur zbirf gb ernpu ure unaq guebhtu gur sebag bs gur fnsr, na vaivfvoyr sbepr svryq oybpxf ure sebz qbvat fb. "Abcr."

Yrkvpba fnlf, "'Inhyg' vf sebz gur Yngva jbeq 'ibyirer,' zrnavat 'gb ebyy'."

"Abobql nfxrq lbh, Yrkvpba," fnlf Cnfgvpur.

>t

"Yrg'f frr..." Nf Cnfgvpur zbirf gb ernpu ure unaq guebhtu gur sebag bs gur fnsr, na vaivfvoyr sbepr svryq oybpxf ure sebz qbvat fb. "Abcr."

>GURER VF AB PBHAGQBJA NALZBER OHG CNFGVPUR PNAABG HAYBPX GUR FNSR

Gung'f abg n cuenfvat jbegul bs n fhcreureb.

///////////////////// RAQ BS GENAFPEVCG /////////////////////

Nf lbh pna frr, Cnfgvpur pnaabg haybpx gur fnsr abj.

-------------------------------------

Anyway, I am glad I played again as I managed to complete the game. It is a very good game. It seems to me, there is no distinction between hints and working together with the team, so the "hints" you get from your team mates are more or less required to solve the game.

I agree with most of what you wrote and I think that ParserComp 2022 was close to perfect. Actually so much, that I think it would be a shame to take ParserComp away from itch.io as it is a great place to share interactive fiction where people from other game genres might (re)discover interactive fiction/text adventures. Of course, if you think itch.io is too unreliable I understand, but if you learned something so you can avoid the technical problems next year, it might be worth considering Itch again?

I think it is perfectly fine that you avoid the (in my opinion unfair)  default score calculation on itch and I don't think it is a problem that it takes a few days before the results are shown. Perhaps you could just alter the top of the main page by adding a single line like: "The ratings are being processed, come back in a few days to see the results." or something like that but that was not a big issue.

To sum up: If you just avoid the technical glitches with ratings we had this year, I think you already have a great competition. And as the problems got fixed, it wasn't a big problem anyway.

The links are safe. Sometimes antivirus programs like to flag ADRIFT software (this game was made with ADRIFT) for a while until someone bothers to send in the file to a few of the antivirus companies, which will look into it and conclude that it was a "false positive" and stop flagging for a while. This happens because there are millions of viruses so antivirus software has to evaluate files by statistical methods which increases the risk of false positives, especially for niche software which are not used by many. As ADRIFT and games made with ADRIFT are available on the ADRIFT site (www.adrift.co - not .com) that could be the reason why Malwarebytes flag the site.

I have just added my thoughts on ParserComp 2022: Thoughts on ParserComp 2022

I have also added two reviews after voting closed, as I beta-tested those and didn't want to influence ratings on games I beta-tested. Still, I hope that beta-testers can rate games they tested next year as I think most will strive to be neutral and people can also be biased towards an author even if they did not beta-test their game. In IFComp it makes good sense that beta-testers cannot vote due to the 2-hour rule: If a beta-tester has played the beginning of a game over and over, e.g. 3 times before playing the rest of the game, is it then reasonable to rate the game after 2 hours of testing?

The two reviews I have added recently are for:

The Euripides Enigma (review)

and October 31st (review)

Ok, thanks  :)

Sticking to the published results sounds like a good plan as the resulting weights are only slightly different than those originally announced

 (17%->18% & 5%->3,2%)

But perhaps worth considering next year.

Hi,

First, thank you to the organisers for a great competition and it is nice that you take on your own calculation of scores instead of the default itch.io method.

It may just be a matter of what is meant by words, but if my basic understanding of weighted average is intact, I think you have given more weight to the 5 first categories than first stated and less to the last three. More specifically, I calculate that you have effectively given 18,1% to the first five categories and 3,19% to latter.

To quote you:

”The results were generated by taking the raw scores for each category and applying our weighting to calculate to overall score”

I would calculate the total score like this:

[abbreviations: W=writing,St=story,C=characters and so on]

=0,17*W+0,17*St+0,17*C+0,17*I+0,17*P+0,05*U+0,05*H+0,05*Su 

=0,17*(W+St+C+I+P)+0,05*(U+H+Su)    [Eq. 1]

EDIT: There was a repeated typo in the formulas above. 5% should of course be written 0,05 and not 0,5. Sorry for the confusion.

The resulting number would then be less or equal to 5 stars. The winner got a score of around 20 and it is perfectly okay to multiply with a factor to make the decimals stand out clearer.

But it seems like you have done the following:

=0,85*(W+St+C+I+P)+0,15*(U+H+Su)

In my understanding, this corresponds to giving the first 5 categories higher weight than the stated 17% each.

More specifically, the percentages add up to 5*85% +3*15% = 470% which explains why the final score can be above 5 stars. In my terminology [Eq. 1] this also means that the first five categories each have a weight of 85/470=18,1% and the last categories each have a weight of 15/470=3,19%. In addition, this score was effectively multiplied with 470% = 4,7.

Example using The Impossible Stairs:

4,7*(0,181*(4,5+4,23+4,39+4,54+4,31)+0,0319*(1,81+3,85+2,31)) = 19,9

I don't know if it is a mistake or just another way of expressing weights, but as I see it, you have effectively reduced the weights of the last three categories to 3,19% instead of 5%. If this calculation was what you planned all along, then feel free to stick to it – it probably won't matter much. I just thought I would tell you this in case you wanted to correct it.

Thanks for contacting me. I don't fully understand. 

Is there an alternative to Fabularium on Android for playing ADRIFT 5 games? 

If not, it is better to link to the newest version of Fabularium than not being able to play on Android.

If you type HELP you will be told about the hint system and that you can type wlkthrgh to get the walkthrough. A shame that  you got to play an early bugged version. But it might not be your choice of game anyway it seems. I was a tester and I like these kind of games but I am aware that it is a niche within IF.