CrypticWizard Thu Jul 30 06:13:38 2009 General Chat
Hi! I'm the new guy, I guess, so let me start by saying that I aboslutely love what you are doing here! This may have been asked before ,but there's way too many pages to go through them all, so here goes:
I am working on a FF-type gamebook that uses the same rules for magic as FF#2: The Citadel Of Chaos. My question is, could a book using that sort of system be converted to this format? I'd love it if it could be done.
Anyway, geat work guys, this site is awesome! I have so missed the FF books from my younger days.
A Citadel Of Chaos-style magic system may or may not be possible for the software to handle, it would depend on what else the gamebook contained. Extra attributes, objects that you can have more than one of, anything else that needs counting, would all have to be kept to a bare minimum. Being able to cast spells in the middle of combat (I can't remember if this was involved) would be very problematic.
So I was playing Outsider!, and I had a question about the illegal drug factory.
SPOILER
I knew from a past game that there was no password. But I can't figure out how to convey that to the guard. I've tried just clicking the arrow without entering anything, and I got sent to an error page.
END SPOILER
Sorry about that - it did work once, I'm sure of it. I'm a bit busy at the moment but I'll look into it when I get the chance.
Book 1 of the Achaeid is finished! I am just making the final stages of editing to it, and fixing issues. I intend to enter it into the Windhammer Competition (I will need to shorten it a little to fit it into the 100 reference limit, since it has 120 so far) but was wondering if there was any reason I couldn't send it in to this site first. There appear to be no rules against it being put on other websites first, but I may have misinterpreted the rules. Is my train of thought on the subject a runaway, or am I correct that I can send it here first?
Also, well done with 'The Hypertrout' Ulysses. The Saga is excellent and, if anything, improves with every adventure. While I've completed the first three, I still haven't succeeded with it, but it certainly is entertaining.
Anyway, I wish luck to all the other windhammer people.
You mentioned previously that you have had trouble with entering text as a Spoiler. Have you tried entering them manually? If you aren't familiar with HTML: Do it as follows except using square brackets instead of curly brackets: {S}This text is the spoiler text{/S}
I'll leave the book alone, then. I assume the means to acquire knowledge on how to operate the console rests in the puzzle of the colored data crystals. I'll try something else with the pocketwatch, as well, since there's no obvious place to use it. Is there any way to get past the fish lady who imprisoned the captain of the ship for a short time? I'm sure more clues will be given in the future is days progress, but would appreciate a hint, no matter how small. Thanks.
Yes, I have read HHGTTG, and enjoyed it. It's influence is in their somewhere. I was also inspired by Hugh Cook's Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, especially in terms of machines that perhaps don't do what they were intended.
Thanks for noticing that moment of irony. Originally it was on a dead end, but i liked it so much that I brought it into the correct path.
Since the series has grown so much from the first adventure, I regret now how rushed Episode 1 is, and I feel it is lower quality and hence a poor introduction to the rest of the series. I hope that in the future I can rewrite the text of the adventure (the way the game works is fine) somehow without creating more work for the webmaster.
I don't think I am giving anything away by revealing that the series will end with the character finally getting a girlfriend, although I will be trying to put a twist in there somewhere.
HHGTTG = Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book you must know well to judge from your writing- albeit a somewhat eccentric acronym for me to have used!
I felt that the premise of the whole series- in which the protagonist performs heroic acts with the sole aim of getting a girlfriend, to the total apathy of a bureaucratic and trivial universe of jobsworths, is very Douglas Adams. I also loved it when the hero meets the Operations Assistant, essentially his Doppelganger, and scoffs in disbeleif at the assistant's claims of heroic acts, totally missing the irony that this is the very reaction that is the bane of his own existence!
The pocket watch is of uncertain purpose, and as such I would suggest there is no obvious place to use it. The book on hyperspatial physics is a textbook which even if it contains the theory and equations for matter transport does not provide the technical knowledge required to operate a matter transport console. This information is available elsewhere
In regards to the Hypertrout, is either the strange device resembling a pocketwatch or the book on spatial physics of some significance? Common sense would dictate that they both are, however when I try and use both at the appropriate time, I.E., when I reach the brain and the associated console it won't let me do so. Is this a bug, or am I doing something wrong here? Thanks. Great, as always! More comments when I reach the conclusion.
Ulysses AI- first congratulations on the WWGB series which are a great blend of FF, HHGTTG and the use of clever puzzle mechanics.
I have just reached The Hypertrout and have reached an ending in which:
SPOILER
you survive and return to normal space, but are immediately sent on another mission to the ends of the galaxy having only the time to e-mail Pomlompotom.
END SPOILER
I assume this is a "better than death but not victory" ending and that there is another better ending. Is this right?
Yes.
CrypticWizard Wed Jul 22 05:45:36 2009 General Chat
I always loved the FF gamebooks as a pre-teen. Iy took me about three weeks to complete "Warlock Of Firetop Mountain," finding all the numbered keys and getting through the Mazo of Zagor. Anyway, this site is GiREAT, playing FF games online is lots of fun. BTW: Is there anyplace where you can play online versions of the actual books? I've always wanted to try that with Deathtrap Dungeon--the real game, not that sorry imitation they released for the PlayStation.
Thanks. I would be very surprised if the originals can be played online anywhere : this would be effectively giving them away for free and they are still trying to sell them.
There seems to be a bug in The Hypertrout. Sometimes when you're fighting a catfish-man near the head of the fish, the game will get into a state where the screen is blank apart from the Adventure Sheet, and using items has no effect here.
The fourth instalment of Ulysses Ai's Wrong Way Go Back series is ready for online play.
Is it a fish? Is it a boat? No! It's... well actually it's kind of a fish and a boat. Anyway, it's really big and dangerous, and you have to do something about it. Can you unravel the mysteries of the Hypertrout, escape with your life, and cover yourself in glory? Actually, just escaping with your life will be enough.
it's been a while since i was last on here, not through lack of want, i had to reboot my entire computer and couldn't remember the web address!
i can't wait to catch up on the 18 months i missed, and thanks to gaetano who emailed me the solutions to his haunted house game many moons ago -still didn't get to complete it, but great game!
i did say the last time i was here that i'd give it a go, but sadly i shelved that idea...for now! i've recently been published as a child's fantasy writer and if i get the ok from the publishers and the take up on my debut novel is good, i'd love to give it another crack...although i'm still envious of one or two of the efforts here that really are as good as the originals!