Divis Mortis by Lynnea Dally
Spoiler-tastic review below.
[spoiler]Ok, so my first game of the comp is a zombie game, cool! I groan at the amnesia angle, but it’s not as severe as it usually is so I decide to forgive it. Then I notice how hungry I am… and the headache, and how I’m covered from head to toe and can’t remove my rubber gloves, white boots, or lab coat. Hmm… I wonder if I’m being set up for a “Surprise! You are a zombie!” ending. That would be slightly disappointing.
First puzzle? Push a button. Ok then, pushed. Moving on.
What you did not expect is to see are two dead bodies.
Yup, the game is starting to lose points for bad editing already. Not a great sign. But the descriptions in this room are nicely gruesome, so again I forgive.
I arm myself with the handgun and spend eight turns trying to figure out if I have any ammunition or not (the description said the chamber was empty, but it didn’t say anything about the magazine). Finally I just try to shoot it and discover that it is, indeed, empty. Puzzle number two: Find ammo. Cool.
I look around again and the room description starts with
You are in a computer control system.
Really? I’m really in a computer control system? I want to like this game, but it keeps making it difficult.
The periodic messages about being hungry and having a headache make me wonder again if I’m a zombie, or on my way to being a zombie. I figure my head is the only part of my body that isn’t described as being covered, so I try to examine it:
>x my head
Pieces of skull that have been scattered across the floor of the Radiation Controls room.
No points lost for that one because I suspect it’s an inform limitation dealing with pronouns.
Puzzle three: Swipe the badge across the badge reader. Done.
I wander out to the cafeteria, pick up a bottle of water, and get attacked by a zombie. Grabbing the closest blunt object, I smash her skull in. Neat!
The now broken skillet clatters to the ground.
Well and good, except that later I notice it’s still in my inventory. Grrr.
More pronoun trouble in the kitchen:
[code]>take chickpeas
Taken.
eat them
(first taking the cabinets)
[/code]
This was salvaged by the funny response to trying to take the cabinets, which I would not have otherwise seen.
Puzzle four: Sanitize a can of chickpeas. Done.
Another hint that I might be a zombie. Ugh.
Find the staircase… Puzzle five: Get upstairs. Puzzle six: Get downstairs.
Upstairs first, that’s probably where the ammo is for my gun. I need something to stand on, eh? Garbage bin: Nope. Recycle bin: Nope. Microwave: Nope. Let’s check out the entry hall. Looks like this bench can be moved, but then again I’m getting a message that it can’t be pushed from place to place. Then I get blindsided by a clue-stick telling me to put it in front of the sliding glass door, so I do it. Takes a couple of tries to get the syntax right though.
The pharmacy seems to exist solely to resolve the headache, so I do that and move along to the gift shop, where I get attacked by another zombie. Cool! But the only weapon I’ve got is the apparently ruined skillet. Might as well give it a try, so I attack the zombie with the skillet…
[code]>attack zombie with broken skillet
You can’t see any such thing.
attack man with skillet
You can’t see any such thing.
[/code]
Yep… the zombie disappeared into thin air. One moment it was there, the next… not there. Oh well.
There’s an odd description bug the second time I look at the gift shop, but I ignore it and pick up a flashlight, discovering Puzzle Seven: Get the plastic crap off the flashlight. LOL! That’s an excellent idea for a puzzle.
Taking inventory, I decide to lighten my load.
[code]>x skillet
A skillet torn asunder; there is blood - both clotted and dried covering the metal part. It is rendered quite useless.
drop it
You drop broken skillet. You hope you remember where you put it.
get it
That’s hardly portable.
get skillet
That’s hardly portable.
l
Gift Shop
An assortment of gifts and necessities, designed to milk more money out of patients and their visiting families. The place is quiet and poorly lit, lending to a dystopian atmosphere. There are rows and rows of low shelves containing gift cards, knick-knacks, flowers and balloons. The section containing flashlights, lamps and batteries.
You can go south to the the Entry Hall.
[/code]
The skillet must have followed the zombie, I think. Weird.
After observing the entirely awesome response to ‘take balloons’, I depart to check out the physical therapy room. Aha! Stepping blocks. Cool. Puzzle five: Done. Puzzle two: Done.
The mirrors in the bathroom are completely destroyed. More evidence that I’m a zombie, I fear. I don’t feel like a zombie. I seem to have too much control over myself, I don’t seem to shamble, there is evidence that I can think just fine. Whatever.
The medical records room provides a fair bit of backstory, and it is presented pretty nicely.
Puzzle seven: Done. I should be able to get downstairs now, I think.
Oh look, what’s this?
[code]>x telephone
A plastic set, with the handset attached to the base with a long, loopy cord. This model is slightly old.
call 911 on phone
I only understood you as far as wanting to call.
call phone
I only understood you as far as wanting to call.
call
The emergency call box isn’t open.
[/code]
Hmmm… where would I find an emergency call box? Off to the elevators it is, then. This bit seems like it was written in a hurry, but lays out my objectives pretty clearly. Down we go now.
While trying to figure out how to get downstairs, I drop the flashlight. When I ‘look’ to find it (worrying that it disappeared like the skillet) what do I find? THE SKILLET! Now that’s a pretty weird bug.
I have to use a hint at this point, which reminds me that there were also lamps available in the gift shop. So I get one. The same verbs that gave me completely discouraging default responses with the flashlight work with the lamp. Could certainly have been hinted better. Puzzle six: Done.
A little poking around in the basement and a bit of conversation reveals my next several steps. Including another clue-by-four to the head regarding the gas solution. I’m a little miffed about this, because the entire justification for going down to the basement in the first place was to team up with other survivors, not to kill them with poison gas. But whatever.
Now I have to go outside, and I get stuck trying to figure out how to deal with the zombies outside the lobby (shooting them does nothing) at about the same time as my two hours are up (Yes, I play slowly). I decide to stop playing and wait for a post-comp bugfix release.[/spoiler]
Summary: I had a lot of fun, despite the bugs and other errors. I was surprised to learn that this was Lynnea’s first real programming effort; it certainly needs more testing and some bug fixes, but doesn’t strike me as a first attempt. I expect a fixed version to appear before long and eagerly look forward to seeing what she does for next year’s competition.