[Collective play]: Worlds Apart

Playing Game Hints
#1

This is the first “collective play” experiment. You may enter/leave whenever you like.
Way of playing is really simple.
I post here the game text, we agree about the move (‘trivial moves’ I’ll do in autonomy).
I really would like discussions “around the game” itself, and not only moves.
Design choices, strenghts and weaknesses, maps, hints, and so on…
Our first game will be “Worlds Apart”.
ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=1aliwzro4e48mdlt
By Suzanne Britton.
Running on Tads 2.
This is the game beginning.

[code]

Ocean Floor
HTML TADS - A multimedia TADS 2.5.7 Interpreter.
Copyright © 1993, 2000 by Michael J. Roberts.

Lost.
Something is lost–something that permeated through to the deepest waters of the ocean. You feel a tingling, then a burning at the back of your neck, a burning that spreads throughout your body as gills struggle for oxygen that isn’t there any longer. The silence within turns into silent panic. You try to ascend to the surface, but the not-water closes in around you with the weight of solid rock. It is at once solid and suffocatingly empty, and there is no channel of escape.

[/code]

Our turn.
And what you think about intro?
Rob

#2

Usually I start with “x me” and “i,” but that doesn’t seem appropriate here.

Maybe “up,” though that obviously won’t work? This seems like something where we’re not really expected to solve a puzzle yet.

#3 
>touch neck
I don't see that here. 

>up
Your body flails ineffectually. 

No--there is something. A child's voice, clear and high, pierces the void from above and calls your name. The voice is like an invisible line of force, drawing you towards it with a power that even the not-water is unable to resist. You rise from the ocean floor and are caught up in a vortex. The roar fills your ears as you are pushed upward through the column. Your mind blanks out completely, and when you come to, you find yourself sprawled on the shore beneath the stars, gasping for breath. 

Ocean Shore (lying down) 
	You lie exhausted on the ocean shore, the pounding of the surf echoing in your ears. As you look out to sea, the cold glitter of the stars seems to turn the water to quicksilver, and indeed, the sand where you lie is dry as dust, and the waves crash over you without leaving a drop of moisture on your body. All else around you is shrouded in mist--your eyes cannot penetrate it to see if there is even solid ground beyond this patch of land. 
	
You realize suddenly that you are grasping something tightly in your hand--was that there before? 

>

Looks like a forced passage and we had to go up…
Our turn…
Next move looks kinda forced.
Examine what we have in the hand? Agree?
Rob

#4

Ooh. This was the game that really got me into the IF world. (I’d played a number of IF games before, but this was the one that said ‘Here’s where you can find a bunch more games, and here’s where you can find out how to make your own’).

Speaking of which, ClubFloyd has a rule that people who have played the game before aren’t allowed to spoil things by taking part. Is that what you want here, or can anybody have at it?

#5

Anybody can play.
If he/she has played before and want to replay, it’s fair not to spoil.
Also, I’m a bit embarassed because looks like my proposal has had more positive responses than I expected.
So the game is also being played (in english) on an italian forum.
Sydney, would you (or any other) like to play there?
Alternatively, would you like to start another game?
Rob

#6

Certainly. We could probably “i”.
(And I, too, usually start with that and an “x me”.)

#7

Welcome Felix. :slight_smile:
And here’s our “I” and “x me”. :slight_smile:

[code]Ocean Shore (lying down)
You lie exhausted on the ocean shore, the pounding of the surf echoing in your ears. As you look out to sea, the cold glitter of the stars seems to turn the water to quicksilver, and indeed, the sand where you lie is dry as dust, and the waves crash over you without leaving a drop of moisture on your body. All else around you is shrouded in mist–your eyes cannot penetrate it to see if there is even solid ground beyond this patch of land.

i
You have a silver locket.

x me
Your form grows blurry and indistinct as you look down at it.
[/code]

Mmm…
A silver locket.
And our form grows blurry looking down.
Are we sirens?
Rob

#8

I think we have to “x locket” next. (Or “x it,” but the locket is probably what’s in our hand.)

#9

Try “x sea/stars/sand/waves” and “stand up”.

#10 
>x locket
You see a silver mind-locket hung from a chain. You remember it being a gift...but not who the giver was. It is to most eyes a small silver sphere, but to yours, the shell is only semi-opaque, with a faint white glow emanating from within it. Should your thoughts open it, it would become as clear as glass. A jinna sapling, the silver-leafed tree indigenous to the maritime lands, is delicately engraved on the surface, which phases in and out of view when you try to focus on it. 

>x sea
The substance of the ocean has mutated somehow from life-giving water, into a viscous stuff the color of quicksilver. 

The child's voice calls to you again. The sound of it is like music, and the music wraps around you and strives to draw you to your feet. But the sensation fades as a figure approaches you through the mist. It comes to stand over you, hollow black eyes staring into yours. 

Ocean Shore (lying down) 
You lie exhausted on the ocean shore, the pounding of the surf echoing in your ears. As you look out to sea, the cold glitter of the stars seems to turn the water to quicksilver, and indeed, the sand where you lie is dry as dust, and the waves crash over you without leaving a drop of moisture on your body. All else around you is shrouded in mist--your eyes cannot penetrate it to see if there is even solid ground beyond this patch of land. 
A figure robed in black stands before you. 

>stand up
As you struggle to rise to your feet, the weariness lifts off your shoulders a bit. It's almost like an unseen hand helps you up.

Talk to the figure?

Rob

#11

Sure. I’d like to try “think about jinna” when we have a chance, just to see if that’s implemented/helpful, but we should talk to the figure first.

Oh, and maybe sometime we should type ABOUT to see if it tells us anything about any special commands or syntaxes.

#12

I second “talk to figure”. Also, you might want to try “xyzzy” and “plugh”.

#13

We should try that (opening the locket), too. But I certainly agree about talking to that robed figure first (perhaps after examining it).

#14

I was thinking of “think about jinna” as a way of trying to open the locket! Perhaps “open locket” is more straightforward and we should try it first. Though this sort of seems like the sort of thing that will happen or become solvable when some more plot points occur.

Anyway, let’s talk to that figure.

#15

I’m sorry for delay.
I’m at home for holidays.
Will get back on 7th of january.
Rob

#16

[code]Ocean Shore
You are standing on the ocean shore, the pounding of the surf echoing in your ears. As you look out to sea, the cold glitter of the stars seems to turn the water to quicksilver. All else around you is shrouded in mist–your eyes cannot penetrate it to see if there is even solid ground beyond this patch of land.
A figure robed in black stands before you.

think about jinna
You should type what you want to think in double quotes, for example, THINK “HELLO”.

think “jinna”
jinna

xyzzy
I don’t know the word “xyzzy”.

plugh
I don’t know the word “plugh”.

open the locket
You attempt to nudge the locket open in your thoughts, but nothing happens. You recall that it is only meant to be opened when worn. [/code]

Didn’t talk to the figure. I just stopped at open the locket… Next move is obvious i think. Wear the locket? Do you agree?
Rob

#17

Yes, definitely.

#18

Bingo.

[code]>wear locket
You hang the locket around your neck. The figure shifts its gaze towards it for a moment, then its hollow eyes turn back to stare into yours.

open locket
You give the locket a mental nudge and feel it give at the touch. The silver shell vanishes completely, and the light within coalesces into the image of a hasidja woman, one with untamed white tresses falling almost to her waist. Her beauty is the first thing that strikes you, second, that she bears no mark of ownership on her body or on the white tunic that clothes it. Her arm is lifted, and such a blade of light shoots out from the tiny figure it is as if she has a star clasped in her hand.

The black-robed figure releases a sound of disgust, but the curse fades quickly to nothing, as does its source, both dissolving in the growing sphere of light emanating from the woman’s hand. Your body weakens as you feel something in yourself dissolving along with it, and you sink back to the sand and fade into unconsciousness.

PART I: REMEMBRANCE
“And all shall say, ‘Without a use this shining woman lived,
Or did she only live to be at death the food of worms?’”
The Cloud reclined upon his airy throne and answered thus:
“Then if thou art the food of worms, O virgin of the skies,
How great thy use, how great thy blessing! Everything that lives
Lives not alone, nor for itself.”
– William Blake, “The Book of Thel”

Ocean Shore (lying down) Dawn, day 1
Worlds Apart
An Interactive Fugue
Version 2.2
Developed with TADS: The Text Adventure Development System
Copyright © 1999 by Suzanne Britton (worldsapart@ironphoenix.org)
First-time players should type “about”.

You open your eyes, and blink as the sun shines into them, blinding you for a moment.

Ocean Shore (lying down)
You are lying on the seashore near the edge of the surf, your senses drinking in the sound and touch of the world around you as if alive for the first time. The soft murmur of the ocean, and the feel of the waves lapping over you, combine to wash away the fragments of a nightmare that now seems distant and unreal. Areilya lies low near the western horizon, a tiny circle of light amidst the rose aura of sunrise. A filament of silver divides the waters where her ray strikes the surface.
You don’t know who you are, where you are, how you got here–but for the moment, none of these things seem important.

[/code]

Remembrance…
So we need to remember who we are, apparently?
Rob

#19

This is a really cool way to play. I don’t want to get too involved because I’ve played Worlds Apart, but I hope there will be more after this one!

I think there might be some stuff I missed, though. Could you try “x me” again?

#20

Maybe try “stand up” or “get up” again.