"Improv: Origins" Invisiclues Hints

Playing Game Hints
1

These hints are about Release 2, published Aug 10, 2022. You can check your Release number by restarting the game. It should say:

Improv: Origins
A Frenetic Five story by Neil deMause
Release 2 / Serial number 220810 / Inform 7 build 6M62 (I6/v6.33 lib 6/12N)

General hints

  • Examine everything.

  • Type INVENTORY to see what you’re currently carrying.

  • In this game, you can converse with other people in the following ways. (You’ll need to use all of these to win.)

    • GREET MAN, GREET WOMAN, etc.
    • ASK [PERSON] ABOUT [THING] (ask each person about POWER to find out their super power)
    • You also command other people, like this: [PERSON], GIVE ME THE [THING]

  • ASK MAN ABOUT WORD will typically give you a useful hint.

  • The game randomly prints out an overall hint from your Ingenuity professor a few dozen turns into the game. You can restart and “WAIT” a few dozen times to see the message, or, for your convenience, here’s the message:

    What was it your Ingenuity professor said? “When in doubt, use duct tape”? No, the other thing: “If at first you don’t succeed, try looking behind things.”

How do I open the safe?

  1. EXAMINE THE SAFE. EXAMINE THE TOUCHSCREEN. EXAMINE THE RED BUTTON.

  2. PRESS THE RED BUTTON.

  3. Do it again. PRESS THE RED BUTTON. Now you’ll need to find the password. (See “How do I find the password?”)

  4. Even once the password is accepted, the safe remains closed and locked. (TOUCH THE SCREEN to get the status of the lock.)

  5. Your four companions will help you unlock the safe. (Don’t forget that you can GREET each one of them, ASK [PERSON] ABOUT [THING], and give each person a command, e.g. [PERSON], GIVE ME THE THING.)

  6. Ask each companion to unlock the safe. [PERSON], UNLOCK THE SAFE.

  7. When you ask Pastiche to unlock the safe (PASTICHE, UNLOCK THE SAFE), she’ll just do it for you. (This will only work after you’ve submitted the password; otherwise, “an invisible force field blocks her from doing so.”) Now you just have to open the safe.

  8. ASK LEXICON ABOUT WORD. If he says “tie,” see “What should I do when Lexicon tells me to ‘tie’?” below. But if you’ve solved that, he’ll give you another word: “feel.”

  9. Feel everything in the room.

  10. FEEL THE SAFE.

  11. You’ll need to find the right word for the surface of the safe.

  12. ASK LEXICON ABOUT WORD.

  13. EXAMINE THE SEAM. The safe has a seam into which you could insert a small object.

  14. PUT THE CLIP IN THE SEAM.

  15. PULL THE CLIP. “You don’t have enough leverage to force the safe open with such a small paper clip.” You need more leverage.

  16. You’ll need to open one of the safety deposit boxes. (See “How do I open the safety deposity boxes?”)

  17. After you open a safety deposit box, you’ll have an object that you can use for leverage, but it doesn’t fit in the seam. You’ll have to attach it to the clip.

  18. Remember the the general hint (“What was it your Ingenuity professor said?”) I mentioned above.

  19. You’ll need to find duct tape.

  20. Ask everyone about duct tape.

  21. CLAPPER, FIND THE DUCT TAPE.

  22. EXAMINE THE FLOORBOARD. OPEN IT. GET THE DUCT TAPE. Now you can TAPE [SOMETHING] to [SOMETHING ELSE].

  23. TAPE THE CLIP TO THE ROD. PUT THE CLIP IN THE SEAM. PULL THE ROD. (If the safe “remains stubbornly closed,” then you haven’t asked Pastiche to unlock it yet. See “Why does the game say ‘but the safe remains stubbornly closed’ when I’ve nearly opened the safe?”)

How do I find the password?

(The parser here is a bit finicky. You’ll have to type a command like SAY XYZZY TO THE VOICE to submit the password, replacing “XYZZY” with the actual password.)

  1. First, you’ll need to consider the general hint (“What was it your Ingenuity professor said?”) I mentioned above.

  2. LOOK BEHIND THE PAINTING.

  3. Behind the painting is a panel. If you OPEN THE PANEL and EXAMINE IT, you’ll find a holographic phone. (See “Who should I call with the holographic phone?”)

  4. Six turns after your phone call, a man will arrive. (You’ll probably need to UNDO or RESTART the game to do this before pressing the red button.) GREET THE MAN, and ASK THE MAN ABOUT THE PASSWORD.

  5. The man, Lexicon, can’t tell you the password.

  6. A few dozen turns after Lexicon arrives, he’ll offer you a useful hint.

  7. “You know, I bet Bob would send over some more help if you called and asked,” says Lexicon.

  8. CALL THE OFFICE ON THE PHONE again, wait for new help to arrive, and greet them, and ask them about the password.

  9. Pastiche can’t tell you the password, either.

  10. Keep calling the office until the game won’t let you call for help any more. Greet all of the people and ask each of them about the password.

  11. One of these people mentioned the password.

  12. Newsboy knows the password. ASK NEWSBOY ABOUT THE PASSWORD.

  13. SAY BRZENCZYSZCZYKIEWICZ TO THE VOICE.

Who should I call with the holographic phone?

  1. Examine everything.

  2. Examine everything in your inventory.

  3. After you EXAMINE THE BALLPOINT PEN, finding the office phone number, you can CALL THE OFFICE ON THE PHONE. (Then WAIT a few turns for help to arrive.)

How do I reach the highest shelf?

  1. Don’t try this until after you press the red button on the safe and you’ve found the password. (See “How do I find the password?” above.)

  2. When you EXAMINE THE SHELVES after Pastiche is here, she’ll say, “Oh, a high shelf?” says Pastiche. “I remember I had to solve one of these back in middle school.” You’ll have to investigate the high shelf the way a kid in school might do it.

  3. When you STAND ON THE SAFE and EXAMINE THE SHELVES, you’ll see that there’s a stick up there. Your objective here is to get the stick.

  4. ASK LEXICON ABOUT WORD. If you haven’t done it yet, he’ll suggest the word “tie.” (See “What should I do when Lexicon tells me the word ‘tie’?” below.)

  5. TAKE A RUBBER BAND. TIE A RUBBER BAND TO A RUBBER BAND.

  6. THROW THE BALL AT THE STICK.

  7. You’ll need more rubber bands. TAKE A RUBBER BAND. TIE A RUBBER BAND TO THE BALL.

  8. You’ll need to tie twelve rubber bands together in total.

  9. LOOK IN THE CHESTS.

  10. You start with one rubber band. There are four rubber bands on the shelves, plus six more in the chest (two on the superhero cards, plus four on the book). Just continue to TAKE A RUBBER BAND. TIE A RUBBER BAND TO THE BALL over and over until you run out of rubber bands.

  11. There’s one more rubber band, which will only reveal itself randomly after you’ve found the password.

  12. Randomly, the game will say, “Pastiche plays idly with a rubber band she’s wearing on her wrist.”

  13. PASTICHE, GIVE ME THE RUBBER BAND. TIE A RUBBER BAND TO THE BALL. THROW THE BALL AT THE STICK. If you’ve tied all twelve rubber bands together, you’ll see this message: “The ball hits the stick, which rattles around and ends up in a slightly different position on the high shelf.” You’re very close to solving the puzzle now. See the next question about the “slightly different position.”

Why does the object on the highest shelf end up in a “slightly different position?”

  1. If you see this message, then your rubber band ball is big enough, and you’re very close to solving the puzzle. “The ball hits the stick, which rattles around and ends up in a slightly different position on the high shelf.”

  2. You can solve this puzzle without ever standing on the safe to see the stick.

  3. Don’t throw the ball at the stick.

  4. THROW THE BALL AT THE SHELF.

What should I do when Lexicon tells me the word ‘tie’?

  1. Examine everything.

  2. You’ll have to tie something in your inventory.

  3. Tie the rubber band to something.

  4. EXAMINE THE SHELVES.

  5. TAKE A RUBBER BAND. TIE A RUBBER BAND TO A RUBBER BAND.

What should I do when Lexicon tells me the word ‘feel’?

  1. FEEL something in this room.

  2. FEEL THE SAFE.

  3. You’ll need to find the right word for the surface of the safe.

  4. ASK LEXICON ABOUT WORD.

  5. EXAMINE THE SEAM.

How do I open the safety deposit boxes?

  1. First, you’ll have to reach the highest shelf. (See “How do I reach the highest shelf?”)

  2. Once you get the object off the highest shelf, you’ll need to figure out what to do with it.

  3. The stick is magic.

  4. The stick is a magic wand.

  5. WAVE THE STICK.

  6. WAVE THE STICK AT objects here in the room.

  7. WAVE THE STICK AT THE BOXES. (Then WAIT several turns.)

  8. EXAMINE THE BOX after it hits you.

  9. GET THE ROD.

Why does the game say “but the safe remains stubbornly closed” when I’ve nearly opened the safe?

  1. The safe is still locked. If you haven’t yet, you’ll need to PUSH THE RED BUTTON and say the password, and only then can you unlock the safe.

  2. One of your companions can unlock it; you can’t unlock it. Try the command [PERSON], UNLOCK THE SAFE.

  3. PASTICHE, UNLOCK THE SAFE after providing the password. Now the safe won’t remain stubbornly closed when you try to open it.

I opened the safe. Now what?

  1. LOOK IN THE SAFE. GET THE DEVICE.

  2. LEAVE.

  3. LOOK. EXAMINE THE MAN. EXAMINE THE DEVICE. at the end of the game.

12 Likes
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As someone who hasn’t played this yet, I think this format is really useful to have!

Just knowing it exists makes the game less intimidating, and I’m glad nothing’s spoiled.

3 Likes
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Is this all there is to it? I went back to my transcript and I’m pretty sure I got all dozen rubber bands and tied them together to make a “humongous” ball, but throwing it at the stick just makes it rattle around on the shelf.

EDIT: oh wait, I read your clues more closely – THROW AT SHELF, huh, not THROW AT STICK? Jesus, this game.

4 Likes
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Thank you thank you thank you for this Dan! It was a life saver for me just now, as I was playing the game :wink:

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Thanks @dfabulich. I was tearing my hair out on this one. It’s a nice game, but there’s a bit of guess-the-verb and even a bit of guess-the-noun. I think my main pain points were throwing the ball at the shelf instead of the stick, finding the duct tape (I’d forgotten that hint at the beginning of the game) and working out how to remove the seal. I liked the tongue-in-cheek humour, too.

2 Likes