Hi everyone - I’m the author of Snowhaven! @Warrigal notified me that there were some questions about the “sinister” version of my game, which is password-protected.
After making several updates thanks to playtesters back in May, I became a lot busier with work (I’m a 6th grade math and science teacher, and we went back to in-person learning at that time) and my toddler (he hit 18 months and it’s been a circus ever since) and wasn’t able to wrap things up with the game. A couple of hours before ParserComp entries closed, I decided to remove the mention of the sinister version of the game because it’s not playtested yet, but there was a major error from a recent Adventuron update causing all of my music to stop working. I didn’t have time to fix the error, so I decided to go with what I had.
The reason it’s password-protected is because I don’t want my 6th grade students to play it. I feel that I could get in big trouble with their parents and I don’t want to deal with that.
So I apologize for being so cryptic and mysterious! But what I’ve decided to do is finish some updates on it, and let you know next week in an announcement that you can DM me if you’d like that password. (Which is going to have to remain, for the reason I just mentioned.)
Thank you so much to anyone who has played my game. I saw the two reviews that have been posted about it so far (here and here) and I appreciated reading them so, so much. I’ve never in my life been able to receive real, meaningful reflections and feedback like that (and what I’ve received from Warrigal in the past) so I feel very honored. Thank you.
2.5 years later - I’ve finally cleaned this game up enough and given it the attention it deserves. If you’d like to play the sinister version, the password is s0rdid (that’s a zero, not an ‘o’)
I’ve been playing Snowhaven tonight and it’s a lovely, atmospheric experience. But I’m having trouble getting back to my cabin from the woods because I don’t want to get too close to a bear. That’s fair enough… except the bear is not there! I fear a bug has crept in somehow
I tested this, but it was a long time ago. The sinister version wasn’t available at the time.
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep a transcript or solution. The only thing I recall from my test comments is that you can SCARE BEAR, but this is possibly unrelated to the bear being invisible.
I played (and got through) the sinister version and I think there’s a small bug.
Adventuron blocks you from going north before the bear appears. But if you go west and east, it will appear. I suspect what happened was, the Adventuron BLOCK code probably says “if you haven’t gotten rid of the bear in sinister mode, block going north” when it really should say “if you haven’t gotten rid of the bear in sinister mode and have visited the river so that the bear appears, block going north.” It feels like a one-line fix.
Knowing this may provide a clue. You need something in the river area to get rid of the bear. I also found a bug near the end where you can’t catch a rabbit even though it’s part of the recipe, but you can put bones in the pot twice. This again feels like the author forgot to switch a flag or two. The story is still intact.