Theatre of Spud by D E Haynes
I finally got the game running (see posts above if you have trouble yourself). The game asks me to enter my character’s first name; but then, no matter what you enter, your character is always called Alan. No problem, but a bit baffling. Perhaps this is only a temporary character, and the real character comes along later?
What is a problem, though, is the game’s use of timed text. Slow timed text. Really, really, really slow timed text. Take the following exchange:
? examine desk
'examine desk' is not an option right now.
The Box Office is a tiny room.
Behind Alan is the door back to the Foyer.
On the left is a split aluminium window facing the Foyer entrance.
There is a desk and a chair, and a rotary telephone fixed to the wall on the right.
There is nothing else here. Everything of value is locked away.
?
After typing the command “examine desk”, it takes 23 seconds before the next prompt appears. First one sentence appears. And then, after a few seconds, another. And then after a few seconds more, yet another… I’ve seen timed text before, but never anything like this. It means that exploring the game can only be done at an absolutely glacial pace. I walked through a couple of rooms, didn’t manage to interact with even a single thing or person that I encountered in the world, and then gave up. I might be willing to try again if the timed text mechanic is removed, but these waits between turns are simply unbearable.