kushulain 2015-12-16 01:37
I'm not familiar with this kind of game. I like it. I left the bed, got to the bathroom, but I can't find a way to do anything in there.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD34 → Hijinks High: Orientation (Ludum Dare 34 Edition)
By cjmarchione
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolness | 2 | 87 | ||
| Humor | 225 | 3.26 | ||
| Mood | 525 | 3.20 | ||
| Fun | 602 | 3.05 | ||
| Overall | 641 | 3.19 |
I'm not familiar with this kind of game. I like it. I left the bed, got to the bathroom, but I can't find a way to do anything in there.
Pretty fun, I like it. Though I can't quite figure out what to do in the secretary's room at the beginning. I know it involves the mail slot, but I can't quite seem to do anything to it. Could I get a hint on that?
Thanks for playing and commenting, folks!
Kush: Gotta brush your teeth! (the command, if you'd like: use toothbrush with toothpaste)
mappel: Once you get some noise going, you'll be able to lift that mail slot for the desired effect.
*** SPOILER, if you'd like the answer ***
You need to do two things. Once the janitor brings in the box, use the pencil with the box. Next, use the key with the cage. Then, you can lift the mail slot.
*** END Spoiler! ***
I can't figure out how to turn the alarm off.
Hi, Crowbeak: try 'hit alarm' (without quotes.)
I downloaded Quest, but I can't seem to get the game to run. What am I doing wrong? Thanks! :)
Hi Krafty,
Let's try giving the longer way a shot: after you install Quest, try opening Quest and then opening the game from the program's File menu.
I don't know that I made too much headway into the game but it seems well put together. The writing is good and funny at time. Not a bad little game.
Thanks! There are a number of things that are optional and not mentioned in the walkthrough, though the player will have to do them to get through the final release. They are present in this version, thankfully--and give the game a little extra playing time.
Without the walkthrough, a thorough play could last at least a half an hour, depending on the player's familiarity with text adventures.
Well, I couldn't figure out to eat breakfast, even though I took the toaster tarts. I guess that's why there's a playthrough.
This game seems pretty well written. Maybe I'll have to finish it sometime.
Thank you! The game's intriguingly particular about having them toasted, though in future versions I think I'll have a message about Roger not wanting to eat them uncooked (providing a fair hint to the player about what to do.)
Oh god, you are awesome retro dev! Text adventures was so cool! Honestly I think it's very to find players for it in 2015, but hope you will try to make it as Messenger's bot (e.g. for Telegram) :)
The funniest entry I've played yet! This game took a really long time for me to complete, but it was worth it for all the flavor text. Naturally, a jam game of this scope will have several issues, some of which I noted during my playthrough as I came across them:
- occasionally info text appears in the wrong order when moving to a new area
- solutions to some puzzles make no sense whatsoever (esp. the waiting room one) and require either a walkthrough or a brute for exhaustion of all possible actions available to you
- I got the Sid dialogue again while in the principal's office after going out and back in again (a bug)
- no explanation of engine features (e.g. clicking on objects to see what you can do to them, which I found out by accident), which would help with some of the puzzles, though I would suppose this is more the engine's fault (along with several other quirks I won't mention here because they're not specific to your game)
- the dialogue in many of the areas doesn't change after you escape the principal's office, even though it no longer makes any sense (for example the people in the detention room, or the food's flavor text still being about breakfast if you go back home, or being able to re-trigger the opening dialogues by interacting with the alarm clock)
- The navigation can be confusing - for example, there is at least one place where going east then northwest, or west then northeast, both take you to the same place that is completely different from where you end up if you just go north, and the layout seems to make no sense physically
- using anything on Sparky prints nothing (presumed bug)
- I can't close the fridge in my house (presumed bug)
And in general, a lot of what is or isn't implemented seems arbitrary (for example, the compass exists and can be picked up, but can't be used in any way or even looked at), which seems like the probably work of a deadline crunch.
Still, I liked this one a lot! The writing was consistently fun and hilarious and it never got old trying to pick up literally everything I could see (or trying to kiss all the people, when the only one who accepts my kiss is the homeless man - bless his soul). I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this in the post-jam days.
zulman: Thank you very much! You got me to look into Telegram.
Stuntddude: I appreciate your feedback. I've been waiting to see if anyone would go ahead and complete the game.
In response to your points:
- I did a fair share of testing the appearance of the text, so I'm curious when/where you're getting it in the wrong order. I'm guessing it has to do with revisiting some rooms that I wasn't anticipating the player revisiting at certain points.
- This game is inspired by text adventures and point and click games of the past, in which eccentric solutions are generally the norm (consider a game like Maniac Mansion, in which one of the unlikely ways to win involves building a radio system that can contact space aliens.) The waiting room solution is actually my favorite in HH:O, though I get that it isn't necessarily the most likely solution--I consider one of the key features of these games is that a bizarre solution is sometimes the right answer after all.
- Since the LD34 release, I've retooled the help system so that the game's logic and commands are given a brief introduction (actually, I did this today!)
- I'll fix that Sid bug for sure. The Quest engine can be quirky when it comes to timed events like that one. I didn't think too much about it because I didn't expect anyone would return to the waiting room. What I might do is just put up a message like 'Why would you want to go back there?' if the player tries to go back.
- The lack of extra dialogue is due to the time constraints of LD. I have quite a bit more dialogue written down.
- I'll look into the direction issue you mentioned. If it's concerning the hallways, that's because I'm operating under the idea that the hallways are very long, and I didn't want to put in extra hallway rooms in which there wasn't much for the player to do.
- The Sparky thing isn't a bug as far as I can tell, but I'll look into it.
- Because of LD time restrictions, closing objects wasn't something I spent too much time on coding. I assumed that most players wouldn't even bother closing items, but I'll fix that in future versions.
Thanks for all the feedback. The humor style might be considered the 'selling point' of this game, so I'm glad you appreciated it.
For the wrong order thing, I think it was actually one or two rooms near the beginning when I visited for the first time (but I didn't think to write down exactly where, darn! I may try to track them down again).
As for the wacky solutions, I admit I haven't played many text adventures, so it may not be my place to criticize. If it's fair to assume that a player will look up a walkthrough if they get really stuck, then I suppose it's not so much of a problem. And don't get me wrong, I did thoroughly enjoy the wackiness, I just thought there could be a few more hints as to what to do.
I definitely appreciate the feedback. I will consider it for sure when I make the in-game walkthrough.
very nice, and a lot of content put in here without spelling errors. Great work!
Funny game. But you could have added some graphics...
bob_fish: Thanks! Avoiding spelling errors is one of the biggest initial challenges when making a game like this. :)
x92rwzb: In the final version I will be adding some images, though in the classic text adventure genre, there were no altered visuals other than text, colors, and perhaps a blinking cursor.
Dont see enough text based games anymore! Nice work!
I love text based adventures, but this prooved too hard :(
eerongal: I agree! Thanks!
PKCat: I added a walkthrough in the game description. It only covers the quickest solution, but I did test it through and it works.
great idea
Pretty cool. I used the walkthrough (thanks for providing), but it seems extremely hard to figure out without a lot of random trying/failing.
But nice to play something different!