Talk:Spaceship:Synopsis

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Contents 1 Puzzle Structure Recap 2 Puzzle Structure 2.1 (Another) Major Revision of the Synopsis 2.2 Introduction and Death 2.3 Narrative Structure 2.4 Alarms and general crisis atmosphere 2.5 Task Discussion 3 An egg ending.

Puzzle Structure Recap

Ok guys, below is a recap of any of the conclusions that we reached in our discussions last week, and some tasks that may need doing. If you fancy doing any work on any of the tasks then maybe we should put our names down. Overall, we've decided to work on the essential spine of the game first, and leave integrating any optional puzzles until later.

Leave Captain's Quarters (Goal 1)

This puzzle is pretty much sorted but the puzzle page needs to be updated to iron out some of the conflicts with the location page. - DennisChow - I'll update using a combination of the puzzle page and the location page -*UPDATED

Find Torch (Goal 2)

Ok, so the two main contenders are either a hybrid of Torch and the Bone and Safecracking, or just Safecracking. Anyone have any further thoughts, or should we go for a coin toss?

I've rewritten the hybrid puzzle I think we should go with this. --PerrinAshcroft 12:51, 7 June 2008 (BST)

Fix Generator (Goal 2)

This is sorted. We will use a simplified Saving Janitor Bot Bryan, with only two easy solutions. DennisChow - I'll rewite the puzzle page. - *UPDATED

Fix Hull Breach (Goal 3)

I think this is also sorted. We're going to use the plunger, harpoon gun, and string idea. The harpoon gun should be in the armoury. Puzzle page needs a minor update.

I've fixed up the hull breach puzzle the puzzle is still dependent on obtaining the puncture repair kit, need to do some more work on that since I don't think it should be solved by gravity coming back online. --PerrinAshcroft 14:10, 7 June 2008 (BST)

What about having the giant cockroach from the Gun, Cockraoch and the Gerbil puzzle blocking access to the box? If you think that the puzzle is to complicated as it is, maybe we can lose the gerbil and require our player to just blast the cockroach. Simple puzzle to solve: BIG COCKROACH + GUN = BLASTY BLASTY. --DennisChow 14:25, 7 June 2008 (BST)

I'm not really sure it fits. I was thinking of playing on mysterious black box more than something block their way to getting at it. I'd rather just think of some interesting way of opening the box. --PerrinAshcroft 14:32, 7 June 2008 (BST)

Hmmmmm interesting way to open the box....I know! BLASTY BLASTY! Just kidding....ok...I suppose that gravity idea isn't completely out of the question. Maybe the player has to deactivate gravity in the cargo bay via the bridge computer, go to the cargo bay, type go up, and undo the latch on the box. Then restore gravity via the bridge, and hear the crash. Maybe we can isolate the gravity idea so that it doesn't open up a can of worms. --DennisChow 14:47, 7 June 2008 (BST)

Actually that could be workable if the player could say control gravity inside the cargo bay for loading/unloading purposes. I'll write it up later, going out for the afternoon. --PerrinAshcroft 14:59, 7 June 2008 (BST)

Repressurise Ship (Goal 4)

I guess we're using Limni's collecting the gas canisters puzzle. This puzzle needs a more detailed write-up though.

For this, since it's a simple collect all the objects style puzzle, I thought we could use a couple of Cav's ideas, with the reward being a canister. For one of the canisters I thought we could use A Juvenile's Password, with the locker containing a gas canister (possibly used to inflate some kind of pleasure doll.) Secondly, maybe we could use the personality test with the reward being a ID card that allows you to open a room/box that contains another canister. This could go in the briefing room. We also have the option of Love me? Love my fungus (harder to solve though, but it least it gives us an excuse to put a vending machine in the Canteen). Any thoughts on this? --DennisChow 13:25, 7 June 2008 (BST)

This seems to be our main remaining unfinished puzzle. It needs a bit of thought. I'm not so keen on implementing quite so many of the side puzzles as part of this. I think my view would be let's just spread the containers around the ship for now, so they can just be taken and we could use the Juvenile Password for the engine restart code (instead of just reading it from the technical manual). Then when we start implementing the side puzzles, we could use them to hide cannisters. Just don't think we need to for this phase of development. --PerrinAshcroft 17:59, 9 June 2008 (BST)

Exit Ship (Goal 5)

I think we're ok with this. We'll be using TinRobot's exiting the airlock puzzle.

Yeah, I've just cleaned up that puzzle so it's in a usable state. --PerrinAshcroft 15:07, 9 June 2008 (BST) Oh actually looks like I've just cleaned up Limni's airlock puzzle hadn't spotted there was two. This does require more thought. Will have a look. --PerrinAshcroft 15:11, 9 June 2008 (BST)

Right can I recommend that we just go with Limni's airlock puzzle and leave TinRobot's puzzle. I know TinRobot's was a comp winner but we've already managed to work in a hybrid of his safecracking puzzle. Mainly though I think Limni's puzzle fits the game a bit better, building a working EVA pack rather than dangling outside the ship on string. I really think this is one case where a hybrid isn't the answer because it would make the whole processs needlessly elbaorate. Thoughts? TinRobot, would be good to get your consent? --PerrinAshcroft 15:30, 9 June 2008 (BST)

I agree that a hybrid would be needlessly complicated. Also, I think Tin Robot won't mind us not using their airlock puzzle, especially since we are using the majority of Safecracking for the torch puzzle. --DennisChow 15:48, 9 June 2008 (BST)

Fix Engine (Goal 5)

For this we just need to join Phil and Hambargarz' fixing the engine puzzles together.

DennisChow made a good start on this and I think I've got this finished off now. --PerrinAshcroft 14:28, 9 June 2008 (BST)

Enter Bridge (Goal 6)

No progress made on this puzzle yet. We could use Limni's idea of having an eye scanner to access the bridge, so that the prerequisite for accessing the bridge would be pressurizing the ship., though. This probably need some further discussion.

Yeah I think Limni's full puzzle here is a bit much, since basically at this point the player has finished the game. Let's just help them get to the end without being too unfair. How about a simple eye scanner, so when the ship has the hull repaired and is repressurised the captain will take off his help long enough to open. Could have him keep his suit on until the engines are back on as a safety precaution. --PerrinAshcroft 16:02, 9 June 2008 (BST)

I'm ok with this. The only other option (which Phil may be in favour of) is to open up the bridge from the very start of the game, cutting out any puzzle completely. If there are no further thoughts, we'll probably go with the eye scanner thing. --DennisChow 16:11, 9 June 2008 (BST)

I kind of like the fact that you can't get to the bridge until right at the end. Makes it seem more important. --PerrinAshcroft 16:19, 9 June 2008 (BST)

Start Engines (Goal 6)

No progress made, but we could simply have a button on the bridge. Easy!

Yeah let's just have a nice BIG red button on the bridge with engage written on it. No need for another puzzle here. --PerrinAshcroft 16:02, 9 June 2008 (BST)

Puzzle Structure

NOTE: This discussion is key at the moment as we're trying to lock down the initial batch of puzzles to get implemented. Please feel free to get involved

• Our first puzzle for the Captain is to get out of the Captain's Quarters. This needs to be done as detailed in the Leave Captain's Quarters puzzle, although I would suggest only having to smash the Charred Fusebox, and leaving the working fusebox openable by simply typing open fusebox. --DennisChow

Yeah I was just reading through that puzzle. I was a little confused by uses of terms fuse and fusebox. I think it would be a littler clearer if you're just replacing a charred fuse inside an openable fusebox. As long as it's clear that the process of taking it out of the status monitor is irreversible. --PerrinAshcroft 11:38, 29 May 2008 (BST)

So, you're saying that instead of having multiple fuseboxes (which can also pose parsing problems), we just have a single fusebox, and let the player take the functional fuse directly out of the status monitor, or are you still for the 2 fuseboxes? Should we do away with the smashing of the fusebox to open it completely? --DennisChow 14:54, 29 May 2008 (BST)

What I'm saying is two fuseboxes one in the status monitor, one for the door. Smash the status monitor fusebox to get the fuse and put it in the other. The way the puzzle sounds at the moment is that you're moving an entire fusebox which doesn't seem right to me. --PerrinAshcroft 16:24, 29 May 2008 (BST)

I think that's due to some typos, some of the references should read fuse rather than fusebox. Maybe have the charred fusebox as the one to smash though, and the other one openable. That's how DChapes's has currently implemented the puzzle if I recall. --DennisChow 17:53, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Why does taking the functional fuse out of the status monitor need to be irreversible? And if it does, it should be that once it's wedged into the charred fusebox it's stuck in there as I can't think of any reason why it physically couldn't go back into the fore fusebox.

I think there's a little bit of confusion here. When Perrin wrote his escape pod puzzle, it was under the impression that the Ship Status Monitor needed dismantling to before you could get at the fuse. In the location description though, you are just taking it from a fusebox. --DennisChow 16:55, 30 May 2008 (BST)

As for the potential 'parsing problems' I'd suggest taking the I7 Spaceship prototype for a spin and see how it plays out. The whole captain's door puzzle is implemented there except that instead of hitting the charred fusebox you "open charred fusebox with spanner" to pry it open. Note that as implemented the functional fuse can be moved around at will; if the door is open when removed it stays open and cannot be closed (unless the fuse is returned).

Forget what I said about parsing problems, obviously in Inform its better to have a single fusebox in a location rather than many fuseboxes, but there shouldn't be any problems in differentiating between two. --DennisChow 16:47, 30 May 2008 (BST)

All that being said, unless there are going to be fuseboxes littered around the ship it seems strange to me that only the only fuses are in the captain's quarters.

--Dave Chapeskie 20:18, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Well, I don't think there's much we can do about that apart from setting up some dummy fuseboxes in other locations around the ship to make things seem a little more consistent. --DennisChow 16:47, 30 May 2008 (BST)

• Second puzzle needs to be competition winner Shut that door, There's a Bloody Gale Blowing Through Here. There are a couple of complications invlolved in implementing this puzzle that need to be ironed out though.

1: The intro clearly states that the ship has already completely depressurized, including the Captains Quarters - intro will need rewriting. (Incidentally, making the Captain's Quarters pressurised means that we could possibly re-instate the get into suit puzzle)

2: Restricting access to the Captain's Quarters until repressurisation means we can't have any important objects that the player needs to progress situated in the Captain's Quarters. Currently, this affects the Coathanger, the Clothes, and the statue of zod. Since the clothes and the statue of zod are needed for the exiting airlock puzzle, this is not a major problem, it would just mean that the airlock would have to be exited after repressurisation.--DennisChow

I don't really understand how we're going to implement the "shut that door" puzzle. The problem is it's reliant on the captain not knowing which door is which because the light is low. Now firstly I don't see how that's going to work in a text adventure since the player will know which direction they left the captain's quarters from since we have a simple 4 direction system. Also, I'm not sure it totally makes sense because even in low light surely it's going to be incredibly obvious which door is his, I mean it's his ship? Also, I'm not keen on random death puzzles like this. :( --PerrinAshcroft 15:56, 28 May 2008 (BST)

I have similar concerns, it's a great puzzle, but I'm not sure that it's a great text adventure puzzle though. It also adds a few more complexities to the coding and the structure. We may have to try and include it though since it was a competition winner. Oh Cav, why couldn't "When Duty Calls" have won the comp for you. Great puzzle that, really funny. To get over the player knowing which direction they already came from, I suppose we could either redo the Captain's Quarters without any reference to the directions, so the player just has to type open door to get out, or possibly randomize the directions on the top deck for the duration of the darkness. --DennisChow 16:04, 28 May 2008 (BST)

I know it was a comp winner but I think we should drop him a line and check if he minds us implementing one of his other puzzles. I'm just not sure the hassle and leaps of logic involved in this puzzle are worth the pay-off compared to some of the other entries he submitted. --PerrinAshcroft 11:20, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Hi guys, back on the case on this now. No problem in dropping it from my side if it's hard to implement - happy to go with When Duty Calls instead! Cheers --cavalcade 11:00, 05 Jun 2008 (BST)

• Third puzzle would be in the Infirmary. I'd suggest using both Safecracking for beginner's and The torch and the bone. This would mean having two light sources though, the auroscope and another torch. If this sounds too complicated we should just go with the Competition winner, Safecracking for Beginner's.--DennisChow

For retrieving the torch could I suggest a merger of the two possible puzzles along the following lines. In torch and bone, you could steal a stethoscope from the machine rather than the torch. Then you could follow the safecracking puzzle to get the torch working. However, one thing I would strongly suggest is simplifying the safecracking puzzle a little as (especially when combined with the torch and bone puzzle) it's a little overly elaborate I think. What I would suggest is instead of biotic ears and a calibration device, just finding a single hearing aid that has a built in volume control will knock out a few steps and make the puzzle less elaborate. Anyone agree/disagree with this proposal, if general consensus is positive I'll knock up a hybrid puzzle of the two. --PerrinAshcroft 16:09, 28 May 2008 (BST)

A hybrid using the stethoscope idea seems to make perfect sense, and I'm sure that Tin Robot wouldn't mind you simplifying safecracking idea a little. --DennisChow 16:12, 28 May 2008 (BST)

Okay I've knocked up a hybrid version here Spaceship:Puzzles_Retrieve_Torch however I'm a little worried that for the 2nd puzzle it's maybe slightly too elaborate even though I simplified the safecracking. Maybe needs a little more simplifying. --PerrinAshcroft 17:17, 28 May 2008 (BST)

I don't mind the safe cracking being simplified at all. If I'm honest I'm not sure that blending the two together entirely works either. I'm a little confused by the hybrid as it stands, I'm not sure why the medical pod would have a stethoscope for instance? (I think some of the bits of the hybrid still say light instead of stethoscope too, but that's a very minor point).

Perhaps one way to simplify things is to ditch the auroscope, use the light from the medical pod, but place the bone in the safe? That way you use the hearing aid/ biotec ears/ whatever to crack the safe, take the bone and put it in the medical pod, leaving Perrin's original puzzle largely unchanged. In terms of simplifying the safe cracking another alternative would be to keep the ears and calibrator, but have turning it up to 11 amplify sufficiently to hear the clicks of the safe anyway, leaving out the stethoscope altogether? So the puzzle is reduced to plug ears in calibrator, turn up to 11, place ear on safe, open safe.

On the other hand you could just ditch the safecracking altogether if it's getting stupidly complicated, I promise not to sulk... (Besides, I'm very aware that I don't have to sit down and try and code all my ridiculous ideas!) In retrospect I perhaps should have checked for this discussion before writing a description of the Infirmary... Tin robot

No worries Tin Robot, it's the way of the wiki. Personally I don't mind using either the original hybrid, or just ditching the torch and the bone, and using your safecracking puzzle. I don't really like having the bone in the safe, I think it's better for the note you read to tell you that the batteries are in there, so the player actually has the incentive to want to open it. For me it's a 50/50 whether to go with the inital hybrid or just the safecracking puzzle. I think the only problem with the hybrid is whether it seems right that a scanner would have a stethoscope, obviously a scanning torch makes more sense. My gut says........hybrid. --DennisChow 16:36, 30 May 2008 (BST)

• The next thing the player has to do is get down to the bottom deck. Either by just going there, or by trying to integrate the puzzle, Artifical Overlord. Not sure how this can be implemented at the moment, it seems very complex. You could potentially block the player's exit from the top deck using this puzzle. Can't be implemented on the middle or lower decks because power is supposed to be down there. Also, retrieving the relevant items from the Captain's Quarters would be impossible if Shut that Door is implemented.--DennisChow

Well the torch puzzle already sorts this right? You can't go down to the lower deck until you've got the torch. So make that the puzzle blocking entry, anymore and we're just being cruel. --PerrinAshcroft 11:20, 29 May 2008 (BST)

I agree. The hybrid torch puzzle is already of a reasonable difficulty, another puzzle on top of this would probably be frustrating. I am a little concerned that people will be upset if their particular puzzle isn't included though, but 24 puzzles is a lot to implement, I'm sure they'll understand. --DennisChow 14:54, 29 May 2008 (BST)

I don't think we can build the game trying to get everyone's puzzles in or they might be upset. Ultimately a fun game should be our priority and if people's work get lost along the way that's just the Wiki process, we can't just try to fit everything in. --PerrinAshcroft 16:24, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Of course, if a puzzle doesn't fit......it don't fit!

• Another puzzle that could be implemented somewhere before reaching the generator is Targeted Advertising. In the puzzle it says that this should involve a locked door "somewhere between the rear and fore decks". Where could we put this puzzle? We can't have it blocking the way between the middle and bottom deck because the Space-O-Lube is supposed to be found in the Cargo bay. --DennisChow

As I've said below I think this is a "nice to have" while we need to focus on the plot essential puzzles right now. --PerrinAshcroft 11:20, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Ok, let's leave this until later. This type of puzzle is easy to slot in at a later date, just put a locked door somewhere sensible. --DennisChow 14:54, 29 May 2008 (BST)

• The fourth thing for the player to do would be to Fix the Generator as outlined in the Saving Janitor Bot Bryan puzzle. There's a problem with one of the methods of saving Bryan here though. The magnet and the toy car would both be situated in the rooms of the middle deck, which are currently not openable until the clog has been unblocked. The hangar and pliers are ok, except that the Captain's Quarters could be locked due to the first puzzle. Solutions are :

forget the entire toy car solution

move the toy car and magnet to different rooms

have the crew's quarters and kitchen open, even when power's down.

move the crew quarters or kitchen to the upper deck (Crew's Quarters could possible be moved, but the Kitchen seems a bit silly to have on top deck.) --DennisChow 14:58, 28 May 2008 (BST)

Okay I've just had a look over this puzzle and my recommendations would be to bring it down from 4 solutions to 2. I think we should remove the ability just to ignore the blockage because this route is so easy to do I think the other solutions would just get ignored by an over-eager player. Also I think we should remove the toy car solution as it's quite convoluted and causes some game flow problems. I think having one solution where you destroy the janitor and one where you save him is enough, and reduces the amount of programming involved. --PerrinAshcroft 12:04, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Ok, so let me just be clear, you're for using the shovel as the single method to destroy Bryan, and using the hangar and pliers as the method to save him? I actually think that the car puzzle is a decent multiple option idea, something extra for the player to attempt, but as you say, I overlooked the game flow problems when I wrote it, so I'm ok with dropping that second solution. I'll try and update the generator room, janitor's cupboard, and the puzzle page based on this feedback soon. --DennisChow 14:54, 29 May 2008 (BST)

My main issue with the car solution is that firstly the other two solutions are easier to find and I think it's unlikely many people will ever see the car solution which means the programming work is wasted. Also the main problem with having lots of solutions is that you end up with lots of items floating around that the player will never use and will cause more confusion than anything, they'll spend the rest of game trying to use stuff like the car not realising they've already missed their chance. By the way, although I think we should be working on puzzle pages I don't think we should be editing puzzles into actual room pages until we've got all this locked down. --PerrinAshcroft 16:24, 29 May 2008 (BST)

No worries, I would've added the car solution if it didn't complicate the flow of the game, but since it does, it's gone. --DennisChow 17:48, 29 May 2008 (BST)

• After fixing the generator, this should open up the ability to fix the hull breach using either of the Hull breach puzzles, or both. The harpoon gun should probably be in the armoury, and the plunger in the janitor's cupboard, and the string in the Cargo bay. Instead of having a welding gear, we could use the bicycle repair kit to seal the breach. For the other method, there needs to be two pieces of meteorite, a frying pan in the kitchen, and an oxygen tank from somewhere. There's also another hull breach puzzle involving time travel, but that sounds far too complex to implement.--DennisChow

With regards to the hull breach puzzle I think I agree with Dennis's first suggestion above. We should use the plunger, harpoon, string puzzle to grab a piece of hull panel. And then use the bicycle repair kit to fit the hull panel in place. However I don't think we should have two different solutions so I think we should drop the version with the meteorite piece. --PerrinAshcroft 16:29, 28 May 2008 (BST)

Sounds good. Using the repair kit to seal the breach seems to work well. --DennisChow 14:54, 29 May 2008 (BST)

• Regarding the cargo bay and its related puzzles, I think it may be a good idea to implement Cav's space cockroach idea here. Since the Cargo bay is separated into two squares, we could have the Cockroach blocking the way to the fore Cargo bay, where some of the puzzle items are located like the bicycle repair kit, and the string. So, the player must first deal with the space cockroach before he can fix the hull. The only problems with this are that Cav has written most of the puzzle with many sounds and smells, which wouldn't be present in the depressurized state, unless we have the puzzle take place after repressurisation. The solution again needs a little bit of creative thought, so would need a little signposting. It might work though, as a sort traditional "There's a troll blocking your path" type puzzle. --DennisChow 15:37, 29 May 2008 (BST)

• The next task should then be to then to fix the engines, which could be another hybrid of Hambargarz fixing the engine puzzle and Phil's one, or failing that just Hambargarz, giving preference to the competition winner. One of the side puzzles we could tie in here is the Love me, Love my fungus idea. With ship enginner Jennifer Collin's locker containing the space putty. I would suggest that the vending machine be in the Canteen rather than engineering though. We would also use Tin Robot's airlock puzzle here to access the exterior fuel line. --DennisChow

Since both Habargarz and Phil's puzzles are quite simple I think we could do both, don't even need to mix them together. Use Phil's to repair the fuel line and Hambargarz to fix something like an engine nozzle, and yes we'll also need Tin Robot's airlock puzzle to get outside in the first place. Personally I'd rather not use the fungus idea, it reads more like a story than a puzzle, I think it's a bit of a leap to figure out. --PerrinAshcroft 12:59, 29 May 2008 (BST)

I agree that we can use both engine ideas, and the airlock puzzle. I think I disagree about not using Cav's locker puzzle here though, the main reason being that the two ideas seem to dovetail quite well, Jennifer is an engineer so it makes sense that her locker may contain some kind of engine tools, possibly the putty. With a little extra signposting, the idea might not be that hard to figure out. --DennisChow 14:54, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Okay well to explain why I'm against the fungus puzzle. Basically it's not really much of puzzle to get a can drink and drink it near the right locker. It's mainly a story that includes lots and lots of text to explain why using that can opens the locker. Then we're going to need loads of text to hint that's the answer. It's not really a logical problem you solve it's just us telling them what to do and then explaining why it works. --PerrinAshcroft 16:24, 29 May 2008 (BST)

Well, we can safely forget about this puzzle for the time being, anyway. Maybe if we have the time later on, and can write a good implementation of it, we can slot it in. Otherwise, we'll just have the putty placed in engineering, or somewhere else on the ship. --DennisChow 17:48, 29 May 2008 (BST)

I would recommend making the engine part the player must fabricate be something that is inherently and very obviously shape specific. This will keep the player thinking about shapes and lead them to the solution. For these reasons I was thinking something like a gear or a spindle. I'm worried that if it is something more generic like a plug or a panel, the player would be unfairly led to try other things. The suggestion of the engine nozzle as a part is ok, provided that moulding and casting remains the most logical action, eg. Why is that specific shape required. Perhaps the nozzle is hexagonally shaped or something. --Hambargarz 02:36, 4 June 2008 (BST)

I would also like to mention about heating up the space putty, It's a bit of a stretch that the putty can ONLY be heated by placing it on the power generator. I would get around this by having the power generator the ONLY source of heat on the ship or making other sources of heat (eg. oven in the kitchen) capable of heating up the putty. --Hambargarz 02:36, 4 June 2008 (BST)

Also, I wasn't completely satisfied with the putty idea I had originally come up with. I couldn't come up with a better explanation for it's existence so it might appear a tiny bit contrived (please say if you disagree though). I will try to think up something better. A thought I have at the moment is perhaps the bicycle repair kit has a spare bicycle tire, by melting the rubber (maybe in a kitchen oven) we could then mould this. (it would be more durable too, as well as being a more suitable material for a nozzle). Its a bit of a leap to think of melting the rubber so maybe this could be hinted by noting that the intact part you are copying is made from a rubbery material. Dunno, just thinking out loud at the moment. --Hambargarz 02:36, 4 June 2008 (BST)

• The last task would probably be to repressurize the ship, which must be Limni's repressurising the ship puzzle. It's a simple puzzle, but a little vague in implementation. I guess we just need to secrete four gas canisters around the ship for the player to collect, then take to engineering and plug in? I think we want this to be the penultimate task that the player accomplishes before going to the bridge, restarting the engines and going back to bed. Are we going to restrict access to the bridge until the very end of the game? Any thoughts? What might also be nice is to have Cav's personality test puzzle right at the end of the game, accessible after getting in the right answers in the test. We could keep some secret items in here - possibly even the competition winning code (if you achieve a 100% score.)--DennisChow

I suppose you could litter a few gas cannisters round the ship- the obvious places being the Infirmary (Oxygen), the Cargo Hold, and the engine room. If you're going to swap Cav's winning entry for one of his others, then you could place one of the cannisters in the bathroom used during "When Duty Calls". That would add an extra element to the cannister collecting, without producing vast quantites of complex puzzling. Tin robot

An oxygen canister could be in/near the airlock. Or perhaps a couple of canisters that are part of the airlock repressurisation system and once removed disable that functionality (making the airlock inoperative once the ship is pressurised unless the canisters can be moved back). BTW, as an aside, with my air pressure I7 extension the functional/non-functional air lock is trivial to implement; for I6 you're on your own :-) --Dave Chapeskie 20:37, 29 May 2008 (BST)

I think that having special canisters as part of the airlock mechanism sounds like a good idea. This would allow us to intercept the player's attempts to repressurise the ship before actually going outside and fixing the engines. Also, since our character is supposed to be running out of oxygen, if we just have canisters of oxygen lying around, the player might think that they are supposed to be used to increase their oxygen supplies or something.

Dave, in Inform6, couldn't we just give the airlock the attribute locked, or just a new property? Or would we have to write a similar module to yours in Inform? --DennisChow 17:09, 30 May 2008 (BST)

---

Just to comment on what puzzle we should be focusing on, I think to make the game finishable from start to finish the following puzzles need to be complete:

• Leave Captain's Quarters (Goal 1)
• Find Torch (Goal 2)
• Fix Generator (Goal 2)
• Fix Hull Breach (Goal 3)
• Repressurise Ship (Goal 4)
• Exit Ship (Goal 5)
• Fix Engine (Goal 5)
• Enter Bridge (Goal 6)
• Start Engines (Goal 6)

So that's already at least 9 puzzles without any red herrings. Though starting the engines can just be a handy red button so it doesn't have to count.

Now in terms of red herrings, if we're going to try and implement all the competition winners then we also need to implement the escape pod puzzle and the "shut that door" puzzle. Personally I would suggest we try and get the essential stuff above implemented first. --PerrinAshcroft 16:22, 28 May 2008 (BST)

I agree, let's get the essential puzzles done first, then concentrate on the secondary puzzles --DennisChow 17:21, 28 May 2008 (BST)

(Another) Major Revision of the Synopsis

Okay in the last meeting I was asked to have a look over the synopsis. I've just done this and I did a major overhaul of the layout. I thought it would be a lot more useful and easier to follow if it was separated out into 6 main game chunks, rather than just a flowing narrative like description of the game. My rationale is that this new structure makes it easy to slot in puzzles and follow the flow of the game. So feedback would be good, if people don't like this method we can of course easily revert. --PerrinAshcroft 13:50, 21 May 2008 (BST)

It's better, I think. Like you say, this structure should make it easier to slot puzzles in after the compo has finished. Good job. --DennisChow 16:37, 21 May 2008 (BST)

From the point of view of someone who's popped on here a couple of times, either for the competition, or to prattle about meta-plots, this is easier to find your way around. (I was a little overwhelmed at first.) As a side note I've added two possible solutions into the "retrieve torch" section of Goal 2 as it appears 2 of us went for the same task. I've noticed various of the other competition entries have already gone in to the synopsis, so hope this is OK. (I'm sure it'll be quietly removed if not..) Tin Robot

Introduction and Death

Hey, Phil. How about if we make it so that the first puzzle is to get into your spacesuit before the atmosphere runs out. Might make an exciting start? --DennisChow 13:38, 22 April 2008 (BST)

Sounds good. Lots of early tension, a la HHGTTH. -- Weefz 14:29, 22 April 2008 (BST)

Yes reminds me of planetfall, easy to die in the first few turns! plus time based problems, Yummy --MichaelBruntonSpall 15:37, 22 April 2008 (BST)

Do we really want the player to die in the first few turns? I'm not a fan of the HHGTTG start, it just seems like an arbitrary way of punishing the player, and requiring multiple playthroughs before you even know what you're doing. It's also a bit of a difficulty spike right at the start of the game. --PhilWal 18:14, 22 April 2008 (BST)

I think it really depends on how much time we allow, and how well we execute the puzzle

HHGTTG killed you in evil and unexpected ways, which I agree was arbitrary punishment. Given our environment, it's reasonable to expect death if you don't get to a spacesuit in time. -- Weefz 13:29, 23 April 2008 (BST)

• Do we even want the player to be able to die? --PhilWal 18:14, 22 April 2008 (BST)

Yes. Preferably in horrible ways. --DennisChow 21:16, 22 April 2008 (BST)

"I don't wanna die. Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all (guitar solo!)" --PhilWal 21:51, 22 April 2008 (BST)

Depends on whether or not we can save, hey? ;) A hazardous and problematic spaceship environment isn't very hazardous if you can't die. There's no incentive to think things through before you try them, leading to people trying brute force solutions with every item in the inventory. Also, writing deaths is the fun part ;)

-- Weefz 11:07, 23 April 2008 (BST)

I agree. If we can save, then many, many deaths should ensue. --PhilWal 12:36, 23 April 2008 (BST)

This was raised in one of the chatroom meetings, and Michael thought that saving would be incredibly difficult to implement. So I'm against death now. Here me, death? I'll kick you in the melvins! --PhilWal 21:03, 14 May 2008 (BST)

I don't think we need to completely discount having deaths in the game. Inform games inherently come with the save game facility, it's just that this facility is unable to function via the online applet. If you were to download the game and play it through a suitable interpreter, then the save facility would be present. Also, games usually come with a single move undo feature, so that if you do die, as long as the death was caused by a one wrong move, the player can type undo and erase the fatal mistake. --DennisChow 13:52, 15 May 2008 (BST)

• WRT saving while running under an applet ... I came across ZMPP which seems to be a better applet than ZPlet and it allows saving. Check it out in action at my Inform7 Spaceship webpage. --Dave Chapeskie 02:12, 25 May 2008 (BST)

Narrative Structure

How about something like this for the narrative structure?

• act I - World - Set up the world. Introduce the player to the game controls, format of the game etc. Nice to start with the spacesuit - that tells the player that it's a perilous environment and that their actions count.
• act II - theme - Introduce something that cuts across the players place in the world - not only are you on a failing spaceship but you discover that you have to transport the bunnies in the hold to the orphanage or the children will be sad :( This introduces conflict and offers the player context for how they act

I like the idea of something unexpected occurring, in addition to the fix your ship thing. Maybe there's something happening in the lower decks somewhere. Maybe some intergalactic space weevils are getting in through the holes and...I'll think on it. --DennisChow 21:23, 22 April 2008 (BST)

Red Dwarf references now? Smegging hell. --PhilWal 21:51, 22 April 2008 (BST)

I'm not keen on expanding too far beyond fixing the ship. I'd like to stick with a single theme (self-reliance in the face of impersonal adversity) and implement it really really well. -- Weefz 11:25, 23 April 2008 (BST)

• That's a good point. Realistically, how many puzzles do you think we can implement in the 12 weeks?

• To honest it's hard to say. It really depends on the complexity of the puzzles. Standard lock and key puzzles or insert item in thingmajig are relatively easy as most of this funcionality is written into the Inform standard language. Timer based triggers are ok too. Writing a Robot called Archie that follows you around quipping and interacting with the enviroment is a little tougher. --DennisChow 12:18, 24 April 2008 (BST)

• act III - the groove - Set up routines for the player to follow. This is essentially a series of tasks and rewards that means the player starts to feel like they are mastering the world and have control - rewarding them for the investment they made in the first two acts. The rewards should be pending however - congratulations you have successfully re-connected the water feeder, now you just have to complete the other tasks and the bunnies will survive!

Maybe to get the player into a groove, we should have a series of fix ship type tasks that will gradually get the player used to traversing the ship. Fix the handbrake, Oh no the keys have dropped to a lower deck, where's that map of the ducts maze....etc. Hmmmm I need to do some Star Trek research I think. --DennisChow 21:32, 22 April 2008 (BST)

"Hello and welcome to the Engine Self-Diagnostic Tool! To reverse the polarity of the dilithium matrix, press 1! To re-route auxiliary power through the main deflector array, press 2! To get Lt. Cmdr. Worf to smash some shit, press 3! For all other options, please hold the line! (Hold music is the Ancient Battle Theme) --PhilWal 21:51, 22 April 2008 (BST)

• act IV - disaster! just when we thought we were on top on things, an external event turns it all upside down. Essentially a series of nasty surprises requiring actions with the difficulty cranked up a bit from act three. The disaster should occur just before the player expects to get the rewards pending in act three.
• act V - resolution - by hitting the final buttons, the player starts to reap the rewards promised in 3, and in so doing resolves the (act I) world conflict and (act II) theme conflict. Tea and cakes with the vicar from the orphanage on the poop deck! w00t etc.

Note: I'm not suggesting the bunnies are a good idea. --Alobster 17:39, 22 April 2008 (BST)

"Sadly, the loss of atmosphere also affected the cargo hold; all the rabbits are dead. The orphans will feast on meat stew for the next three weeks, so it's not all bad." --PhilWal 18:14, 22 April 2008 (BST)

Is it Fix The Ship or Fix The Ship And Reach Destination or something even bigger than that? I'm conscious of time constraints here. Ideally, I'd like to lock down the scope of the game (but not the actual details) before the synopsis is opened to the WikiCrowd. A fixed start and end point with everything else open for expansion. -- Weefz 14:39, 23 April 2008 (BST)

I think we should leave it as Fix Ship, Push Go Button. We can always leave the destination to a sequel... --PhilWal 20:31, 23 April 2008 (BST)

• Yeah, I think we need the game to stay as simple as possible. Somehow, Contamination became unintentionally large and difficult - I think the size of the code file is a lot bigger than most finished games. --DennisChow 12:18, 24 April 2008 (BST)

Alarms and general crisis atmosphere

• If there's no alarms or anything, then what woke you up before you suffocated? No oxygen would make the number of moves in the spacesuit problem really really small. Like, 4 moves max.

How about we have phase one of the game with the player in his spacesuit, and his job is to re-atmospherize the ship somehow. Aren't Star Trek big on containment fields, that type of thing. The next part of the game would then be to walk around the ship collecting bits and bobs to fix the engine with. --DennisChow 11:46, 23 April 2008 (BST)

I covered some of this in Spaceship introduction. You hear the alarm and the hissing of air, and then jump into your spacesuit in time. Does this need re-writing? --PhilWal 12:36, 23 April 2008 (BST)

Hmmm, maybe for simplicites sake, we should scrap the whole get into spacesuit thing. This is a pretty well written intro - maybe we should keep it? Arghhh what to do...what to do....--DennisChow 13:30, 23 April 2008 (BST)

Hadn't seen that before. I accidentally hid the only link to it when cleaning up the main page. (Oops!) Now linked from the Synopsis page. The intro is nicely written but hey, things can change. I'd say it's PhilWal's call since he was kind enough to volunteer his concept that we're talking about scrapping. -- Weefz 14:30, 23 April 2008 (BST)

I've been thinking about this. Due to the nature of the project, I don't think we can nail anything down, at this time. If Aleks bigs up the synopsis and we get an influx of edits, it may change the plot entirely. The plot could change to running around the ship naked for all we know, therefore - since its in the synopsis at this present time -we go with the get into suit thing. --DennisChow 19:56, 23 April 2008 (BST)

• Is there power on the ship? If not, everything needs to be lit by torch, with proper lighting kicking in once the engines are fixed.

yeah, I like the no light initially thing, maybe for a few rooms or so. --DennisChow 11:49, 23 April 2008 (BST)

There's power in the current Captain's Quarters description. This could be made an intermittent hazard, i.e. first job on every deck is to restore power to it. --PhilWal 12:36, 23 April 2008 (BST)

So there's an emergency generator somewhere... what else does it control? -- Weefz 14:30, 23 April 2008 (BST)

Emergency alarms and flashing lights, on-board sensors, the bridge and Captain's Quarters, doors, and the toaster. (The toaster doesn't talk.) --PhilWal 20:35, 23 April 2008 (BST)

• Following on from above, if there's power I would expect sounds and lighting alerts to wake crew members know when there's a hull breach. Sound would fade in once the hull breach is repaired (as long as atmosphere generation is working). Doesn't necessarily have to be a puzzle to solve.... I s'pose... ;) -- Weefz 10:59, 23 April 2008 (BST)

Task Discussion

1. Get into spacesuit.

So, where is this spacesuit. At present it must be in either the Captains Quarters or the Ensuite. Unwashed in a laundry bin, hanging in a cupboard, inside a sci-fi compartent, magically appearing when you slide down a pole - actually, I quite like that idea for further in the game : You access lower decks by sliding down a pole - fireman style! --DennisChow 12:17, 23 April 2008 (BST)

You mean you don't sleep with a spacesuit next to your bed at all times? --PhilWal 12:36, 23 April 2008 (BST)

I would if I lived in a little dinky spaceship. Emergency Spacesuit Closet, perhaps? The other sensible option would be a communal storage area next to the ship's exit hatch. You'd have to get there before you freeze to death, probably breathing with a portable oxygen cylinder. - Weefz 13:22, 23 April 2008 (BST)

2. Questions that need answering.

Hi! I'm a Gamesblog old hand but a noob with this. I have hopefully got enough free time to at least provide some assistance although this will be limited to ideas and narrative as I can only code in BASIC. I have added some ideas in the Qs that need Ans section of the synopsis so please let me know if a) you like the ideas and b) I've worded them in the right way etc. Any other advice for a newbie? And how do I get a signature at the end of a comment? Thanks! Limni

An egg ending.

Hey. I just thought of a good easter egg idea.. if you type in "hitchhike", you get picked up by some friendly space travellers.. Possibly with some reference to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

IE, an electronic thumb found somewhere on the ship allows you to use the command "hitchhike". Good idea?--Jetamo 10:18, 12 July 2008 (BST)