An Interactive Fiction session is a conversation between the player
and the computer, in text form. This means that we can look at the
transcript of a session to see what happened during the game.
Detour
A set of wooden barricades, painted with orange stripes and topped
with flashing orange lights, stand blocking the road to the east to
vehicles, and “Detour” signs point to the intersecting road leading
south. Beyond the signs, trucks and construction machinery sit idle on
the road, presumably awaiting the return of workers in the morning.
[The game is telling you about the current surroundings and
situation. Remember, you play the main character, so you get to
decide what happens next, which you do by entering a command...]
>go south
[The > prompt tells us that the game is awaiting your command,
which you enter as a simple English phrase. Here we're telling
the game to follow the road south - the paragraph above told us
that the road continues that way.]
Mr. Teeterwaller comes with you.
Road
The road runs north and south. To the north, you can just make out the
dim lights of the detour barricades.
In the distance, a flash of lightning glows in the sky.
>s
[S is an abbreviation for GO SOUTH. The other
compass directions work the same way - N, S, E, W, U for UP and D for
DOWN. Some games also accept diagonals - NE, SE, NW, SW. These
basic travel commands tend to get a lot of use, so this shorthand
is important.]
Mr. Teeterwaller comes with you.
Road
A light fog hangs over the road in the still night air. The road
continues into the darkness to the north. To the south, distant lights
glow weakly through the fog.
>s
Mr. Teeterwaller comes with you.
Outside Complex
The road ends at the gated entrance to a huge industrial complex
sprawling over the foggy landscape to the south. A tall chain-link
fence surrounds the complex; the fence is interrupted only by a
sliding section of fence that serves as a gate (currently closed)
across the road. Narrow paths run along the outside of the fence east
and west of the road. The road continues into the darkness to the
north.
“That's curious,” Teeterwaller mumbles. “Why would they set up a
detour that just comes to a dead end?”
In the distance, a flash of lightning glows in the sky.
>s
The gate is closed.
A corner of the sky glows briefly with a lightning flash.
Teeterwaller looks through his pockets for something.
>look at fence
[LOOK AT is one of the most important commands: it lets us take a closer
look at something mentioned in the description of the location
or of another object.]
The fence is huge, easily twenty feet high, and topped with loops of
razor wire.
>climb fence
[One of IF's key features is that we express our intentions in
words, letting us try anything we think of.
This sets it apart from video games where
our interaction is rigidly confined to a small set of buttons.
Of course, just because we can type it doesn't mean it'll work...]
It's too tall and too topped with razor wire.
A lightning flash momentarily lights up the sky in the distance.
Mr. Teeterwaller watches you expectantly.
>x path
[X is shorthand for EXAMINE, which means the same thing as LOOK AT.
This is another command you'll probably use a lot.]
It's not much of a path; just a narrow band along the fence where no
vegetation is growing. One path leads east, and another leads west.
Mr. Teeterwaller watches you expectantly.
>w
Mr. Teeterwaller comes with you.
Path outside fence
The path ends abruptly to the west with a wall of tall, thorny bushes
growing out of a deep ditch. The road is just to the east, and the
plant complex is on the other side of the fence to the south. A metal
framework under the fence inside the ditch is visible through the
bushes.
A corner of the sky glows briefly with a lightning flash.
>x framework
The framework is inside the ditch, under the fence, so you can't
easily see the whole thing through the bushes. Two vertical rails, one
on each side of the ditch, are connected at the top by a crossbar. A
winch is in the center of the crossbar, and a pair of cables lead down
from the winch.
A lightning flash momentarily lights up the sky in the distance.