Hint-book & FAQ for the untitled, unfinished ACS game
by Rashid Clark
Yeah, writing this up is overkill for what is just a little ACS game. But anyway.
This incomplete adventure was created sometime around 1994/1995, often while listening to the excellent "Quique" album.
It is primarily a puzzle & plot based adventure. More combat-oriented adventuring was planned for some of the areas which were never constructed.
A tip of the hat goes to the 1982 film, "The Thing", the creatures from which inspired the transformation process of this adventure's "thots".
HINT BOOK:
Select a geographic region below.
Each of the links below shall grant you a choice of hints according to hint-strength (minor hints, major hints, etc.)
Certainly. Have a blast. All content I have created for this adventure is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Which basically means do whatever you like, so long as credit for any material I am responsible for is given to "Rashid Clark", and such a credit includes a URL/link to the license mentioned above.
May I finish building the adventure for you?
The adventure is under the free license mentioned above, so I won't stop anyone from making their own edits to it. However, only the version(s) created by myself shall have my official backing.
Is this adventure 100% unaltered from its original state?
Changes were made when deciding to release the adventure to the public at the end of 2010. Most importantly:
A) The original adventure left "Future Asensy" at about 80% completion. It didn't seem right to have the player enter a construction zone, so I consulted the 15-year-old design notes & wrapped up the area.
B) The phrasing of some of the puzzles made them more difficult than they needed to be. So I edited their in-game hints to be less ambiguous, making them easier (sometimes a lot easier, sometimes still a little challenging.) Also, this hint book was written up, so those who solve the puzzles can feel a sense of accomplishment, but those who don't will not be left with a stuck game.
C) Text was added in the first room explaining that this is an incomplete adventure.
D) Elimination of a great many spelling errors.
How much of the game was completed and what still needed to be done?
The adventure was designed to span two disks, taking advantage of ACS' ability to transfer a player's character from one disk to another. The second disk is basically at 0% completion.
For the first disk, if one measures by the total number of available regions used, the game was 60% built. For this kind of adventure however, a more accurate measurement is to gauge it by the total number of available text screens used, which rates it at about 85% completion. (Text is the limiting asset. Once the text screens run out, no further regions or rooms would be added to the adventure.)
DISK 1: (Areas still not costructed)
A) The tourist town of Capitalysia. It has shops. It is apocalyptic by the time you reach it, overrun by thots. It's main adventure was to be its library, where a total of 11 spells may be found. Plotwise, it is here that the player gets details on the rest of the world's reaction to the events on the floating land of Laquan.
B) The criminal island of Alcatraz. Basically an Escape-From-NY or Mad-Max type of island. It, too, is apocalyptic. Plot-wise, the design notes mention it's here that the player learns of "info on alliance with cavern." I don't remember what that alliance is about, but the caverns are all about disk-2.
C) Prowl's lair. There's a magic item here. & info on how to reach Batcht.
D) Batcht's lair. Good for a magic item & a spell. As well as the dangerous, negated body of Batcht. Plot-wise, the player learns about the underground caverns' location.
E) Island of an ex-apprentice. This is the floating island to the south. Player gains tools for entry into the caverns.
F) The Rise. If the player dared enter here, (s)he would be greated with instant death.
DISK 2:
At the end of disk-1, the player is captured unconscious, and wakes up as a slave/prisoner in a vast underground cavern connected to and loosely controlled by The Rise. All of the players' posessions are gone. The tileset was to dress all the old character images in tattered animal skins or mud. You start minimally at the bottom, enemies everywhere. The "world map" for that disk was to be the cliff face of The Rise, full of entrances/windows criss crossed by steps and bridges. By the end of the disk, the climax(es) of the plot is reached and one of four possible endings would be available, depending on the character's chosen class. ALL of the endings are designed to be as depressing as possible, I was aiming for a downer of a story.
Planned features included:
A) New tile set.
B) Doors which actually open and close. (Bump into door, it opens with a "dink". Walk over door, it closes with a "thud".)
C) Long staircases, unlike the mere 2-tile stair cases of disk 1.
D) Underground rivers with currents.
