Colin-Explore-1984 by Liv

Colin-Explore-1984

Played 813 times
View game source (spoilers!)
Download the .z8 file
Source Code

When play begins:
	say "Your name is Colin Ritman. You are a 28, a world class game programmer.  You are an anarchist, a cynicist, and a perfectionist. You have recently figured out that you have infinite lives and can travel through time.You have a beautiful girlfriend named Kitty and a daughter named Pearl. You are currently doing some code for your new game: Nohzdyve. [paragraph break] However, now you've been working for a while. It's healthy to take a break. [paragraph break] Explore your house. Look at everything."


Office is a room. "You are in your office.[paragraph break]The Kitchen is to the East. [paragraph break] This place is neat and modern, yet still pretty wicked in terms of decoration. The walls are tastefully scattered in posters of a vaporware aesthetic that are simply to inspire you. Pictures of hands and concentric circles and all that hippy junk. [paragraph break]A few accent shelves hold your collection of obscure vintage magazines. In the middle of the room there is a chair, a table and a lounge." There is an exit to the east. 

Scale model is an object in the office. "A scale model of the dog from Metl Hedd sits loyally next to the door. "

The record player is in the office. The description of the record player is "Old reliable. Or, more like 'new, slightly crackly, and sort of picky about when it wants to actually play or not.' [paragraph break] Next to it is your gratuitous assortment of alternative music in a record crate." 

The record crate is an object in the office. The record crate is a closed, openable object. The description of the record crate is "Of the many records, the ones that stand out to you are: [paragraph break]Master And Servant - Depeche Mode, [paragraph break]The Killing Moon - Echo And The Bunnymen,[paragraph break]Too Shy - Kajagoogoo, [paragraph break]Tangerine Dream - Phaedra, and a Mystery Record. [paragraph break] You have a strange feeling that if your life were somehow a type-in rpg, you could type 'x' and then the first word of the albums to interact with them." Inside the record crate is Too, Master, Mystery, and Tangerine. 

Too is an object. The description of Too is "Oh, fuck this song.
 [paragraph break] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsjzcT1QKYs " 

Master is an object. The description of Master is "This song is a guilty pleasure for you. And Pearl actually likes it too! You could never work to it, but it's so damned fun to listen to that when you're alone at home you play it at every available opportunity just to see your baby smile. Her favorite part is probably the completely random jaguar sound effect. [paragraph break] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsvfofcIE1Q" 

Tangerine is an object. The description of Tangerine is "This song is your favorite work song. It feels like it can almost take you to another state of mind in the same way narcotics can.[paragraph break] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ndOHPxYGQM&index=4&list=PL40-viIfpfRWBlHv4nXi2sn2e3QzqckcT " 

Mystery is an object. The description of Mystery is "Funny, this record doesn't have a label on it. Might as well put it on. [paragraph break]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_K9xsSdgMs[paragraph break] Oh, of course. This is your and Kitty's song. You are awash with fond memories  listening to it. You've never been much of a romantic, but a slow little two-step with the mother of your child has never gone amiss to this hauntingly sweet little ditty. [paragraph break] She really is your arkangel."

The plant is in the office. "There's a potted plant on the table. It droops slightly, having thus lived on only a diet of occasional water and stubbed cigarettes." 

The box is in the office. "Next to the plant there is, of course, the box."
The description of the box is "It's quite small. But don't let that fool you. You have memories with this guy. You two go way back. Look at it. Sitting quietly and benignly on the table. So innocent. Waiting for someone to pick it up and open it. Anyone. A video game programmer with a soft spot for hallucinogens, for example." 
Inside the box is Acid and the Ecstasy. The box is an openable object. 

The Ecstasy is an object. The description of the Ecstasy is "You're prone to candy-flipping if the mood strikes you." 

The Acid is an object. The description of Acid is "You root around in the box and catch one of these little squares on your finger, holding it up to the light. It's absolutely mental how harmless these things look. Moments before they're inside you, dissolving, worming their way through your neurons. Seeping into your consciousness and making your skull into a fucking planetarium. Waking up your nightmare monsters to come and visit you in the day.[paragraph break]  If you squint, you see there's one of them on the front. Pax, snarling up at you as if he's daring you to try and take him on. To follow him into the maze of worlds, the labyrinth of time and space that only he can navigate. Blindly stagger around a world of numbers, binary code and algorithms, in a mixture of childlike wonder and unimaginable horror as the world expands around you so fast it makes you sick. All the while the futility of it all crushes so hard around you that you feel like an aluminum can. [paragraph break] Everything is maths. Everything is code. Everything is out of your control. And everything moves on whether you're dead or not. [paragraph break] 
On second thought, maybe you'd had enough of this stuff recently."

The description of the plant is "You empathize with this plant on a spiritual level you could not even begin to explain. Truly, to try would be to blow the reader's head clean off with the sheer magnitude of psychological intricacy." 

The desk is in the The Office. "There is a desk with a drawer." The drawer is part of the desk. The drawer is a closed openable container. In the drawer is a pen and a condom and a knife. On the desk is your  computer.

The description of the desk is "It is your standard desk with a desktop and a single drawer."

The description of the drawer is "This drawer is part of the desk."

The computer is an object. The description of the computer is "A pretty standard coding model. One keyboard and one Commodore. Even so, this machine is your pride and joy. Your second favorite child. Your girlfriend pretty much has to share you with it. On it you are coding a game. It's going well. Oh, wait, it's not. Hold on. [paragraph break] You spend a good few minutes fiddling with it before managing to pull yourself out of its nebulous depths. You know that if you set to work again, you might never get up again. Best to take a break and stretch your legs."

The pen is an object. The pen can be taken. The description of the pen is "It's got 'Tuckersoft' written on it."

The knife is an object. The knife can be taken. The description of the knife is "It's dangerous to go out alone, take this! Just kidding. You'll wage no wars and fight no demons with this dull letter opener."

The condom is an object. The condom can be taken. 
The description of the condom is "Nice."

After taking the knife:
	say "You amuse yourself briefly by imagining the sound of a sword being sheathed. SHHHK."

After taking the condom:
	say "You've ignored her all day, that's pretty fuckin' optimistic. Still, it's worth a shot. Anyway, better be on the safe side. You've got living proof of what happens otherwise sleeping soundly next-door."

After taking the pen:
	say "How mysterious. It appears to be some sort of... analog writing device. How ancient. How quaint. How useless."

The Kitchen is a room. The kitchen is east of the office. "You are in the Kitchen. [paragraph break] Your Office is to the West, The Bedroom is to the South, and the Bathroom is to the North. [paragraph break]  Ah, the kitchen. It's pretty small, this is still an apartment after all, but it gets the job done if you're ever possessed to cook in it. It shows the signs of life that a small place with two amateur parents in it is bound to. Laundry hangs on racks outside. There's always stuff in the sink. [paragraph break] Sometimes you do actually get up the gumption to cook something. Kitty, bless her, is abysmal, so you sometimes treat her to your minimal cooking skills. Fry up something or other. But most of the time it's a hub for quick snacking." 

The fridge is a closed, openable object in the Kitchen. The description of the fridge is "This is the main fridge. You keep trying to get Kit to let you buy a mini fridge for your office, but she insists if you had one, you'd never come out."  
Inside the fridge is breastmilk, carrots, jam, sushi, and adorable little cake. 

Breastmilk is an object in the fridge. The description of the breastmilk is "For Miss Pearlie. NOT for fathers to ingest at the order of curious rpg gamers." 

After taking the breastmilk:
say "A certain colicky little baby might be in need of this."; award 10 points. 

Carrots is an edible object in the fridge. The description of the carrots is "What are you, a horse? Avast! Begone with thee, rabbit food." 

After eating carrots:
say "Scrutinizing the root vegetable for a few seconds with contempt, you are suddenly assaulted with a vivid memory of your youth. A primary school teacher, beating you about the head with the food pyramid. All that nonsense about a balanced diet and eating your greens. [paragraph break] If nothing else, as a salute of respect to your childhood, you take one of the long orange bastards with conviction and take a bite. [paragraph break] It's fresh and earthy and crunchy. You feel disgustingly healthy. You make a mental note not to do something silly like try to eat like a well rounded adult ever again. You're a bloody computer programmer for christ's sake. Where are the crisps?" 

Jam is an edible object in the fridge. The description of the jam is "Rasp-Straw-Blue Berry flavour. The feast of kings."

After taking Jam: 
say "Awesome. Love this stuff."

After eating Jam:
say "You unscrew the lid and eat the jam like a Real Man (tm). That is to say, you swab your fingers in and suck the jam off of them. Nobody's looking, anyway. And nobody likes jam but you. Why wash a spoon?"; award 10 points. 

Sushi is an edible object in the fridge. The description of the sushi is "From last night. It's turned a shade of greenish grey. You have absolutely no idea what kind of fish this is. Yikes."

After eating sushi:
say " [paragraph break]Looks alright. How long can sushi last anyway? [paragraph break] You spend the next few days vomiting profusely. Funny how you can't spell salmonella without salmon. [paragraph break] Wrong path, mate. Maybe try not being a bloody idiot next time, yeah? ";end the game in death.

Adorable little cake is an object in the fridge. the description of the Adorable little cake is "It's so little! You saw it in the shop and had to have it. It's white frosted with writing in pink icing: 'Happy Anniversary.' Blimey, you nearly forgot! You remind yourself to give it to Kit when she gets back." 

After taking adorable little cake:
say "Well doesn't that just take the cake. You ought to deliver this to your beloved."; award 10 points.

The Bedroom is a room. The bedroom is south of the kitchen. "You're in the bedroom. [paragraph break] The Kitchen is to the North.[paragraph break] This is the bedroom, but it's also the nursery for right now, at least until Pearl grows up and wants her own room. For this reason the curtains are drawn as a feeble attempt to illicit sleep. [paragraph break] The little baby herself is wriggling around and fussing in her crib."

The Bed is an object in the bedroom. "The bed is in here." 
The description of the bed is "Queen sized. Big enough for you and the missus. Though due to your work schedules you don't sleep at the same time. Whenever you do sleep that is. [paragraph break]  It sits flat on the floor in what your designer told you was the Japanese style or some such nonsense. It makes you feel like you're on a bedroll at summer camp. " 

The bedside table is an object in the bedroom. The description of the bedside table is "Mahogany. What more is there to be said." 

Pearl is a woman. Pearl is in the bedroom. The description of Pearl is "Your sweet little baby. The wonder of your world. Your shining star, your princess, and your legacy. Looking in her sweet, warm eyes, you know you can refuse her nothing. She is one of the only things that gives your life meaning. The only reason you don't kill yourself and start again at the slightest inconvenience.  The thought of her living in a timeline without a father never fails to bring you back to earth. [paragraph break] You never knew you wanted her in your life until she was there. And now you can't imagine it without her. You hope she knows how much you love her. " 

Instead of giving the knife to Pearl:
say "Aw now you've done it! You've weaponized the baby! Call in the military! Haha, but seriously, what the hell are you thinking. " 

Instead of giving the condom to Pearl: 
say "Ironic, but inappropriate." 

Instead of giving the pen to Pearl: 
say "Some men are too mature to draw a mustache on their helpless infant's face. You are not such a man. Your baby looks like a tiny blonde Snidely Whiplash and it's bloody hilarious. Whatever, you'll just have an early bath time." 

Instead of giving breastmilk to Pearl:
	say " 'Hey. Shh. Shhhh. Daddy's here. He's got something for you. Look what Daddy's got, yeah?' [paragraph break] Still too young to see any more than a blur, your baby still can sense what you're holding, and coos with plump little arms outstretched. Reaching down, you scoop her up in your arms and put the bottle to her lips. She shuts her little eyes and suckles. [paragraph break] You don't think anyone could ever describe you a sentimental person. You're not one for the ooey-gooey. For the soft. For the tender. But what man is too strong, too high and mighty to be humbled by the love of his child? [paragraph break]For her, you can be tender. For her, you can be soft and gooey-gooey and all of that. For her you can be anything. [paragraph break] But for now, you feel so blessed to just be dad."; end the game saying " Cute Path- There is Still More To Explore"

The Bathroom is a room. The Bathroom is north of the Kitchen. 
"You are in the Bathroom. The Kitchen is to the South. [paragraph break]The usual works in here. Shower, toilet, sink, loads of tiny pointless tea candles, etc etc.." 

The mirror is a door in the bathroom. "The mirror is here." 
The description of the mirror is "You take a good look at yourself in the mirror. [paragraph break] You see a tall, pale, sort of stocky fella in specs who's still got spots even though he's twenty-fucking-eight. [paragraph break] His nose is broad and pointed slightly, his lips are full and upturned at the corners, giving him a sort of sly look, and his eyes are beady and calculating. [paragraph break] His hair is bleach blonde and sticks up in strange places because he cuts it himself whenever he feels like it's getting too long. [paragraph break] He's wearing a suit jacket over a jean shirt over a t-shirt. Which somehow, inexplicably works for him. On the collar of the suit jacket he's wearing buttons that pertain subtly to his more radical political leanings. A black power fist here, a sneaky hammer and sickle there. Nothing to get fired about, as if Thakur could afford to anyway. [paragraph break] Standing there, frowning at yourself like that in the bluish lighting you think you look sort of like a serial killer. You're not sure how you feel about that. Maybe it's kind of what you're going for. [paragraph break] Oh, god, smiling makes it worse. Stop that. [paragraph break] You know that this mirror isn't just a mirror. It's a door. And you know what you do with a door."

The mirror is west of the bathroom and east of Filthy Bathroom In The Past.

Filthy Bathroom In The Past is a room. "You step onto the plastic sink ledge. The mirror you've just emerged from is absolutely COVERED in graffiti. People's phone numbers. Messages in sharpie. [paragraph break]You have no idea who Becky is but you sincerely doubt you should call her for a good time.[paragraph break]Music thumps from outside. 
[paragraph break]The door is to the north." 

The Sweet And Sour Club is a room. The Sweet And Sour Club is north of Filthy Bathroom In The Past. "July 11th, 1981 [paragraph break][italic type] And then she looks me in the eye and says[paragraph break]We're gonna last forever and ever[paragraph break]And you know I can't begin to doubt on it[paragraph break]No, cause it feels so good and so free and so right[paragraph break]I know we ain't never goin to change our minds about it[paragraph break]"