Head for the hills, boys and girls, jmtb02, (John Cooney of Armor Games), is at it again. This time you won't be concerning yourself with traffic lights or suicide prone obsessive elephants. Instead you play the role of an adventuring llama, in the aptly named, text-based adventure/interactive fiction, Llama Adventure.
Yes, you are a llama. You have no choice about this. You may think you are a human, or a monkey, or a twelve-eyed alien from the planet Grunkia, but what you think is irrelevant. The man behind the mirrored glass tells you that you are a llama and if you know what is good for you, you will believe him. Following any and all instructions given to you is also not a bad idea if you enjoy things like breathing and not being dead.
As a llama, you find yourself in the first of a series of rooms, at the end of which is promised pastures of green, edible freedom. But before you can enjoy the fruit (or more appropriately grass) of grazing heaven, you must solve the puzzle of each room. Fail to adequately solve any of the puzzles and you will go from being a perfectly healthy llama to a dead llama. No pressure.
As in any text-based adventure or interactive fiction, Llama adventure is played by reading the text and typing commands in order to do things like look around, collect items, and perform actions. Unlike the average IF, though, the interface for Llama Adventure has some visual and aural cues to make things easier. Keywords that the program recognizes are highlighted in different colors, and when you type them in, an audible chime signifies a recognized command.
This means that, should you find yourself erupting in a ball of scorching flame, you have no one but yourself to blame.
Analysis: This is a piece of interactive fiction for those who have never been very good at interactive fiction. If you've ever found yourself stymied or intimidated by the interface and sheer volume of commands on display in your average text-based adventure, you will most likely appreciate the lengths to which jmtb02 went in order to streamline the process. Not only are keywords nicely highlighted, but some erroneous commands are answered with alternative commands that will work. Thus, Llama Adventure distinguishes itself as one of the most accessible text adventures out there.
Also commendable are the well thought out puzzles. They are for the most part quite logical, challenging but not ever quite impossible. The key characteristic at work for the harder ones is deception and misdirection. Cooney's great talent here is not in making a difficult puzzle, but instead getting you to look the other way for a relatively simple puzzle.
And then there's the ending. I wouldn't want to give too much away, but if you are like our own Psychotronic, whose mental wavelengths are a little disturbingly close to those of jmtb02, then you'll probably get it right away and enjoy a little chuckle. I, on the other hand, had to go through five phases not entirely unlike the five stages of coping with death. First there was frustration, then puzzlement, then despair, then anger, followed by a grudging understanding. I'm still waiting for forgiveness to come along, but it seems to be running a little late.
Yes, jmtb02 does love to skewer us, and does so perhaps a little too sharply here. But whether you get the ending completely, or walk away with a sour taste in your mouth, you can't deny the fact that Llama Adventure is quite an accomplishment in a genre that has always experienced accessibility issues. It's easy to manipulate, fun to play, and if you can take a joke you won't mind Cooney poking fun at you a bit in the end.
Very enjoyable game!
I wish I knew what to do in the last room? Or is that it?
What do I do with the extra code I get?
Honestly, the end is a bit lame.
It sort of makes you think that jmtb02 jumped into the firepit in Portal and didn't think there was any other ending. I can take a joke and all, but come on.
Also, I don't really like the fact that you can't use short commands x for "examine/look at" or g for "go". And you will definately sympathize with me when you find out that you can't press the up arrow key to bring back the previous command.
But don't let my criticism drive you away from this great game :D
Very cute game. Reminded me slightly of Portal though... Which is a good thing.
Huh. It doesn't seem to be working for me.
At the bottom left, it has "Level 1". In the bottom right it says "Your level name will go here." And in what I think is the blank where to type stuff in, it says, "this format fekwlf tensido alkem". Oh, and it says Llama Adventure at the top. Otherwise, I have a completely black screen for the game. Anyone have any idea what is up?
I love Llama Adventure. I've never played Portal (yes, we exist) so I just appreciate it from the snappy writing angle. Some people are going to be annoyed at the ending, some people are going to just take the '50s Dad route and sort of wag their finger, smiling ruefully. Boy howdy, you sure got me there, champ!
Give it a play if you're one of those people who don't take yourself (or your hobbies) too seriously, but don't forget to go outside to graze every now and again, too. Llamas are sociable creatures! (If spitting is your idea of a social interaction, anyway.)
Great review, Kyle. I always enjoy getting a look at someone's reaction to a game when it's different from mine.
sheer cold: I think the ending will hit everyone differently. As for the shortcuts that aren't here, I think the focus is on making this easy for people not typically used to IFs. So for the IF challenged like me, it's convenient, but as is true in many areas, things that are made easier for n00bs can be frustrating for veterans.
Cyndane: One of our reviewers had the exact same problem you had, but I don't think we found a resolution. I'm fairly certain that she wasn't running a windows pc, though, so yhe best I can tell you for now is if you can use a different browser, try that.
HA! Thanks Dora!
How come I can't see ANYTHING other than a llama, some dots, and words on the bottom of the page? Has it even started yet? Please help me!
Good so far, but mine seems to be stuck.
in room 5, I type "look room", but I don't get any response, not even that he doesn't understand the command
is this a glitch or am I missing something here? I've tried refreshing the screen to no avail.
Fascinating. I'm using XP, so that shouldn't be a problem. I use Firefox by default, so I switched it over to IE. Upon doing that, I still had that gibberish message at the bottom, but now I had a Submit button that did nothing. I could delete the gibberish text and type something else there to no effect, though. I think I'm just going to have to pass on this game.
Cyndane: are you running FP10? if not, try it?
To others... there also happens to be 2 easter eggs in the game. one is about your friendly video making kender and his blindfolded puzzle solving friend; the other is about mr cooney's favorite feline.
You can watch my video, in-game, which tells you what to do to see the easter eggs. It's right near the start.
-Tass
Hm....I can't even get past the first room. These frustrate me.
Can't figure out the third rooms first question.
What is the first question?
Personally stuck on the fourth question to said third room...x.o I know it's simple... but it evades me.
Is thehoodie trolling, or
is there really an extra code ending? I don't get anything at the ending except booted back to the beginning (ha ha).
Also, speaking of
codes, did anybody have codes to enter in room 3 under option 2, "other"? Curious as to what happens.
And, as a final cranky old man comment, you would think that people would proofread and grammar check a little more thoroughly when writing a text adventure. Just sayin'.
level 7:
is it possible to win is it infinate loop?
Stopped playing after I realized I'd have to type "look around" every time I should have been able to type "l"
D'uh..found it.. -_-
I like it so far, but I wish you could type in funny commands and get amusing results. I love doing that in text adventures.
Nevertheless, it's pretty good.
So far, so good! I've been electrocuted, left to starve, blown up by a bomb and broken the fabric of time. Nice going for a llama.
Putting the game aside for now, I'm going for the sidequest:
In the very first room, there is a shelf with some books. One of them is called "Computering", and mentions a lock that requires 5 codes to be opened. This can actually be found at the third room, as option "2. Other" in the computer.
The first code is for the game "Elephant Rave", and was quite esay to find:
18293
The next code can be found in "TBA 2", so I'm going to look there. Might take a while to find all the codes...
Any help in this quest is very appreciated!
Hint for the sidequest:
The code for TBA 2 can be found on the game's main screen... So you don't have to play through it all (like I did...)
See that tiny rock on the lower right? ;D
Ok. I'm stuck on room 3. Maybe it's just my lack of sleep, but could I get some help from anyone?
I know I'm going to feel so stupid for this but what do I do in Room 5? I can pick up the sofa cushion but I can't get the remote....
Maybe you should just try getting it?
Hooray, another code down!
The third one was at Hedgehog Launch, very well hidden in the ending screen.
The first three codes are up ahed. Sure you want to do this?
Oaky then. So far, the codes are:
Elephant Rave -> 18293
TBA 2 -> 33820
Hedgehog Launch -> 11249
Next up is Dark Cut 3, in my opinion a bad game to hide a code. Graphical violence isn't my cup of tea. But I've got 3 of 5 codes already, and I'm going to the end of this...
TO BE CONTINUED
I finished! Should I make a walkthrough?
Ok, I did the sidequest, but can anything be done with the code you get at the end? or is that going to be in a future game?
The code for DC3 -should- be 29121, but the game rejects it as incorrect.
29121 is found be clicking on the barcode in DC3.
Most frustrating.
I'm too horrible at darkcut to find the code, anyone mind helping me on that (for the sidequest).
I'm puzzled. This is the last thing I expected to find.
Found the Dark Cut 3 code (which was awful to understand, since there was absolutely no difference between the 1s and 7s) , and headed to Maverick for the final code.
Which is actually the error message at the end!
I input all the codes, and there it was... A new code! But I'm not giving this one out... Why spoil all the fun?
Thanks for the great time I had with the sidequest, jmtb02!
By the way... Has anyone tried to type "jmtb02" in the game? xD
the in-game walkthrough has both text and video... the video has both easter eggs and the full side quest.
some of us have been collecting jmtb 5-digit codes for over a year now. silly metagaming.
-Tass
Well, I found the code in Dark Cut 3, but the game says it is incorrect...
29121
Nevermind, power of posting.
I believe there was a walkthrough linked in the game itself; the video had all the codes in it ;)
Um, Donut, you know tasselfoot already made a walkthrough that includes all the codes, right?
What an interesting and user-friendly game.
It really doesn't take that much work to type words properly, this isn't one of those super long detailed dungeon crawling text adventures.
The grammatical errors, however, have no excuse.
Interesting. I only died once; the rooms were pretty easy. The ending... well.
I figured at first that it wasn't an infinite loop, but that there was something that would change, or that I'd missed. Once I realized it was infinite loop, I was kinda annoyed. It feels like a copout.
How about a walk through from those of you that have managed to finish the game =?
the game gives you a walkthrough. look at the top where it says "walkthrough"
Just wondering but,
How do you get to the penthouse? The walkthrough has a section for it, but I have no idea. I typed in the 6th code at the start screen but that didn't work. Anyone know?
Hahahaha! Nice ending
I'll probably give this game another shot later, but I got annoyed and quit in the second room.
I'll take your word for it, Kyle, that this game is highly accessible to IF newbies, but to an old-hand at IF it's ironically very UNaccessible, IMO. It got very annoying having the game react with confusion to what I thought were very obvious requests. I felt like I was constantly trying to figure out the precise syntax the game wanted me to use, even with the keyword highlighting and all that.
To me, this game felt like a perfect example of why it's better to build IF games using an extant authoring system rather than coding one from the ground up.
But I like the look and feel of it, and the humor was good, so I'll give it another shot tomorrow and see how it goes.
the ending was great. I got really confused for about ten minutes just now, wondering what in the heck I was supposed to do, until I realized about the ending everyone's been talking about. The comparisons to Portal I think are apt and I laughed as loudly just now as I did playing that game. Great game, sense of humor and ending and I appreciated the accessability of this IF. It made the game fun rather than a chore for someone as dim as me. Cheers jmtb02 for makin' the game and JIG for putting it up so I could find it.
The Dark Cut 3 code is not:
29121
It is actually:
29721
thanks Donut.
What to do with the sixth code? (I'm so bad with maverick... took me hours and an awful lot of lives to finish.)
On last room when I
type
use keyboard
or
use computer
it'll restart
and
look computer
don't work
help!
Hm, an odd thing happened in room 6:
The dog started off being called Penny and ended up being called Cindy. Someone forgot to proof-read his game ("cassarole", anyone?)...
Paolo, considering the game and the maker I think that was on purpose ;)
I had a laugh when I saw the ending.
Here's a picture of a funny goof-up in the game:
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo323/coolpilot1993/FunnypartsofLlamaAdventure1.png
And here's another goof-up:
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo323/coolpilot1993/FunnypartsofLlamaAdventure2.png
If you guys want to know, the secret code is (and yes, the code is in here):
spoiler maze!
keep going
no
no
keep going
keep going
no
keep going
no
no
keep going
keep going
no
keep going
yes!
not!
no
95616
it was ok. i think it would have been better if the state changes were reflected in the text. if i have a key in my mouth and look around, it should not still be on the table. this could be problematic when playing around in a room and not remembering what has already been done. cute litte game as is, but i wouldn't want to see anything larger done in the same style.
So...
Where is the input of the final code?
Also maverick code is a pain to get, however
the code is 44009
okay, i played through to the end, and i stand by my earlier comments. the sense of humor of the game i found cute but not exactly hilarious. i found the ending pretty lame. and i continued to be annoyed by the games inability to handle abbreviations of commands or respond logically to different ways of wording a statement.
I have the same problem as Cyndane. I have a mac, and I've tried the game both in Safari and Firefox.
From what I've gathered, the main reason this text adventure is restrictive and annoying to people who've played lots of text adventures before is that they're used to open exploration, with plenty of trial and error in open environments. Here, there are point&click style puzzles, as well as the whole theme of restriction and patronization.
(Say there, do you like immersive settings with a full inventory of items and multiple ways to use them all to solve craftily thought-out puzzles? Of course not, all that stuff is too complex for a llama like you! Ha-hah, like you thought you had a choice!)
It is a good introduction to text games, though, thanks to all the reasons of accessibility mentioned in the review. I'd call the ending a cop-out if it wasn't expected, thanks to the general tone and theme of the game.
Oh, and Post Script: there goes the Llama's Rights Movement.
How do you access the penthouse area? I did get the secret code for the computer *other* area, but have no idea where to use it.
For anyone having issues playing this game, I just got word back from jmtb02 and he says the problem that some of you are having is a Flash 9 problem. Your best bet if you want to play Llama Adventure is to upgrade to Flash 10.
Does anyone know what to do with the 6th code? I'm stumped.
Also, the game is missing this response: xyzzy. That HAS to be in all text adventures.
I'm having the same problem as JC. Get into room 5, listen to all the initial spiel, try to LOOK ROOM....and I get zip!
Did it glitch, or not load, or what?
;-;
Doesn't work for me.
Whats wrong with ArmorGames?!
Totally working now.
I love this game, great sense of humour, the puzzles are actually logical to work out and best of all, there's no pixel hunting! ;) I read that some people are disappointed with the ending, but I actually laughed pretty hard. Mainly at how inevitable and obvious that was! It fits in perfectly with the whole feel of the game, and I guess it's just my kind of humour. I'm sending this game to a friend of mine, he'd really love this too.
Great game! I liked the ending.
Although a very easy game, the style and presentation is 'unique' for an escape the room type game. Best of all though, is the humor.
How do you start the game? It won't start for me. Help!
Along the lines of the glitches posted earlier, I once got this up:
Llama: Do you know what's on the other side of that door?
Me: A green pasture of freedom.
Llama: No, you're wrong! It's a green pasture of freedom!
He should get that sorted out.
I guess the last code will be used in a future game. Most likely to get yet another code.
The game is kind of cute, but it seems like somewhat lazy programming. The whole charm to me of text adventures is the illusion of it knowing what you were going to type and predicting your answer by having a prepared response.
The author should put a bit more time in and allow for different permutations and the use of abbreviations in answers. Also, there should be more varied responses to what you input.
I got the 6th code. What do I do with it?
How do I get to the penthouse?
What are easter eggs?
And donut, where do you put jmtb02?
Please help me!
got all the 3 room codes
First = 18293
Second = 33820
Third = 11249
Fourth = 29721
Fifth = 44009
The game than display this code = 95616
You can pick up the keyboard at the end
Ah. Type JMTB02, and it just says "That's me!"
Rather dissapointing.
And I bet I'm not the only on who started typing "Bash door" on the seventh room.
OMG the penthouse level is so difficult, has anyone gotten to the part when
the drinks on the kitchen are all messed up and you have to order them
I cant get past that part
has anyone tried picking up the hammer and bringing it with you for the 7th room.. does that work?
Found a major glitch. At the last level, I made an infinite loop by typing tasselfoot, joey, and muffin. Then I typed use computer, which took me to the main screen, but it was blank. I then typed continue which brought me to the 7th screen, blank again.
Everyone! Hunt down Noom! He got to the penthouse level!
No, seriously, if he (or if you're him, you) would give us a hint, that would be very nice. Because I've played this game 58 (going on 59) times, and still looking for suspicious stuff. Like the vent. And the kite, matches, lunchbox. And 'Computering'.
Just finished playing Warp Shot, and there was another code:
20043
How do you open the lunchbox?!
Whoa-ho! My name is John Cooney too!
Seriously, is there a way to get to the penthouse? It's really bothering me. Noom, if you are joking, that's really mean. Loved the game, but if that is really the ending, I'm really dissappointed.
open computer makes you restart, too!
Happy Llama, Sad Llama, Mentally Disturbed Llama, Super Llama,Drama Llama, Big Fat Momma Llama, President Obama Llama.
Llama.
Llama.
Moose.
Goose.
TURKEY!
Update