Roofed starts out with you in a precarious position: you're dangling from a chimney on a rooftop six stories above ground, looking for spider silk. Your brother's making sure the door to the stairs back down stays open. When he appears below you looking nonchalant, you get a deep sinking feeling.
Like other entries in Casual Gameplay Design Competition #7, Jim Munroe's Roofed is a work of interactive fiction in which you enter commands after a prompt to examine your environment and solve puzzles, moving the story forward. For old hands at interactive fiction, it'll be easy to pick up, but for people playing IF for the first time, it might have a bit of a learning curve. Anton, your brother, provides a simple help system in the form of the verbs and syntax you'll need to complete the story, but the logic of the puzzles isn't always immediately clear.
Analysis: In terms of the writing, Roofed really stands out. The far-future setting comes across clearly just through casual mentions and Anton's quips. He's a compelling character, and an excellent example of a well-implemented NPC sidekick: although he doesn't interact with the environment in any permanent way, his bits of stage business feel authentic and in-character. Unlike some NPCs in other IF games who stand passively and wait for you to do something, Anton wanders around the rooftop, yells for help to no avail, and stares off into the distance, lost in his own head. He feels real, which is impressive considering the limited scope and timeframe of the CGDC.
Sometimes, though, he falls down. Although Anton prompts you to ask him about things, there are very few working topics for him to answer, and his 'I don't understand what you mean' message is actually 'I don't think you're ready to know about that yet.' It fits Anton's character, because he's trying to look like he knows what he's doing, but it comes across more harshly and can make an already frustrated player feel like they're being mocked. I also ran across some other implementation problems when I examined the containment unit: the dynamic description had broken somehow, so it ended mid-sentence. Aside from that, the implementation of the puzzles is solid, and the solutions are creative and reward lateral thinking.
Overall, my only real problem with this game is that I didn't want it to end. I want to know more about Anton and his brother and about the world that they live in. If you're a pro at IF, then it's a nice coffee break diversion; if you're new to the world of text adventures, then it'll take a bit of effort to get used to the interface, but it's well worth it to check out the writing. Roofed is a taste of quality IF that will get you hungry for more.
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough!
Long, hinty version:
First, you need to get down.
examine the chimney, and the graffiti (for later)
d
Now, suit up.
call anton
get claw
get unit
wear unit
Now, you need to get to the top of the chimney. There's no handholds!
Go to the garden..
examine the garden..
and the vegetables..
get one..
examine it..
not
go back to the chimney and climb halfway up..
throw the cucumber at the chimney.
now, go up, look inside the chimney..
.. and get the silk with the claw.
That's just a tiny bit!
climb the chimney..
all the way up..
and look at the top of the cube.
That looks like what I need!
It sure is. go to the exit..
call anton..
climb anton..
and up.
get large silk with claw..
down.
How to I get out?
look west of the cube..
hmm. too far to jump. Try the door?
nope, although doing that unlocks the next scene. go to the empty corner.
examine the rag.
Oh, those silly boys, messign with you. That made anton mad!
go to the garden..
examine it..
get the plank.
anton, get plank
ask anton about brothers
anton, get plank
what a wimpy plank!
put small silk on plank.
go to the cube.
put plank on gap
w.
anton needs to be calm..
show anton large silk
w.
anton is being stupid! don't waste time.
w. w.
Short, git-r-done version:
look at the graffiti.
get down.
go to the garden.
examine the vegetables.
get a vegetable.
call over anton.
get the unit and the claw.
wear the unit.
climb the chimney.
throw the vegetable at the chimney.
climbthe chimney.
look in it.
get the silk with the claw.
look at the top of the cube.
get down.
go to the cube.
try the door.
go to the empty corner.
examine the rag.
go to the garden.
put the small silk on the plank.
get the plank.
anton, get plank.
ask anton about brothers.
anton, get plank.
go to the cube.
call anton.
climb anton.
get the silk with the claw.
down.
get the plank.
look west.
put the plank on the gap.
west.
show the large silk to anton.
west.west.west.
Posted by: McMasters
|
April 9, 2010 12:27 PM