"Suveh Nux" is a short, puzzle-oriented piece of interactive fiction by David Fisher, with a neat premise: the player is trapped in a vault (that's not the neat part) and can escape only if he learns the magical language that controls his environment.
Plenty of interactive fiction games involve puzzles about magic words. "Suveh Nux" takes this a step further: there's a whole magical grammar to learn, including verbs, nouns, and modifying phrases. The challenge isn't just to learn new magic words, but to learn to string the words together into short spells. The result is a set of well-integrated challenges that encourage lateral thinking. And the game rewards experimentation: even spells that serve no practical purpose produce often amusing results.
The puzzles in "Suveh Nux" aren't too hard, but in case you get stuck, there is also a built-in hint system and instructions for play.
The links above point to JIG's internally developed Flash-based Z-Machine interpreter (thanks asterick!), with the story files hosted here by kind permission of the game's author, David Fisher. That means you can now play these games in your browser rather than having to download and run the game in a standalone interpreter.
If you would rather download the game, you can get the game file from ibiblio.org. If you do choose to download the game, you will need an IF player to play the game file. If you don't have one installed, try Gargoyle (Windows) (mirror) or Zoom (Unix or Macintosh). (Zoom for Macintosh also allows you to browse and download additional IF games right from within the player, a neat feature for future use.) Another option is Splatterlight available for Macintosh and Unix.
If you enjoy "Suveh Nux", I also recommend "Words of Power", by Stark Springs: it too uses an additive magic-word grammar, though the puzzles are less tightly integrated and the game as a whole is more sprawling.
Hey, the gargoyle link isn't working for me. it says the page doesn't exist....
Yeah, the gargoyle link seems to be broken...
yeah i'm experiencing the same problem with the gargoyle link
tried searching for other download mirrors to no prevail
The ccxvii.net site that hosts the Gargoyle app appears to be down at the moment. Try this mirror site for Gargoyle in the meantime...
http://public.www.planetmirror.com/pub/if-archive/interpreters-multi/gargoyle/
Hi Emily.
You can get it from http://www.avventuretestuali.com/orgc/orgc-2007-eng
(by clicking the icon)
From the review:
"..the player is trapped in a vault (that's not the neat part)"
Yes, that's definitely the cool part. :D
This looks fun...hmm. I always end up looking at spoilers to help with these kind of things...This time I'm going to do it myself! =D
How do I run the app with gargoyle? Im not good with this stuff...
It's been a while since I've played some Interactive Fictions.
Brings back memories from when I played TADS games alot.
Bookmarked for when I have more free time.
Yay, I finished, and without using the hint system too much.
I couldnt manage to save the invisible critter though. Oh well, 90% is better than nothing. And doing the stuff under amusing at the end was fun! =D
Jack - once you download and install Gargoyle, then download and unzip the Suveh Nux game file and walkthrough.
Then, when you run Gargoyle you should get a standard open file dialog box. Select the Suveh Nux file and you'll next get a screen that looks like this:
https://jayisgames.com/images/gargoylescreenshot.jpg
Then, you just type commands since this is work of interactive fiction, or text adventure (no graphics).
can someone help me
i cant figure out how to download everything
Colin -
Windows:
1) Download http://public.www.planetmirror.com/pub/if-archive/interpreters-multi/gargoyle/gargoyle-2006-09-17-windows.exe
2) Run it to install Gargoyle. Accept default options.
3) Download http://www.avventuretestuali.com/download/SuvehNux.zip
4) Unzip it.
5) Run Gargoyle.
6) In the dialog box that opens, select the 'suvehnux' file you unzipped in step 4 above.
7) Play.
@Neonaxus:
Make the floor sticky to get the critter and 95%. The remaining 5% apparently come from easter eggs, which I haven't found yet.
i downloaded everything you told me to download
i got the little gargoyle installer thing
but when it was done installing there wasn't anything there
im confused
Colin - the Gargoyle installer should have left a "Shortcut to Gargoyle" on your desktop (or maybe in the same directory that you ran the installer from? I ran mine from the desktop).
Even if you can't find the shortcut, you can always get to any program you install in your Start menu under All Programs.
thanks Jay
i found it in the all programs just like you said!
:D
Jay, the suvehnux.z5 file that is linked to in the zipped file appears to be v1.0 of the game. There is a newer v1.1 version linked off of the Suveh Nux IFWiki page given in the game description (i.e. here), but the download speed off of that page is slower than molasses (or at least it was when I tried it, anyway). I also found a faster second source here for the newer z5 code.
Thanks, Geer. I'll add your second link to the review. :)
well im not really into text games, but this is reminding me of another game i played a long long time ago. moving around the game you learn different symbols and you have to figure out what they mean... i know its not sprout.. really old i think. but i wonder if anyone could read my mind here and help me out.
vinny - I think you're thinking of Tork. :D
https://jayisgames.com/archives/2004/12/tork.php
And Tork is pretty awesome for similar reasons why Suveh Nux is, too. Don't give up on text adventures just because they have no graphics. Use your imagination to enrich your life with a little interactive fiction. This particular game doesn't take much of an investment of time to enjoy it.
I tried downloading the zip file but it failed, twice. I always got cut halfway. So I tried the link from ifwiki, and it works. Slow download speed, but finished.
Got the game working fine, apart from the troubles with Gargoyle link. Thanks for the mirrors guys.
As far as the game goes, I'm typically horrendously bad at text only adventure games but have managed to shed some light on my surroundings.
The creature thing is weirding me out though.
Has anyone figured out how to read the scroll?
I beat the game (and saved the critter) and only got 95%. I assume the last 5% is reading the scroll (maybe), but I can't seem to figure it out.
one easter egg is sticking to the ceiling!
and getting down safely....
the ceiling fell on me once....
I thought it was funny....
Be careful with the vial while your sliding on the floor....
Annnnndddd finished! Great game. Didn't have to use the hints at all thank god! But I only scored 95%, can anyone enlighten me to what I did wrong?
Maybe if we have this spell language subject at school, I would get a big F..
I can't figure out the right spell to
increase the temperature of the door so I can break it.
Any hint?
Pretty cool game. I like that the whole spell system is based on simple grammatical structure. Makes you feel like you're weaving intrcate spell patterns ^^
Of course it helps if you carefully read the section on the math of the ancient culture. You can do even more complex spells as you increase the number of spells in the queue.
I'm currently trying to find all the easter eggs.... though no real luck so far.
Oh, and, some advice for you peeps having difficulties with how to cast spells on objects: After you have the
crystal
be sure to
"point at"
everything.
This was one of my favorite games in a while. Maybe it's because I could actually beat it without hints, maybe because I wasn't around when interactive fiction was first popular.
On a related note, a couple of days ago I read an article about Inform, which is the software used by interactive fiction writers. It's fairly easy to use, so I suggest checking it out. Maybe somebody can submit interactive fiction to the next game design comp?
Jojo: try each spell in the book. Once you find the one that has to do with temperature follow these steps:
1)
Make the door cold
(Suveh tia fireno)
2)
You'll have to go from cold to extremely hot very quickly.
(using "ani" after the verb phrase indicates that you want to layer spells. add a number after it and decrease each time till you hit zero [be sure to remove "ani" as well)
("mato" = 2, "to" = 1. you can get even more complex, i.e: "tomatoto" = 13 but you'll only need "mato" and "to" to complete the game)
("Aveh tia fireno ani mato" [hit enter] "Aveh tia fireno ani to" [enter again] "aveh tia fireno" [enter one last time])
What an excellent little game, I liked how it all took place in one room (so I never had to remember where everything was, nor the names of a billion characters).
Quite fun!
Took me a good while to beat (and around 400 turns)...heh...but it was fun!
Always nice to see an IF review by Emily Short :D
Thanks for all the comments about the game!
Here is a small clue for getting the last 5% of the score:
>think about Easter eggs
And if you are wondering what the scroll really says:
It's a shopping list written in your master's shorthand; he gets a little confused sometimes. But he's still a nice master to have ... :-)
Fun ways to die:
If stuck to the ceiling, make yourself heavier instead of less sticky.
Jump around on a slippery floor while holding the vial.
I've gotten the 2% from getting down, but where's the other 3% and does it have anything to do with the code and the scroll I kinda happened to burn?
I forgot about one last way to not...die, but make the game unfinishable...
Try with the crystal what you did with the door...;)
Also try:
Extreme heat or extreme cold on yourself.
Also:
ASCII and binary...think about it
Hmmm...
Did anyone check the Amusing menu after getting Easter Egg 1? I did, and it contais something new: directions for playing with the creature! Well, sorta. Its a reference to playing with the creature that indirectly gives directions to taming it:
Feed it the easter egg!
So now I have a tame creature, which I'm sure can be used for the other two Easter Eggs...but how!?
Wow, this is a really great game. I could say a lot more, but I won't, as the game speaks for itself. I will say that the difficult level was excellent, making the player often pause for thought but never tear out their hair.
Also, thanks a lot to Emily Short for writing the review (I really like all your work and your 'blog').
D=
Darn. I'm still stuck at 67 percent. Any help?
Thinking about Easter eggs sort of gives you a hint.
Thinking about what easter eggs made you think about gives you a really big hint, written in binary.
To decode this:
Think about decimal and ascii, or just use one of the online binary/ascii translators.
This produces:
Stick yourself to the ceiling
Make everything glow
Destroy every object
I haven't tested all of these, because destroying every object will be difficult (breaking the vial kills you).
Happy easter egging!
@ Aegus how do I destroy the cage, then?
@aegeus:
Well, you can destroy the vial by freezing the content first. But how do you destroy the shelf without suffocating from the fumes?
You can destroy the vial if you freeze the liquid inside it first. Then stick yourself to the ceiling while holding it and increase its weight so it shatters on the ground. As far I can tell you can pretty much destroy everything in the room except for the shelf and the fuzzy pet thing.
It didn't get me an additional easter egg, but maybe with them all glowing too?
I've already spent way too much time on this game. ;)
I managed to get the last 5% -
* Stick yourself to the ceiling and come back down again. (2%)
** Make the ceiling very sticky. Make yourself very light. Jump. Then reduce the ceilings stickyness by one.
* Make everything glow. (2%)
* Destroy every object. (1%)
** Destroy the shelf and cage by making them extremely heavy.
** Make sure the creature is free when destroying the cage.
** Destroy the scrolls and parchment by making them extremely hot.
** Destroy the crystal and door by making them extremely cool, then immediately extremely hot. (Start with "tomato").
** Destroy the vial by freezing it and making your hands very slippery.
** Feed the easter eggs you got by now to the creature. ;-)
* You may also make everything in the room sticky, but you won't get any rewards for that, but a special message.
Ubuntu users might want to try frotz (which is on Synaptic).
Thanks for that, relef.
I managed to do everything written in these comments. Except for one thing.
I couldn't at all jump while holding the vial, slip on the floor, and break the vial. I jumped, and slipped just fine, but I got right back up without breaking the vial.
Did anyone find any use for the sensi command? I guess it's in the last 5%.
The game was cool but
I found the particular intensifier language to be cumbersome, unintuitive, and largely unhinted. As in, feeling a tingling sensation wasn't quite enough to clue me in that the precise spell was intensified, but I had to cast it again. Or, that you have to count down in intensifiers before you can cast the actual spell. As a language game, "More hot door times three! (Charging...) More hot door times two! (Charging...) More hot door! (Cast!)" doesn't really seem all that intuitive.
I was glad I used the in game hints, since that solution doesn't feel particularly satisfying. Though, I'm only complaining because I liked the game so much, otherwise.
If anyone needs some closure about what really happened and who locked you in the vault, there is an explanation here (includes minor spoilers if you haven't played the game yet).
@Epoch (about the "sensi" command):
The "sensi" command is just for fun ... have you tried heating things up or making them glow after using "suveh sensi" on them? (Try hugging and kicking them too).
@spliznork:
I agree the "intensification" bit could have been better clued ... any ideas on how to do that?
David, I actually have an idea on the last question--
if your fingertips tingle a bit ANYWAY when casting a normal spell, then they could tingle more with the "ani" spells. Also, it seems to me that it would have made more sense if "ani mato" et al were separate from the other spells--ie, you charge your magical powercells, then cast the spell rather than having to write the entire spell you are GOING to cast and tacking "ani mato" onto the end.
@dsrtrosy:
About "ani mato" being made separate from other spells -- I kind of like the idea of building up a grammar, where "ani mato" functions like an adverb ...
It is interesting to me that it is being interpreted as meaning "charge up"; I always thought of it as just a time delay, with a useful side effect of being able to increase the intensity of a spell. The tingling was meant to indicate that something was happening, just not yet.
BTW in the original Beta version, you had to make the door extremely cold before making it extremely hot, but a tester thought that was a bit much. A different tester thought that made it too easy. It's hard to find the middle ground. :-P
Wonderful little game! I've gotten the basic 95%, now I need to go try to get the easter eggs... :D
spliznork, about the intensification system -
You have to think of the word "ani" as "after x turns", where x is specified in tomato numbers - not "times x". For example, "Aveh tia ani to" means "more heat after one turn".
This immediately leads to the question of what would happen if you made two spells coincide on the same turn, naturally leading to the discovery of intensification. You can also, of course, release multiple types of spells on the same turn, like making something heat up and glow and become sticky all at once.
dsrtrosy - splitting up the ani mato etc from the rest of the spells wouldn't make sense - it's a delay clause for a specific spell, not a generic intensifier. The intensification is just a side effect from two of the same spell being cast on the same turn.
On another note, as a computer scientist I couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the tomato numbering system. Good stuff, David! :)
@Valarauka - Ooooooooooh, I didn't even get that until you explained it. So, that's the answer for David:
Somehow emphasize that "ani" means "later" or "in n turns" or something. Maybe a "tingling sensation about the future". Or, maybe instead, once it casts, "the tingling sensation has subsided". Something to correlate that tingling sensation with the future event.
@Valarauka:
Glad you enjoyed the reverse binary numbering system ... (and I like the name "tomato system"!)
I was originally thinking of including a puzzle where several different effects had to happen at the same time (or all in a row, or something like that), but it turned into the "intensify" thing. There probably won't be a sequel, but it's interesting to think about what kinds of puzzles you could come up with just based on timing ...
@spliznork:
The way I see it, "ani" doesn't charge spells up. It creates a time delay. In fact, when you first use a time-delay, and you try to cast another spell it tells you "You are about to speak, when you have a feeling that the tingling sensation was significant somehow. You feel sure that something is happening, but you're not sure what." It forces you to wait until the time delay goes off before it lets you cast any more spells. That tips you off right away that it's time-based.
I'm plaing Words of Power now... A great game, but does anyone know what to do with the dial puzzle? The dial cannot be turned, spells don't affect it... What shall I do?
Haha, when I used my first spell I typed in "awesome" as a command and the game replied "Thanks." I love that level of responsiveness.
Holy crap, where has this game been all my life!? I love it.
Jay--so I signed up again--if I can remember my info this time, I promise I will stop making you moderate me! :P
@David: AHA! Now I see what you were trying to do. I still didn't get that from the game, but I don't have any great ideas for how to make it more understandable. Plus, it seems that some folks did get it. Maybe instead of tingling, you get a sense of anticipation? haha...just a thought. Still, it was a cool game--a really good re-introduction to IF after many, many years of not playing them.
dsrtrosy - I sent you an email to the address you left when you registered, containing your username and a new temporary password for your account.
I've not played these yet, but the weird grammar reminds me of an IF game called "For a Change" by Dan Schmidt that starts with the line "The sun is gone. It must be brought. You have a rock." and has a consistent weird grammar throughout the game.
@Snowy: One of the Beta testers had this experience, which I thought was funny:
> push block
It's too hot to try doing that.
> cool block
Thanks.
> *lol
Here are some other things the game responds to:
dance; dance on shelf; dance on ceiling; bow; shiver; examine rat (or squirrel); kiss creature (while holding it); put creature on shoulder; wake up; sleep; yawn; cough; sneeze; sigh; throw up; say kjfhsdkfjhdsfldljs; think about everything; think about logic; think about food; think about plover; write on door; talk to me; talk to foot; open mouth; feel inside mouth; pull teeth; pull hair; put hands on head; wave ears; find me; find shelf; find vault; tickle me; play with me; kick nose, then say "no" (aimed at Beta tester who liked kicking his nose for some reason); headbutt door; kick door; stamp on foot (twice); hello; bye.
And some things related to the last 5%:
While stuck to the ceiling: stick [something] to ceiling; think about ceiling; fly.
After shattering the crystal: mend crystal, then say "yes" (mending things is listed under AMUSING, but you might not have tried it on the crystal).
kiss / throw / attack / smell / open Easter egg.
@greenfourth
thank you for the lesson ^^ No wonder I can't get any spell right, I mixed up the structure! Silly me, LoL.
Now reading all the other comments about the easter egg(s), made me wanna try playing it again :)
@Aldarion
Try 'set dial to #'. I actually had to download a decompiler and read the script for the game to find out what it wanted. I also tried a many number of words.
Woot. Managed to download, install, and beat the game with only a tiny amount of help from the hints. I finished with 95% completion, and get the critter back. Now I'm trying for the last 5% and to find easter eggs (I've tried stuff, sure, but nothing is working)
Hi!
I've got a question, though it's not really about Suveh Nux (which I think is a great game btw!) But about Praser 5 by Zarf.
I just recently discovered the IF games, and am totally loving them! But Praser 5 is just not working (not for me anyway) I just can't seem to get the creatures to talk to me... Please help! Am I missing something?
Any help would be welcome!
Thanks!
Okay, after finishing the game, other details I love:
1. Your shoes are described only as black and shiny before the creature nibbles on them, and then they are described as having small nibble marks!!
2. It's almost too bad none of the puzzles were hair-pullingly hard, because then I would've been delighted by all the implementations of the things I try to do when I get frustrated, like "kill myself" and "cry" and "stomp" and "throw up." The difficulty level was perfect for me, though.
3. Feeling sympathetic towards various items was hilarious. I really love all the responses to the things you do to them when you're feel sympathetic. Also, "Your heart goes out to the destroyed scroll" made me crack up.
4. My notes get capitalized and punctuated!!!
5. The creature gets angry when the floor's hot! It bites your ankle!! How clever! I also really like that you can't get a word for the creature even when you're holding it--I was sure "ami" was it but then when I tried to cast a spell on it I just got my own arms sticky.
This is one of the most well-implemented games I've had the pleasure of playing.
David, I absolutely love this game. I'll be watching for more games by you in the future. :D
Now back to playing Suveh Nux! xD
@ElliotM: "David, I absolutely love this game. I'll be watching for more games by you in the future".
Thanks! They take a little while, though ... (about 3 months for Suveh Nux, but I wasn't working at the time. Wonder how long a two room game would take :-) ).
Here are some completely unrelated (ie. non-IF) mini games from a 40K competition:
ZRacer, a real time racing game using ASCII graphics; "gargoyle" doesn't have colour, so an interpreter like Windows Frotz might be better to use for this one (though it crashes sometimes, unfortunately, so you might want to save after each level);
Animals, a logic/observation word puzzle; and
Cryptographer, a simple decoding game full of quotes about Interactive Fiction.
Search for "Download" on each of these pages for a link to the game.
@David -
All good games take time to make, ;) Making up a magic language must have been really fun though. This game is very clever, I only wish it could have been longer. A bigger game based on Suveh Nux would be challenging to make but would certainly be highly rewarding once you finished. :)
Those games sound neat, so I'll have to check those out.
Still haven't finished since I'm taking my time, but just wanted to add that I really liked your number system. After figuring out how to write numbers 1-14, I noticed that all even numbers started with Ma and that all odd numbers started with To. With the higher numbers I began to notice that they were quickly getting rather long and then it hit me that I was looking at Binary numbers written backwards!
(Comparision table)
(Ma = Binary Zero, To = Binary One)
Binary, #, Suveh Nux Numbers
0, 0, Ma
1, 1, To
10, 2, MaTo
11, 3, ToTo
100, 4, MaMaTo
101, 5, ToMaTo
110, 6, MaToTo
111, 7, ToToTo
1000, 8, MaMaMaTo
1001, 9, ToMaMaTo
1010, 10, MaToMaTo
I took Computer Science classes in college and with all the numbers consisting of only two symbols I should have realized sooner that I was looking at a base 2 binary number system but it was still a rather neat moment of triumph when I made the connection. Just thought I'd share. :)
@ElliotM:
Nice catch, but you could have just thought about numbers (or was it "math", I forget)
Thea Armstrong is Thaddeus' old girlfriend. You find this out if you hit Baxter instead of Thaddeus in Words of Power
@Mordred
Ya, thinking about stuff was a neat touch but it wasn't something I tried at first until later since most games don't have it implemented. I really appreciated how responsive Suveh Nux was so it was a real treat to play. I finished the game with a score of 95% sometime early this morning. :)
YAY! New, working account!
This is the best game ever!For months I have searched for a game where you can cast you're own spells!Finally, I have found it.I have to get back to Suveh Nux!
Yay, my web site seems to be working again. It's about Interactive Fiction in general. The Suveh Nux page is here.
Hope it keeps working ...
Thanks for the update, David. I'll update the review with the links. :)
Aldarion, do you have any hints or tips on what to do in Words of Power? I've learned 6 words, visited Yom's place, had one cutscene and visited every place I can think of. I haven't found anything except the book.
@David, your web page is unfortunately down again. :/
@ElliotM: Yes, unfortunately ... I might move it soon.
I'm curious about whether anyone has tried out any of the non-IF games (ZRacer, Animals or Cryptographer) ... :-)
Congratulations on winning Best Puzzles in the 2007 XYZZY Awards, David. :D
The web page is now:
http://jacl.game-host.org:8080/dfisher/ifgames.html
(And thanks, ElliotM!)
I have a problem, I'm doing the Easter egg and I've
tried a few times to destroy the door and it just keeps cracking but won't be destroyed. D:
LOL!
>Fix vial
Are you SURE you want to reconstruct the vial from the thousands of fragment scattered all over the floor?
>No
A very wise decision.
It got quite amusing when I discovered the purpose of the crystal...
If you say "think binary", this appears:
01010011 01110100 01101001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01100101 01101001 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111
01001101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100111 01101100 01101111 01110111
01000100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01111001 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 00100000 01101111 01100010 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100
Which means:
Stick yourself to the ceiling
Make everything glow
Destroy every object
I know it's been more than a year since this game was posted, but I enjoyed it so much that I just had to comment. What a unique idea, and what a great puzzle to try to figure out a language. Right up my alley.
Gah, I seem to have made my game unfinishable by destroying the crystal before realizing that the block on the shattered door had a different magical name to the door itself. Can anyone help by giving me the name? Thanks.
Wow, I had a lot of fun just reading through the comments. I've learned some binary from Amanda, particularly the space between words = 00100000.
I needed a lot of help with this game, hence the reading through the comments. Not entirely my vial of tannic acid, but I certainly felt the imagination brain cells spark up for the first time in a while.
@ Wyndclaw
crystal = kirabesso
Spoiler warning: fairly complete spell/word list follows
Aveh = increase
Suveh = decrease
Nux = darkness
Tia = temperature
Madah = weight
Haiak = friction
Sensi = animosity
self = ami
floor = tolanisu
cage = imoentar
crystal = kirabesso
book = kimutasl
parchment = amutasl
door = fireno
shelf = agri
block = firenos
vial = siqui
scroll = anutasl
ceiling = amunisu
wall, south = nisu-so
wall, east = nisu-esa
wall, west = nisu-ewa
ani = [in X turns]
ma = 0
to = 1
mato = 2
toto = 3
mamato = 4
tomato = 5
Matoto = 6
Examples:
aveh tia kirabesso ani mato = make crystal hotter in 2 turns
suveh sensi agri ani tomato = make me like the shelf more in 5 turns
Yay I found an easter egg!!
well it has something to do with sticking to the ceiling and getting back down
Help! I'm stuck to the ceiling, and I made the vial really heavy in one turn from now, and I can't stop it from exploding and killing me!
Never mind, I restarted. Oh well.
@Wyndclaw, though the spell name of the triangular block is "firenos", it doesn't matter, because you have to point at it with the crystal, or else the word won't work. I had your exact problem, actually. Sorry.
Really like this part:
You feel buoyant, but your feet are still on the ground.
You are hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Update