Strange Magic Escape
Created by Eric Vaughan, this escape game lives up to its name, as you find yourself trapped in a small room. To get out, you'll need to look at things carefully and solve some clever puzzles. Just make sure you stick around for the end!
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I'm not sure if I finished it or not. It kinda froze when I
entered the code in the panel with different pics next to the double blue doors and it accepted it
Is that the ending?
I just don't want to have to do it all over again, since I had to start over halfway through when it froze (again!) and I had to refresh the page.
I am stuck with matches (which I have already used once), 3 round pieces (that I guess should go to the device near the cat, but haven't been able to figure it out), something that resembles a chestnut and a string.
Regarding the name Elsie on the boat:
I thought it would be the clue to open the drawer with the corner information from the painting on the wall, but it did not work
Any hint?
POP, the "chestnut" is more like a bulb!
@Rgandum: The corkboard holds a clue that'll help you figure out what to do with the painting.
Strange Magic Escape Walkthrough
Notes:
There are two variants of arrows, one has a little thicker head than the other.
The thicker ones zooms out of the current view, while the thinner ones moves you around.
In some cases you can both move downwards and zoom out, in which the arrows will be in the same direction, but the thicker one will have a little lower hitbox.
Some objects are visible and clickable in two or more views.
The game also has a hint system in the lower right part of a billboard. There is a note that changes it's message depending on where you are in the game.
Collecting items:
Click on the white box to zoom in on it, and get a golden piece from the space to the left of the box. Back up.
Turn right to the view with the ship, and zoom in on it.
Get the matches to the right of it, and click on the little plaque in front of it to reveal the text "Elsie 1910".
Back out twice, and zoom in on the drawers instead. Open the right one, and pick up the golden piece in it. Back out once.
Turn right to the billboard, and zoom in on it. Click on the lower left part, and get the string package. Back out twice.
(If you examine the lower right part, you can acess the in-game hint system by looking at the little note in the top right. It will change, depending on how far you have come.)
Turn right to the desk, and zoom in on the drawers. Open the lower one and collect the seed. Back out once.
Zoom in on the wooden box on the desk, and get a golden piece. Click on the lower left to reveal a word. This word is different each playthrough.
The white door:
Use the clue from the ship on the wooden box on the desk.
1910 -> 1 9 10
Flip down number 1, 9, and 10, and note the suits and the values. These change between playthroughs.
Back out once.
Turn right to the white door, and zoom in on it. Click on the metal plate, and enter the clues from the wooden box. (The leftmost one on the top)
(The dials are sensitive to your clicks. If you click on the right part of them, they will spin clockwise, and if you click on the left side they will spin counterclockwise.)
Make sure that the value has the same color as the suit.
A blue blinking and a beep should signal that the door is now open.
(If you spin the dials after that happens, the door will lock itself, and you will have to enter the code again.)
Back out once, and open the door. Get the binoculars hanging on the wall, and back out once.
Turn left (if you need to), so that you face the right window. Click on it to zoom in, and then click on the top of it.
Use the binoculars on the airship, and note down the symbol. (It changes between playthroughs.) Back out thrice.
The picture code:
Turn right to the painting that hangs on the wall, and zoom in on it. Note that the corners have letters on them.
Use the word from the wooden box to create a code that consists of the corners.
(You can zoom in on the bottom or the top to see more clear.)
Zoom out again, and turn left to the desk. Zoom in on the drawers, and then on the four squares on the top left. Enter the code from the painting.
The drawer should open, letting you take the fish food. Zoom out once.
The astrological code:
Turn left to the aquarium (if you need to), and click on it. Use the food on the hatch to move the fish to the top of the aquarium.
Click on the left part, and note the symbols of the three statues that are facing outwards. These change between playthroughs.
Zoom out twice, and turn right to the box to the right of the white door. Click on it to zoom in.
Enter the code from the statues by clicking on the pieces that corresponds to the symbols, so that they are the only ones in the "up" state.
The box should open, letting you take the magnet and another golden piece. Zoom out once.
The blank page:
Turn right to the glass of marbles, and zoom in on them.
Click twice on the string package to zoom in on it, and click on the big view to turn it around.
Click on it once more to open it and get the string.
Highlight either the string or the magnet and then click on the other one to combine them.
Use the new item on the jar to get the key. Back out once.
Zoom in on the white box, and use the key on the box to open it. Get the blank page, and back out once.
Turn left to the jar with the green candle (to the right of the desk), and zoom in on it.
Light the candle with the matches and use the blank paper on it.
A shape should reveal itself. Since you still carry the paper, you should not need to write it down. Back out once.
The flower:
Turn right to the shelves. Click on the middle of the screen twice to zoom in on the cat.
You should have four golden pieces. Put them inside the groove on the left, so that they form a perfect cylinder.
From top to bottom:
Piece with one hole
Piece with two holes
Piece with a peg
Piece with a peg
Close the lid on the pieces, and the shelf to the left should open. Take the water bottle, and back out once.
Turn right to the flower pot, and zoom in on it. Plant the seed, and use the water bottle on it.
Now you have to simply wander around the room until the plant has fully grown, and turns into a flower. This might take quite a number of clicks.
When the flower has grown, examine it, and note the symbols on it. (They change between plays.) Back out once.
Endgame:
Turn left to the door (if needed), and zoom in on the panel to the right of it. Click on the three symbols that you've found.
-The symbol on the burnt paper
-The symbol on the airship outside the window
-The symbol on the flower
The panel should flash, and the door should open revealing the end scene.
I wonder if I'm the only who tried to open the top desk drawer using
the entire alphabet
I love the reference to Myst on the bulletin board!
Stoneship Age
I had a hard time seeing the symbol on the flower but mainly because it really blended in and was not obvious from it's shape.
Very nicely done!
I'm sitting here looking at
a piece of cake.
Is that the end?
I'm stuck on the
name/corner puzzle
I've got
Elsie as the name, which translates to down/right, down/right, up/left, up/right, down/right.
But it doesn't register. Am I doing anything wrong?
Never mind, got it.
Yes, the Myst reference made me rather happy, too :-)
Beautifully done, but far too short, and a bit too easy. Really promising designer, though, gonna keep my eye out for more.
Trust me, there was no #$@$%&@ symbol on the
flower.
I ended up brute-forcing the last puzzle, which was disappointing.
It was also disappointing that the ability to
look at the floor and the ceiling
was never used.
This was pretty cool, but am I the only one thinking it was like half finished? The square peg puzzle to the right of the cat was never used, and the ceiling/floor views were unused as well.
Still, fun little game with some tricky puzzles.
Reka, worked for me. Although the first time I didn't have the patience and just forced the ending like you. After reading the walkthrough tried again.
Good game imo. Although
the square peg thing being a red herring
was kind of strange.
Some very fine in-jokes in there (the very end made me snort) and some fairly logical puzzles. The hint system was excellently judged I thought.
Fun game but short. It would be fun to see it fleshed out with a bunch more puzzles using all the elements already present in the game. The ending was fun.
Myst reference was cool, but I preferred the Zork ref.
Reka - the symbol you were looking for is hidden on
the flower petals
confused on
fish tak. i'm supposed to see the signs on the oneas facing outwards, meaning towards me I assume? I tried the 3 buttons pwards but it was still locked but even then there was a 4th one facing my direction like and I tried that one and it still didnlt work. I then tried away from me instead and again that didnlt work either. I'm confused
Please help.
Paul:
By "pointing outwards" i meant the ones that are facing out of the circle that the statues form. The statues that are facing "inwards" are looking towards the middle of the group of statues, and the ones that are pointing "outwards" are looking away from the middle.
Am I the only one who was singing ELO's "Strange Magic" in my head while playing this? And now I want to go see Spinal Tap later on this year!
very nice game, but too short... I would have liked more !
You are not. >_
Well made escape game! Too short, but well made. I loved the Myst reference, too.
There are so many places where the game could have continued, I'm guessing this is sort-of a "proof of concept" release, which explains its shortness. In any case, everything about it is high-quality.
The only real criticism I'd make is the UP/DOWN arrows are too much like the MOVE BACK arrow. Too often, I was finding myself accidentally looking at the floor after clicking what I thought was the BACK arrow. But, even that is a minor, easily-fixed thing.
There's a big empty hole for high-quality escapes right now. Robamimi hasn't done anything in a year, and Tesshi-e seems to not be producing much anymore, either. I hope we see more like this from Vaughn.
Nikuso - Thank you for liking the Zork reference. They just don't make them like that anymore. I thought Rebeka Snoot and I were friends and then she just left.
I agree that the game was generally pretty good. The puzzles were well put together and the design was pretty. The music was a pleasant change from the usual boring escape game fare.
But, I could not for the life of me see into any of the dark spaces properly. I could not see the
seed inside the bottom drawer of the desk.
I could not see the
golden circle piece inside the right hand drawer under the ship.
I could not see the
golden circle piece to the left of the white box.
I found each of those things because I read the walkthrough and then kept on just randomly clicking the drawers open and closed until I finally clicked in just the right spot.
If this really is an excerpt of what is intended to become a larger game then there needs to be some better work on the contrast between light and dark spaces so that when you open a drawer you can actually see what's in it!
I loved the Spinal Tap shout-out! And the
changing fortune cookie message hint was a great touch.
I had no issues with the brightness/contrast.
Hey, all of you who think that flyer is just a Zork reference: it's actually a real thing, an excellent documentary by Jason Scott called Get Lamp that came out a few years ago, about the early years of text adventures (Infocom especially). And you can see the entirety of it on YouTube! And if you think they "don't make them like Zork anymore", go check out the Interactive Fiction Database: the genre is thriving like never before!
It's been a long time since we've seen a game of this caliber. Mateus Skutnik's games are, of course, beyond compare but they do tend to be obtuse. Whereas Strange Magic has given us something that felt lost for a time. Immersive gameplay with graphics that feel almost real, logical puzzling, atmosphere. I too, *love* the Myst reference - it looked like my own gameplaying scrawls. Strange Magic is not without its own (minor) flaws but I'm still giving it 5 'shrooms. :-)
Wow what a beautiful game! There is a little bug when
you are supposed to reveal the symbol on the paper using the candle, I accidentally clicked away too soon before the symbol appeared and then could not figure out how to re-do that step!
restarting the game and then waiting fully for that step fixed the problem :)
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Walkthrough Guide
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Strange Magic Escape Walkthrough
Notes:
There are two variants of arrows, one has a little thicker head than the other.
The thicker ones zooms out of the current view, while the thinner ones moves you around.
In some cases you can both move downwards and zoom out, in which the arrows will be in the same direction, but the thicker one will have a little lower hitbox.
Some objects are visible and clickable in two or more views.
The game also has a hint system in the lower right part of a billboard. There is a note that changes it's message depending on where you are in the game.
Collecting items:
Click on the white box to zoom in on it, and get a golden piece from the space to the left of the box. Back up.
Turn right to the view with the ship, and zoom in on it.
Get the matches to the right of it, and click on the little plaque in front of it to reveal the text "Elsie 1910".
Back out twice, and zoom in on the drawers instead. Open the right one, and pick up the golden piece in it. Back out once.
Turn right to the billboard, and zoom in on it. Click on the lower left part, and get the string package. Back out twice.
(If you examine the lower right part, you can acess the in-game hint system by looking at the little note in the top right. It will change, depending on how far you have come.)
Turn right to the desk, and zoom in on the drawers. Open the lower one and collect the seed. Back out once.
Zoom in on the wooden box on the desk, and get a golden piece. Click on the lower left to reveal a word. This word is different each playthrough.
The white door:
Use the clue from the ship on the wooden box on the desk.
1910 -> 1 9 10
Flip down number 1, 9, and 10, and note the suits and the values. These change between playthroughs.
Back out once.
Turn right to the white door, and zoom in on it. Click on the metal plate, and enter the clues from the wooden box. (The leftmost one on the top)
(The dials are sensitive to your clicks. If you click on the right part of them, they will spin clockwise, and if you click on the left side they will spin counterclockwise.)
Make sure that the value has the same color as the suit.
A blue blinking and a beep should signal that the door is now open.
(If you spin the dials after that happens, the door will lock itself, and you will have to enter the code again.)
Back out once, and open the door. Get the binoculars hanging on the wall, and back out once.
Turn left (if you need to), so that you face the right window. Click on it to zoom in, and then click on the top of it.
Use the binoculars on the airship, and note down the symbol. (It changes between playthroughs.) Back out thrice.
The picture code:
Turn right to the painting that hangs on the wall, and zoom in on it. Note that the corners have letters on them.
Use the word from the wooden box to create a code that consists of the corners.
(You can zoom in on the bottom or the top to see more clear.)
Zoom out again, and turn left to the desk. Zoom in on the drawers, and then on the four squares on the top left. Enter the code from the painting.
The drawer should open, letting you take the fish food. Zoom out once.
The astrological code:
Turn left to the aquarium (if you need to), and click on it. Use the food on the hatch to move the fish to the top of the aquarium.
Click on the left part, and note the symbols of the three statues that are facing outwards. These change between playthroughs.
Zoom out twice, and turn right to the box to the right of the white door. Click on it to zoom in.
Enter the code from the statues by clicking on the pieces that corresponds to the symbols, so that they are the only ones in the "up" state.
The box should open, letting you take the magnet and another golden piece. Zoom out once.
The blank page:
Turn right to the glass of marbles, and zoom in on them.
Click twice on the string package to zoom in on it, and click on the big view to turn it around.
Click on it once more to open it and get the string.
Highlight either the string or the magnet and then click on the other one to combine them.
Use the new item on the jar to get the key. Back out once.
Zoom in on the white box, and use the key on the box to open it. Get the blank page, and back out once.
Turn left to the jar with the green candle (to the right of the desk), and zoom in on it.
Light the candle with the matches and use the blank paper on it.
A shape should reveal itself. Since you still carry the paper, you should not need to write it down. Back out once.
The flower:
Turn right to the shelves. Click on the middle of the screen twice to zoom in on the cat.
You should have four golden pieces. Put them inside the groove on the left, so that they form a perfect cylinder.
From top to bottom:
Piece with one hole
Piece with two holes
Piece with a peg
Piece with a peg
Close the lid on the pieces, and the shelf to the left should open. Take the water bottle, and back out once.
Turn right to the flower pot, and zoom in on it. Plant the seed, and use the water bottle on it.
Now you have to simply wander around the room until the plant has fully grown, and turns into a flower. This might take quite a number of clicks.
When the flower has grown, examine it, and note the symbols on it. (They change between plays.) Back out once.
Endgame:
Turn left to the door (if needed), and zoom in on the panel to the right of it. Click on the three symbols that you've found.
-The symbol on the burnt paper
-The symbol on the airship outside the window
-The symbol on the flower
The panel should flash, and the door should open revealing the end scene.
Posted by: Questioner
|
January 30, 2016 1:14 PM