It's late, you've been watching the drove all day, and you just want to get back to the comfort of your cave. You count up the pigs and realize, to your dismay, that one has gone missing. Your boss, upon hearing about your shortcomings, sends you on your way, declaring that you ought to return with the pig or not at all. With bitter resignation, you wander into a dense forest. You're not really sure in which direction the pig headed; you only know that those rustling bushes may hold a clue...
This is where Lost Pig begins, a text adventure of interactive fiction that earned its author, Admiral Jota, first place in the IF Comp last November (2007), and Best Game in the Xyzzy Awards in March (2008).
You play as Grunk, a rather dim creature who works on a farm and who, evidently, loses a pig. Using your best typing skills, you must find your way through the forest and beyond to retrieve that darn swine. It won't be easy, since pigs in Grunk's world are not cooperative. Utilize your intuition (and maybe a little luck) and you'll find your way out of Grunk's mess in this hilarious and enjoyable game.
If you're not familiar with Interactive Fiction, it's a genre of games with roots back to the 1970's (thanks Wikipedia!). There are no graphics, just a description of your surroundings and available exits accompanied by a text prompt. Type commands into the prompt to navigate through the world—Lost Pig, like many other games in the IF community, provides you with a list of very basic commands to get you started, just type "Help."
You can't die in Lost Pig, but your adventure won't be an easy one. Since the pig is reluctant to join you back on the farm—and who can blame him—you'll have to work out how to catch him. You can gather clues from your environment, but Grunk's thoughts won't always give you as much help as you might think; his lack of intelligence manifests itself in some pretty hilarious ways. There is also a scoring system, with points given for doing certain things within the game. Some of these points come from doing very basic actions to get you through the game, while others are more obscure and may not be necessary to complete the game. The best thing you can do is be inquisitive and try everything!
Analysis: I love Interactive Fiction, a genre I was introduced to when Floatpoint was reviewed here about a year ago. What's great is that Lost Pig is on the lighter side. I found myself laughing most of the time while I gleefully wandered around. Grunk narrates the game in caveman-like diction, but this element never became annoying to me. It really serves to absorb you into the amiable character. The game isn't very long but offers up a relatively good challenge, particularly if you are unfamiliar with the genre.
Thankfully, there is a hint system to help you along. Unfortunately, I had to use it a few more times than I would have liked, because there are one or two points in the game that aren't very intuitive. The game world is also fairly small, and I tend to like IF games that span at least a few areas. This doesn't hurt the game, though, since there's quite a bit you have to do. There are even a few actions you can do with easter-egg-like results—and they really are terrific.
Lost Pig is unique and hilarious, stuffed to the rafters with personality. Don't be deterred by the lack of a graphic interface, just give it a try.
The links above point to JIG's internally developed Flash-based Z-Machine interpreter (thanks asterick!), with the story files hosted here by permission of the game's author, Admiral Jota. Basically 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 may do so at Admiral Jota's website. If you choose to download the game, you will need an interpreter to read the z-file, just like most IF games: try Gargoyle for Windows, or Zoom for Macintosh and Unix.
If you like "Lost Pig," take a look at other Interactive Fiction we've reviewed.
Walkthrough Guide
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Here is a walkthrough for Lost Pig and it's the first I've ever written so I'm sorry if it is redundant or something isn't worded right. I have split it up with titles so you can play the game yourself, and click on the solution if you get stuck in a certain place. Hope it helps:
Outside
Try to go N or E (Grunk won't go because he doesn't want to get lost in dark forest, He won't go anywhere else either) You have to wait until you hear rustling in the bushes.
Listen *1 pt*
Go NE, you will fall in a hole, there is no other way to go.
Hole
Get torch (it has gone out, you will need to re-light it later)
look at stairs
Get metal thing (whistle)
E (fountain room, Pig should be there)
Fountain Room
Look at fountain
Get coin *2 pt*
look at curtain (hint about exiting)
SW (table room)
Table Room
get chair
E (Closet)
Closet - Gnome
There will be a weird noise. sing, or type in grr, or shout and the gnome will wake up.
There are about a million questions you can ask the gnome and it is fun to play around with that.
Ask gnome about the metal thing
(whistle)
(The whistle isn't really essential to gameplay but if you blow it it annoys the pig, and the gnome will tell you about looters which is a hint on how to get all 7 pts.)
E (Shelf Room)
Shelf Room- Get Book
Get pole
drop chair
stand on chair
look at top shelf (you were too short to see before)
get book
get down
get chair (you have to put it back where you found it)
Back to table room- How to get Pig
Go to table room (once you have been to a place or know where something is, you don't have to use directions, you can just type go to "place" or "thing" like "go to pig")
drop chair
look at metal box
put coin in slot
pull lever
get brick
shake metal box
get coin
repeat to get 3 bricks, after 2nd brick, coin will fall out with brick.
(hints: ask gnome about metal box to find out what it is, ask gnome about brick, brick= some kind of food. Show brick to pig, pig is interested)
break brick
break whole brick
break whole brick
How to get the pig:
(You now have 1/2 bricks that you can give to the pig to distract him and grab him. If you don't drop all the bricks for the pig at once, you will have to start over and get more bricks so he will be interested in them enough for you to grab him when you are ready. So it is better to have more 1/2 bricks than you might need than to have to come back here later. You can get the pig now, but you'll just have to carry him around for a while. You have to drop the bricks for the pig to eat a certain way and then you can get him easily)
Back to Fountain Room - How to re-light torch
go to fountain room
N (statue room)
look at statue
look at hat
get hat
go to fountain room
E (cave with stream)
look at reddish thing (Grunk won't cross stream, can't reach it, can't swim)
get red thing with pole (green pole from shelf room)
(ask the wizard about pole if you want to know why this works)
Get key (red thing)
get water with hat (what was it shaped like?)
Go to chest / Go to shelf room
open chest (Grunk will unlock it first, saving you the trouble of telling him to) *3 pt*
look in chest (black powder)
pour water on powder
(again, ask gnome about powder if you want to know why this works)
light torch
put pole in powder (it gets black and sooty, fire will probably go out, you can re-light it the same way if needed later)
Back to Hole - How to get missing page
Go to hole
look at crack (now you can see because the torch is lit)
get paper with pole (missing page in book)
drop whistle
How to find secret door to exit
Go to statue
put torch in hand (of statue, Oh! A door! remember the curtain?) *4 pts*
Get 5th point- What is needed to go through secret door
Go to gnome
give gnome paper
ask gnome about ball (glowing orb)
give gnome book *5 pts*
type wait, or ask the gnome a question, he will glue the missing page back in the book and then you can continue
ask gnome for orb (He needs some light source in exchange first)
go to statue
get torch (if it has gone out you may need to re-light it with water from the stream, pour on the powder etc.)
If the torch is still lit here:
put hat on statue
Go to gnome
give gnome torch (he will give you the orb, which you need in order to leave later)
ask gnome about turning orb off (you might need the magic words if it should go out later.)
go to shelf room
drop key
drop pole (you should have already put the chair back in the table room)
How to get pig
go to pig
(you need to have at least 4 half-bricks for this to work)
drop brick
drop brick
drop brick
(Pig will eat bricks, either type wait, or keep dropping bricks to continue until it says: "Pig look happy with brick. Eat and eat and eat. It not even notice Grunk at all anymore.")
Grab pig *6 pts*
(If you don't get him you will need to get more bricks with the coin and repeat, if you type I for inventory it should say pig (not happy) lol. Now that you are carrying the pig it will have some sort of funny action every time you move)
To make sure you get all 7 points
You need to put everything back the way you found it, that means the chair, the pole, the whistle etc.
Go to fountain room
put coin in fountain
type I for inventory, You should ONLY have:
pig (not happy)
ball (that make light)
pants (Grunk wearing them) (unless you took them off at some point, which is possible in this game)
If you have extra bricks you can feed them to the pig. I am not sure if they matter.
To exit underground, and finish the game
Go to statue
N (windy cave) (You needed the orb of light because the torch would have gone out and Grunk would not have gone any further without light)
Close door (To ensure 7th point)
N
You are now in sort of a maze, and I don't think it really matters what directions you go, you can walk around and read what Grunk says, and subsequently what the pig does, or just wait and the gnome will show up dragging his trunk.
Follow the gnome, SE
Probably New Tunnel *7 pts*
The gnome will say a bunch of stuff, and if you have put everything back where it belongs and closed the secret door behind you, he will say he is impressed and thank you, and you will get one more point, otherwise it is possible to finish the game with only 6 points.
Follow Gnome
Follow Gnome
You are back in the forest, Game Over.
Posted by: Aurabella.ella
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April 8, 2008 10:01 AM