Ruby Loft Escape
While here at Weekday Escape we tend to stick to certain proven game designers, once in a while it's fun to discover and experience something new. How nice (and coincidental) that a few days ago we ran across a new designer, TeraLumina, and his fantastic new room escape, Ruby Loft Escape. Serendipity!
The basic premise of Ruby Loft Escape is twofold: you must explore the room and do the usual actions to escape (find objects, use objects, solve puzzles) while at the same time complete a secondary quest, that of finding rubies hidden in the loft. Rather a lot of rubies, really, and although it's a lovely loft and features some nice furnishings (including a Steinway piano and a Warhol painting) one wonders what sort of person leaves that many unset rubies just lying around for anyone to find. Someone with a lot of money and not a lot of common sense, I'm thinking. Maybe Donald Trump?
Navigating around this loft is, well, pretty darn easy since you've only the one head-on view of the loft, rather reminiscent of Petithima's early work with one or two wall escapes. In this case, though, although you are not turning around in a three dimensional space there is a lot to explore in this richly appointed apartment. You can examine different areas by clicking on them for a close up, and the more you click around the more you will discover as you search for a way out (and red, red riches at the same time). Said exploration is helped along by the blessed relief of a changing cursor, something other game designers could bother to master (not that I'm naming names or anything, Tesshi-e). Click on an object to examine it or pick it up, find a use for some of the odder things you gather, solve a few puzzles, and pretty soon you'll be out into a lovely mountainous outdoors, refreshed and ready to start the day.
The puzzles in Ruby Loft Escape aren't terribly difficult and depend mostly on your observational skills as you wander around the place stealing precious stones. What makes the game so fun is the challenge of getting a high score, a combination of quickness of escape (yes, there is a timer keeping track) and ability to find the rubies themselves (bonus points for finding them all). This is more of a ten minutes and out type of deal, perfect for a mid-week refresher.
While not the most difficult escape we've ever featured (as a point of fact, one of the easier ones), Ruby Loft Escape is nonetheless a wonderful and bracing mid-week treat, a visual and logical delight from a relative newcomer, one we're looking forward to seeing more of. So have fun robbing some poor rich person blind, and hey, my birthday's coming up soon and I happen to really like rubies...
Walkthrough Guide
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Walkthrough!
OK, we're in this loft. We have to collect rubies, and escape. Let's concentrate on escaping.
My, this is an interesting place. Let's see what we can find.
**Main Room**
Chess Board:
First, zoom in on the chess board. Doesn't look good for white, so let's move the rook and finish it. We can get the chess king now... we couldn't before, because of... er... artistic value. That sounds good.
Coffee Table:
We don't know this code, but it takes geometric shapes of sorts. Typical. Hey, look! A lit cigar! Score! Must be a special brand, mine die when left alone for hours. Anyways, a score's a score, let's pick it up.
Piano:
We don't know what to do with this either, but we can play the notes CDEFGAB. The rest appear to be glued together. I'm glad Henry Steinway isn't around to see this.
Mirrored Niche:
We can only look at the box. Must not look at anything else. Just the box. We need four colors. Then the box will open. And we can ignore it too.
Fireplace:
Clicking the logs tells us it's a nice day for a fire. Using the lit cigar on them tells us we need something else to help. Like several gallons of gasoline, and a flamethrower. Just a guess. We can get the left candlestick, though! Now that we have that valuable item, we can examine the dirty clock, but can't get it open. Let's smash it! Hm, better not. But you know, you'd think I would be smart enough to open this silly thing.
Front Door:
Locked. Did you really think you could escape that easily? I mean, really. But hey- what's this? A box near the front door. And when you open it, you see... er... lots of interesting things. One of them's the king, so let's put it in. We are rewarded with an odd noise, and the king picture is greened out. Whee. I personally like food as a reward, but this is all they have to offer. Let's dump the candlestick in here too, as long as we're at it.
So much for the main room. Let's look upstairs.
**Upstairs**
Bookshelf:
Well, it appears the bookshelf IS the whole upstairs. I guess that's why this is called the loft room. Really, though, kind of disappointing as a loft. We can read some books, which will tell us musical notes if we don't know them. Hey! We can steal the middle light bulb! Excellent. Does that mean the lightbulb is... hot? HA! Get it? Stolen? Hot? I slay me. Now the shelves. The only thing I see of real value is that puzzle. We can't move the pieces (understandble, we could choke on them!), but we can see that there are 6,4,2,5,3 of them. Let's take out our invisible notebook and write those numbers down with our invisible pen, shalll weeee?
That was exciting. Since we don't feel like reading "Migratory Habits of European Swallows", let's head to the kitchen.
**Kitchen**
Chairs:
Well, we can't sit down, too much to do! But that's an interesting geometric pattern on the back of the chairs. Let's remember X Triangle Diamond Circle.
Lights:
Clicking them reveals one of the lights is missing a bulb. And we all know that if one bulb is gone, none of them light up. Wait, that's for Christmas lights. What kind of a hack electric job happened here? Oh well, let's put in our stolen light bulb and see what we get. ooh, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Tacky. I mean, really, what would the interior designers on HGTV think? Better note them, though. For evidence.
Fridge:
The clues just won't stop! GCEBA. The Glorified Clan of Evil Baboon Armpits. Just doesn't sound right. Let's just remember this for later.
Stove:
Hey, that blue jar on the left looks like something we need. NABBED. A spice bottle. Great. While we're at it, let's grab a knife too, never can tell when that'll come in handy. Let's take the second one on the left. We don't want a REAL weapon or anything. OK, let's turn a knob, and make some tea. WHAT? that's a disco backsplash?? it appears we can make columns of light. But what numbers should we use? The 6,4,2,5,3 from the game in the bookshelf should work. DING! Our reward for Extreme Smartosity is... a screwdriver and a salt shaker. That's OK, I didn't really need cash anyways.
I think we're out of things to do in the kitchen. Let's go to the dining room!
**Dining Room**
Table:
A newspaper! All our dreams have been answered. WHAT? NO COMICS SECTION???
Clock:
The bottom is locked, and the top is missing a knob. Does anything in this place actually work???
We're ready to put this puppy to bed. And after the puppy's asleep, let's solve some puzzles. Back to the main room!
**Main Room, Redux**
Piano:
The Glorified Clan of Evil Baboon Armpits told me the secret code is GCEBA. Numbering the 7 keys we can actually play, you'd press 5, 1, 3, 7, 6. AAAH!! FLORAL ATTACK! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ...oh, it was just a rose that fell from... well, just work with me here. It's ours now.
Coffee Table:
Our Geometric shapes again. What were they again? Oh yes, X, Triangle, Diamond, Circle. This gives us... a cigar from Target. An old cigar from Target. No accounting for taste, I always say. But it's what we need, oh yes, our pressshusss, we needs it.
Mirrored Niche:
Four colors HAS to be our day-glo neon bar lights. Red, Green, Blue, Yellow. Yessss, finally, things of value. I'll take the ring, and... this old crappy knob. Oh heavens yes, we don't want that trashy rolex or anything.
Fireplace:
Burn, crappy newpaper. Burn! Well, first let's put it in the fireplace and not hold onto it, and then we'll light it with our ever-lit brand cigar. A... a wrench? Ohh, I get it, we can smash the clock with it! And then those bar lights. Muahaha! Hm. It appears we have to be more subtle on the clock, let's try the screwdriver. Stuck at 10:10, huh? Ever notice the hands always point EXACTLY to the numbers? I mean, the hour hand should.... you know, I'll just save this for another time. Moving on. There was something else we needed, something greem with a light green stripe in it.... any ideas? While I'm thinking, I'm going to idly slash this innocent plant with our kitchen knife. A leaf! Oh yeah, everything's coming together now.
**Dining Room, The Revenge**
Clock:
We smash the clock with the monkey wrench... *sigh* FINE, we put the knob on the face and it sticks there magically, allowing us to open the glass of the face. Now we need to set the hands, any ideas? Anyone? Bueller? How about 10:10? Too easy, you say? Fine, do it anyways, I'm not paying you to sit around and complain. Ahh, the sweet chimes of puzzled-solvedness. zoom out, open the bottom of the clock, and grab the chrome frisbee as our trophy for cleverness under duress.
**The End**
Aww. Don't be sad. All things come to an end. Except the buffet at that 24-hour chinese place. But they won't let me in there any more. What were we talking about? Oh yes, this escape the luby roft thing. Go back to the door, open the box, and see all the ingredients for the key. Drop in the bottle, cigar, leaf, pendulum, ring, rose, shaker, and wrench. Shake well, strain into a tumbler over ice. Seriously, did we need THOSE ten items, or would any ten have done? We'll never know now. Go on, fly away, enjoy the sweet, sweet freedom awaiting you. Feel free to play again, but this time pretend one of the items isn't in its place. Hours of fun!
Thank you for reading all this. If you haven't, you should, you don't want to see me cry. Do you?
Posted by: Werebear
|
July 20, 2011 2:33 AM
Ruby Loft Escape Walkthrough
General Information
There is one color-based puzzle, so this walkthrough will contain directions for the colorblind.
There are 20 rubies in the room. The walkthrough will list them all.
Everything can be solved with observation and a little perseverance. Look closely at the scenery.
Also watch for the changing cursor, it can be a clue as to where to use items as well as where to find them.
There is only one way out.
Good luck!
Exploration
You begin facing the loft (you will always face the loft). Look closely at the bottom left of the screen. There are two stairs going up to an arch, which is the dining room.
On those stairs in the lower left corner is a ruby, take it (ruby 1).
Click on the left green chair for a close up.
Once the chair is in a close up, click on the red pillow to lift it and get a ruby (ruby 2).
Just to the right of the chair is an end table with a box, a lamp, and an ashtray on it. Click on the table for a close up.
Once the table is in close up you will see that there are two ashtrays. The one on the left has a ruby (ruby 3) and the one on the right has a lit cigar. Take both objects.
Click on the wooden box for a close up.
Looks like we need a four digit code that uses symbols. Note the symbol shapes (triangle, X, circle, diamond, and square).
Back up.
There is a coffee table in front of the chairs, click on it for a close up.
What you'll get is a close up of the chess board on the table. Notice the ruby sitting on the board? Take it (ruby 4).
Hey, there's a way to win this game real quick! Click on the brown rook (the far left piece) to move it forward. Checkmate! You won!
Take the white King chess piece and back up.
There is a fireplace to the right of the chairs/coffee table (on the right wall). Click on the fireplace for a close up.
Notice the ruby in the right alcove housing the large gray vase. Take it (ruby 5).
Note that the cursor changes over the firewood (nice day for a fire) and over the plant on the left (this plant is all leaves).
If you click on the far left candle (the tall thin one) you can take it. Do so.
Click on the mantel for a close up.
There's a mantel clock here, but the cover is dirty and stuck. There is also a ruby to the right of the clock, take it (ruby 6).
Back up twice to the long view.
Click on the piano for a close up.
Here you will find two rubies, one sitting on the sheet music on the piano (ruby 7) and one in the potted plant to the right (ruby 8).
Click on the piano keys for a close up.
On the keys you will find another ruby (ruby 9).
Also note that you can "play" the keys for one octave from middle C.
Back up twice.
Just to the left of the piano is the door out. Click on it for a close up.
Yep, it's locked.
Just to the left of the door is a small wooden box mounted on the wall, click on it for a close up.
Once you have the box in close up you will see a ruby sitting on one of the door hinges (ruby 10).
Click on the top of the box to open it. Notice the panel above the box suddenly has a lot of pictures on it. A clue!
Back up twice.
To the left of the door is a mirrored alcove with shelves full of vases. Click on the alcove for a close up.
The close up takes you to a wooden box with a 4 digit color code. To the right of the box is a ruby (ruby 11).
Back up.
Click on the arch area to the left where the two stairs are for a close up.
Congratulations, you've found the dining room! There is a ruby and a newspaper on the table, take them both (ruby 12).
There is a grandfather clock in the right corner of the dining room, click on it for a close up.
On the base of the clock is another ruby (ruby 13).
Click on the clock face and you will see that the knob to open the glass is missing.
Back up once.
Click on the cabinet door of the clock (where the pendulum is) and you will find it locked.
Notice that you can see the kitchen to the right of the clock.
Back up twice to the main view.
Between the arched area (dining room) and the mirrored alcove is a row of wooden chairs at a counter. Click on the chairs for a close up.
Looks like we've found the kitchen. Notice the ruby on the counter where the chairs are (ruby 14).
If you click on the light fixtures above the counter you will find that one of them is missing a bulb.
Click on the stove for a close up.
There are some objects you can take here, one of the bottles on the counter to the left of the stove, and one of the knives to the right of the stove. There is also a ruby on the right counter (ruby 15).
You can click on the oven knobs and they will cause part of the tile backsplash to light up. A puzzle! But we don't have a clue to solving it right now.
Back up once.
Click on the refrigerator for a close up.
On the counter to the left of the fridge (left of the coffee machine) is another ruby (ruby 16).
Note the colored alphabet magnets on the fridge. They spell out GCEBA. Those letters look familiar...
Back up twice to the long view.
On the second floor, above the mirrored alcove and the door, is a large bookcase, click on it for a close up.
On the left side of the bookcase, middle row, is a clickable area in the middle of the books. Find the area by hovering your cursor and click for a close up.
The open book reveals not only a ruby (ruby 17) but also a guide to the names of piano keys. This might come in handy...
Close the book and hover your cursor over the bottom left shelf to find another clickable area in the books. Click on it for a close up.
This book has sheet music and another ruby (ruby 18).
Close the book and hover your mouse over the upper right shelf books to find the clickable area.
This book has another ruby in it (ruby 19).
Close the book.
On the middle right shelf is some sort of wooden object between the books, click on it for a close up.
Looks like an old Towers of Hanoi game, but we can't move the rings. Notice the ruby on top of the books on the right (ruby 20).
Back up twice.
Time to solve some puzzles!
The Symbol Box
Click on the wooden chairs on the left (leading to the kitchen).
Look closely at those chairs. Do you see some familiar symbols?
Note the symbols and back up.
Now click on the small end table between the two green chairs for a close up.
Once at the table close up click on the wooden box. We need a four digit symbol code to open this one.
The symbols are on the backs of the wooden chairs at the counter that leads to the kitchen.
From left to right: X, triangle, diamond, circle.
Once you enter the code notice that the little light to the right of the code changes from red to green.
Back up from the close up of the code then click on the top of the box to open it.
Have a cigar! Then back up.
The Color Code Box
Click on the bookshelves on the second floor for a close up.
Notice that your cursor changes to a hand on the middle light fixture.
Click on the fixture and you will get a light bulb!
Back up, then click on the wooden chairs on the left leading to the kitchen.
Use the light bulb on the light fixtures above the cabinet (remember, they are missing a bulb).
Okay, now the fixtures are lit up in colors!
Back up.
Click on the mirrored alcove to the left of the door for a close up.
Click on the wooden box for a close up of the code key.
We need a four color code here. Didn't we just get one from the light fixtures?
The code here is the light fixtures above the counter, from left to right: red, green, blue, yellow.
For the colorblind: Click the left button three times, the next button twice, the third button 4 times, and the last (right) button twice.
Once the little light on the right of the code lock turns green, back up from the close up of the code lock.
Click on the top of the box to open it and take the knob (far right compartment) and the ring (second from the left compartment).
Back up.
The Piano
Click on the piano for a close up, then click again on the keys for another close up.
Do you remember the book upstairs that showed which keys are which? If you start from the first key on the left that you can depress, that is middle C.
From there it goes (to the right) C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
Do those letters look familiar?
Remember the magnets on the fridge?
Those magnets were musical notes, G, C, E, B, A.
Play those notes in that order (5th from the left key, first left key, third from the left key, 7th from the left key, 6th from the left key).
Once you play the proper tune a red rose will drop down on the keyboard. Take it and back up twice.
The Kitchen Stove/Backsplash
Click on the wooden chairs on the left for a close up, then click on the stove for a close up.
Remember that the stove knobs make the backsplash light up, each turn (click) making a column of light go up higher.
Where could we have seen a pattern to recreate with this?
Remember the wooden Towers of Hanoi game on the bookshelf on the second floor?
On each peg were a different number of rings. Each of those rings is one space on the backsplash.
Count the rings on each peg, then go back to the stove.
Starting at the left, click each knob the number of times needed to raise the lights to match the Towers of Hanoi game.
Left knob: 6 clicks, next knob 4 clicks, next knob 2 clicks, next knob 5 clicks, and the last (right) knob 3 clicks.
If you enter the code correctly the backsplash will slide down revealing a salt shaker and a screwdriver. Take them and back up twice.
The Clocks
Click on the fireplace for a close up, then click on the mantel for a close up on the clock.
Use the screwdriver on the clock face cover to open it.
Note the time (10:10) and back up twice.
Now click on the dining area (on the left), then click on the grandfather clock for a close up.
Click on the face of the clock to get even closer, and use the knob on the face of the clock to open the glass.
Now set the time to 10:10 by clicking on the small and large hands. When the correct time is set the clock will chime.
Back up once, then click on the glass door covering the clock's pendulum. It should now open.
Take the pendulum weight (the big silver disk hanging at the bottom of the pendulum) and back up twice.
Getting Out
Click on the door out for a close up, then click on the box on the wall to the left of the door for a close up.
Click on the top of the box to open it and look closely at the pictures on the panel above.
These pictures show a bottle, a candle, a cigar, a chess piece, a leaf, a silver disk, a ring, a rose, a salt shaker, and a wrench.
Looks like we have all but 2 items. We probably need them all to escape.
Back up twice and click on the fireplace for a close up.
Note the plant to the left of the fireplace, which seems to be all leaves.
Use the knife on the plant to cut off a leaf. One object to go!
Maybe we need to start a fire?
Use the newspaper on the wood in the fireplace.
Use the lit cigar on the newspaper to start the fire.
Once the fire burns down you will see the wrench. Take it and back up.
Click on the door, then click on the box, then click on the top of the box to open it.
Drop in all 10 items (their pictures will turn solid green on the panel as they go in) into the open box.
Once all items are in the door will unlock.
Back up once.
Click on the door once to open and again to escape.
Enjoy the scenery!
Posted by: grinnyp
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July 20, 2011 3:14 AM