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The Boyd File - hints needed for this private eye adventure

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:53 pm
by darius
Hi everybody!

I'm new here so please bear with me if I violate any written or unwritten rules in this forum.

Now to the point. I'm playing a Spectrum game called The Boyd File which is in the similar vein to Borrowed Time and The Big Sleaze. As I haven't found any hints or solutions on the net I'm wondering if anybody here has played it and can give me a hint or two.

For starters, how do I open the deposit box in the post office? It has a keyhole and a dial. I think I have the key but need to manipulate the dial too, I assume. Any (subtle) hints?

If nobody here has played The Boyd File yet, perhaps somebody would like to play it together with me? If you like "private eye" games you should really give this one a try.

Best regards,
Darius

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:33 am
by terri
I think I tried this once, but couldn't get out of the chair.

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:41 am
by darius
Thanks for the reply!

I'm not sure whether this is the same game since I haven't come across any chair to get out of (yet?). I've been around in quite a few locations in the city actually.

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:00 am
by terri
Sorry - wrong game. That was another private-eye game where I couldn't get out of the chair.

To get the dial open, you need to examine the chess pieces. Try all the pieces on a chessboard - one of them is the correct one.

My stuck places:
How to get the shining object out of the chimney?

How to become tall enough in the railway carriage?

How to get the hat off the donkey?

I presume that the blanket and moustache are needed to become a Mexican at the studio gates. Though apparently you need other things too. Like maybe the straw hat?

Am not sure what the paper bag is good for, nor the phone.

boyd file

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:03 pm
by Doreen B
Try these:

REACH UP CHIMNEY

GIVE SOME SUGAR TO THE DONKEY (try counter)

STAND ON DISPENSER IN TRAIN

Doreen

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:13 am
by darius
Terri, thanks for the help. I'll try out your tip and get back as soon as I solve more.

One more thing, are there any ways to avoid to blatantly give out spoilers in this forum. I could not avoid to read Doreen's "hints" to Terri, which might spoil the game for me if it turns out that I was able to solve some problems in the game without having to give them a try. Unfortunately I'm that picky about spoilers, especially for games I enjoy. :(

(A long time ago in another forum we used this way to "hide" hints: XTXHXIXSXIXSXAXHXIXNXTX. It says "This is a hint" and it's not easy to read accidentally.)

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:26 am
by terri
Most often many folks provide what I call "obscure" hints (Jacob being one of those folks - very obscure in some cases - right JG?).

However, speaking for me (and Doreen as well I hope), by the time we write for help, we have been playing the game for some time. Me, I am at the end of my rope usually, and very vague hints just frustrate me further. Many of the games require very specific vocabulary and you can proceed no further when you are that stuck!!!

So just let us know how "obscure" you want the hints to be. Doreen was replying to my request, and I have asked her often enough that she knows when I need a small "nudge" or when I will use some choice words (in a pm) if she is not specific enough.

This BTW, is by means of an explanation, not an excuse. For example, since I don't yet have any sugar, this does not spoil the game for me (I was looking for carrots to give to the horse...). Logic, most of us have, it's the verbs that are my downfall.

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:54 am
by darius
I understand that she was only helping you out and that you don't mind her spelling it out for you but, nevertheless, there was no way I could avoid to read the clear solutions to which I haven't even seen the problems. They will not be hard to solve when I encounter them the first time in the game.

This can't be the first time here this has happened. What do you do in this forum in order to avoid spoiling the gaming experience for each other?

How was the suggestion of hiding blatant hints in X's like I showed in my last message by the way?

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:19 am
by terri
This was an OK idea.

You could also write the clues blackwards. Or scramble them.

If people are playing with you, I admit it is harder not to spoil it. But if many people are stuck in the same place and we have one brilliant wizard among us, (s)he helps everyone get over the hurdle.

Follow along with the threads for past games, and you will see how it goes. If someone lists the objects they have, does that not give you a clue that you didn't ask for?

So if I ask now what to do at a particular location or what is needed to perform a particular action, will that spoil things for you?

Doreen has obviously played and finished the game. So I will ask her for a private message to help me where I am stuck. We will try not to spoil the game for you. You can keep posting and anyone with a hint will give you one. Sound fair?

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:58 am
by darius
Thanks for the kind reply.

Those are good suggestions to hide spoilers you gave. The reason we used the X's is that they are easy to use. First you write the spoilers as usual, like this:
THIS IS A CLUE
HERE IS ANOTHER ONE
Then you press caps-lock and fill up with X's between every character:
XTXHXIXSXIXSXAXCXLXUXEX
XHXEXRXEXIXSXAXNXOXTXHXEXRXOXNXEX
Very easy to write and virtually impossible to read accidentally.

I don't dare looking in the older threads if everything is spelled out. ;)

To be honest many things could be considered a spoiler, but I think there is a distinction between someone helping out by asking some subtle questions, like:
"Do you have the pea?" and "Have you used the feather?"

instead of just telling:
TICKLE NOSE WITH FEATHER
SNEEZE
GET PEA
CLEAN PEA

The first case are hints, second case blatant spoilers. (Please note that I completely made up the example.)

Old time adventure games are about solving puzzles and handing out hints is a delicate situation and should be treated as one. There's a thin line between helping each other in an open forum and spoiling the game for many fellow adventurers when you help someone out carelessly.

What reason is there left to play text adventures if you already know the answers to the puzzles/problems?

boyd file

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:28 pm
by Doreen B
I am so sorry to have caused this trouble by publishing straight hints.

I will not do it again.

Doreen

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 12:00 am
by terri
If you like hints Darius, try some of the games where hints are available. Some of them are mine. Occasionally I have written out words in CAPITALS which is of course, a blatant spoiler. But that is because you could search hours for the correct verb.

I'll have to think of creative ways of giving what I "obscure" hints :P

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:00 am
by Alastair
This is a little test with respect to clue giving.

FOR THIS PART THE TEXT COLOUR HAS BEEN SET TO WHITE.

If this works then the hidden text will either be invisible or very difficult to see. Select all the text in this post to see the message.

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:02 am
by Alastair
I am repeating the test to see what it looks like on a blue background.

This is a little test with respect to clue giving.

FOR THIS PART THE TEXT COLOUR HAS BEEN SET TO WHITE.

If this works then the hidden text will either be invisible or very difficult to see. Select all the text in this post to see the message.

OK folks, tell me what you think.

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:59 am
by terri
Crumb Alastair, I can barely see it unless I highlight it. Don't know whether I would have ever done that had I not known it was there.

Neat idea though. For those with good vision.

As for me, I have finished the game with Doreen's help, and am now in a position to give "obscure" clues (just like Jacob did when we were playing that Ulysses game, heheh). There are still challenges ahead, Darius.

Now, while you are here Alistair, how about joining Doreen and me for Lone Brave. We need your expertise.

Plus I have lots more unfinished things. The pile continues to grow - never shrinking. Gosh, even snow melts eventually, but not my stack.