Page 1 of 1
Inmate
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:22 am
by Amby
Anyone care to take a shot at this Apple II game that has eluded me for years? Available for download from Asimov at
ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II ... re/inmate/ or playable online at VirtualApple at
http://www.virtualapple.org/inmatedisk.html
I'm particularly interested in any help on how to interact with/speak to the various characters I keep running into since every time I pick up something they take great offense and take it back...
Re: Inmate
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:02 am
by Juan
That game has a pretty complex parser. In order for the characters to let you have some of the items you need to ask them the right way. For example, if you go to Dr. Mark Sheffield and you want the key he has, you need to tell him:
Tell Mark "May I borrow the key?"
He will give it to you. But if instead you tell him:
Tell Mark "Give me the key"
He will let you know that he is not a servant!
If you have Cider Press you can read gameplay tips in the "Instructions" text file.
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:39 pm
by Alastair
I don't have Cider Press, but by using Sneeze and "printing" the Instructions to a text file and opening that text file in WordPad I found the following (as it is copy and pasted it may contain formatting codes, though I have added bold type where those formatting codes appear to suggest bold):
Inmate Instructions
HARDWARE
Inmate should run on any Apple ][ or clone with 64K RAM and one
5 1/4" disk drive. (BUG: This release works only when the disk drive
is in slot 6.) To copy Inmate, you must copy the entire disk.
THE ADVENTURE
"Well, that seems to be the problem, doesn't it: your insistence
that this is a computer game. But there's no adventure here. Really.
You're totally safe. So just relax, and cooperate..."
Dr. Mark Sheffield
You awake, and find yourself in The Institute. This does not
surprise you; you have been here as long as you can remember. Dr.
Sheffield says you're not ready for the outside world. He must be
right. Yet you don't think you're getting better. If anything, you're
getting worse. Or are you? If only you could remember...
Sometimes you feel that some inner voice, hidden deep inside you,
is screaming in terror. Something is buried in your mind. Perhaps Dr.
Sheffield is trying to bring it to light. Perhaps he wants to
extinguish it.
Perhaps you should get out of this place...
Inmate differs from other adventures in that it is more
important to piece objects, events, and conversations together to
figure out what is going on than to explore or manipulate objects.
INPUT
The part of a program which interprets input is known as the
parser. Inmate's parser will accept the following basic sentence
patterns (parentheses surround optional elements):
1. Verb
2. Verb Place
3. Verb (Possessive) Object(s) (EXCEPT Object(s)) (Preposition
Destination)
All these forms may be followed by an instrument, i.e. OPEN THE DOOR
WITH THE KEY.
Some verbs may be divided into two parts: PICK THE BOX UP.
Some other patterns can be parsed because they are first transformed
into one of the above forms. For example, TAKE A PICTURE OF THE PLANT
is seen as PHOTOGRAPH THE PLANT.
Here are examples of the above patterns:
1. I [Inventory]
2. Look in the flashlight.
2. Enter the closet.
3. Put the tape which is on top of the desk in the tape player.
3. Tell Ed "Give me the little black key."
3. Pick 2 of the notes up.
3. Turn off the faucet and the flashlight.
3. Put everything in the shelf but the blue book and the key on the
desk.
3. Clean the clean clothes with water. [Some words can mean different
things depending on their use in the sentence.]
You can be spartan if you like:
>w
>go bed
>exam all
If you specify a verb but not an object or instrument, and
there is only one of each available to which that verb applies,
Inmate will assume it:
>Get
(digital watch)
>Attack
(Mark)
(with wooden bar) [You must be carrying the bar.]
Some commands that won't work are:
>Get everything inside the dresser.
>Talk to Ed.
>Get and read the book.
>Why is it locked? [The parser doesn't answer questions.]
>Unlock the door.
With what?
>with key
I don't understand that sentence.
[The parser doesn't combine two sentences into one.]
Entering commands:
Type your commands at the >, in upper or lowercase. Use the
back-arrow to move back over the line, and delete or ctrl-D to delete
characters.
You may enter punctuation; except for " and ? it is filtered out.
If you have not pressed any keys since the last command, Ctrl-B
will place the last command on the input line, where you can change it
or just press return. AGAIN will not do it.
You may only enter one command per line; GET BOTTLE AND GO NORTH
won't.
Commas are ignored. Type GET A AND B AND C rather than GET A, B,
AND C.
Enter numbers in decimal: 10, not TEN.
Inmate stores all the keys you press while it's busy, so you
can keep typing. If you're fast enough, you can type a few moves
ahead.
ALL refers either to all visible objects in the room, or all
objects you are carrying, depending on the verb and whether anything is
in the room.
IT or THEM always refer to the last single object. This includes
single plural objects (i.e. marbles). If you used multiple objects, IT
or THEM won't work.
The meaning of a sentence depends on the context. So if you type
"PUT THE BALL IN THE BOX" once, Inmate will put the ball in the box.
If you type it again, Inmate says, "You must give a destination!"
This is because THE BALL IN THE BOX is then interpreted as THE BALL
WHICH IS IN THE BOX.
If Inmate doesn't understand a sentence you think it should,
try the DEBUG command. Then each sentence will be printed as the
computer sees it. Try your command again and you may see why the
computer is confused. Type NODEBUG to exit this mode.
If Inmate wrongly interprets an ambiguous sentence, try more
specific words. For example, if it is confused by IN, try INTO to
indicate motion or FROM to indicate location.
Error messages:
I don't see any here! : One of the objects you mentioned is not
in the room.
You must give a destination! : The verb requires an object and a
destination: PUT BALL IN CLOSET, not just PUT BALL.
You can't use that destination : Commands like ATTACH FLASHBULB
TO LIBRARIAN just don't cut it.
Give only one place : You gave more than one destination (i.e.
PUT BALLS IN CLOSET AND BOX).
Try a different preposition : You'll see this if you try to GIVE
a ON b, LOOK TO x, POUR y THROUGH z, or a number of other silly things.
That verb needs 2 parts! : You entered only the root of a split
verb (i.e. TURN FAUCET instead of TURN FAUCET ON or OFF).
With what? : The verb you used needs an instrument. Type in the
whole sentence again plus a WITH <Instrument>.
Tell me what to put it in : You tried to GET a liquid.
There's another liquid in it : While water can be added to water,
you cannot mix two different liquids.
CONVERSATION
To talk to characters, you must put your sentence in quotes:
Ask Ed "May I please borrow your camera?"
Say "Hi there!" to Dr. Sheffield.
Tell Mark "You're crazy!"
You may give them commands of the same type you can enter. Of
course, they might not care to follow them. You may also say things
which the command parser doesn't understand. Inmate doesn't even
have to know all the words within quotes. Punctuation is unimportant
except for question marks. And remember it is rude to break off a
conversation without at least a goodbye.
USEFUL COMMANDS
DEBUG/NODEBUG: Debug mode prints the sentence after transformation,
the augmented transition network (ATN) parsing, any assumptions or
ellipsis, and some of the results of a successful parse. (You don't
need to understand this.)
ELLIPSIS/NOELLIPSIS: Ellipsis tries to substitute an unparsable input
into the last successfully parsed sentence. For example, if you type
GET BAR and then EXAMINE, ellipsis will substitute EXAMINE for GET and
come up with EXAMINE BAR. If you find this bothersome, turn it off
with NOELL. It is normally on. (You don't need to understand this,
either.)
END,RESTART,QUIT: Quits the game.
FAST/SLOW: Speeds up/slows down the game clock by a factor of 2. With
repeated use of FAST you can run the game clock up to 128 times as
fast. Beware - some events can only be controlled at normal speed.
Otherwise they will be over before you can react.
HELP,HINT: Tries to provide a useful clue for your situation.
LOAD,RESTORE,RESUME: Load a saved game from disk.
LOWERCASE: Use this if Inmate does not recognize your computer as
having lowercase.
PRINT ON/OFF: This won't print a transcript of the game, but it will
let you get a printout of the vocabulary list when used with VOCAB if
your printer is in slot 1.
SAVE: Save a game to disk. You can use the INMATE disk (which will
give you a menu of 12 UNUSED games), or a blank initialized disk (which
will have a blank menu). Don't save any files to the disk you use.
VOCAB: Prints all words known to Inmate. Some of them have no
relation to the game and are only used for conversation.
HELPFUL HINTS
Examine everything - even things you cannot see but are told
about while examining other objects.
In Inmate, a door is a solid object. You cannot go through it.
To use a door, open it. A new direction will then appear under
"Obvious Exits".
Characters will in general only say useful things if you ask them
about something that is in or happens in the game.
If you get a strange response from the program instead of from
the character you are talking to, it may be that the character
interpreted your statement as a command and tried to follow it.
Beware that the FAST command is only to speed things up when you
are waiting for something. If you experiment in fast mode, some events
will go by before you can respond to them. You cannot finish the game
without going into slow mode occasionally.
If something stumps you, leave it. You may need to do or get
something in another room.
Use the HELP command.
Some puzzles are intentionally misleading. Items do not always
have obvious uses. And don't always try to figure out how to use
something; sometimes you have to try not to use it.
[Me again, I'm sure glad that I didn't type in all that lot!]
Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:11 am
by Amby
Juan and Alastair - thank you both SO much - this information will be very helpful.
At the risk of sounding totally stupid - what are Cider Press and Sneeze? Emulators?
Thanks again.
Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:53 am
by Juan
Amby wrote:Juan and Alastair - thank you both SO much - this information will be very helpful.
At the risk of sounding totally stupid - what are Cider Press and Sneeze? Emulators?
Thanks again.
Cider Press is an editor for Apple II disk images, a great tool. You can download it here:
http://ciderpress.sourceforge.net//
Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:14 pm
by Amby
Cool, thanks for the info on Cider Press.
As for this game - has anyone played it? Mine keeps crashing...
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:17 am
by Juan
Amby wrote:
As for this game - has anyone played it? Mine keeps crashing...
I have played it a bit, not much. Where does it crash?
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:46 am
by Alastair
Sneeze is an Apple II program that allows you to view and manipulate files. Unfortunately I cannot recall where I obtained the (hard) disc image, although I can tell you it's written by Karl Bunker and is part of his "Bunkerware" collection, I believe that the last version is 2.2.
Having looked at the Cider Press page I would suggest using Cider Press rather than running Sneeze through an emulator, though I could mail the program to you if you like (send me a PM with your email address).
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 3:18 am
by Amby
Juan wrote:I have played it a bit, not much. Where does it crash?
In a couple of places, most often when 'exam'ing trapdoors, looking at my watch, and other misc spots. The watch problem is especially troubling since this seems to be a game where things happen at particular times and as my watch seems to have lost track of time...
Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:04 am
by Alastair
No crashes as yet, but I had barely scratched the surface before I was shot by a guard.
I did manage to get a "print out" of the vocabulary though, took a few tries as the text kept disappearing from the print out file. The trick, if you're using AppleWin, is to wait a few seconds after typing PRINT ON then VOCAB, then open "printer.txt" and copy and paste the contents to another file before continuing with playing Inmate.