Walkthrough for Sandcastle Master by EldritchRenaissanceCake
written by Andrew Schultz
This is a neat game with fun retro ASCII-ish graphics. It was made for the 2021 Text Adventure
Literacy Project jam where it placed sixth of ten entries. It was overall a fun competition.
Sandcastle Master has tutorial mode, which shows you how to get one treasure. Tutorial mode is more
on-rails than regular mode. With the tutorial, you are forced to the west to get the first treasure
there and return. Without it, you need to build your sandcastle.
It actually doesn't matter in terms of efficiency. You still have to take a step to the side of
the beach or the sandhills and go to the Rocky Bank.
You can't go anywhere at first. The tutorial will tell you what to do. Dad wants to build a
sandcastle with you, and then you can walk around.
>EXAMINE BAG
>TAKE BUCKET
>>I
This is for the tutorial.
>BUILD CASTLE
Save four keystrokes over "SANDCASTLE," why not?
Dad gives you a hat. You need to wear it before going anywhere.
>WEAR HAT
>>CHECK MAP
You can see a map of the game.
>DROP BUCKET
You don't need it any more. In fact, to go south, you need as little in your inventory as
possible.
You're forced west by the tutorial. You might as well get the simplest treasure first if
you're not in tutorial mode.
>W
>TALK LADY
>X GROUND
>GET GLASSES
>GIVE GLASSES
You get a seashell. That's the first treasure. But you won't get points until you drop it
back by the sandcastle.
You can only go back east in tutorial mode. If you're not in tutorial mode, going north gets
another treasure, but you'll still have to go back later.
>E
>DROP SEASHELL
Hooray! One treasure down, four to go.
>E
>GET STICK
This will be useful later.
>X NET
>TALK TEENS
Ah, information! Without talking to the teens, you'll be unable to know what to look for.
>>SLIDE
Why not?
>N
>>X POND
>>X FROGS
>>TALK KID
The kid wants to see frogs. You can show them in any order. Note that the up-arrow can save a lot of
keystrokes here, and the "1-2-3" becomes 1-2 and not 2-3, which saves a bit more effort.
You can churn through the below.
>CATCH FROG
>1
>SHOW FROG
>DROP FROG
>CATCH FROG
>1
>SHOW FROG
>DROP FROG
>CATCH FROG
>1
>SHOW FROG
This gets you a second treasure, a snail shell! But you have one thing to do before moving on. Be
nice to animals!
>DROP FROG
>W
>W
>X WILLOWS
>GET TWIG
>GET LEAF
>>X TWIG
>>X LEAF
>BUILD FLAG
Treasure #3! But there's a bit more to do here.
>X SANDHILLS
If you hadn't talked to the teens, you'd have nothing to look for.
>VOLLEYBALL
You are kicked to the canteen, which saves a turn. Also, you are thirsty. So that costs a turn.
>DRINK WATER
Back to the teens.
>E
>S
>GIVE VOLLEYBALL
Pretty pebbles! Treasure #4!
>W
>DROP SNAIL
Kind of annoying disambiguation. SNAIL SHELL and SHELL don't work. I am nitpicking.
>DROP FLAG
>DROP PEBBLES
Here's where you use the driftwood.
>S
>GET SEAWEED
>N
>DROP SEAWEED
And you win!
