Welcome to the Hotel Exotica

Started by Baron, Sat 21/03/2015 02:01:18

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Baron

I'm working on speed drawing for 10-20 minutes a day, as a way to improve my art and to get warmed up for drawing something I might actually use in my current project.  But I got to thinking, why squander all my rubbish art on my own poor eyes alone? :=  So I thought I might have a stab at resurrecting our interactive fiction game, just for kicks and giggles.  So here's how it will work: I will try to update the game every night with a piece of game art that takes only 10-20 minutes to draw, as well as some explanatory text.  If you haven't participated in one of these games before, here's how it works: you submit commands via text-parser-style to see if you can beat my game.  Please precede your commands with the >> symbols so that I know what your command is.  So post something like:

>>eat rotten sandwich, but don't barf until you're right in front of the mayor

...and then see what happens in the game.  Let's begin:



Welcome to the Hotel Exotica stars Jimmy Wag, a fiery yet diminutive private investigator, and his partner Larry Coffstopsky, a blind eccentric with the superhuman ability to track down anyone in the world by smell alone.  Larry is "The Finder" and Jimmy is "The Seeker" of Find & Seek PI, a firm that picks up where official law authorities leave off.  Now, in the damp of a late autumn evening, they have tracked their quarry, a runaway teenager, to the Hotel Exotica, a seedy establishment on the wrong side of the tracks.



You are carrying: a loaded revolver, three spare bullets, half a ham sandwich, case notes, and a wallet.

Larry confirms that this is the place.  The front entrance is just to the north, while a dark and scary alley lies to the east.  The street appears to be deserted despite -or perhaps because of- the early hour.  Now what?

Gurok

#1
>>Put the case notes in the ham sandwich and offer it to Larry.
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Baron



Larry gobbles up the ham sandwich, case notes and all! :shocked:  Now you're just going to have to muddle by as best you can with good old-fashioned memory!

Wyz

Love this!

Well I'm going to suggest what every self respecting adventure gamer would do:

>> rummage through the trash can

;)
Life is like an adventure without the pixel hunts.

Baron



Due to issues of scale (both stature and artistic), it is Larry who is tasked with the garbage can rummaging.  He paws his way through the bin with all the stealth and poise of an autistic raccoon.  After several stomach complaints and a lot of false-positives, Larry at last seizes upon three potentially useful items: a woman's earring, a partially used match-book, and what appear to be a set of regurgitated case notes.

Gurok

#5
>>Use a match to set the bin on fire, then slide the bin into the Hotel Exotica (for a dramatic entrance).
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Mandle

Wait no!!!

>>Get the case notes first. This should make a disgusting piece-the-notes-back-together puzzle (laugh)

Gurok

Oh yeah, sorry. I meant fetch all of the things from the bin first. :D
[img]http://7d4iqnx.gif;rWRLUuw.gi

Baron



Being an experienced adventurer as well as a qualified private investigator, Larry assuredly pockets all the useful items that he finds.  After he squanders several matches trying to light the pavement on fire, however, Jimmy finally seizes the inventory for himself.  Using the very last match, he sets the garbage can ablaze.  Now it is just a matter of where to push it: to the north towards the main entrance, or to the east into the dark alley.

Mandle

Quote from: Gurok on Sat 21/03/2015 03:57:02
>>Use a match to set the bin on fire, then slide the bin into the Hotel Exotica (for a dramatic entrance).

So I guess we slide it to the entrance...

monkey424

Ha! Good work Baron. Great to see your absurdist pulp noir characters brought to life again through this medium. I'm still waiting for the Tarantino version. 8-)

Well, I was going to suggest pushing the flaming barrel into the alley but Mandle's idea of pushing it to the front entrance works just as well. But what about security?
    

Mandle

Quote from: monkey424 on Sat 21/03/2015 23:06:53
Ha! Good work Baron. Great to see your absurdist pulp noir characters brought to life again through this medium. I'm still waiting for the Tarantino version. 8-)

Well, I was going to suggest pushing the flaming barrel into the alley but Mandle's idea of pushing it to the front entrance works just as well. But what about security?

Well, actually Gurok kinda said it. I would vote for the alley actually. Which brings up a good point: Is it one action per post?

Like if I were to post:

">>Eat the sandwhich and then climb the ladder. If there is a way inside then go inside. If I see something to open in the room then open it. If I find something inside then take it. Finally search everywhere before exiting the room."

It's going to start getting ridiculous. So yeah: what's the rule, Baron?

If it is one action per post then:

>>Push the burning trashcan into the alley

Baron



A flaming garbage can dramatically announces its arrival at the main entrance to the Hotel Exotica.  The patrons, or employees, or ...er, contract workers, seem unimpressed by the flair of your flare, suggesting that odd occurrences are the norm at this establishment.

Quote from: Mandle on Sat 21/03/2015 23:15:22
It's going to start getting ridiculous. So yeah: what's the rule, Baron?

It's going to start getting ridiculous?  This is the Rumpus Room, my friend, where just about anything goes as long as you keep your pants on.  I as game designer will determine which actions register, which are decipherable, and which are just plain nonsense.  In general I guess I'd be inclined to do multiple actions all at once if they were related (like LOOK in something and then TAKE whatever you find), just to speed up the gameplay.

monkey424

Well, it looks like that sub-plot has come to a bit of a dead end.

>> Climb ladder to roof.
    

Baron



Sensing that your presence may have been detected, you quickly (and gracefully) scurry up the fire escape.



At the first landing, you discover three windows, all of them secured against the cool of the autumn chill.  The western-most window and the middle window both have their shades drawn, although squinting carefully you can just make out the shapes of the occupants within.  The eastern-most window is unglazed; instead, a few planks keep it closed to the likes of prowlers and other vagrants.

MiteWiseacreLives!


Frodo

Oh, I love this kind of game  :grin:

And your drawings are wonderful, Baron  :cheesy:



QuoteLarry at last seizes upon three potentially useful items: a woman's earring, a partially used match-book, and what appear to be a set of regurgitated case notes.

This might be a good time to find out more about our little runaway.  So...

>> Read case notes 




AprilSkies

The characters design is brilliant!
I already thought that when I played blue lobe inc.
and this confirm it!

www.apemarina.altervista.org

Cassiebsg

>> Use blind cane to remove planks on the right window.

(wonder why nobody opened that plastic bag laying down there by the trash can...)
There are those who believe that life here began out there...

Baron



Jimmy attempts to pry open the planks with Larry's cane while trying to decipher the partially digested case notes.  Apparently blind-canes are flimsy things, and he makes no headway on the window, but he can just about make out a few of the details of the case.  Apparently they are tracking down Almufwnth Mcrmgnck, a teenager who has run away from a strict middle-class home to live life on the wild side.  Unfortunately the kid's picture has been marred beyond recognition by Larry's stomach acid, and specific details like height, weight, eye-colour and gender are now indecipherable in the notes.

Larry, meanwhile, picks up the unmistakable odour of gin and candy, mixed with a tinge of pigeon excrement.  While mildly intoxicating, he is sad to report that the smell does not match the runaway you are tracking.

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