NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
I was playing an adventure game, when I found myself locked in a cell. I found a sharp pointy object, and a sheet of carboard. I noticed the lock had a key sticking in it from the other side.
I killed myself.
Well no I easily solved the puzzle and groaned a lot.
The offending game was "Da Vinci Code". Don't look at me like that, my mate bought it and I borrowed it off him as he wasn't going to miss it!
So, you got a list of games that innovate here on AGS, but I want to name and shame the games that have had this most cliched of all of cliche puzzles! (Which game ORIGINALLY came up with that anyway?)
Zork and Simon the Sorcerer 1 both have it.
But I think the Zork people might have been the first to put it in game form.
Hugo's House of Horrors 2: Hugo's Mystery Adventure
I played the demo of Post Mortem. It had one puzzle.
Yeah.
Zork: Grand Inquisitor, the last in the series, used it. But I think it was more of a homage than anything else, as Eggie implied.
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon had it as an (alternate?) solution to getting back into the hacker's apartment. Not sure how you'd do it if you forgot to pick up the pencil in the beginning.
I've actually done that puzzle in real life...
However, I will not elaborate...
When I saw this thread I thought you were talking about real life. Well, bah.
*Mr. Hyde feels really, REALLY stupid because he never would have thought of using this method to get himself out of a locked cell.
The worst example is Post Mortem, where you have the key hole & the newspaper but you can only pick up a pencil IF YOU'RE PRETENDING TO BE A JOURNALIST!
If, like me, you pretended to be a policemen, you have to use a different method. I was still able to put the newspaper under the door, but unable to pick up any of the games multiple pencils.
Enraging.
Quote from: Ali on Tue 14/11/2006 18:30:33If, like me, you pretended to be a policemen, you have to use a different method.
"Door, meet hand-cannon." *Boom! Boom! Boom!* Problem solved!
I once shoved the end of a scissors into the keyhole and twisted the whole locking mechanism until the lock disengaged. My parents weren't too happy with how the door ended up (I was pretty young at the time), but it got me in. Does that count?
Yeah, I always preferred "use plastic card to unlock door".
That one has actually helped me in real life.
Three times. Twice on the same door, and once on a different door.
Quote"Door, meet hand-cannon." *Boom! Boom! Boom!* Problem solved!
Doesn't work, as per Mythbusters. (Rifles will, but pistols won't.)
QuoteYeah, I always preferred "use plastic card to unlock door".
That one has actually helped me in real life.
We used to that almost every day at school. The teachers were late getting back to class after lunch, so we let ourselves in.
How about the clothes hanger through the mailbox?
Hmm? Never saw that one. How does it go?
Why not just break the damn door? It's game after all, and 70% of the doors can break easily enough. Maybe have concequences later in the game (like have something stolen...) but never the less, I had to break my door, and then fixed it (small breaking, not something big... really just a whole...) Isn't that realistc?
But indeed Radiant? Hanger? How? (I do have an idea but...)
Spoiler
If the mailbox is ON the door, then you could shape the hanger in such fashion that you could insert it and grab the handle on the inside, right?
Oh, right. Mailbox always reminds me of the Zork-style mailbox. The one outside the white house. Enter command.
Most amusing!
I think an AGS game has done the door-key poking puzzle as well. Can't remember exactly though.
In the end, I ejected the game from my PS2 before finishing it and banished it from entering my disc drive ever again. (Da Vinci Code)
During a CRITICAL scene where I had to run or die, my character decided to not move anywhere off the spot he was on, despite my frantic movement input. (It's not like I was caught on anything, the game put me in a corridor after a cutscene, where I couldn't move, see.)
Oh, and then the game put me waaaaaaaaaaaay back, so I couldn't be doing with it again, and there's no assurance it won't just kill me again. Grr.
I give the game: 42%
Phantasmagoria had that puzzle. Though I'm not sure that game needs any more shame :P
Phantasmagoria was going to come out on the Amiga. If it's bad, then I'd like to think the port-over chaps decided it wasn't worth porting a crummy game over to a dying market. (This was around 1999)
Quote from: Nikolas on Wed 15/11/2006 11:39:04
But indeed Radiant? Hanger? How? (I do have an idea but...)
Yep. Your score is now 42 out of 99 points.
Hey, when Phantasmagoria came out, the puzzle wasn't done to death, it was merely old.
It's funny, on a sort-of-related note, because of that "needs more shame" comment - sometimes it seems like everyone says BAD things and Phantasmagoria, and only BAD things, but in the end everyone seems to have actually ENJOYED playing the game.
I've also seen it in Alone in the Dark 2...
It's also in the Doctor Who game (well, the demo at least) that's currently in production (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=26026.0). But don't let that stop you from trying it out. I still think it's a fun, little demo.
I feel like making a small AGS game where the main character gets locked up in a jail cell at the very start of the game and they find a pen and a piece of paper, and notice a key in the other side of the door. At this point they scream:
"NOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
And from then on the character refuses to unlock the door in that manner based on principle. Haha.
The key technique was used by MacGyver in one of the first episodes of Season One.
Its during the opening gambit where Mac is stealing a map from some bad guys and all the macgyversims involve using the map.Ã, Ã, He slides the map under the door, uses it as a pea shooter, uses it as a sled, conceals a baton inside it, patches up a hot air balloon with it, etc etc.
So even tho the key method was a lazy technique for MacGyver, they innovated nontheless.Ã, I know I was impressed.
As far as AGS games go, I know 5 o' clock used the puzzle. =)
@ Manic : ROFLMAO
I have had the same idea with a story line I wrote, the character was going to find paper pointy object.
Then when you stick it through the keyhole the pen falls out on the other side.
at this point your character is like Yeah "SNAP" and umm he pulls the pointy object back :)