Bad Beer is a Glulx interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2024 by Vivienne Dunstan. It was an entry in IF Comp 2024, placement to be determined.
In this short supernatural mystery, you play as a regular at The Dog and Duck. Jack, the barman and owner, wants you to find out why his beer is tasting rotten. He can't find anything wrongly set up.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
Inside the Pub
> x Jack. x regulars. x glass.
Jack asks you to hand the glass over.
> give glass to Jack. (He fills it.)
> x glass. drink beer. (awful!)
You're now free to explore and find clues to what's wrong.
> s.
Outside the Pub
> x sign. x window.
> n. n.
Behind the Bar
> x taps. x Badger. x Hare. x Ferret.
> x kegs. x shelves.
> w. d.
Down in the Pub's Cellar
> x kegs. x crates.
> move crates. (You acquire a carved figure, but now you can't move.)
> x figure.
> u. (You can't move.)
> u. (Sally flicks the light switch and you climb the steps.)
Bottom of the Stairs
> u. w.
In one of the pub's bedrooms (western)
> x bed. x window. e. s.
In one of the pub's bedrooms (southern)
> x bed. x window. n. d. e. e.
Kitchen
> x June. x Sally.
> ask June about bedroom. ask June about cellar.
> ask June about beer. ask June about strange.
> ask June about Jack.
> ask June about pub. ask June about vicar.
> ask June about kitchen. ask June about fridge.
> x fridge. (It slams on you.)
> x shelves. x pots. x sink. x food.
> show figure to June. show figure to Sally.
> w. s.
Inside the Pub
When you enter here with the figure, Reverend Bottledale gives you some papers about the pub's history.
> x vicar. x papers.
Inside the Pub (past)
> x landlord. x customers.
At this point, the landlord asks a boy, Will, to fetch a plant pot from upstairs. You follow and watch him trip on the stairs with it, falling to his death.
Then the world resets to just before the landlord's request. To save Will from death, you must rush upstairs and bring the pot down the stairs yourself. Once you're back on the ground floor, give the pot to Will.
> n. w. u. s.
In one the pub's bedrooms (past, southern)
> take pot. n. d.
Bottom of the Stairs (past)
Will has just arrived here.
> give pot to Will. (Will takes the pot.)
> z. (Will heads back to the pub.)
> z. z. (The accident didn't happen.)
In a small country churchyard
You're back in the present day, plus a few days.
> x trees. x flowers.
After two turns here, the vicar points out Will's gravestone and comments on his life.
*** The End ***
> afterword
In present day:
In the past:
This is the response to CREDITS:
Inform 10 is the work of Graham Nelson.
Many thanks to my playtesters: Amanda Walker, Jeffrey Elliott, Jkj, Mel Jason, Josh Grams, Martin Dunstan and Nick Marsh.
Um, it's Inform 7, version 10, not Inform 10. Inform 10 doesn't exist yet, and might never exist.
The AFTERWORD, available when the game ends, has more details:
Thank you for playing my game! I hope that you enjoyed it.
I want to thank again my testers (Amanda Walker, Jeffrey Elliott, Jkj, Mel Jason, Josh Grams, Martin Dunstan and Nick Marsh), who spotted so many things, and without whom this game would have been much poorer.
This game came out of an original design written during a short RPG scenario writing course, although I was intentionally thinking of something that might work as parser interactive fiction. It was ages before I pulled out the design again and started coding it.
The main literary inspiration was K.M. Peyton's book A Pattern of Roses. Other inspirations were Helen Cresswell's book Moondial, Dee Cooke's PunyInform game Morris, and British TV series Sapphire & Steel. There are also elements inspired by my husband's home county Somerset, or, as I often like to think of it, Zummerzet.
I am not a great beer drinker myself, but love cider, thanks to my husband's Somerset background. I should probably have coded some bizarre cider names in the game as well, to go along with the beers Honeyed Badger, Golden Hare, and Stinky Ferret!
Thank you again for playing.
There's only two endings: either you saved Will or you didn't. Either way, look at the gravestones to end the game.
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