The City is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 1998 by Sam Barlow. It was an entry in IF Comp 1998 where it took 13th place.
In this odd small game, you play as a man in a featureless room with a video recorder, a tape, and a control. The sole exit leads to a dead end where a suited man is standing. Play the tape, ask the man your questions, and learn what you can about the city.
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.
* This game doesn't use location names.
* WHY, WHERE, WHO, WHAT are now allowed.
* You cannot SAVE or UNDO in this game.
("video room" or "the room")
> x me. i. x control.
> x recorder. x slot. look in it.
> x tape. take it.
> x archway. x walls. x floor. x ceiling.
> out.
(dead end)
> x man.
> man, hi.
> man, who are you. ("I am the Chemist.")
> man, where am I. ("the city")
> man, what is the city.
> man, who am i. ("You are the patient.")
> man, may i leave. ("not my job")
> man, tell me about city. ("don't know")
> ask man about tape. ("instructional")
> ask man about door.
> in.
(video room)
> put tape in slot.
> push red button. (You see a man in grey in a room like yours insert the tape and start it then watch it.)
> watch video. (After watching the video, he says something to the man and is given a small pill. He returns to the room.)
> out.
(dead end)
> ask man about pill. ("Would you like it now?")
> yes. (He gives a yellow pill. "Your prescription.")
> x pill. ("C9446")
Note: The numbers you see on the pills might not match the numbers that I saw, but don't worry about that.
> in.
(video room)
> eat pill.
>> SPACE
You appear to wake in the same place, but the tape is now on the floor again.
> take tape. put it in slot.
> push red. (You watch the grey man take the tape to the dead end and talk to the suited man.)
> z. z. z. z. (Watch the grey man and the suited man interact until the images on the screen stop.)
> push green. take tape.
> out.
(dead end)
> ask man for pill. eat pill.
>> SPACE
(video room)
> take tape. put tape in slot.
> push red. (Takes tape to suited man...)
> z. (They talk, and the grey man gets a pill.)
> touch floor. touch wall.
> touch ceiling. (out of reach)
> out.
(dead end)
> ask man for pill. x pill. ("C9449")
> eat pill.
>> SPACE
(video room)
> take tape. put tape in slot.
> push red. (watch, gets pill)
> out.
(dead end)
> ask man about player. ("watch the tape")
> man, where is the city
> man, why am I here. ("Don't ask me")
> man, why are you here.
> ask man about prescription
> no.
> hit man. g. g. g.
> ask man for pill. x pill. ("C9451")
> in.
> eat pill.
>> SPACE
(video room)
> stand on recorder.
> touch ceiling. (hard but slightly warm)
> push ceiling. (doesn't move)
> search ceiling. (Recess has a small lens.)
> x lens.
> hit lens. (not with your hands)
> hit lens with control. (contoured edges useless)
> stand. push green. take tape.
> stand on recorder.
> hit lens with tape. (some broken glass fall)
> stand. x debris.
> out.
> ask man about lens.
> ask man for pill. x pill. ("C9452")
> in.
> eat pill.
>> SPACE
(video room)
> x lens. (intact)
> x tape. take it.
> stand on recorder.
> look through lens. (wires and machinery seen)
> hit lens with tape.
> look in recess. (cable with pin-prick of light)
> x cable.
> pull cable. g. g. (It's now limp.)
> take cable.
> swing on cable.
The ceiling and you fall.
> look. take control and tape.
> x hole.
> stand on recorder. u.
(upper room)
> x ladder. x disc. (has turnable handle)
> x desk. x panel. (shows static)
> climb ladder. open disc. u.
(outside)
> x discs. d.
(upper room)
> push green. (high beep)
> push red. (low beep)
> u.
(outside)
Note: You don't hear the voices until you try to leave the outside a second time.
> push green. push red.
> d. (A conversation stops you. Someone is telling the Warden that there's a patient on top of the city.)
> listen.
> g. (Patient is P44-35. Your current Chemist is C9454.)
> g. ("Ok. Lets see if we can sort this mess out.")
> g.
A tall elderly man in a huge cloak and a young boy with huge saucer eyes materialize before you.
The man asks you if you know why you're here and if you remember when you first came to the city.
> no.
The man tells the boy, Scribe, to leave. He fades away. The man asks you again if you remember when you first came to the city.
> no.
He forces a pill into your throat and punches you, forcing you to swallow. "Do you remember?"
> no.
Except you say yes. And you do remember.
>> SPACE
You're in front of an oval window. You're almost at the city.
> x window. (friendly young man on other side)
> man, hello. (He gives you a blue entrance pill.)
> x pill. ("TE3432")
> ask man about city.
> ask man about himself.
> eat pill.
A door appears and you enter. But as you enter, you're mind-wiped.
>> SPACE
You're in the room.
>> SPACE
The story is over. Type B to go back to the beginning, or L to leave.
>> L
Your interpreter closes.
These credits are in the auxilary file city.txt:
Written, Programmed and Concieved by Sam Barlow using
Graham Nelson's INFORM Compiler with
lots of reference to his Designer's Manual (Stephen van Egmond's text version)
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