Endless Sands is a Glulx interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2015 by Hamish McIntyre. It was entered in ParserComp 2015 where it won 3rd place for Best Use of Theme ("Sunrise").
You play as a mostly-nondescript vampire. The corrupt "Vampire Queen" kidnaps and dumps you in the unforgiving desert; she needed a fall-guy and you were the closest candidate. Sunrise is at 6 AM. If you don't find shelter before then, you're dead.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
Darkness
You're a ho-hum vampire who is conked on the head while he's eating breakfast cereal. Er, really? Cereal?
> touch head. (Or anything really; your command isn't actually interpreted.)
A sack is removed from your head. You find yourself tied to a chair with rope, and you're in the back of a moving trunk facing the Vampire Queen (who is also the mayor) and two bodyguards.
In The Back Of A Truck
You can't really do anything except look and ask the queen about various topics, but understand that none of it matters. The game truly starts after 9 turns when you're dumped into a desert to die unless you can find shelter from the sun.
Gotta wonder though what sort of weak vampire can't snap a rope.
> ask queen about crimes. ask queen about me.
> ask queen about queen. ask queen about name.
> ask queen about desert. ask queen about criminals.
> ask queen about spectrum. ask queen about bodyguards.
> ask queen about truck.
Anyway, which shelter do you want to get into: shack, tent, restaurant, or secret bunker? Or would you rather look around and wait for the sun?
Starting from when you're dumped into the desert.
The Middle Of Nowhere
> take watch. (You automatically wear it.)
> w. w.
An Oasis
> take sapling. (You now have a stick.)
> e. e. n. ne. n.
Outside Abandoned Restaurant
> knock on door. x werewolf. ask werewolf about restaurant.
> throw stick.
> ask werewolf about sign. (You now have the sign.)
> se. n. e.
Outside the Gravedigger's Shack
> x window. knock on door. (The man dies, leaving a ghost!)
> open door. (It's locked.)
> n.
Shed
> x floor. take plank. take key. x key. s.
Outside the Gravedigger's Shack
> unlock door with key. open door. e.
> put sign on door. e.
Inside the Gravedigger's Shack
*** "Y...O...U...!" You are alive! ...for now. ***
Starting from when you're dumped into the desert.
The Middle Of Nowhere
> take watch. (You automatically wear it.)
> w. w.
An Oasis
> take sapling. (You now have a stick.)
> e. e. n. ne. n.
Outside Abandoned Restaurant
> knock on door. x werewolf. ask werewolf about restaurant.
> throw stick.
> ask werewolf about sign. (You now have the sign.)
> take stick. s. sw. nw. w.
Outside Tent
> enter tent.
> move garlic with stick. enter tent.
> put sign on tent. enter tent.
Inside Tent
*** You are alive! ***
Starting from when you're dumped into the desert.
The Middle Of Nowhere
> take watch. (You automatically wear it.)
> w. w.
An Oasis
> take sapling. (You now have a stick.)
> e. e. n. nw. w.
Outside Tent
> x can. take it.
> e. se. ne. n.
Outside Abandoned Restaurant
> knock on door. x werewolf. ask werewolf about restaurant.
> s. sw. s. e.
A Rock
> x rock. u.
On Top of a Rock
You must climb up here and see the glint in order to have a reason to go east of the rock.
> x glint. d. e.
A Strange Hatch
You won't be able to take the bone unless you're first talked to the werewolf and that she's told you she wants something to chew.
> x skeleton. take bone. x bone.
> w. w. n. ne. n.
Outside Abandoned Restaurant
I'm not sure why, but throwing stick has to be the last of the three favours you do for the werewolf before she'll let you in.
> knock on door.
> give bone. give can. give stick. throw stick. n.
Inside Abandoned Restaurant
*** You are alive! ***
Starting from when you're dumped into the desert.
The Middle Of Nowhere
> take watch. (You automatically wear it.)
> e.
A Rock
> x rock. u.
On Top of a Rock
You must climb up here and see the glint in order to have a reason to go east of the rock.
> x glint. d. e.
A Strange Hatch
> x skeleton. x radio. take it.
> w. w. n. nw. n.
Abandoned Car
> take antenna.
> s. se. ne. e. n. e. n.
Shed
> take tape. tape antenna to radio. turn on radio.
The radio reception is poor and there seems no obvious way to improve it. Each "ZZFTZZ" is a word you didn't hear, but which words are obscured is done at random. I repeatedly used UNDO for each line of the message until I had heard all the words, then moved onto the next line. I'm not proud of solving this puzzle this way, but I honestly couldn't think of a more satisfactory player strategy. The full radio message is this:
"This is a recorded message intended for the surviving members of Spectrum."
"If you're hearing this, hopefully you found our bunker."
"But first you'll need a keycard to swipe on the hatch."
"Nearby there's a big rock, it's kind of a landmark."
"We buried a safe under that rock, just dig it up."
"Once you find the safe, the code to unlock it is: two, seven, zero, six, eight, nine. I repeat: two, seven, zero, six, eight, nine."
"Once you have the keycard, swipe it on the hatch to reveal a series of eight lights and eight coloured buttons."
"Press the buttons in the following order: Red, green, blue, orange, yellow, indigo, violet, do not press the grey button."
"I'll repeat that last part; it's pretty important. Press Red, green, blue, orange, yellow, indigo, violet, and do not press the grey button."
"When the first seven lights are on, pull the lever to open the hatch."
"Good luck, and see you soon. Message repeats."
> s. w. s. w. sw. s. e.
A Rock
> dig. x safe. turn dial to 2. (It breaks off and the safe opens.)
> take keycard. x it. e.
A Strange Hatch
By the way, the forbidden grey button delivers a nasty, but not fatal, electric shock if you push it.
> x hatch. swipe keycard. x hatch.
> push red button. push green button.
> push blue button. push orange button.
> push yellow button. push indigo button.
> push violet button. pull lever. d.
Secret Bunker
*** You are alive! ***
In the course of the walkthroughs where our hapless vampire survives, I skipped over some stuff that is optional but interesting... so here's a walkthrough where he dies, but you get to see all that optional stuff.
The Middle Of Nowhere
> take watch. (You automatically wear it.)
> i. x shirt. x jeans. x watch.
> remove shirt. remove jeans. x tattoo.
> w.
A Large Cactus
> x cactus. x clothes. take clothes. x ash.
> w.
An Oasis
I'm not sure why "pool" isn't understood.
> x water. drink water. swim. wash clothes. x sapling.
> e. e. n. nw. n.
Abandoned Car
> x car. x mirrors. x wheel. open trunk.
> open door. enter car.
Inside Car
> open glove compartment. take bar. x bar. open bar.
> x sunshields. pull sunshields. (Spider sequence; door is now closed.)
> x magazine. take it. read magazine.
> x rubbish. open door. exit car. ("Out" doesn't work.)
Abandoned Car
> s. se. ne. e.
Church
> x church. x door. e. n.
Cemetery
Why an empty coffin should freak out a vampire, I have no idea.
> x graves. g. g. g. g. g.
> x coffin. (You can't take it or enter it.)
> s. nw.
Outside Abandoned Restaurant
> knock on door. ask werewolf about werewolf. ask werewolf about me.
> ask werewolf about car. ask werewolf about tent.
> ask werewolf about oasis. ask werewolf about desert.
> ask werewolf about rock. ask werewolf about hatch.
> ask werewolf about church. ask werewolf about graveyard.
> ask werewolf about vampire queen.
> give bar to werewolf. give clothes to werewolf.
> kill werewolf.
Okay, it's almost 4 AM, and I can't think of much else to try that hasn't already been covered elsewhere. Going back and forth in the desert takes up more time then a simple "wait".
> s. n. (Repeat wandering around until you die.)
*** The sun finally rises. The entire desert, and you, are bathed in golden light. As you turn to ash, you just realised you left the oven on. ***
This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with