In this slice-of-life game, you're from Edinburgh and after a trip to Spain, you return to London to visit several old friends. Using the Tube, can you meet them all before you have to catch the night bus at Victoria?
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.
At yellow-colored stations, you may go OUT during the appropriate times to either meet a friend in a cut-scene, or to text an apology for missing them, or to catch the night bus. You are not willing to go out from a station where you have no plans.
For simplicity's sake, I opted not to bother trying to color-code the different train lines for this map. The different lines do matter, though; you want to avoid switching lines because that takes up more of your precious time.
A coding error resulted in two Bond Street stations. Fortunately, this error is not critical.
Walkthrough
This game is an optimazation puzzle. I'm not that good at solving this sort of puzzle, but I was willing to give it a try. As my first step, I just explored the network and made the map above, so I could see more clearly where to go and when.
Figuring out which order to visit everyone isn't trivial, and in my first four or five attempts, I either missed someone or the bus. But I did learn about the three errands and that helped limit the possibilites further.
Eventually I found a route that satisfied all the goals, which I now proudly present to you!
Borough
It's 10:00 am. Examining things takes no time, thankfully.
> help.
> i. x map. x paper.
> ne. n. ne.
Liverpool
It's 10:14 am.
> out.(Eliott gives you a coffee for Olivia; it's now 11:49 am.)
> sw. w. nw. w.
Holborn
It's 12:00 pm.
> out.(+1. Olivia gratefully takes the coffee; it's now 1:05 pm.)
> w. n. n.
Warren Street
It's 1:19 pm. One minute to spare!
> out.(Hayden gives you a note for Eve; it's now 2:34 pm.)
> sw. sw. w.
Hyde Park Corner
It's 2:48 pm.
> out.(Poppy gives you film for Nicole; it's now 3:48 pm.)
> e. nw. n. w.
Edgware Road
It's 4:09 pm.
> out.(+1. Nicole is delighted with getting the film; it's now 5:11 pm.)
> w. s. s. s. s. e.
South Kensington
It's 5:31 pm.
> out.(+1. Eve accepts the note; it's now 6:46 pm.)
> e. e.
Victoria
It's 6:58 pm. Two minutes left!
> out.
*** You made it onto the bus and saw all your friends, and completed all three errands! ***
Extras
Characters
Eliott works at a coffee shop in Old Spitalfields Market, which is near the Liverpool Street station.
Olivia has a busy analyst job in an office block near Holborn station. She leads you to a nearby Pret for a quick lunch.
Hayden is a UCL student; the campus is reachable from either the Euston Square or Warren Street stations. He wants to repair his relationship with Eve.
Poppy is out for a run in Hyde Park with her boyfriend, Mitch, who you haven't met before. They're practicing for a 5k run. She developed some film for Nicole.
Nicole works as a waitress at an Italian restaurant near the Edgware Road station, but she wants to do photography full-time. She gushes about a photography exhibition she helped organize last month.
Eve is doing a Physics PhD at Imperial College, near the South Kensington station.
Mentioned:
Fiona lives at Borough. You crashed at her place last night, and if you miss your bus, you crash at her place again.
Edward is Eliott's manager at the coffee shop.
Numerous other people on the trains or elsewhere in the city are going about their business.
Endings
The epitaphs to the endings I found are so self-explanatory, I don't think I need to explain them:
You missed your bus! Try again?
You made it onto the bus but didn't manage to see all your friends. Try again?
You made it onto the bus and saw all your friends, and completed all three errands!
Logically, there must be a fourth ending that is something very like You made it onto the bus and saw all your friends, but didn't complete all three errands. Try again?, but I haven't actually seen it.
