Mystery Science Theater 3000 Presents "Detective" is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 2000 by Matt Barringer, C.E. Forman, Gareth Rees, Graeme Cree, and Stuart Moore. Barringer wrote the original "Detective" game in AGT in 1993. Forman ported it to Inform 5, turned it into a MiSTing, and entered it in IF Comp 1995's Inform division where it took 4th place. Puzzling out the credits, I believe Moore made the post-comp version with additional commentary and credits, using code provided by Forman, Rees, and Cree.
In this spoof of a 12-year-old's awful AGT game, you play as a police detective searching the city for the mayor's killer. As you play, Mike, Crow, and Tom in the Satellite of Love watch your progress and provide mocking commentary.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 7 (the post-competition release) 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.
Because this game's gameplay is largely just going from one location to another, this walkthrough visits every location whether one needs to or not. Several locations are deadly to visit; use UNDO to reverse death and continue playing.
Note there are no scenery objects in this game. You can only examine the few inventory items that exist and the only NPC that isn't part of a room description.
(Introductory menu)
The game begins in an "Introductory menu". Feel free to read all the info there. When you're ready, type Q to leave the menu and start the game proper.
> Q
(introduction)
> SPACE
> Y
> SPACE (Repeat as necessary.)
Chief's office
You get 10 points immediately.
> x paper. read it. take it. (+10)
> w.
Closet (west of Chief's office)
> x pistol. take it. (+10)
> e. n. w. (+10)
Outside (outside the restraunt)
> n.
Restraunt
*** You have died ***
> undo
Outside (outside the restraunt)
> e. (+10)
Mayor's house
> w.
Dining room
> x note. read it. take it. (+10)
> e. e.
Living room
> x wood. take it. (+10)
> w. n. (+10)
Upstairs hallway
> w.
Closet (west of upstairs hallway)
> e. e.
Bathroom
You cannot obtain this knife without cheating.
> x knife.
> w. n. n.
Closet (north of hallway corner)
> s. w. e.
Guest Room (the one with two beds and a TV)
> w. n.
Hallway (STILL)
Visit the closet to the west and return:
> w. w.
Visit the closet to the east and return:
> e. e.
Continue to bedroom:
> n. w. (+10)
Bedroom
> e. e.
Guest Room (the ransacked one)
> w. n. (+10; the guard lets you out)
Outside (north of Mayor's house)
> n. w.
Murderer's Lounge
The murderers murder you.
*** You have died ***
> undo
Dead End
> s. e.
Video Store
> n. s. e. (+10)
Video Store (still)
> n. s. e.
Outside (east of video store)
> e.
House
A man shoots you.
*** You have died ***
> undo
Outside (east of video store)
> s.
McDonalds
> x hamburger. take it. (+10)
> eat it.
> n. n. (+10)
Outside (dead end)
> e.
Music Store (entrance)
> n. (+10)
Back of Music Store
> w.
Music Store (by dazed man)
This is the only true NPC in the game, and he's basically a zombie who kills you in a few turns if you don't kill him first. This was a standard way of coding monsters in AGT.
> x man. shoot man with pistol.
> e. n. (+10)
Alley
> w.
Mob House
Guys in suits. A thug shoots you dead.
*** You have died ***
> undo
Alley
> e.
Drug House
Guys shoot you dead.
*** You have died ***
> undo
Alley
> n. (+10)
Police Station
Visit the holding cells before leaving:
> w. e. e. w. n. (+10)
Outside (north of police station)
> w. (+10)
The Wall
> e. e. (+10)
Doughnut King
> w. n. (+10)
Holiday Inn
> n. (+10)
Holiday Inn 15th Floor
> e.
Dead End
> w. w. (+10)
Hallway (15th floor west)
> n. e.
Dead End
For no reason...
*** You have died ***
> undo
Hallway (15th floor north)
> w. n. (+10)
Hallway (between sauna and pool)
> w.
Sauna
The killer shoots you.
*** You have died ***
> undo
Hallway (between sauna and pool)
> e.
Pool
The killer shoots you.
*** You have died ***
> undo
Hallway (between sauna and pool)
> n. (+100)
Room #30
You conk the killer on the head and take him in.
> u.
Info
You're told about Exile Games.
*** Congratulations. You have won the game. ***
There's more commentary, then:
*** [Roll credits] ***
Most of the characters in the "Detective" game are mentioned only in the room descriptions and cannot be interacted with. The sole exception is the dazed man in the Music Store who acts like a zombie monster.
The cast of "Detective" is:
Mentioned:
The main MST3K characters providing commentary are:
Background MST3K characters include Gypsy, Cambot, Dr. Clayton Forrester, and TV's Frank. The game provides background info on all the MST3K characters.
The MST3K cast make numerous cultural references to even more characters, many of whom I know nothing about and that I have no interest in cataloguing. Sorry.
The game begins in a menu system. Two of the menu-items involve credits:
Legal necessities
"Mystery Science Theatre 3000", and all related characters and trademarks are Copyright 2000, Best Brains Inc.
All trademarks knowingly or unknowingly used are the properties of their respective owners.
"Detective" is Copyright 2000, Matt Barringer.
This MiSTing is Copyright 2000, C.E.Forman, Gareth Rees, Graeme Cree and Stuart Moore.
The Inform library is Copyright 2000, Graham Nelson.
Portions of code are Copyright 2000, L. Ross Raszewski.
Portions of code are Copyright 2000, Allen Garvin.
Thank yous and greetings
In no particular order:
C.E. FORMAN and GARETH REES for some portions of code and the original version.
GRAEME CREE for the AGT code from which this version was created. Thanks a lot, Graeme!
GRAHAM NELSON for coming up with Inform.
L. ROSS RASZEWSKI for AltMenu.h/DoMenu.h/Utility.h
ALLEN GARVIN for a useful formatted-text routine.
KENT TESSMAN for Hugo.
ROBERT MASENTEN for MakeAGX.
And MATT BARRINGER for the original game and for having a sense of humour.
ALAN GOTTS, DAVID HORTON, PAUL and STEVE MAYHEW and SIMON PALLETT all get hellos!
STUART ADAIR, GILES BOUTEL, NEIL JAMES BROWN, TOM BUCK, ADAM CADRE, RYBREAD CELSIUS, ANDREW CLOVER, PAUL CORNELL, DJ DELORIE, DAVID DYTE, GARY GILLATT, SHAWN HARGREAVES, ROBERT HOEHNE, COREY KLEMOW, JENNIFER KOKOSKI, SHAUN LYON, IAN McDONALD, DAVID A. McINTEE, JOHN MENICHELLI, MAGNUS OLSSON, KATE ORMAN, JASON PENNEY, ANDREW PLOTKIN, RICHARD and PEGGY POSER, MICHAEL J. ROBERTS, GARY RUSSELL, ALFRED SNIDER, SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN, ANDREW VESPERMAN, PATRICK WIGFULL and GERRY KEVIN WILSON all get hellos too!
Especially big hellos to M. SCOTT ADAMS, BRIAN HOWARTH, LAIRD MALAMED, BILL VOLK, STEVE MERETZKY, BRIAN MORIARTY, DAVE LEBLING, MARC BLANK, RICHARD GARRIOT, VOLKER BLASIUS and DAVID KINDER.
Also, when you win the game, the Info room includes the following credits from the original game:
Exile Games is curently made up of:
Matt Barringer, president and head programmer
Nathaniel Smith, advisor
Kurt Somogue, assistent programmer
And all the users of the Ghostbuster Central BBS, who give me ideas!
There's very little you can do with any of the possible inventory in this game. Take what you can for the points, if for no other reason.
This is the response to SCORE:
You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 360, in several turns.
Points are awarded as follows:
This walkthrough is provided free of charge even though the work it's based on has fifteen or more locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!
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