maps and walkthrough
PataNoir is a Glulx text adventure game written with Inform 7 and is © 2011 by Simon Christiansen. It was entered in IF Comp 2011 where it took 5th place out of 38 entries. In this game, you play a private eye who has the unusual ability to manipulate similes as if they were tangible objects. Usually this means you can take a simile from one object and put it on another one, changing the target object accordingly. Similes can also sometimes interact with each other, as if they were normal objects. It's very strange and very awesome. This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on the Release 1 of the game.
Your Office
> about.
> x me. i. x shadows. x oil. x lamp. x knight.
> x butt. x embers. take embers. (There is a knock on the door.)
> open door. x butler. x tuxedo. x tie. x marble.
> talk to man.
> take marble. talk to man.
> x embers. put embers on man. talk to man.
Don't worry. We'll explore more of the office in due time.
Outside The Mansion
> x mansion. x giant. x gate. x doors. n.
The Hall
> x lake. u.
The Balcony
> x railing. x west door. x crack. x east door.
> e.
The Library
> x baron. x eyes. x steel. take steel.
> talk to baron. take record. x record.
> talk to baron. g. g.
> x book. x books. x carpet. x chair.
> w.
The Balcony
> x jameson. take embers. d.
The Hall
> put embers on lake. x lake. x steel. s.
Outside The Mansion
It's not enough to poke the giant with the steel; the steel must also be red-hot because of the fire in the hall.
> poke giant with steel. x mansion. (Note that because the giant is now awake, therefore the lights are on in the mansion's windows.)
> n. u.
The Balcony
> x fluid. take fluid. (Drat, we need a container. A figurative container.)
> w.
The Bedroom
> x bed. x dresser. x lamp. x lampshade. x cocoon. take it.
> x garden. e.
The Balcony
The fluid simile isn't there unless the door is closed, creating the gap for the light to seep through.
> close west door. take fluid. e.
The Library
> x lake. swim.
Near the Surface
> d.
Deeper
> x fish. d.
The Bottom of the Lake
In case you were wondering, the embers—although normally a lightsource too—smoulder underwater; they aren't a lightsource when underwater. That's why we needed another lightsource to get here.
> x sand. x chest. x padlock.
> open padlock with steel. open chest.
> x treasure. take it. u. u. u.
The Library
> put treasure on baron. talk to baron.
> w. d. s. s. 1.
We're given a numbered menu to choose from whenever we leave a venue. More venues can be added to the menu as the game progresses.
Your Office
Yes, we get a figurative sidekick. Is this cool or what?
> x files. x desk. open drawer. take revolver.
> x revolver. x servant. talk to servant. x suit. x tie.
> x chair. x wheels. x blood. take blood.
> empty cocoon. take oil. put oil on wheels.
> push chair. take coin. x coin. take blade.
> n. 3.
Entrance
No, you can't take "a jar" from the door. That would be a pun, not a simile. But nice try.
> x jacket. x rag. take rag.
> x jacket. take paper. read it.
> n. e.
The Living Room
> x bottles. x city. x counter.
> x cabinet. open it. take knife. x it.
> enter city.
The City
> x people. x minaret. u.
The Top of the Minaret
> call. d.
The City
> x beggar. talk to beggar.
> give coin to beggar. (This fails: the coin is real; the beggar is not. Confusing, ain't it?)
> exit.
You may be now thinking: did the game cheat by letting us oil real wheels with figurative oil? Well, no. Putting figurative oil on the wheels made the wheels look like they had been oiled—a simile. Of course, the most likely reason wheels would look like they were oiled is if they really had been oiled, and that's why they were now oiled, Q.E.D.
The Living Room
> w. s. 3.
The Butterfly Club
> x chandelier. x icicle. take it.
> wesson, take icicle.
> x roulette. x blackjack. x poker.
> x man. x putty. take putty. put marble on man.
> x man. z. z. z. x thin man.
> x scar. x canyon. x river. enter canyon.
> talk to camino. g. show paper to camino. e.
Camino's Office
> x desk. x papers. x brick. take brick.
> clean brick (with the rag). x brick.
> talk to camino. (We'll have to come back to him.)
> w. w. 4.
The Bar
> x smoke. x fog. cut fog with blade.
> look. talk to bartender. order drink.
> show paper to bartender.
> x guy. x toupee. take it. x scar. talk to guy.
> put blood on guy. talk to guy. (hm. We'll have to come back to this guy too.)
> s. 1.
Outside The Mansion
> n. n.
The Garden
> x grass. x paths. x snakes. x fountain.
> cut snakes with blade. look. x scales. take scale.
> x fountain. x manna. take manna. x trumpet.
> x citizens. talk to citizens. look. take justice.
> s. s. s. 3.
Entrance
> e. enter city.
The City
> give manna to beggar. x needle. put needle on literal knife.
> exit.
The Living Room
> w. s. 4.
The Bar
> show knife to man. talk to ronald. g. s. 3. e.
Camino's Office
> talk to camino. g. (His smooth voice convinced us to leave his office.)
The Butterfly Club
> e.
Camino's Office
> put record on camino. talk to camino. (This time someone named Alfono escorts you out.)
The Butterfly Club
> w. 1.
Outside The Mansion
DANGER. Alfono is pointing a gun at us. Fortunately, he isn't in a hurry to shoot as long as we stay put. And if we don't attack him.
> x man. x businessman. talk to man. talk to businessman.
> x moustache. x snake. kill snake with blade. (ok, that didn't work.)
This is complicated. We need to deal with the businessman and the snake first. Then we can deal with Alfono himself.
> attack businessman with blade. give blade to wesson.
> wesson, attack businessman.
> wesson, give blade to me.
> put scale on snake. put putty on scale. put scale on snake.
> put blade on coin. throw coin at man. pull moustache.
Copernik's Office
New venue: The Police Station. Make sure you talk to Copernik twice once he's friendly in order to learn about Camino's vacation home.
> x copernik. talk to him. g.
> put toupee on copernik.
> x walls. x man. talk to man. give icicle to man.
> put icicle in rag. give icicle to man.
> x butts. x mummies.
> talk to copernik. g. w. 6.
Outside the Vacation House
> save. (There's a few ways this can be played out.)
> x windows. x moonlight. x silver. take silver. n.
The Living Room
> x Camino. talk to him. x Lisa. talk to Lisa.
> x curves. enter road.
On the Mountain Road
> x car. n.
Farther Along the Mountain Road
> x cruiser. x road block. x officer.
> talk to officer. g. give silver to officer.
> w.
Even Farther up the Mountain
> x cabin. out. e.
Inside the Log Cabin
> x fireplace. x couch. x brandy.
> sip brandy.
...handle things without me? > yes.
> x wesson.
> w. enter car. n. e. s.
The Living Room
> x lisa. x servant girl. (Yes, Lisa is now more servile.)
It's a bit farfetched how to deal with Camino, but you're supposed to notice that the river in the canyon (of his scar) is unpolluted. So... you should find a way to pollute it. An oil spill will do nicely...
> s. s. 2.
Your Office
> take oil. put oil on brick. n. 6. n.
The Living Room
> put brick in river. x scar. pull scar.
> talk to lisa.
The Library
> take marble. put marble on baron.
> talk to baron.
Your Office
> open door. x doctor. talk to doctor. (Case solved!)
There are a couple alternate endings where Lisa doesn't go to jail. For example, skip the entire mountain road business (or at least, deny Wesson's request to stay in the cabin). Deal with Camino as usual, then talk to Lisa and agree to let her go. The final scene in the library is skipped.
Or you could play as normal as far as the final library scene and skip putting marble on the baron. If you don't harden the baron, he'll believe that Camino killed Erik and was framing Lisa. Again, Lisa goes free.