Ponderances is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2014 by Roadcrosser.
In this short joke choose-your-own-death game inspired by Star Trek, you play as someone in a rather hot white cube. There's nothing here but a panel with two buttons: red and blue. Try to escape.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 2 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.
White Cube
This is one of those games where you're really trying to find all the ways to die, and one death is the best one. Whenever you die, RESTART or UNDO so you can continue playing and find the next one.
> x me. i.
> x foam. x panel. x red button. x blue button.
> z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z.
You expire from the heat after 14 turns in it.
*** You have died ***
> restart
> push red.
The room gets much hotter!
*** You have died ***
> undo
> push blue.
Sparks jolt you backwards. When you wake up, it's cooler.
> x panel. pull it. x hole.
> x potato. take it. (+50)
> x hole. x wires. take wires. put wires in potato.
> eat potato.
You won't eat the potato. But the White Cube vanishes. You were in the Holodeck!
Holodeck
> i. x potato.
> x grid. x door. n.
Corridor 2B
> x lights. w.
Turbolift (on Deck 2)
> x lamp. take it. turn it on. (no power)
> u —or— d. (You cannot speak!)
> e. e. n.
Darkness
Warning about grues.
> n.
*** You were eaten by a grue ***
> undo
> s. e.
Shuttle Bay
> x small shuttle. x giant door.
> x tools. take tools. (can't)
> x lever. pull lever.
The giant door opens and you're sucked into airless space.
*** You have died ***
> undo
> x infuser.
> put lamp in infuser. (It's now charged.)
> take lamp.
> put lamp in infuser.
This time, the infuser forcefully shoots the lamp back out, punching a hole through you!
*** You have died ***
> undo
> put potato in infuser. (Everything burns.)
*** You have died ***
> undo
> enter small shuttle.
Small Shuttle
> x console. push button. (The shuttle can't leave with the giant door closed.)
> x window. break window.
> out. n. n.
Darkness / Crew Quarters
> turn on lamp.
> x table. x device. take it. (denied)
> x bed. x book. read it. (You can't read.)
> take book. (denied)
> x mirror. (You're a potato! You explode!)
*** You have turned into mashed potato ***
> amusing
And that's the game! Is it okay if I call you "Ensign Spuds Mackenzie" now?
This is the response to AMUSING after the mashed potato ending:
- Have you tried using the turbolift to go between decks?
- You can refer to the Communications Device as an iPhone.
- Potatoes have eyes but no mouth.
- Have you discovered all five deaths, excluding this one?
This is the response to SCORE:
You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 50, in some turns.
Points are awarded as follows:
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