Prodly the Puffin is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 2000 by Craig Timpany and Jim Crawford (writing as "Wilber Nooseworthy and Incontinent Pineapple Van Buren"). It was an entry in IF Comp 2000 where it took 35th place.
In this wacky, surreal, and comedic adventure, you say, "I AM PRODLY THE PUFFIN OF ANTARCTICA!! THE MISSION IS A SET OF INTRICATELY CONTRIVED MISBEHAVIOURS!! PHASE ICHI: RETRIEVE THE PITCHFORK. PHASE NI: CARNAGE!!"
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.
Antarctica
> about
About Prodly the Puffin
You are now in a menu system. Select and try to read all of the menu-items except the "Specific hints (yes, spoilers)".
> What is Prodly the Puffin?
>> SPACE
> Er, Ok. WHO is Prodly the Puffin?
>> SPACE
> Is Prodly the Puffin a private joke?
>> SPACE
> What is this game about?
>> SPACE
> The Cast of Characters
>> SPACE
> Gameplay-related oddities that you should keep in mind
Note that talking to yourself is helpful as a hint system.
>> SPACE
> General tips (no spoilers)
>> SPACE
> Credits
>> SPACE
> What's going on here??
The cast of characters is repeated.
>> SPACE
Now the last menu-item is "How do I report a bug in the menu system?", but you can never actually select it. Do try, though. When you're done with the menus, push Q:
>> Q
Antarctica
> x me. x feet. x wings.
> take feather. x it.
> x head. x guts. x banana. x beak.
> i. x fez. x tassel. x tag.
> x note. (It vanishes.)
> x horizon. x clouds.
> x mountains. x glaciers. x snow.
> dig snow. eat snow.
> play golf.
> ask me about fork. (or note or game)
> ask me about banana.
> ask me about fez. ask me about tag.
> ask me about feather.
> ask me about beak.
> ask me about wings.
> ask me about guts. (or tail)
> ask me about Antarctica.
> ask me about Nobbly.
> ask me about little girl.
> ask me about Iranians.
> ask me about Furby.
> ask me about Riccardo.
> ask me about Scroto.
> ask me about snow.
> ask me about cookies. (or elves)
Going in any cardinal direction won't get you anywhere; you just end up back here. But you can fly up and back down.
> u.
Above Antarctica
> x cloud. u.
High Above Antarctica
> x house.
> go to house. (can't with these wings)
> ask me about house.
> ask me about beforelife.
> d. d.
Antarctica
Okay, that's enough foreplay. Let's start solving puzzles. First, you need to vomit out that banana.
> vomit. (You need more than just will power.)
> open beak.
> tickle beak (with feather).
> x vomit. x banana. take it.
Next, build Mr. Nobbly. If you paid attention to his description in the Cast of Characters, you know he has a banana for a nose and wears the fez.
> roll snow. (You now have a fat mound.)
> roll snow. (You now have an odd chunk.)
> roll snow. (You now have a round lump.)
> drop mound.
> put chunk on mound.
> put lump on chunk.
> put banana in lump.
> put fez on lump.
You probably want to examine Mr. Nobbly and ask him about everything before continuing?
> x him. kiss him.
> ask him about himself.
> ask him about fez.
> ask him about banana.
> ask him about vomit.
> ask me about whiskey.
> ask him about whiskey.
He angrily storms off. Doom will come from the sky, so why not fly up to meet it?
> u. u.
High Above Antarctica
> z. x object. z.
*** You have died ***
The Afterlife
All of your inventory, including your body and body parts, are gone.
> x me. i.
> x desk. x receptionist. x mortal. x queue.
> look. x tunnel. x void. x belt.
> x luggage. x bag. x corpses.
> enter corpse.
>> SPACE
Antarctica
> x wings. (much better)
> x tail. (oops)
> u. u. go to house.
Outside Scrotopotamus' House
If you don't feel like knocking, you can just open the door and walk south (or in) instead.
> x house. x door. knock on door.
Scotopotamus' Living Room
If Riccardo pops up in here, he eyes the cabinet if it is closed. If you have the knife, he grabs it from you and kills himself with it, which counts as an achievement if you check your score.
> x Scroto. x mucus. x nostrils. x skin.
> x furniture. x cabinet. open it.
> x knife. x axe. x mace.
> x table. x chair.
> x salt. x pepper. x mats. x lantern.
> take all from cabinet.
> take all from table. take chair.
Feel free to chat before the inevitable violence.
> ask Scroto about himself.
> ask him about house. (or mats)
> ask him about salt. ask him about pepper.
> ask him about lantern. ask him about chair.
> ask him about fork. ask him about skin.
> ask him about weapons.
You can also ask yourself about all this stuff too, of course.
> ask me about skin. (or mats)
> ask me about knife.
> ask me about salt.
> ask me about pepper.
> ask me about lantern.
> ask me aobut chair.
Okay, try to kill Scrotopotamus.
> kill Scroto with knife. (or with axe or mace)
Scroto's tough hide is barely scratched. You need a more imaginative way to kill him.
> pour pepper in nose.
> put chair in mouth.
> pour lantern in mouth. (He dead.)
Now he won't stop you from entering his bedroom.
> w.
Scrotopotamus' Bedroom
> x bed. x mask. take it. x window.
> enter bed. x magazine. take it.
> search bed. dig bed.
You find your pitchfork. Meanwhile, a reincarnated Scrotopotamus is approaching outside...
*** You have won ***
> notes
Found dead:
Mentioned:
To read these credits in-game, type ABOUT, then select and open the Credits menu-item:
Credits
Prodly the Puffin: The Game was designed and implemented by Wilber Nooseworthy and Incontinent Pineapple Van Buren.
Beta testing was provided by Elena Churilov, Alexander Deubelbeiss, Aaron Lewis, Vincent Lynch, Adam Milazzo, and Rosemary Rooks.
The Inform library and language was created by Graham Nelson.
After you win, type NOTES to read these authors' notes which provide more info:
Prodly the Puffin is a second-generation parody of a cartoon that has long faded into obscurity. Apparently, under the illusion that this was a masterwork, the creator laboured over Microsoft Paint cutting and pasting to produce a cartoon so pathetically ugly that its style spurred an ingenious imitation named "Pokey the Penguin". This went on to be featured on the famous SlashDot, and gain a readership of thousands. In that grand tradition, Prodly the Puffin was brought into existence to spoof Pokey.
Where to find them:
The Original: Neither URL nor name can be found.
Pokey the Penguin: http://www.yellow5.com/pokey
Prodly the Puffin: http://lightning.prohosting.com/~prodlyProdly the Puffin: The Game was designed and implemented by Craig Timpany and Jim Crawford, whom you can respectively reach at
redactedandredacted.
Your body parts are, of course, attached to you when the game begins. However, you lose them all when you die, and regain them all when you steal a corpse by entering it in the afterlife.
Build the snowman called Mr. Nobbly: roll snow three times to make the snowballs; drop the mound; put the chunk on the mound; put the lump on the chunk; put the banana in the lump; then, finally, put the fez on the lump.
The response to SCORE is a list of achievements:
Let's see what you've accomplished...
[If you put the odd chunk of snow onto the fat mound of snow, but haven't met Mr. Nobbly yet, print:]
You've begun construction of Mr. Nobbly...[If you vomited, print:]
You've induced vomiting...[If you met Mr. Nobbly and he's not angry, print:]
You've constructed Mr. Nobbly...[If Mr. Nobbly is angry, print:]
You've built Mr. Nobbly and angered him...[If you died, print:]
You've gotten yourself killed...[If you reincarnated, print:]
You've acquired a new body...[If you've entered the living room, and Scroto is currently alive, print:]
You've met Scrotopotamus...[If Scroto is dead, print:]
You've met Scrotopotamus and killed him...[If Riccardo is dead, print:]
You've also managed to get rid of Riccardo, long considered an impossible task...[If you have done any of the above, print:]
But you have no pitchfork.
[Else if you have done none of the above, print:]
You haven't done much of anything. Most notably, you have no pitchfork.
After you win the game, there is no option to type SCORE. Instead, the game reports your score in four words:
You have a pitchfork.
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