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Key & Compass presents:
The Time Machine
by Brian Howarth

The Time Machine is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 5 and is © 1981, 1983, 1998 by Brian Howarth. This is a port of Episode 2 of Brian Howarth's Mysterious Adventures, published by Digital Fantasia in 1981 or 1983. (My sources give conflicting dates.)

In this Scott-Adams-style game, you play as a newspaper reporter who wants to interview Dr. Potter in his home in the foggy moors. But instead of finding the doctor, you find his time machine and a request to rescue him.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 1.00 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.


Maps

Map 1: Moors Maze and Dr Potter's House

InMachine Cellar Study Hallway ByWindow ByDoorway Moors(2) Moors(3) Moors(1) Quagmire House tothe North leave machine u grab bush go machine go door go window

Map 2: Mary Celeste

InMachine Foremast Brig ByDeckhouse ByRigging Ship'sPantry InDeckhouse Cabin OnRigging Captain'sCabin leave machine go portal climb rigging go door u d

Map 3: Ancient Egypt

Top ofStatue Temple StoneWall Tunnel Passage WeaponRoom ByAncientSphinx Desert InMachine d go opening go opening leave machine go portal climb statue go door

Map 4: Prehistoric Era

Swamp(3) By Lake Island Swamp(2) Causeway Swamp(1) InMachine go boat go causeway leave machine go portal

Map 5: Future Era

InMachine GrassyPlain GeneratorRoom Corridor Potter'sRoom go shaft go archway leave machine go portal u

Map 6: By Police Box

InMachine ByPoliceBox leave machine go portal

Walkthrough

> C (Show credits)

> I (Info about playing)

> S (Start the game)

Moors (three locations)

> n. w. s.

House to the North

> n.

Doorway

> get gloves. ring bell. w.

Window

> open window. (won't budge)

> wear gloves. break window. (new: Broken Glass)

> enter windoworgo window.

Study

> exam painting. (new: Key)

> get key. open drawer.

> exam drawer. (new: Pistol, Crowbar)

> get pistol. get crowbar.

> e.

Hallway

> open door.

> enter doororgo door.

Cellar

> get flashlight.

> exam cassette.

> play cassette. ("Find the 3 Prisms that control my Machine. Rescue me!")

> enter machineorgo machine.

In Machine

I suggest dropping items here for easy retrieval later. Keep the crowbar for now.

> remove gloves. drop gloves. drop key.

> drop flashlight. drop pistol.

> exam buttons. ("FOR" and "REV")

> push rev. leave machine.

Because the time machine is broken, every time you travel, you end up in one of five random settings. You want to see "I'm on a sailing Brig" which means you're on the Marie Celeste; see map 2. There's lots of items to grab there that you need in the other time periods.

If you're not at Brig, return to the machine and try again:

You may have to do this sequence several times until you get to where and when you want to be.

Brig

> n.

Foremast

> get rope. get sail. s. s.

By Rigging

Even though there's no "rigging" object to examine:

> climb rigging.

On Rigging

> get pouch. exam pouch. (A prism falls out.)

> drop pouch. get prism.

> d. n. go portal.

In Machine

> drop rope. drop sail.

> insert prism. (A socket disappears.)

> leave machine. e.

By Deckhouse

It's not obvious that you need the crowbar to open this door.

> open door. go door.

In Deckhouse

> s.

Captain's Cabin

> get needle.

> exam log. ("MA.Y .EL.STE .OV 18.1")

> n. w.

Ship's Pantry

> get beef. get biscuits.

> e. e.

Cabin

It's not obvious that you need the crowbar to open the chest.

> open chest. (Find a hammer.)

> get hammer.

> w. u. w. go portal.

In Machine

Drop everything but the beef, and take the flashlight. You now want to visit a sphinx in ancient Egypt.

> drop needle. drop biscuits.

> drop hammer. drop crowbar.

> get flashlight.

> push rev. leave machine.

Again, if the machine didn't take you to the sphinx, re-enter the machine and try try again until you succeed.

By Ancient Sphinx

> get shovel.

> exam stone. push stone. (new: Dark Opening)

> go portal.

In Machine

> drop shovel. leave machine.

By Ancient Sphinx

> light flashlight.

> go opening.

Passage

> get rock.

> n.

Stone Wall

A dead end?

> s. s.

Weapon Room

> get spear. pull lever. (You hear a grinding noise.)

> jam lever. (using the rock)

> n. n.

Stone Wall

Because you jammed the lever, a secret door here is open.

> go door.

Temple

> exam statue. climb statue.

Top of Statue

> get prism. (You hear snarling below.)

> d.

Temple

> exam dog. feed dog. (Dog is now eating the beef.)

> go opening.

Tunnel

> s.

By Ancient Sphinx

By the way, south from here is just empty desert.

> go portal.

In Machine

> unlight flashlight.

> drop flashlight. drop spear.

> insert prism. (A socket disappears.)

You're now heading for a prehistoric era that begins with a swamp. You need the biscuits, rope, sail, needle, and shovel.

> get biscuits. get rope. get sail.

> get needle. get shovel.

> push rev. leave machine.

If you're not in the swamp, re-enter the machine and try try again until you succeed.

Swamp (three locations)

> n. n. e.

By Lake

> exam bronto. feed bronto. (using the biscuits)

> go causeway.

Causeway

> exam boat. fix boat. (using needle, sail, rope)

> go boat.

Island

> dig. (Using the shovel, you find a prism.)

> get prism.

> go boat. w. w. s. s. go portal.

In Machine

> insert prism. (Last socket disappears.)

In theory, the time machine is now fixed and more predicable.

> drop shovel. take crowbar. take hammer.

> push for. (now in ancient Egypt)

> push for. (now on Marie Celeste)

> push for. (now in present day)

> push for. (now in future)

> leave machine.

Grassy Plain

I couldn't guess the verb here; neither of these commands are standard:

> lever plateorcrowbar plate. (shaft opened)

> go shaft.

Corridor

> exam robot. w.

Generator Room

> break generator. (using the hammer)

> e.

Corridor

The robot guard is now defunct.

> go archway.

Potter's Room

> exam Potter. get Potter.

BRILLIANT! You rescued the Doctor! CONGRATULATIONS HERO!
This adventure is over. Do you want to try this adventure again?


Extras

Characters


Credits

The credits may be read by typing C from the opening menu:

Credits

'ADVENTURE 2' was translated to Inform by Scott2Zip, version 1.00, and subsequently compiled with Inform v1502.

The original version was probably written by either Scott Adams or Brian Howarth, in the the "Scott Adams format". If written by Scott Adams, it is still under copyright and this translated version can only be used by the legal owner of the original adventure; it must not be given away or distributed on the Net.

For help to understand the TRS-80 format, thanks to Paul David Doherty, who wrote the decompiler ScottDec, and to Alan Cox, who wrote the game driver ScottFree.

Thanks to Graham Nelson, for creating Inform, and for documenting the Z-machine.

Thanks to Graham Nelson and Gareth Rees, for suggesting how word-wrapping in the upper window could be done.


Endings

Also:


Inventory

You have a carrying limit of six items, including the gloves when wearing them.


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