Welcome is a Glulx interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2024 by Ryan Veeder. This unusual game was written without using quotation marks or say-statement workarounds in the source code. There's no room or object descriptions and only default responses to your actions.
In this surreal puzzle-filled game, you could be anyone exploring undescribed lands inhabited mostly by insects, although there is also a janitor and a custodian. With only room names, object names, default messages, and error messages to guide you, can you figure out what must be done?
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.
First of all, I hope you read the readme webpage for this game before playing it. You should know that this game was written in Inform 7 without using any quoted strings in the source code or using say-statement workarounds. That means there's no room descriptions, no item descriptions, and no non-default response text! The only reason this game is called "Welcome" is because that's the default name when the author doesn't provide one. Ryan couldn't even credit himself as the author.
Another consequence of this stylistic choice is that there's no non-standard verbs either (except for directions, which are named the same way other objects are). There will be no ABOUT, CREDITS, HELP, SWIM, XYZZY, etc. I hope you know Inform 7's standard verbs!
When you do something that changes some aspect of the game-world, the game cannot say what happens except with default messages. If something in your inventory changes, the game often does an implicit INVENTORY command as part of its response. Likewise, if something in the current location changes, the game does an implicit LOOK command. It's up to you to notice what changed and deduce what happened.
Bizarrely, run-time error messages are extraordinarily useful in this game, because they're the only real way the author can tell you anything about the game's mechanics. Don't ignore the run-time errors! They're a feature, not a bug!
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Before we begin, I want to spoil a bit of business with the janitor and custodian in this game. They're both mobile characters who have pre-determined routes through the geography, and because sometimes they stop along the way, they're a bit random, but they're the only random elements in the game.
You don't need to interact with either; if you try, they just move to their next location. The custodian pushes a sturdy wheelbarrow ahead of her, but otherwise they leave the rest of the game-world alone. They won't move your stuff.
Of course, when you first play the game and find someone walking around, it's very natural to follow them and see what they do, and the unusual thing they do is that sometimes they go ANA and sometimes they go KATA. These words are Greek in origin and in this context are fourth-dimensional directions, just as UP and DOWN are third-dimensional directions.
(And this isn't the first interactive fiction game to use 4D directions either; see Appallatron (2002) by Sean Barrett.)
Once you know ANA and KATA are valid directions, you can use them too. As you probably noticed from the maps above, the game uses parallel geographies, where every location in the "kata land" has an "ana land" counterpart.
And now that you know all that, I can ignore the janitor and custodian for the rest of this walkthrough and use the power of ANA and KATA from the start.
Wide Room - N/E/S/W
There's no inventory limit in this game, but this walkthrough will only bother to pick up things you'll need later. And, of course, don't bother to examine anything unless you think there's something on it or inside it.
> take 5 weight. n.
Bug Congress - S
You don't need to pick up the list of eight chancellors, but its name and its placement here implictly tell you a goal: find all eight chancellors and bring them here.
> s. w.
Odd Gallery - E/S/W
The bricked western passage will need to be removed later. The spider peasant is unimportant.
> s.
Lounge - N/E/S
You don't need the relax box.
> take 4 weight. s. s.
Dusty Corner - N/E
You don't need the lock of acceptance.
> e.
Checkpoint One - E/S/W
The first checkpoint door is to the south. To unlock it, you must balance the scales. Since the right scale has 6 pounds on it and is also unchangable, you must put 6 pounds on the left scale.
> e.
By the Pond - N/W/D
Don't remove the battery from the cap.
> take cap. wear it.
> d. (You briefly see a beetle chancellor at the bottom of the pond, but you're too buoyant to stay there. And no, these weights you're picking up have nothing to do with the pond puzzle.)
> n.
Sunny Path - N/S
While the rickety wheelbarrow can be useful, you don't strictly need it, so leave it here.
> n.
Edge of the Cliff - N/S/W
The "far side of the valley to the east" object exists soletly to let you know there's something in that direction.
> take 2 weight.
> n.
Garden - S/W
You can't pick up the frog, but you'll use him later.
> take puzzle box. open it. (Not that way!)
> w. s.
Furnace - N/E/W
The fiery orb is your light source for exploring dark caves with, but if you try to carry it somewhere in your bare hands, you drop it when you leave the room. The game, of course, can't say if the orb is too heavy or too hot, but you do need a container for it.
The wheelbarrow at Sunny Path can be used for the orb, but there's another option I like better.
> take 10 weight.
> w. s. s. e.
Checkpoint One - E/S/W
> put 4 weight on left.
> put 2 weight on left.
Notice how the room description refreshed. That means something in the room changed; in this case, the door is now unlocked.
> open door. take all from left. s.
Checkpoint Two - N/S
Same puzzle, but now the target weight is 50.225 pounds. You'll need every free weight in the game.
> put all weight on left.
> ana.
Balance Point Two - N
"Checks and balances", eh?
> n.
Balance Point One - N/E/S/W
The heavy iron door is to the west.
> e.
By the Dry Hole - N/W/D
The halter top is a wearable container and my prefered alternative to the wheelbarrow. But don't turn it on; when on, the halter halts you from going anywhere.
> take halter top. wear it. d.
Bottom of the Dry Hole - U
The beetle plebian is unimportant.
> u. n. w.
Accessible Bedroom - N/E/S/W
Everyone looks under beds in interactive fiction games, yes?
> look under bed.
*** Run-time problem P10: Since the unassuming bed is not allowed the property "open", it is against the rules to try to use it.
Well, that's a very unusual error message, isn't it? Your attempt to look under this bed fails because another bed elsewhere couldn't be opened? It seems like the very meaning of LOOK UNDER has changed.
> take 1/20. kata.
Isolated Bedroom
Oh, here's where the other bed is.
> look under bed.
So the beds are linked both ways. Try this:
> look under me.
*** Run-time problem P21: Attempt to look up a non-existent correspondence in the table 'Table of Opposites'.
Okay, so some things have oppposite things. That's sorta been obvious already, but now it's confirmed that it's relevant for how LOOK UNDER works in this game.
> take 20 weight. ana. w. w.
Bright Cave - E/W
> take 1/8. w. w. w.
Modern Shrine - E
> take totem. e. e. e. e. s.
Clean Corner - N/E
> take key. unlock door with key.
*** Run-time problem P44: Attempt to remove a door from play.
Interesting. Unlocking something with this key removes that thing from the game, but it doesn't work on doors. I'll tell you in advance that the dismissal is temporary. The removed item returns five turns later.
> n. n.
Study - N/E/S
You know what to do with stress balls, yes?
> squeeze ball.
*** Run-time problem P4: Tried to change player to the stress ball, which is not a person.
Okay, looks like you can squeeze a creature to become that creature. Good to know. I'll tell you in advance that the switcheroo only lasts seven turns and then you're back in your original body in the location you left it in.
> take 1/4. e.
Freezer - E/S/W
You don't need the icy cube.
> take 1/10. e.
Bottom of the Cliff - N/S/W
> take 1/2. n.
Vacant Lot - S/W
> look under solution ball. (The puzzle box is now open.)
> x puzzle box. take cicada.
> w.
Narrow Hall - E/W
> take 1/5. w.
Unremarkable Gallery - E/S
> take spider. kata.
Odd Gallery - E/S/W
> unlock passage with key. (The passage is gone.)
> w.
Musty Chamber - E
> take fly. ana.
Breezy Chamber
> take totem.
> kata. e. e. n.
Bug Congress
> drop cicada. drop spider. drop fly.
> ana.
Feature Progress
> take totem.
> kata. s. s.
Furnace
> put orb in halter.
> w. s. w.
Dark Cave - E/NW
> take 8 weight.
> nw. s. ne.
Ancient Shrine - SW
> take bee.
> sw. n. se. e. s. e. s.
Checkpoint Two - N/S
> put all weight on left.
With all twelve weights on the left scale, the second door is now unlocked.
> s.
Secure Area - N
> take ant. ana.
Free Area
> take totem.
> kata. n. n. e. n. n. n. w. n.
Bug Congress
> drop bee. drop ant.
> s. e. s.
Edge of the Cliff - N/S/W
> turn on cap.
Sky Above Edge of the Cliff - N/E/S
> e. e.
Sky Above Opposing Cliff - W
> turn off cap.
Opposite Cliff - W
> take termite. ana.
Far Side of Plateau
> turn on cap. w.
Atop the Plateau - E/W
> kata. turn off cap.
Bottom of Deep Valley
> ana.
Temple of Metamorphosis
The four candles are a hint to bring four things here.
> put all totem on altar. (The totems turn into a butterfly.)
> take butterfly.
> kata. turn on cap. w. turn off cap. w. n. n.
Bug Congress
> drop termite. drop butterfly.
> s. e.
Garden
> squeeze frog. (You're now the frog.)
> s. s. s. d.
Bottom of the Pond - U
The frog can stay here without immediately floating up. However, he goes up on his own as soon as you're not controlling him. The author doesn't want you to lose the frog down here.
> squeeze beetle. (You're now the beetle.)
> u. n. n. n.
Garden - S/W
> z. z. z. (You're now yourself.)
> take beetle. w. n.
Bug Congress - S
> drop beetle.
When all eight chancellors are here, you acquire a sincere letter of thanks from the bug community.
*** The End ***
Wasn't that a great game? Wasn't that clever? Don't you feel clever? Now check out Ryan Veeder's homepage and see what else he's written. Look! Go look! You can contact him by email and give him valuable feedback! And maybe check out Ryan Veeder's Patreon and help support him!
And don't even think about breaking the game by making the frog wear the cap and fly off to the east, and then suddenly you're back at the garden, unable to follow. Don't be a naughty player! Be a good player!
Besides the eight chancellors, this game features:
Oh, and when you're inhabiting another body, your original body is called your former self.
Drop all eight chancellors in the Bug Congress to win the game.
Put all four totems onto the altar in the Temple of Metamorphosis. The totems are replaced with a butterfly chancellor.
In Checkpoint One, put only the 2 pound weight and the 4 pound weight on the small left scale to unlock the first checkpoint door.
In Checkpoint Two, put all twelve weights (and nothing else) on the large left scale to unlock the second checkpoint door.
The weights have no effect on your buoyancy in the pond.
This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with
Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!