Introduction

Every year, the king holds an extravagant ball where he invites all the local dignitaries and they lavish him with gifts. The king sells some of these gifts after the ball and uses the money to fund the ball the following year. More importantly, he also gifts some of the money to enterprising craftsmen, tradesmen and other small businesses to help them establish or improve their business. It's a very generous incentive and is very popular with the people, as all honest, hard-working people have a chance to gain the king's favour.

If you're not a dignitary, but you've been invited to the king's ball, then there's a fair chance that you'll have a chance to present your business proposal to the king and maybe get some funding.

You're the local baker. You work long hours making and selling wheat, barley and rye breads. How boring. You dream of making sweet pastries, fruit cakes, gingerbread and other delectable things that you know would be popular, but you don't have enough time or resources to diversify. You need to get some funding from the king, so that you can hire a couple of apprentices, expand your shop and install some new ovens. There's just one problem. You haven't been invited to the ball.

You come up with an ingenious plan. You've baked the most gorgeous fruit cake. If you can get into the palace and present your plans (and your cake) to the king, you're sure he would provide you with the funding you need.

You leave the cake in the shop and set off to see if you can find a way into the palace. It looks easy enough. All you have to do is get past that guard.

Warning: Due to lack of time, this game couldn't be play tested before the competition deadline. There may be bugs. Contact me on intfiction.org if you'd like to test this version for a post-comp release.

Instructions

This is a traditional text adventure that was written for SeedComp! 2023, 9 January to 1 March 2023. See the jam page for the competition rules.

A text adventure is a form of computer game that presents you with a story. You take on the role of the main character in the story and control that character's actions. The story has a goal and you will need to solve puzzles in order to achieve that goal. The computer tells you where you are, what you can see and what's happening around you. You can then move around, examine the things you find and manipulate those things by telling the computer what to do using simple English commands.

Commands consist of a verb phrase, optionally followed by a noun phrase. Most commands can be abbreviated to a verb followed by a noun. For example, HIT THE PALACE GUARD can be abbreviated to HIT GUARD.

If the verb is followed by a preposition, this may alter its meaning. For example, GET CRATE will attempt to pick up the crate, but GET ON CRATE will attempt to climb onto it.

In some cases, the verb phrase and first noun phrase may be followed by a second noun phrase. The two noun phrases are usually separated by a preposition. For example, DIG GRAVE will attempt to dig a grave with your hands (as you didn't specify a second noun phrase), but DIG GRAVE WITH SHOVEL will attempt to dig a grave with the shovel. If you only use a verb and a noun, the game will generally tell you if it needs an extra phrase or implicitly try to deduce what is needed for the second phrase.

Don't panic! It's not as complicated as it sounds. Just use simple English sentences starting with a verb and it will all feel quite natural.

Movement

To move around, use commands like GO NORTH and GO SOUTH. You can move in any of the four cardinal compass directions, as well as UP and DOWN. To save typing, movement commands can be abbreviated to N, S, E, W, U and D. You can sometimes use other movement commands such as ENTER, EXIT, GET ON or GET OFF. These will be reasonably obvious when the time comes.

Examining things

Make sure you EXAMINE everything you come across, even insignificant things like scenery and objects mentioned in room descriptions, as subtle hints and clues are scattered everywhere. To save typing, EXAMINE can be abbreviated to X. For example, EXAMINE HALBERD can be abbreviated to X HALBERD.

You can also try your other senses when it seems appropriate, e.g. SMELL, TOUCH or LISTEN. Unlike EXAMINE, these actions aren't necessary to solve any puzzles, so don't feel obligated to use them.

Manipulating objects

Apart from examining things, most of your time will be spent manipulating objects. Use commands like GET or TAKE to pick up an object, e.g. GET CAKE. Use commands like DROP or DISCARD to drop an object, e.g. DROP CAKE. Use WEAR to wear something, e.g. WEAR HAT. Use REMOVE to remove something that is already worn, e.g. REMOVE HAT.

To see what you're currently carrying and wearing, use INVENTORY (or I). As you're not a pack horse, you can only carry ten items at a time, but you may be able to put things in containers if you need to increase your load.

There are many other verbs that can be used to manipulate objects. These will be fairly obvious when the time comes. Common verbs include OPEN, CLOSE, LOCK, UNLOCK, DRINK, PUSH, PULL and so on. Use PUT, PLACE or INSERT to put objects into containers or on supporters, e.g. PUT POTATOES IN SACK or PLACE SACK ON TABLE.

Communicating with characters

You will encounter a couple of characters in the game. When you first meet new characters, in addition to examining them, you should try talking to them, e.g. TALK TO GUARD. To get further information from them, try asking them about something relevant, e.g. ASK GUARD ABOUT BALL. You can also try showing them something or giving them something, e.g. GIVE POTATOES TO GUARD.

Advanced features

You can use IT or THEM to refer to the noun used in the previous command, e.g. EXAMINE CAKE, GET IT, EXAMINE POTATOES, PUT THEM IN BAG.

You can refer to multiple objects by separating the objects with AND, e.g. GET CAKE AND COIN. Using IT and THEM in the next command will only refer to the last of those objects, e.g. EXAMINE IT will refer to the coin.

You can use ALL to refer to all the appropriate objects with GET and DROP, e.g. GET ALL to get everything in the current location, GET ALL FROM TABLE to get everything on the table, DROP ALL to drop everything you're holding.

When using ALL, you can use EXCEPT or BUT to exclude some objects, e.g. DROP ALL EXCEPT BOTTLE.

Finally, you can enter multiple commands on the same line by separating them with a period, e.g. UNLOCK DOOR. OPEN IT.

Scoring

There is no score in this game. Your objective is simply to get into the king's ball.

Other commands

Use LOOK (or L) to refresh the display.

Use VERSION to get the game version. Use ABOUT or INFO to get background information and credits for the game. Use CREDITS to get the credits only.

Use SAVE to save your progress. Use RESTORE to restore a saved game.

Use UNDO to undo the last move. This is handy if you change your mind, make a mistake, get killed or get into an unwinnable situation. (UNDO is not available with the z3 file.)

Use AGAIN (or G) to repeat the last command.

Use WAIT (or Z) to do nothing apart from pass the time.

Use HELP to get a brief reminder of how to play the game. HINT will be added later.

Use RESTART to restart the game from the beginning. Use QUIT (or Q) to quit without restarting.

Most importantly, have fun, enjoy the game and try to get into the king's ball. Don't forget to take the cake with you!

Keyboard shortcuts

Some interpreters have keyboard shortcuts. If you are using an interpreter on a computer with a conventional keyboard, most will allow you to press the up and down arrow keys to cycle through your past commands. This is handy if you want to repeat the previous command or correct a typo.

Playing the game

There are two ways to play the game:

• Click the Run game button (above) to play the game in a browser (coming soon).

• Download the z5 file (recommended) or z3 file (for old 8-bit platforms) and play the game using a z-code interpreter (see below).

Finding a z-code interpreter

There are a variety of z-code interpreters for all the major platforms, as well as many minor and retro platforms. There are far too many to list here. The best source of downloads is probably the Interactive Fiction Archive. Navigate to infocom/interpreters for z-code interpreters or interpreters-multi for interpreters that interpret both z-code games and other formats.

Common z-code interpreters

Android: I recommend Hunky Punk from Google Play. (There are others, as well.)

iOS: I recommend Frotz from the Apple App Store. (There are others, as well.)

Linux: See the links above.

Mac: See the links above.

Windows: I recommend Windows Frotz from the infocom/interpreters link above. (There are others, as well.)

Credits

Inform 6 compiler, language and library originally written by Graham Nelson and now maintained by David Griffith, David Kinder, Andrew Plotkin et al.

PunyInform library written by Johan Berntsson and Fredrik Ramsberg based on the Inform 6 library.

Parchment interpreter written by Dannii Willis et al.

Concept based on two seeds from SeedComp! 2023 round 1, specifically 'On Guard' by Gareth Pitchford and 'The Witch's Bakery' by Ramona G.

Game design and coding by Garry Francis.

Cartoon character on cover image by Ron Leishman.