When in Rome 2: Far from Home
An interactive fiction by Emily Short (2006) - the Inform 7 source text
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When play begins:
choose row 1 in the Table of Basic Help Options;
change description entry to "[story description]".
Table of Basic Help Options (continued)
| title | subtable | description | toggle |
| "Credits" | -- | "Thanks to Sam Kabo Ashwell, Admiral Jota, Graham Nelson, Dan Shiovitz, A. Short, Lucian Smith, and J. Robinson Wheeler for beta-testing this episode. |
Inform 7 is the work of Graham Nelson, and [story title] was compiled on Andrew Hunter's compiler for Mac OS X." --
"Contacting the Author" -- "If you encounter bugs, please feel free to email me (Emily Short) at emshort@mindspring.com. Including a short transcript of the problem you ran into will make it easier for me to diagnose what went wrong, though of course it isn't required." --
"Hints" Table of Hints -- --
Table of Hints
| title | subtable | description | toggle |
| "What am I supposed to be doing here?" | -- | "Try looking around at all the objects on your desk and in your file drawer. That should give you a decent idea of what you're expected to do with the creature. |
Also, bear in mind that the solution to the puzzle will vary from game to game." --
"How do I figure out where this thing came from?" Table of Identification Hints -- --
"How do I assemble the Probe?" Table of Assembly Hints -- hint toggle rule
"How do I make it get in the Probe?" Table of Entry Hints -- hint toggle rule
Table of Entry Hints
| hint | used |
| "This will depend a great deal on what kind of creature you have on your hands." | |
| "There are three basic categories of solution: getting the creature and manually placing it in the pod; luring the creature into the pod with something it wants; or making the creature's external environment so unpleasant that it will get into the pod for refuge." | |
| "Some creatures can be picked up." | |
| "Some creatures can be gotten into a state where they can't resist being picked up." | |
| "Some creatures have short arms and will have to get into the pod to get anything you put there that they want." |
Table of Assembly Hints
| hint | used |
| "Have you had a look at the instruction booklet?" | |
| "You'll need some glue in order to glue the parts together." | |
| "Then try GLUE (whatever) TO (whatever else). The booklet will tell you which parts may be attached to what." | |
| "You will also need to fill out the blank label with information about the creature's presumed origin." |
Table of Identification Hints
| title | subtable | description | toggle |
| "Getting started" | Table of General Hints | -- | hint toggle rule |
| "How do I measure the creature's strength?" | Table of Strength Hints | -- | hint toggle rule |
| "How do I measure the creature's speed?" | Table of Reflex Hints | -- | hint toggle rule |
| "How do I measure the creature's metabolism?" | Table of Eating Hints | -- | hint toggle rule |
| "How do I gauge the creature's attitude?" | Table of Attitude Hints | -- | hint toggle rule |
Table of General Hints
| hint | used |
| "You have some information about how to distinguish creatures from one another." | |
| "Have you looked at the Guide?" | |
| "It's in the file drawer." | |
| "You'll probably want to read all the entries (with commands like LOOK UP PERIODICITY IN GUIDE)." | |
| "If you've narrowed your search down to a few planets, you can also look those planets up individually in the paperwork. Sometimes the paperwork contains additional details that make the diagnosis easier." |
Table of Reflex Hints
| hint | used |
| "Sometimes its ordinary behavior is enough to give you some clue to this." | |
| "But you can also do something to test its reflexes." | |
| "Try throwing something at it." |
Table of Attitude Hints
| hint | used |
| "You may be able to tell how it feels about you by interacting with it a little." | |
| "Does it seem surly? Indifferent?" | |
| "Try petting the creature." |
Table of Strength Hints
| hint | used |
| "You could observe how it interacts with objects in the environment." | |
| "In particular, some objects are heavier than others." | |
| "If you put those where it can reach them when it is in a mood to play, what happens?" | |
| "Try leaving the propulsion unit and the life support unit around. Note whether it is able to pick them up." | |
| "Or whether it is able to move the chair when something is on it." |
Table of Eating Hints
| hint | used |
| "Every so often it will want to eat something." | |
| "You could count how many minutes pass from the time when it eats until the time it starts asking for food again." | |
| "Remember also that Esther tells you it has been twenty minutes without food when the game begins." | |
| "Once you have measured the number of minutes that pass between feedings, you can narrow down the creature's origin system." | |
| "Looking up moons in the paperwork may give you some idea of what the feeding times should be." | |
| "If the feedings are more frequent than every 20 minutes, you know that it comes from somewhere nearer than the Jovian system; if they are less frequent, you know it comes from somewhere further out. Exactly 20 minutes would place it on Io, Europa, Ganymede, or Callisto." | |