Game Played In The Dark

• Interactive fiction game (text based conversational game) in a text terminal-like environment
• Casual and short gameplay
• Simple way how to insert commands
• Free, no ads, no collection of personal data
• 8 bit retro experience (retro and modern-looking font)
• No explosions and no realistic graphical effects
• Runs on nearly any hardware
• Automapping feature (public transport-ready playing)

Welcome to London!

In this short game you will become the amateur detective Max Carrados. You will start in the morning in his house - The Turrets - and will follow the clues in a struggle to catch Guido the Rasojo, who has run away with invaluable documents from Vienna through the whole Europe and finally endded up in London. The objective of the game is to find Guido and capture him in any way for long enough time to allow police to arrest him. Your adventure will start with a calm exploration of the house, where there you need to find some objects which could be useful later on in the game. You will have to solve some small puzzles, there, and watch what happens around you to get to the next step in the story.

You probably do not know Max Carrados; a fictional blind detective created by Ernst Bramah in the beginning of the 20th’s century. Bramah wrote a lot of stories with this hero, most of them are already in the public domain and can be found e.g., at project Guttenberg, see page Books by Bramah, Ernest (sorted by popularity)

The fact that the detective is blind has also an impact on the game. Keep in mind that you have to examine things to find out details. And although Max is blind, his other senses are sharper than is usual and help him to partially overcome his handicap. In Bramah's stories he is able to read by finger touching the letters; he also possess sensitive hearing ... which will help us in some critical moments in the game. Equally important is to react swiftly to the phone - if it rings, it is a pity not to answer the call. And if someone rings at the front door, then...? Note that to hear what is going on, you need to be reasonably close to the sound of the source (you e.g., cannot hear the phone ringing in the basement when you are upstairs).

Finally welcome to the world of old text adventure games, controlled by commands typed on the keyboard, games which were teasing imagination of the players in the 1980s‘. As my previous two games (Lunar Lander and Hammurabi), this one is again a tribute to this old and largely vanished world - a casual game with simple puzzles and short gameplay (half an hour?) recreating the atmosphere of the gaming on the "green text terminals". Try it, gaming without realistic 3D graphics can be a refreshing experience :-).

The Plot

The offence that had circuitously brought “il Rasojo” and his “lot” within the cognizance of Scotland Yard outlines the kind of story that is discreetly hinted at by the society paragraphist of the day, politely disbelieved by the astute reader, and then at last laid indiscreetly bare in all its details by the inevitable princessly “Recollections” of a generation later.

Our story begins with an impending royal marriage in Vienna; a certain jealous “Countess X.” and a document that might threaten the approaching nuptials. To obatin these papers the Countess enlisted the services of Guido and he succeeded, but it was with pursuit close upon his heels. He slipped out of Vienna by the Nordbahn with his destination known, resourcefully stopped the express outside Czaslau and got away across to Chrudim. From Pardubitz he passed on to Glatz and went down the Oder to Stettin. A week’s harrying found him in Copenhagen, still with no time to spare, then crossed to Malmo by ferry, took the connecting night train to Stockholm and the same morning sailed down bound for Obo, intending to get back to central Europe by the less frequented routes. But in this move again luck was against him - receiving warning just in time he contrived to be dropped from the steamer by boat among the islands of the crowded Archipelago, made his way to Helsingfors and within forty-eight hours was back again on the Frihavnen.

To appreciate the exact significance of these wanderings it is necessary to recall the conditions. Guido was not zigzagging a course about Europe in an aimless search for the picturesque, still less inspired by any love of the melodramatic. To him every step was vital, each tangent or rebound the necessary outcome of his much-badgered plans. In his pocket reposed the papers for which he had run grave risks. The price agreed upon for the service was sufficiently lavish to make the risks worth taking time after time; but in order to consummate the transaction it was necessary that the booty should be put into his employer’s hand. Half-way across Europe Countess X. was waiting with such patience as she could maintain, herself watched and shadowed at every step. The problem was for Guido to earn a long enough respite to enable him to communicate his position to the Countess and for her to go or to reach him by a trusty hand. So far Guido had been kept successfully on the run and in the meanwhile time was pressing.

They lost him after the Hutola. Three days later they found that he’d been back again in Copenhagen. Now they’re without a trace. But the Countess has gone hurriedly to Paris; and Lafayard thinks it all points to London. London, where there a misty morning, there, sun peacefully shining through the windows - and yet criminals somewhere in London streets are planning their sins! Good luck!

How To Play

The game is controlled using commands typed on the command prompt. An example of a gameplay follows:

You are standing in the hallway. It is a narrow hallway, stretching to the south. The door leading out of the house is next to you, in the north.
The door leading out of the house is closed.
Exit: south.
Close to you is door (closed).
You do not have anything with you.

What to do? open door
You are opening the door.

You are standing in the hallway. It is a narrow hallway, stretching to the south. The door leading out of the house is next to you, in the north.
The door leading out of the house is open.
Exits: south, north, out.
Close to you is door (open).
You do not have anything with you.
        
What to do? north
You are going north.
        
You are standing on a pavement made of some hard stuff. Lawn is from east as well as west. The door leading to the house is located on the south. City street is to the north.
The door to the house is open.
Exits: west, east, north, south, house.
Close to you are lawn, wall, door (open), pavement.
You do not have anything with you.
        
What to do? ex pavement
Pavement is made of small rectangular stony bricks. It is bordered by bigger stones and then blends into the lawn around.
        
You are standing on a pavement made of some hard stuff. Lawn is from east as well as west.
The door leading to the house is located on the south. City street is to the north.
The door to the house is open.
Exits: west, east, north, south, house.
Close to you are bricks, stone, lawn, wall, door (open), pavement.
You do not have anything with you.
        
What to do? take stone
You took the stone.
What to do? e
You are going east.
        
There is a lawn below your feet and a stone wall surrounding your garden from north. Wall of the house is on the south.
Exits: west, east.
Close to you are lawn, wall.
You are carrying: stone.
        
What to do? go east
You are going east.