IF Comp ’13 – Jim Q. Pfygx-Vobk’s Mazredugin!

My desk is a tidy island in a sea of stuff I do not remember and cannot justify having bought.  Time to play IF games!

[spoilers begin here]

“So! You’re one of those people who can’t control their dreams, but you should. You don’t know this, but we’re looking for people like you. We…we like your type here. Still learning to control dreams. Deserve a little fun. What do you say?”
This guy sounds a lot like Tom Nook.  I bet he’s going to rent me a lucid-dreaming helmet next and I’ll have to sell my body to pay it off.

I like the premise:  I’m in a dream, and I have to figure out how to control it.  Let’s see where this goes.

>take wood
You take some large logs.
The small twigs continue to burn and finally go out, but they’ve done there job.
The medium branches continue to burn.
>put logs in pit
Did you mean to put the large logs on the medium branches?
yes
Those aren’t available.
The fuck do you mean, those aren’t available?

>ask stanley about knots
You ask Stanley if he can do anything about the weak timber…and he can. A few hitches and it certainly feels much sturdier.
Huh?  I just wanted to ask him about knots.

I love that Stanley insists on being called Stanley but the narrator is perfectly happy to call him Stan.

So I think, based on the questions I answered in the beginning, that there are four different characters in this game, arranged on a chart with academic success on one axis and friends-having on the other. I am playing as high-achieving social pariah Percy Smith, and I think Stanley might be the sad bastard who isn’t good at anything. Poor guy.

Dear game,
Don’t tell me the entrance to the ship is blocked by some crates and then refuse to show me the crates. It’s bad manners.
Love always,
Jenni

PUT TIMBER ON SHIP not only worked to get us on the ship, it made two other people show up and a captive in a boat sail by and a conversation about elves happen and all kinds of shit.  More than PUT TIMBER ON SHIP usually accomplishes, in my experience.

Hey, hey, guys! If you’re wondering what to do about the anchor:
YOU HAVE TO BURN THE ROPE!

Now how are we gonna spend the rest of this day? Probably guessing which damn verb we need to make the ship move.

The walkthrough is unhelpful. So much so that it suggests I ask myself about the anchor. Thanks, walkthrough. I’m going to try it from the beginning as someone more popular, see what that’s like.

>ask percy about crates

Which do you mean, the crates or the blocking crates?
>crates
Which do you mean, the crates or the blocking crates?
UGGGGH

I have tried three characters now for which the walkthrough does not work. I think I’ve had all the Mazredugin I need in my life.

Neat concept, frustrating execution.