Sam & Max text-adventure, engine done: now we need content

[The Highway]

so, uh, i clicked on the link you first posted and it doesn't show anything. I'm using chrome.

[serializer]

Originally Posted by hansschmucker

The engine was done in an evening and while the code is a mess, at least it works (in Firefox 3.6: sorry for users of other browsers [...] )

Originally Posted by The Highway

so, uh, i clicked on the link you first posted and it doesn't show anything. I'm using chrome.

The thing about text adventures is, you have to read all the clues

Originally Posted by Sam

I can't use these things together ...

[serializer]

Can I just suggest maybe making a story that's not anything to do with the current series? This will be probably a whole lot easier, and all round more entertaining. I'd be really up for helping out with this but I can't be bothered to just rehash a load of Telltale's stories and characters! I'm a Javascript programmer and have done a fair bit of story writing in my time so I think this'd be great fun.

[hansschmucker]

Sure, if you have a good suggestion... and if The Highway agrees. He's contributed as much as have, so it's as much his call as mine.

About the dependency on Firefox. Sorry, I told you it was quick and dirty: Firefox has a number of niceties that go beyond ecma262 and I've used them shamelessly: new Array methods, block scope variables, short function notation

I've been spending yesterday evening trying to find a good online editor (something like Mozilla Bespin) that can actually be used by people who don't mainly work with vi... long story short: I couldn't find any that allowed real-time colaboration and didn't cost an arm and a leg.

[caeska]

Haha, this is gold! Really good job on the engine, that programming is way beyond anything I could ever do. And you've actually managed to personify Sam and Max really well.
Oh btw, you spelled "habit" wrong in the 3rd dialogue.

[hansschmucker]

Thanks, but it's really just a placeholder. I've uploaded the source to Google Code so that everybody can work with it. Just send me a PM with your Google name if you want access:
http://code.google.com/p/micro-tawe/

[The Highway]

hey, hans, have you heard of google wave? i can invite you and we can collaborate that way. also, serializer has a good idea, but because we have already begun on this project, i think we could try that as an improved "sequal".

But now we should begin working on the plot for the second scene!

[hansschmucker]

Heard of: yes. Used it or even remember what it offers: no.

Google name is (surprise): hansschmucker

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You're probably right... one thing after the other. We've started with this and should try to get through with it without too many changes. I was simply missing the Commissioner

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OK, so what do we do at the digging site. At the end of the scene we need the phone number of the museum... we can add pretty much any items and character we want to make this a little more difficult. The archeologist is an obvious choice for a character having the phone number.... so what kind of hoops would such a character make Sam and Max jump through? Well, I know few archeologists (one to be precise) but luckily our character is more supposed to be a stereotype than a real person.

So what stereotypes are there about archeologists? Well, I think of a guy with glasses who's pretty much dead to the world while he is engrossed in his work. So, obviously: we have to disrupt his work somehow.

When we have that we'll probably face the problem that he is so full of himself that he won't hand out the phone number to mere mortals...

I'd think there would be two ways to get the number from him:
1. Convince him that Sam and Max are "true believers"
or
2. Make him leave. Archeologists seem like the forgetful type, so he'd probably forget his notebook.

[SuperBosco]

The link doesn't work.

[hansschmucker]

Originally Posted by SuperBosco

The link doesn't work.

What browser are you using?

Edit: I'm using a Firefox 3.7 build here, so maybe there's really an incompatibility with earlier versions, i.e. 3.5/3.6 . It's just a prototype so I didn't do any testing.

[caeska]

Originally Posted by SuperBosco

The link doesn't work.

It works like a charm with Firefox

[NeatNit]

Originally Posted by caeska

It works like a charm with Firefox

Since when do charms work?

[caeska]

Originally Posted by NeatNit

Since when do charms work?

Since 2 minutes ago

[hansschmucker]

Come on guys... what could be a good puzzle for destroying an archeologist's work that would fit in with the Sam and Max universe? It can pretty much involve any items that may be at the digging site... Something like sabotaging a T-Rex statue so that it falls down, but slightly more plausible

[The Highway]

Here's my outline for the second scene (after they escape fro the cave of the molemen):

- IN THE SUBWAY/SEWER, THERE IS AN INSCRIPTION ON THE WALL
- IT HAS PALEONTOLOGIST'S (NOT ARCHAEOLOGIST) CELL NUMBER ON IT, BUT IS IN AN ANCIENT LANGUAGE
- NEED NEW TOY OF POWER TO DISCIPHER IT, SOMETHING LIKE A SPEAK & SAY
- HOWEVER, TOY IS UNDER WATER
- WE HAVE STINKY'S CELL, MOLEMAN CLOTHING AND FIND AN OLD DOOR HANDLE IN PILE OF JUNK.
- WE CAN TURN THE MOLEMAN CLOTHING INTO A MAKESHIFT ROPE, AND ATTACH THE DOOR HANDLE AS A HOOK.
- USE FISHING ROD WITH RIVER, AND IT WILL CATCH THE SPEAK & SAY TOY BY THE PULL STRING
- NOW USE SPEAK AND SAY WITH ANCIENT LANGUAGE
- MAX WILL MEMORIZE PHONE NUMBER. NOW, TELEPORT.

[hansschmucker]

Love the fishing part, but I'd be careful with the toys. Especially a "read-secret-language" toy is practically an invitation to use it with anything. I'd rather add that puzzle maybe somewhere in the tunnel or at the digging site. Question is: If it's not in order to get a toy, then what is it for?

[The Highway]

i thought we were in the tunnel? also, the majority of the scene is to get a toy, so we can advance to the palaeontologist.

[The Highway]

also, this can be the motivation for having to go against the guy; he wants to steal this thing so he can decipher ancient languages. so, my bad, he should probably be an archaeologist.

[hansschmucker]

OK, let's try to put this together: we've gotten into the tunnel, inside which is a lot of rubbish, including for some reason a broken door (Apparently a lot of trash has been dumped down there through a hole in the ceiling (maybe we can create a link to that lateron, so that we can see where the hole leads). We walk through the tunnel and get to the digging site where an incredible busy archeologist refuses to even talk to us. We destroy the digging site FIXME somehow, gaining his attention, but he won't talk to us anymore. We'll need to give him a little present. Looking around, we find a pond with something shiny-looking at the bottom. We try to get to it, but the water is too deep. So we go back to the tunnel and get the doorhandle, combining it with the robe (FIXME I still hope we can find something that makes a tad more sense) and using it to fish for the item. The archeologist is happy, babbles something about a breakthrough and gives us the phonenumber of the museum before rushing off.

[hansschmucker]

Sorry, I was still writing while you posted. Which guy? The one from the museum? I thought he was supposed to meddle with time and space, sending the Sam and Max duplicate back in time lateron.