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- THE WITNESS
-
- INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR THE WITNESS
-
- In The WITNESS, you are a police detective working near Los Angeles. The
- year is 1938, and on this stormy February night a wealthy but frightened
- man has asked you for protection. In spite of your best efforts, a death
- will occur, and you will have twelve hours to solve the mystery and try to
- arrest the killer.
-
- If you think you have enough evidence against one or more suspects
- to convince a jury of their guilt, you can arrest them and conclude the
- case. Your ever-helpful assistant, Sergeant Duffy, will assist you in
- taking the accused into custody. (He will also offer help before the
- arrest if you ask him for it.) You can expect to receive a letter from
- your superiors about the outcome of the grand jury investigation - and, if
- the District Attorney gets an indictment, of the trial itself. If the jury
- does not convict, your higher-ups will probably tell you where you may have
- erred, so that you can profit from your mistakes.
-
- Because the State cannot win the case unless it can prove guilt
- beyond a reasonable doubt, you are expected to establish the three
- traditional ingredients of an ironclad case for the prosecution: the
- accused must have had a motive, a method, and ample opportunity to commit
- the crime. There are many possible endings to this case, and the one you
- reach is determined by your actions and by the deductions you draw from the
- evidence you gather. But one ending fits the facts better than any other,
- and you will know it when you reach it.
-
- As in all Infocom interactive fiction, The WITNESS understands a
- very large vocabulary. Appendix B on page 18 lists several commands that
- will be useful in your investigation. Some of the commands listed are
- found in all Infocom fiction; others are included especially for The
- WITNESS. All detectives will want to familiarize themselves with this
- list.
-
- Table of Contents
-
- An Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 12
- What is interactive fiction?
- Time in the story
-
- Tips for Novices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
- Seven useful pointers about interactive fiction.
-
- Communicating with The Witness. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
- Basic sentences
- Complex sentences
- Talking to characters in the story
- Vocabulary limitations
-
- Starting and Stopping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- Loading The Witness
- Saving and Restoring
- Quitting and Restarting
-
- Appendix A: Quick Reference Guide. . . . . . . . . . 17
- This briefly describes the most important things to know about interactive
- fiction. It is vital that you know all these things before you begin your
- investigation.
-
- Appendix B: Important Commands . . . . . . . . . . . 18
-
- Appendix C: Some Recognized Verbs. . . . . . . . . . 19
-
- Appendix D: The Witness Complaints. . . . . .. . . . 20
-
- Appendix E: Sample Transcript and Map. . . . . . . . 21
-
- Appendix F: We're Never Satisfied. . . . . . . . . . 23
-
- Appendix G: If You Have Technical Problems . . . . . 23
-
- Appendix H: About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
-
- Appendix I: Copyright Warranty Information . . . . . 24
-
-
-
- An Overview
-
- Interactive fiction is a story in which you are the main character.
- Your own thinking and imagination determine the actions of that character
- and guide the story from start to finish.
-
- Each work of interactive fiction, such as The Witness, presents you
- with a series of locations, items, characters, and events. You can
- interact with these in a variety of ways; moving around, talking to other
- characters, obtaining and using objects, etc.
-
- You will have to interact with several characters and solve many
- puzzles as you move through The WITNESS. Frequently you will need to bring
- a certain item to a particular place, and then use it in the proper way, to
- solve a puzzle. Remember that other characters may help you or deceive you
- when you try to solve a given puzzle.
-
- In The Witness, time passes only in response to your input. The
- clocks in the story will advance each time you type a sentence and press
- the RETURN (or ENTER) key. If you don't make any moves, the story will not
- progress; so you can plan your turns as slowly and carefully as you want.
- Most investigative actions will take one minute. Some actions, such as
- when you EXAMINE (something) CAREFULLY, will take a little longer.
-
- Tips for Novices
-
- 1. When you begin The WITNESS, you should first become familiar with your
- surroundings. Explore every location carefully. Note any interesting
- objects and all exits from the location. As you explore the house and
- yard, it is a very good idea to make a map of the geography. Even the most
- experienced and capable detectives find it wise to make a map showing each
- location, the directions connecting it to adjoining locations, and any
- interesting objects there.
-
- 2. Read everything carefully. There are clues in many of the descriptions
- of locations and objects. Also check labels, books and other items. Many
- objects in the story can be picked up and are needed to solve puzzles.
-
- 3. Unlike other "adventure games" you may have played, there are many
- possible routes to completing The WITNESS; there is no one "correct" order
- for solving puzzles. Some puzzles have many solutions' others don't need
- solutions at all. However, sometimes you will have to solve one puzzle in
- order to obtain the tools or information you need to solve another.
-
- 4. It is often helpful to do The WITNESS with another person. Different
- people find different puzzles easy, and can often complement each other.
-
- 5. Don't be afraid to try something bold or strange - you can always SAVE
- your position first if you want. (See "Starting and Stopping" on page 16).
- Trying the bizarre can be fun and will often give you a clue. Here's an
- example:
-
- >GIVE THE SOGGY NEWSPAPER TO THE NIGHT WATCHMAN
- The night watchman tastes the soggy newspaper, spits it out, shivers, and
- looks at you sadly.
-
- You have just learned that there probably is something which would
- be better to give to the night watchman. Maybe the bottle of brandy you saw
- earlier in the story...?
-
- 6. If you really have difficulty, you can order a hint booklet and a
- complete map using the order form in your package. You don't need this
- booklet to enjoy the story, but it will make solving the puzzles easier.
-
- 7. Read the sample transcript on page 21; it's a good example of how
- Infocom's interactive fiction works.
-
- Communicating with The Witness
-
- In The Witness you type your sentence in plain English each time you see
- the prompt (>). The Witness usually acts as if your sentence begins "I want
- to.....," although you shouldn't actually type those words. You can use
- words like THE if you want, and you can use capital letters if you want;
- The Witness doesn't care either way.
-
- When you finish typing a sentence, press the RETURN (or ENTER)
- key. The Witness will respond by telling you whether your request is
- possible at this point in the story, and what happened as a result.
-
- The Witness recognizes your words by their first nine letters, and
- all subsequent letters are ignored. Therefore, HYPNOTist, HYPNOTize, and
- HYPNOTic would all be treated as the same word by The Witness.
-
- To move around, just type the desired direction. You can use the
- eight compass directions: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST, NORTHEAST, NORTHWEST,
- SOUTHEAST, and SOUTHWEST. You can abbreviate these to N, S, E, W, NE, NW,
- SE, and SW, respectively. You can use UP (or U) and DOWN (or D), IN and
- OUT will also work in certain places.
-
- The Witness understands many different kinds of sentences. Here
- are some examples. (Note that some of these items do not actually appear in
- The Witness.)
-
- WALK NORTH
- GO SOUTH
- L
- OPEN THE WOODEN DOOR
- EXAMINE THE RADIO
- LOOK BEHIND THE STATUE
- LOOK UNDER THE ROCK
- LOOK INSIDE THE VAT
- TAKE BOX
- TAKE THE BOOKS
- PICK UP THE WOODEN BOX
- LOOK THE DOOR WITH THE KEY
- PUSH THE BUTTON
- PUT TOOTHBRUSH UNDER BED
-
- You can use multiple objects with certain verbs if you separate
- them by the word AND or a comma. Some examples:
-
- TAKE THE KNIFE, BOOK, COMPASS
- DROP THE BOX, THE GUN, AND THE JAR
- PUT THE GOLD BAR AND THE NECKLACE IN THE REFRIGERATOR
-
- You can include several sentences on one input line if you
- separate them by the word THEN or by a period. (Each sentence will still
- cause time to pass.) You don't need a period at the end of the input
- line. For example, you could type all of the following at once, before
- pressing the RETURN (or ENTER) key:
-
- PUT DOWN THE CUP OF COFFEE THEN TAKE THE PENCIL. LOOK BEHIND THE PAINTING
- THEN SIT DOWN ON THE DAVENPORT THEN READ THE MAGAZINE
-
- The words IT and ALL can be very useful. For example:
-
- EXAMINE THE RADIO. TURN IT ON
- OPEN THE BOX. LOOT IN IT. CLOSE IT THEN LOCK IT
-
- You will meet other characters in The WITNESS. You can talk to them
- using the format: CHARACTER, DO THIS. Here are some examples:
-
- PETE, GIVE ME THE KEY
- WALTER, TURN OFF THE RADIO
- ALICE, PET THE PURRING CAT
-
- Once you've engaged someone in conversation, you can often skip the
- formalities and just state your requests as long as that person remains in
- the same room with you.
-
- Characters will answer only two kinds of questions: asking for
- information about someone or something, and asking for the whereabouts of
- someone or something. Here are some examples:
-
- MR HONES, TELL ME ABOUT MRS JONES
- JIM, WHERE IS THE BUTLER
- SCOTT, HAVE YOU SEEN THE BULLETS?
-
- If your command is ambiguous, The Witness will ask what you really
- mean. You can answer most of these questions briefly by supplying the
- missing information, rather than typing the entire input again. You can do
- this only at the very next prompt. For example:
-
- >OPEN THE DOOR
- (Which door do you mean, the bedroom door or the closet door?)
- >BEDROOM
- The bedroom door is now open.
-
- The Witness uses many words in its descriptions that it will not
- recognize in your commands. For example, you might read, "The full moon is
- bright and clean, and the wagons case eerie shadows." However, if The
- Witness doesn't recognize the words MOON or SHADOWS in your input, you can
- assume they are not important to your completion of the story, except to
- provide you with a more vivid description of where you are or what is going
- on. The Witness recognizes over 900 words, nearly all that you are likely
- to use in your commands. If The Witness doesn't know a word you used, or
- any of its common synonyms, you are almost certainly trying something that
- is not important in the story.
-
- Starting and Stopping
-
- Starting the Story: Now that you know what to expect when you venture
- into The Witness, it's time for you to "boot" your disk. To load The
- Witness, follow the instructions on the Reference Card in your package.
-
- The story will begin with a description In the Wings, the opening
- location.
-
- Here's a quick exercise to help you get accustomed to interacting
- with The Witness. Try the following command first:
-
- >LOOK UP
-
- Then press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. The Witness will respond with:
-
- There's a dark, cloudy sky above you. What next?
-
- Then try"
-
- >WALK NORTH
-
- After you press the RETURN (or ENTER) key, The Witness will respond:
-
- You are now on the driveway. The driveway, paved with peastone, runs from
- the entrance at the south end in a curve to a two-car garage at the east
- end. North of you is the front porch, the entrance to the house.
-
- Saving and restoring: It will probably take you several days to complete
- The Witness. Using the SAVE feature, you can continue the story at a
- later time without having to start over from the beginning, just as you
- can place a bookmark in a book you are reading. SAVE puts a "snapshot" of
- your place in the story onto another disk. If you are cautious, you may
- want to save your place before (or after) trying something dangerous or
- tricky. That way, you can go back to that position later, even if you
- have gotten lost or "killed" since then.
-
- To save your place in the story, type SAVE at the prompt (>), and
- then press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Then follow the instructions for
- saving and restoring on your Reference Card. Some computers require a
- blank disk, initialized and formatted, for saves. Using a disk with data
- on it (not counting other The Witness saves) may result in the loss of that
- data, depending on your computer. You can save your position as often as
- you like by using additional blank disks.
-
- You can restore a saved position any time you want. To do so, type
- RESTORE at the prompt (>), and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Then
- follow the instructions on your Reference Card. You can then continue the
- story from the point where you used the SAVE command. You can type LOOK
- for a description of where you are.
-
- Quitting and restarting: If you want to start over from the beginning,
- type RESTART and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. (This is usually faster
- than re-booting). Just to make sure, The Witness will ask if you really
- want to start over. If you do, type Y for YES and press the RETURN (or
- ENTER) key.
-
- If you want to stop entirely, type QUIT and press the
- RETURN (or ENTER) key. Once again, The Witness will ask to make sure this
- is really what you want to do.
-
- Remember when you RESTART or QUIT: if you want to be able to return
- to your current position, you must first use do a SAVE.
-
- Appendix A
-
- Important Commands
-
- There are a number of one-word commands which you can type instead of a
- sentence. You can use them over and over as needed. Some count as a turn,
- others do not. Type the command after the prompt (>) and press the RETURN
- (or ENTER) key.
-
- ACCUSE (someone) OF (something) - This makes an accusation against someone.
-
- ANALYZE (something) FOR (something specific) - If you're looking for a
- specific substance on or in "something" the lab will run a special
- analysis.
-
- ARREST (someone) - If you've found enough evidence, this sentence will end
- the case and describe the outcome of the prosecution.
-
- ASK (someone) ABOUT (someone or something) - This is an impersonal form of
- the sentence CHARACTER, TELL ME ABOUT (someone or something).
-
- BRIEF - This tells The Witness to give you a full description of a
- location only the first time you enter a it. On subsequent visits, The
- Witness will tell you only the name of the location and any objects
- present. This is how The Witness will normally act, unless you tell it
- otherwise using the VERBOSE or SUPERBRIEF commands.
-
- CONTINUE - THis is the same as RESTORE.
-
- EXAMINE (something) - You will probably use this a lot.
-
- EXAMINE (something) CAREFULLY - You will probably use this occasionally,
- when you think that spending more time will give you more results.
-
- FINGERPRINT (something) - This is the same as ANALYZE (something) FOR
- FINGERPRINTS.
-
- INVENTORY - The Witness will list what you are holding. You can
- abbreviate INVENTORY to I.
-
- LOOK - This will give you a full description of your current location. You
- can abbreviate LOOK to L.
-
- QUIT - This lets you stop. If you want to save your position before
- quitting, follow the instructions in "Starting and Stopping" section on
- page 18. You can abbreviate QUIT to Q.
-
- RESTART - This stops the story and starts it over from the beginning.
-
- RESTORE - This restores a saved position made using the SAVE command. See
- "Starting and Stopping" on page 16 for more details.
-
- REVISION - This is the same as VERSION.
-
- SAVE - This puts a "snapshot" of your current position onto a storage
- disk. You can return to a saved position in the future using the RESTORE
- command. See "Starting and Stopping" on page 16 for more details.
-
- SCRIPT - This command tells your printer to begin making a transcript of
- the story as you venture onwards. A transcript may aid your memory but is
- not necessary. It will work only on certain computers; read your Reference
- Card for details.
-
- SEARCH (someone or something) - This is a search for unusual items.
-
- SEARCH (someone) FOR (something specific) - This is a search for something
- in particular, whether unusual or not.
-
- SHOW (something) TO (someone) - You may get an interesting reaction.
-
- SUPERBRIEF - This commands The Witness to display only the name of a place
- you have entered, even if you have never been there before. In this mode,
- The Witness will not even mention which objects are present. Of course,
- you can always get a description of your location, and the items there, by
- typing LOOK. In SUPERBRIEF mode, the blank line between turns will be
- eliminated. This mode is meant for players who already know their away
- around. Also see VERBOSE and BRIEF.
-
- SUSPEND - This is the same as SAVE.
-
- TIME - This command tells you the time in the story. This is particularly
- useful for those versions which have no status line.
-
- UNSCRIPT - This tells your printer to stop making a transcript.
-
- VERBOSE - This tells The Witness that you want a complete description of
- each location, and the objects in it, every time you enter a location, even
- if you've been there before. Also see BRIEF and SUPERBRIEF.
-
- VERSION - The Witness responds by showing you the release number and serial
- number of your copy of the story. Please include this information if you
- ever report a "bug" in the story.
-
- WAIT - This will cause time in the story to pass. Normally, between turns,
- nothing happens in the story. You could leave your computer, take a nap,
- and return to find that nothing has changed. You can use WAIT to make
- time pass in the story without doing anything. For example, you can wait
- for a specific time, or wait for an event to happen, etc. You can
- abbreviate WAIT to Z.
-
- WAIT FOR (someone or some amount of time) - You may wait for some specified
- amount of time; if something interesting happens in the meantime, however,
- you wait will terminate then. You may also wait for a character to arrive;
- if something interesting happens in the meantime, or if the character
- doesn't show up after a long time, The WITNESS will ask you if you want to
- keep waiting.
-
- WAIT UNTIL (time) - This causes time to pass until the desired time
- arrives. If anything interesting happens during this time, you will have a
- chance to stop waiting.
-
- Appendix B
-
- Some Recognized Verbs
-
- These are only some of the verbs that The Witness understands. There are
- many more. Remember that you can use a variety of prepositions with them.
- For example, LOOK can become LOOK INSIDE, LOOK BEHIND, LOOK UNDER, LOOK
- THROUGH, LOOK AT, and so on.
-
- CALL GIVE MOVE SMELL
- CLEAN HELP OPEN TAKE
- CLOSE HIDE PUT TIE
- COMPARE KISS READ TURN
- DROP KNOCK RING UNLOCK
- FIND LISTEN RUB WAKE
- FOLLOW LOCK SIT WALK
-
- Appendix C
-
- The Witness Complaints
-
- The Witness will complain if you type a sentence that confuses it
- completely, and will then ignore the rest of the input line. (Certain
- events in the story may also cause The Witness to ignore the rest of the
- sentences you typed, since the event may have changed your situation
- drastically.) The Witness's complaints always appear in brackets "[like
- this]" to distinguish them from the text of the story. Some of The
- Witness's complaints:
-
- I DON'T KNOW THE WORD "__________". The word you typed is not in the
- story's vocabulary. Sometimes using a synonym or rephrasing will help. If
- not, The Witness probably doesn't know the idea you were trying to get
- across. Remember The Witness recognizes your words by their first nine
- letters.
-
- YOU USED THE WORD "_______" IN A WAY THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND. The Witness
- knows the word you typed, but couldn't use it in that sense. Usually this
- is because The Witness knows the word as a different part of speech. For
- example, if you typed PRESS THE LOWER BUTTON, you are using LOWER as an
- adjective, but The Witness might know LOWER only as a verb, as in LOWER THE
- BOOM.
-
- THERE WAS NO VERB IN THAT SENTENCE! Unless you are answering a question,
- each sentence must have a verb (or a command) in it somewhere.
-
- THERE SEEMS TO BE A NOUN MISSING IN THAT SENTENCE. This usually means that
- your sentence was incomplete, such as EAT THE BLUE.
-
- THERE WERE TOO MANY NOUNS IN THAT SENTENCE. An example is PUT THE SOUP IN
- THE BOWL WITH THE LADLE, which has three noun "phrases," one more than The
- Witness can digest in a single action.
-
- I BEG YOUR PARDON? You pressed the RETURN (or ENTER) key without typing
- anything.
-
- YOU CAN'T SEE ANY ________ HERE! The item you referred to was not
- visible. It may be somewhere else, inside a closed container, and so on.
-
- THE OTHER OBJECT(S) THAT YOU MENTIONED ISN'T (AREN'T) HERE. You referred
- to two or more items in the same sentence, and at least one of them wasn't
- visible to you in your present location.
-
- YOU CAN'T USE MULTIPLE (IN)DIRECT OBJECTS WITH "______." You can use
- multiple objects (that is, nouns or noun phrases separated by AND or a
- comma) or the word ALL only with certain verbs. Among the more useful of
- these verbs are TAKE, DROP, and PUT. An example of a verb that will not
- work with multiple objects is ATTACK; you couldn't say ATTACK ALL or
- ATTACK THE PRIEST AND THE POLICEMAN.
-
- YOU CAN'T GO THAT WAY. There was no passage or exit in the direction you
- tried to move.
-
- THAT SENTENCE ISN'T ONE I RECOGNIZE. The sentence you typed may have been
- gibberish, such as TAKE ROPE WITH READ. Or, you may have typed a
- reasonable sentence but used a syntax that The Witness does not recognize,
- such as WAVE OVER THE MOUNTAIN. Try rephrasing the sentence.
-
- Sample Transcript and Map
-
- This transcript is not from The Witness, but it does show most of the usual
- things you can do in the story. It contains several simple puzzles and
- their solutions, and will give you a good idea of how Infocom's interactive
- fiction works. The player's sentences appear in capital letters after each
- prompt (>). The map represents the terrain in the sample transcript as you
- might have drawn it.
-
- Tin of cookies !-------------!
- ! Dessert !
- ! department !
- !-----|-------!
- |
- |
- !----------! !----|--------!
- ! Salad ! ! Check out !
- --! Bar !---! area !---
- !----------! !----|--------!
- |
- !----|-----!
- ! Cheese !
- ! Corner !
- !----------!
-
- (cheese corner)
- You are in the cheese section of Donna's Delicious Delicacies. Hundreds of
- different kinds of cheese are displayed in open refrigerated cases or are
- aging on the shelves. The finest Bries, Camemberts, Port du Saluts,
- Tilshits, and many other varieties exude a hearty, cozy aroma. Saltless
- crackers of varying degrees of tastlessness fill a shelf on one side of the
- room. The only exit is to the north. You hear people arguing to the north.
-
- >WALK NORTH
- (check-out area)
- You are in the check-out area of Donna's Delicious Delicacies. The store
- exit is to the east. Doors lead north to the dessert department, south to
- the cheese corner, and west to the salad bar. A cashier, looking bored, is
- sitting behind a cash register, chewing gum and reading a trashy novel.
- Lou, the store's overweight stockboy, leaves the room heading west. Donna,
- the surprisingly slim proprietor of this establishment, is here. Her face
- is flushed with anger.
-
- Donna turns to you and says, "That boy had better watch his step. A
- lot of expensive food has been disappearing lately, and I've a good idea
- that he's been eating my inventory without my permission."
-
- >DONNA, TELL ME ABOUT THE ARGUMENT
- "I accused him of stealing, and he called me an ungrateful and suspicious
- beanpole. We exchanged some harsh words; too bad, really, because he's been
- a fine stockboy. But with food disappearing..." She shakes her head in
- thought.
-
- >WEST
- (salad bar)
- This is the salad bar of Donna's Delicious Delicacies.
- Behind refrigerated glass cases are dozens of appetizing and colorful cold
- salads. Donna;s Antipasto Deluxe, lobster/seafood salad, marinated
- mushrooms, Artichoke Delight: all are attractively garnished, and the
- extravagant prices are tastefully posted in tiny black letters on the wall.
- There is an exit to the east. A door marked "Private" is to the west.
-
- >GO WEST
- The door is locked
-
- >INVENTORY
- You are carrying:
- a badge
- a pad of violation forms
- a wallet containing $10
-
- >KNOCK ON THE DOOR
- After a moment, the door opens and Lou, the stockboy, comes out, wiping his
- hands on a towel. "Yes?", he inquires politely.
-
- >ACCUSE LOU OF STEALING
- "Oh, I suppose Donna thinks everyone who works for her is stealing. Well,
- I'm not. I'm an honest, underpaid, unappreciated hard worker." Donna comes
- into the room. She looks very angry. Lois, the store's assistant manager,
- follows Donna into the room. Lois is a short but seemingly strong young
- woman. Lois is saying something to Donna.
-
- >LISTEN TO LOIS
- "When I came back from my coffee break, several cream puffs were missing,
- and a tin of the Danish butter cookies was open and half empty." Lois
- throws a look at Lou. "He's certainly large enough to eat more than that
- just for a snack!"
-
- >LOIS, WHERE IS THE TIN OF COOKIES?
- Lois looks at you coldly. "Where do you think?" Donna, barely restraining
- her anger, says to Lou, "You're fired!"
-
- >EAST
- As you leave the salad bar, you somehow bump into Lois, "Hey, watch it!"
- she snaps.
-
- (check-out area)
- A cashier, looking bored, is sitting behind a cash register, chewing gum
- and reading a trashy novel. You hear people arguing to the west.
- >NORTH (dessert department) You are in the dessert department of Donna's
- Delicious Delicacies. A refrigerated glass case holds a sinful assortment
- of cakes, pies, and pastries; Boston cream pie, seven-layer cake,
- raspberry-apple tarts, frosted cupcakes, and many other freshly-made baked
- goods. The cream puffs are not symmetrically positioned on their tray,
- indicating that some are missing.
-
- There is also an open case containing candies and chocolate
- truffles. A shelf is stacked with tins of Danish butter cookies. On a table
- next to the shelf is an opened tin of cookies.
-
- >EXAMINE TIN
- (Which tin do you mean, a closed tin on the shelf or the opened tin on the
- table?)
-
- >OPENED
- The opened tin of Danish butter cookies is half empty. The shiny cover lies
- next to the opened tin.
-
- >ANALYZE THE COVER
- Your ever-helpful assistant, Sergeant Duffy, arrives suddenly and takes the
- shiny cover from you. "I'll have this analyzed in no time flat, Detective."
- He leaves as quickly as he came.
-
- >SOUTH
- (check-out area)
- A cashier, looking bored, is sitting behind a cash register, chewing gum
- and reading a trashy novel. You hear people arguing to the west.
-
- >CASHIER, WHERE IS DONNA?
- "I think she's in salad." She returns to her book
-
- >TELL ME ABOUT LOU
- (said to the cashier)
- "Aw, he's nice. Very polite, you know?" She returns to her book.
-
- >TELL ME ABOUT LOIS
- (said to the cashier)
- The cashier looks around to make sure no one is listening, then whispers.
- "Donna likes her, but Lois gives me the creeps! She's not very friendly,
- either. Whenever I ask he if she wants some lunch or somethin', she says,
- very haughty-like, "I'm not hungary'." She returns to her book.
-
- Duffy comes in from the east. He hands you the shiny cover to the
- tin of Danish butter cookies. "Well, Detective," he says, "we found some
- fingerprints, but it'll take a little while to determine whose they are.
- I'll be back as soon as we know." He disappears as quickly as he arrived.
-
- >GO NORTH
- (dessert department)
- There is an opened tin of Danish butter cookies on the table.
-
- >LOOK
- (dessert department)
- You are in the dessert department of Donna's Delicious Delicacies. A
- refrigerated glass case holds a sinful assortment of cakes, pies, and
- pastries; Boston cream pie, seven-layer cake, raspberry-apple tarts,
- frosted cupcakes, and many other freshly-made baked goods. The cream puffs
- are not symmetrically positioned on their tray, indicating that some are
- missing.
-
- There is also an open case containing candies and chocolate
- truffles. A shelf is stacked with tins of Danish butter cookies. On a table
- next to the shelf is an opened tin of cookies.
-
- >HIDE BEHIND THE CASE
- (Which case do you mean, the refrigerated case or the open case?)
-
- >REFRIGERATED
- You are now crouching behind the refrigerated case.
-
- >WAIT
- Time passes...
- Lois comes into the room and looks around stealthily. Do you wish to keep
- waiting? >YES Not seeing anyone in the room, Lois reaches into the open
- case containing candy and chocolate truffles. She eats one, two, three
- truffles. While she's chewing, she reaches for a fourth. Do you wish to
- keep waiting? >NO
-
- >STAND UP
- You stand up and come out of hiding, Lois, seeing you, freezes immediately.
-
- >ACCUSE LOIS OF STEALING
- "Mnffmmmpfrrm," she says. Her mouth is full of truffles.
-
- >INVENTORY
- You are carrying:
- a badge
- a pad of violation forms
- a shiny cover to a tin of Danish butter cookies
-
- >LOIS, WHERE IS THE WALLET?
- "Mnffmmmpfrrm," she says. Her mouth is full of truffles.
-
- >SWALLOW THE TRUFFLES
- You don't have the truffles!
-
- >LOIS, SWALLOW THE TRUFFLES
- Lois swallows the truffles and looks at you guiltily.
-
- >WHERE IS THE WALLET?
- (said to Lois)
- "What wallet? I've never seen your brown leather wa..." She trails off.
-
- >SEARCH LOIS
- Lois is carrying your wallet, which you reclaim.
-
- >SHOW THE BADGE TO LOIS
- "Oh, dear, this isn't my day," says Lois.
-
- >ACCUSE LOIS OF PICKPOCKETING
- "Umn, well, I won't do it again?" She looks at you hopefully.
-
- >ACCUSE LOIS OF STEALING
- "Oh yes, well, um..." She trails off, Sergeant Duffy suddenly arrives.
- "Detective, the fingerprints belong to someone by the name of 'Lois
- O'Shea.'" Donna enters the room.
-
- >ARREST LOIS
- "Good work, Detective." Duffy gently leads Lois away. Donna says, "It looks
- as if I owe Lou an apology. Thank you, Detective." She hurries off.
- Appendix E
-
- We're Never Satisfied
-
- Here at the Infocom Game Writers Clown Society, we take great pride in the
- quality of our products. Even after our stories are "out the door," we're
- constantly improving, honing and perfecting.
-
- Your input is important. No matter how much testing we do, it
- seems that some bugs never crawl into view until thousands of you begin
- doing all those wild and crazy things to the story. If you find a bug, or
- if you think a certain puzzle was too hard or too easy, or if you have some
- other suggestion, or if you'd just like to tell us your opinion of the
- story, drop us a letter! We love every excuse to stop working, and a
- letter from you is just such an excuse! Write to:
-
- Infocom
- 125 CambridgePark Drive
- Cambridge, MA 02140
- Attn: PHONG
-
- 22
-
- Appendix F
-
- If You Have Technical Problems
-
- You can call the Infocom Technical Support Team to report "bugs" and
- technical problems, but not for hints to solve puzzles, at (617) 576-3190.
- If your disk develops a problem within 90 days after purchase, we will
- replace it at no charge. Otherwise, there is a replacement fee fo $5.00
- (U.S. funds). If you call to report a bug, please provide your version
- number, which you can find by typing VERSION. Please return the
- registration card from you The Witness package if you'd like to be on our
- mailing list and receive our newsletter, The New Zork Times.
-
- Appendix H
-
- About the Author
-
- Stu Galley. Stu Galley was a student of physics and journalism when he
- discovered computers, which at the time were mostly just big
- number-crunchers. At first he thought computers were too much fun to be
- taken seriously, until he decided that physics was too little fun to be
- taken seriously. At MIT he discovered computer games and Lisp-like
- languages and met the other founders of Infocom. He began writing
- interactive fiction in 1982 and has authored The WITNESS and SEASTALKER
- both for Infocom. His son enjoys interactive fiction more than his wife
- does.
-
- Appendix I
-
- Copyright and Warranty Information
-
- Limited Warranty
-
- This software product and the attached instructional materials are sold
- "AS IS", without warranty as to their performance. The entire risk as to
- the quality and performance of the computer software program is assumed by
- the user. However, to the original purchases of a disk prepared by
- Infocom and carrying the Infocom label on the disk jacket, Infocom warrants
- the medium on which the program is recorded to be free from defects in
- materials and faulty workmanship under normal use and service for a period
- of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. If during this period a
- defect on the medium should occur, the medium may be returned to Infocom
- or to an authorized Infocom dealer, and Infocom will replace the medium
- without charge to you. Your sole and exclusive remedy in the event of a
- defect is expressly limited to replacement of the medium as provided
- above. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also
- have other rights which vary from state to state.
-
- N.B. After the warranty period, a defective Infocom disk may be
- returned to Infocom with a check or money order for $5.00 U.S. funds for
- replacement.
-
- 23
-
- Appendix I
-
- Quick Reference Guide
-
- 1. To start the story ("boot up"), see the separate Reference Card in your
- The Witness package.
-
- 2. When you see the prompt (>) on your screen, The Witness is waiting for
- your input. There are four basic kinds of sentences or commands that The
- Witness understands:
-
- A. Direction commands: To move from place to place, just type the
- direction you want to go: N (or NORTH), S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, U (or UP),
- D, IN, or OUT.
-
- B. Actions: Just type what you want to do. Some examples: READ THE BOOK
- or OPEN THE DOOR or LOOK THROUGH THE WINDOW or GIVE THE BALL TO THE CAT.
- Once you're familiar with simple commands, you'll want to use more complex
- sentences are described in "Communicating with The Witness" on page 14.
-
- C. Commands given to other characters: Talk to characters in the story by
- typing their name, then a comma, then what you want to say to them. For
- example: FRED, GIVE ME THE AXE or OLD MAN, HELLO.
-
- D. Special one-word commands: Some one-word commands, such as INVENTORY or
- DIAGNOSE, give you specific information or affect your output. A list of
- these appears in the "Important Commands" appendix on page 17.
-
- 3. Important! After typing your input, you must press the RETURN (or ENTER)
- key before The Witness will respond.
-
- 4. On most computers, your screen will have a special line called the
- status line. It tells you the name of your current location, your score,
- and the number of turns you have taken.
-
- 5. You can pick up and carry many of the items you'll find in the story.
- For example, if you type TAKE THE FLASK, you will be carrying it. Type
- INVENTORY to see a list of the items you are carrying.
-
- 6. When you want to stop, save your place for later, or start over, read
- "Starting and Stopping" on page 18.
-
- 7. If you have trouble, refer to the specific section of the manual for
- more detailed instructions.
-
- Interactive Fiction Reference Card for the
-
- COMMODORE AMIGA
-
- This booklet tells you how to run your Infocom story on your computer, and
- provides a few other handy bits of information.
-
- I. What You Need
-
- Required:
-
- Amiga computer
- For Interactive Fiction PLUS only: A monitor that supports
- an 80-column display, such as an RGB-type monitor.
-
- Optional:
-
- 256K memory expansion cartridge (for faster execution;
- especially recommended for Interactive Fiction PLUS)
- Extra 3-1/2 double-sided disks (for SAVEs)
- A second disk drive (for convenience with saves)
- Compatible printer (for SCRIPTing)
-
- II. Making a Backup Copy
-
- In accordance with the licensing agreement in your package, we recommend
- that you make a backup copy of the original story disk for your personal
- use. See your hardware manual for instructions on how to make disk copies.
- Store your original disk in a safe place and always start the story from
- the backup.
-
- III. Starting the Story
-
- Turn on the Amiga and wait for the Workbench to appear. Insert the story
- disk and open the disk icon into a window, then double- click on the story
- icon.
-
- The story can also be started from within the Command Line Interpreter
- (CLI). If the default drive and directory are not the same as the
- story's, they must first be changed with the "CD" command (for example, CD
- DF1:) Then type in the story name.
-
- IV. Talking to the Story
-
- Whenever you see the prompt (>), the story is waiting for your
- instructions. If you make a mistake, use the backspace key to erase the
- error. When you have finished typing in your instructions, press the
- RETURN key. The story will respond and the prompt (>) will reappear.
-
- If a description will not fit on a screen all at once, "[MORE]"
- will appear at the bottom of the screen. After reading the screen, press
- any key to see the rest of the description.
-
- V. The Status Line
-
- At the top of the screen is a status line. This line is updated after
- every move to show your current position in the story. Depending upon the
- type of story, it may also show other information.
-
- Score and Moves
-
- In stories that keep a score, such as the ZORK underground adventures, the
- right side of the status line will show something like this:
- Score: 245/920
- The first number is your score and the second is the total number of moves
- you have made. In the example above, you have 245 points in 920 moves.
-
- Time
-
- In stories that keep track of the time, such as the mystery thriller
- DEADLINE, the right side of the status line will look something like the
- following:
- Time: 9:22 a.m.
- This shows the current time of day in the story.
-
- VI. SCRIPTing
-
- You can use the SCRIPT command to print out a transcript of your moves as
- you go along. SCRIPTing is an optional feature which is not necessary to
- complete the story and may not be available with certain hardware.
-
- 1. Connect the printer to the appropriate port at the back of
- the computer. Use the Preferences tool (see Section IX) to
- make sure the system is configured correctly for your
- printer.
-
- 2. Turn on the printer and make sure it's ready.
-
- 3. Type SCRIPT at the prompt (>) to start the transcript. To
- stop the transcript, type UNSCRIPT.
-
- 4. SCRIPT and UNSCRIPT may be used as often as desired.
-
- If a problem occurs with the printer, the story will "timeout" (appear to
- hang) for 30-seconds or so, then a printer error message will appear. If
- you don't correct the problem before the 30 seconds are up, scripting is
- automatically cancelled.
-
- VII. Saving a Story Position
-
- You can save your current position in the story to any disk in any drive,
- space permitting. The save disk must not be write- protected. No other
- data on the save disk will be affected.
-
- 1. Type SAVE at the prompt (>). A message will appear asking
- you to choose a name for the save file.
-
- 2. If you want to SAVE to the story disk itself, just enter a
- file name and press RETURN.
-
- 3. If you want to save to another disk, you must prefix the
- file name with either the name of the second disk (e.g.,
- Saves:) or the name of the drive containing it (e.g., DF0:).
- The prefix is needed even if the two disks were swapped
- using a single drive. If the save succeeds, the prefix
- becomes the default prefix, and need not be typed again for
- the next save.
-
- The disk drive will spin for several seconds. If all is
- well, the story will respond:
- OK
- If it responds:
- FAILED
- consult the Troubleshooting section (see Section XI).
-
- After saving your position, you may continue with the story.
-
- NOTE: The file "Icon.Data" is used to create icons for new
- save files. If you delete this file, new save files will not
- have visible icons.
-
- VIII. Restoring a Saved Story Position
-
- You can return to a previously saved story position at any time. Type
- RESTORE at the prompt (>). The most recently saved or restored position
- will be displayed as the default. Then enter the name of a save file, as
- in Section VII.
-
- If you want to return to the default position, you can just press
- the RETURN key.
-
- IX. Amiga Preferences
-
- Several aspects of the story presentation can be changed using the Amiga
- Preferences tool, including text size (60 or 80 columns, except for
- Interactive Fiction PLUS, which requires 80 columns) and color. The size
- can be changed only before the story is started. You also use Preferences
- to specify your type of printer and the port to which it is connected. The
- Amiga supports both parallel and serial devices.
-
- X. Memory Usage and Multi-tasking
-
- On a multi-tasking computer such as the Amiga, all tasks share the
- available memory. Some tasks may require that a certain amount of memory
- be available to work correctly. Also, actions like opening and resizing
- windows or loading a printer driver can use large blocks of memory.
-
- When the Infocom story loads, it will normally leave a minimum of
- 64 Kbytes (32 Kbytes for Interactive Fiction PLUS). This can be changed
- by starting the story from the CLI with a special argument of the form
- "F/n", where n is the new minimum number of free bytes (for example,
- Deadline F/32000). If you supply an argument, memory use statistics will
- be displayed when the story loads.
-
- You may need to increase the amount of free memory if, for
- example, you are running several tasks and switching between them causes
- the system to hang. On the other hand, you can probably decrease free
- memory if you are running only the story. This may reduce or eliminate
- disk activity on versions of the Amiga with limited memory.
-
- X. Troubleshooting - Load, SAVE, RESTORE and Other Problems
-
- A. If the story fails to load properly, or SAVE/RESTORE or SCRIPT fails,
- check each of the following items. If none of these offers a solution,
- consult your Commodore dealer for assistance.
-
- 1. Inspect all disks carefully for any visible damage.
-
- 2. For SAVEs, make sure the save disk is not write-protected
- (the small opening in the corner of the disk should be
- covered).
-
- 3. For SCRIPTing, make sure the printer is connected properly,
- enabled for printing, not out of paper, etc.
-
- 4. Try again; the problem may be only momentary. If all else
- fails, you can call the Infocom Technical hotline at (617)
- 576-3190. Please note that this number is for technical
- problems only, not hints.
-
- B. If the story produces an error message, run the following procedure:
-
- Restart the story. When the initial screen appears, type $VERIFY and press
- the RETURN key. The disk drive will spin for a minute or so, and a message
- similar to one of the following will appear:
-
- 1. "DISK CORRECT". The disk has not been damaged and the data is intact.
- If you are having problems, they are most likely hardware related. It is
- also possible that there is a bug in the program. If you suspect that
- there is a bug, call the Infocom Technical Hotline.
-
- 2. "DISK FAILED" or "DISK READ ERROR". This reply indicates either
- hardware trouble or disk damage. Repeat the $VERIFY procedure several
- times. Also try the $VERIFY process on another computer (such as your
- dealer's). If the story ever replies "DISK CORRECT", the problem is your
- hardware.
-
- If you repeatedly get a negative response on more than one
- computer, the disk has most likely been damaged. Please send the disk only
- to Infocom for testing and replacement.
-
- ============================================================================
- DOCS PROVIDED BY -+*+-THE SOUTHERN STAR-+*+- for M.A.A.D.
- ============================================================================
-
-