planetfall manual

8/8/2019 Planetfall Manual

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InstructionManual forPLANETFALL

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Instruction Manual forPLANETFALLA f t e r the fall of the Second Galactic Union in 1716GY , a ten-thousand-year dark age settled upon thegalaxy. Interstellar travel was non-existent, andman y star systems descended into a near-barbaricstate, burning coal and gas for energy, and growingfood directly f rom exposed topsoil.In 11,203 GY, a treaty between the Empires ofTremain and Gallium formed th e Third GalacticUnion. Ships of the Stellar Patrol (a pseudo-militarywing of the Union government on Tremain) beganexploring the galaxy, searching for the humancivili-zations that are the remnants of the Second Union.Y ou are a native of the planet Gallium. Althoughitis one of the most politicallypowerful worlds in theUnion, Gallium is no garden spot. In fact , th e GalliumChamber of Commerce brochure entitled "TenGreat Reasons to Visit Gallium" ends onpage 3. Theauthor ran out of reasons a f t e r listing just two.For five generations, your family has served in theStellar Patrol. Your great-great-grandfather was aHigh Admi ra l and one of the founding officers of thePatrol. It was taken forgranted that when you cameof age you w ould join up.N o w , more than a year af te r signing up, and tw omonths a f t e r being transferred to the S.P.S. Fein-stein, you are still only ranked Ensign Seventh Class.Your superior officer, Ensign First Class Blather,ha s been making your life miserable. You 're begin-ning to wonder if you're really cut out for the StellarPatrol...If you're experienced with Infocom's interactivefiction, you may no t fee l like reading this entire man-ual. However, you should at least read about timeand turns (on page 12) and look at the appendix ofrecognized verbs (on page 19).

Table of ContentsAn Overview Pa What is interactive fiction? Moving around Turns and scoringTips for NovicesNine useful pointers about interactive fiction.Communicating with PLANETFALL Basic sentences Complex sentences Talking to characters in the story Vocabulary limitationsStarting and Stopping Starting PLANETFALL ("Booting Up") Saying and restoring Quittingand restartingA ppend ix A : Quick Reference GuideThis briefly describes the most important thingto know about interactive fiction. It is vital thatyou know all these things before you begin youradventure.Append ix B: Important CommandsAppend ix C: Some RecognizedVerbsA ppendix D: PLANETFALL ComplaintsAppend ix E: Sample Transcript and Map Append ix F: We're Never Satisfied A ppend ix G : If Y ou Have Technical ProblemsAppend ix H:A bo u t the Author Append ix I: Copyright and Warranty Informati

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A n OverviewInteractive fiction is a story in which you are the maincharacter. Your ow n thinking and imagination deter-mine th e actions of that character and guide th estory f rom start to finish.Each work of Infocom's interactive fiction, such asP L A N E T F A L L , presents you with a series of loca-tions, items, characters, and events. Y ou can interactwith these in a variety of ways .To move f rom place to place, type th e directionyou want to go. When you f ind yourself in a new loca-t ion, it's a good idea to become familiar with yoursurroundings byexploring the nearby rooms andr eading each description carefully. (You m ay noticethat PLANETFALL occasionally refers to a locationas a "room," even if you are outdoors.) A s you ex -plore , it is helpful to make a m ap of the geography.A n important element of interactive fiction ispuzzle-solving. Y ou should think of a locked door ora ferociousbeast not as a permanent obstacle, butmerely as a puzzle to be tackled. Solving puzzles willfrequently involve bringing a certain item with you,and then using it in the proper way.

In PLANETFALL, time passes only in respoto your input.Y ou might imagine a clock that t ickeach time youtype a sentence, and the story prgresses onlyat each tick. Nothing happens untiltype a sentence and press the R E T U R N (o r ENTEkey, so you can plan your turns as slowly and cafully as you want.The standard unit of time used in the galaxy tdays is the millichron. O ne thousand millichronsm a k e up one chron, and the standard galactic dadivided into ten chrons, so even an Ensign SeveClass who flunkedAstrogation could deduce thathere are ten thousand millichrons in a day. (Thestandard galactic day, by the way, is equivalent ttime it takes for the planet Earth to make one rotion. Earth, a backwater world in the SolSystemgenerally believed to be the birthplace of humanEarly morning occurs around 2500 and late evencomes at 8500 or so. In some old-fashioned parthe galaxy, 5000 is called "noon." And on the adistrative moons of Tremain, most bureaucrats ho"3500-to-7000jobs."In PLANETFALL, dif ferent actions will takedif ferent amounts of time. For example, pickingan object will take less time than walking down along hall.To measure your progress, PLANETFALL ktrack of your score. Y ou may ge t points for solvipuzzles, performing certain actions, or visiting tain locations. Untilyou can complete th e storya perfect score of 80 points, you might as well ryourself to holdinga bureaucratic 3500-to-7000on one of the administrative moons of Tremain.



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Tips for Novices1. Draw a map. It should include each location, thedirections connecting it to adjoining locations, andany interesting objects there. (See the small samplem ap that goes along with the sample transcript onpage 21.) Note that there are 10possible directions,plus IN and OUT.2. Most objects in the story that you can pick up areimportant for solving one or more of the puzzlesyou'l l run into.3. Save your place of ten . That way, if you mess up orget "killed," you won't have to start over from thebeginning. See page 16 for instructions.4. Read the story carefully. There are of ten clues inthe descriptions of locations and objects, as well as inlabels, engravings, books, and so on. Even strangeor dangerous actions m ay provide clues, and mightprove to be fun! Y ou can always save your positionfirst if you w a n t . Here's a silly example:>SHOW THE RANSOM NOTETOTHE ALIENThe alien shrugs. "Sorry, Idon't readGalalingua." Itbegins walking away from your landing craft.

You've just learned something about the alien'sreading ability. Perhaps there's some other object(like th e photo of the alien's mate in chains) thatwould convince it to follow you into your landingcraf t .5. Unlike other "adventure games" that you mayhave played, there are many possible routes to thee nd o f P L A N E T F A L L . Some puzzles have morethan one solution; other puzzles don't need to besolved at all. Sometimes you will have to solve onepuzzle in order to obtain the item(s) or informationyou need to solve another puzzle.

6. Y ou may f ind i t helpful to go through PLANETFALL with another person. As the dual-brainedwor m beasts of N ebulon are fond of saying, "Twheads are better than one."*7. If you really have difficulty, you can order a hinbooklet and a complete m ap using th e order fo ryour package.Y ou don't need this booklet to enjthe story, but it will make solving the puzzlesea8. Read the sample transcript on page 21 to getfo r ho w Infocom's interactive fiction works.9. Y ou can word a command in manyd i f f e ren t wFor example, to clean th e deck of the spaceshipcould use any of the following:CLEAN FLOORSWAB THE DECKSCRUBTHE GROUNDBRUSH THE FLOOR WITH THE SCRUB BRUSH

Notice that since the brush is the only item ycarrying that's useful for cleaning, PLANETFAassumes that it is the item with whichyou wantclean. But more about that in the next section."The dual-brained wormbeasts of Nebulonare a fascinating bunwith a head on either end o f their long worm-like bodies which cagrow to a length of fourteen ki loblops. O ne legend among spacefclaims that the two ends of the same worm beast once fell in lovegot married. It wasn't until they had a b ig f igh t and one head decigo back home to mother that they realized what ha d happened.

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Communicating With PLANETFALLIn P L A N E T F A L L , you type your sentence inGalalinguan (still referred to as plain English in cer-tain regions of the galaxy) each time you see theprompt (>). PLANETFALL usuallyacts as if yoursentence begins "I want to...',' although youshouldn't actually type those words. Y ou can usewords like TH E if you want, and you can use capitalletters if you want; PLANETFALLdoesn't careeither way.When you have finished typing a sentence, pressthe R E T U R N (or E N T E R ) key and PLANETFALLwillprocess your request. PLANETFALLwill respond,telling you whether your request is possible at thispoint in the story, and what happened as a result.P L A N E T F A L L recognizes your words by theirfirst six letters, and all subsequent letters are ig-nored. Therefore, F I N G E R , F INGE Rs , FINGERpr in t ,and FINGERnai l would all be treated as the samew o rd b y PLANETFALL.To move around, just type the desired direction.Y ou can use the eight compass directions: N O R T H ,SOU TH, EAST, WEST, NORTHEAST, NORTHWEST,SOUTHEAST, and SOUTHWEST. Y ou can abbreviatethese to N , S, E, W, N E, NW , SE, and S W, respec-tively. Y ou can use UP (or U) and DOWN (or D) .I N an d OU T will also work in certain places. O n boarda ship, you'l l want to use the directions PORT (or P),S T A R B O A R D (or S B ) , FORE (or F) , and A F T .

PLA NET FA LL understands manyd i f f e ren t kof sentences. Here are some examples. (Note some of these objects or situations don't actuallappear in PLANETFALL.)WALK NORTHDOWNNEG O A FUPUSH BUTTONTAKETHESPACESUITPUTONTHESPACESUITDROP TH E CONCAVE LENSEXAMINE THE LARGERED MACHINELOOK THROUGHTHE BROKENTELESCOPELOOK UNDERTHETIME MACHINEREAD THE TIME MACHINE INSTRUCTIONSENTER THE TELEPHONEBOOTHDROP TH E FURRY ALIEN INTOTH E BASKETSHOOT THEFLASHING BUTTON WITHTHE RA

Y ou can use multiple objects with certain verbyou separate them by the word A N D or by a comSome examples:TAKE SILVER WIRE, COPPER WIRE, GOLDWIREDROP THE SMALL METEOR,THE BROKENTELESCOPE, ANDTHE HAMMERPU T THEPLANTANDTHE RODENT IN THE CAGThe word ALL refers to every visible object ethose inside something else. If there were an apon the ground and an orange inside a cabinet, T AA L L would take th e apple but not the orange.TAKE ALLTAKE ALL THE POWERCELLSTAKE ALL FROMTHE SURVIVAL KITGIVEALL BUT THE PENCILTOTHE ROBOTDROP ALL EXCEPT THE TORN TOWEL

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Y o u can include several sentences on one inputline if you separate them by the word T H EN or by aperiod. (Note that each sentence will still count as aturn.) Y ou don't need a period at the end of the inputline. For example, you could type all of the followingat once, befo re pressing th e R E T U R N (or E N T E R ) key:TAKE THE R A Y GUN. RECHARGE IT. NE. SHOOT THELOCK WITH THE R A Y GU N THEN OPEN THEDOOR

I f PLAN ETFALL doesn't understand one of thesentences in your input line, or if something unusualhappens, it will ignore the rest of your input line (see"PLAN ETFA LL Com plaints" on page 20).There are only tw o kinds of questions thatPLANETFALL understands: the first is WHATIS(something), and the other is W H E R E IS (some-thing) . Forexample:W H A T I S A G R U E ?W H E R E I S T H E M A L F U N C T I O N I N G H O V E R C R A F T ?

Y o u will meet other people and creatures inPLANETFALL. Y ou can "talk" to some of thesebeings by typing their name , then a comm a, thenw hatever you w ant them to d o. Here are someexamples:DOCTOR, GIVE ME THE ARTIFICIAL LEGADM IRAL, FOLLOW MEMIKE, KILL THE ALIEN THEN GO NORTHGURTHARK, OPEN THE CONTROL BOX. F I R E THEROCKETSN otice that in the last tw o examples, you are giv-ing a person more than on e command on the sameinput line.PLANETFALL tries to guess what you reallymean when you don't give enoug h information. Forexample, if you say that you want to dp something,but no t what you want to d o it to or w ith, PLA NET-FALL will sometime s decide that there is only onepossible object that you could m ean. When it doesso, it will tell you . For example:>UNLOCK TH E DOOR(with the key)The door is now unlocked,or>GIVETHE PLIERS(to the robot)the robot thanks you, uses the pliers to repair the super-computer, andtogether they take over theworld.

I f your sentence is ambiguous, PLANETFALwill ask what you really m ean. Y ou ca n answer mof these questions briefly by supplying the missiinformation, rather than typing the entire inputagain. Y ou can do this only at the very next promSome exam ples:>TURN THE AIRLOCK CONTROLWhatdo you want to turn theairlock control with?>THE CROWBARThe airlock door opens.or> SHOOT TH E ALIEN WITH TH E R A Y GU NWhich ray gun do you mean,TheArcturian ray gunthe Rgellian ray gun?>RIGELLIANThe rays bounce harmesslyoff the alien's Rgellian-rproof vest.PLANETFALL uses many w ords in its descrtions that it will no t recognize in your sentences.example, you might read , "Through the view poyou can see rocky c l i f f s above the ocean." Howeif PLA N ETFA LL doesn't recognize the wordsOCEAN or C L I F F S in your input, you can assumethat they aren't imp ortant to yo ur completion ofstory, except to provide you with a more vividdescription of where you are or what is going onPLANETFALL recognizes over 600 words , neaall that you are likely to use in your sentences. IfPLANETFALL doesn't know a word you used ,any of its comm on synonyms, you are almost cetainly trying some thing that is not important in ctinuing your adventure .Note that PLAN ETFALL will no t accept w ortyped in the corrupt or dialectical Galalinguan foon the more distant planets. Y ou must use only sdard Galalinguan.For example, a Ramosian fa rmplaying PLANETFALL (an unlikely occurrence)might type "Handen meef d e m m e r ive-ree-keezbut PLANETFALL would only understand "Givthe piano."

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Starting andStoppingStarting the Story: N ow that you know w hat toexpect in PLAN ETFALL, it's time for you to "boot"your disk. To load PLANETFALL, follow the in-structions on the Reference Card in your package .The copyright notice and the release number ofthe story will appear, followed by a brief introductorypassage. Y ou will then see the description of theopening location of the story. Finally, th e prompt (>)will appear, indicating that PLA NE TFA LL is aw aitingyour input.Here is a quick exercise to help you get accus-tomed to interacting with PLANETFALL. Try typ-ing the ol lowing next to the prompt ( > ) :CLEANTHE DECKThen press the R E T U R N (or E N T E R ) key.PLANETFALL will respond with:The floor is a bit s h i n i e r now.N ow tr y typing:C L I M B T H E S T A I R W A YAfter you press th e R E T U R N (or E N T E R ) key,PLANETFALL will respond:GangwayThis is a steep metal gangway connecting Deck Eight,above, with Deck Nine, below.

Saving and Restoring: It will probably take youdays to complete PLANETFALL. Using the S Afeature, you can continue at a later time withouhaving to start over from th e beginning, just as can place a bookm ark in a book you are readingS A V E puts a "snapshot" of your place in the stoonto another disk. If you are cautious, you mayto save your place b efore (o r after) trying somedangerous or tricky. That way, you can go backthat position later, even if you have g otten lost"killed" since then.To save your place in the story, type S A V E atp rompt (> ) , and then press the R E T U R N (or E Nkey. Then follow the instructions for saving andstoring on your Reference Card. Some compurequire a blank disk, initialized and form atted , fsaves. Using a disk w ith data on it (not countingother PLANETFALL saves) m ay result in thethat da ta , depending on your computer.Y o u ca n restore a saved position a ny tim e yow ant. To do so, type R E S T O R E at the prompt (>and press the R E T U R N (or E N T E R ) key. Then fthe instructions on your Refere nce Card . Y ou cthen continue the story from th e point w here yused the S A V E command. Y ou can type L O O K fdescription of w here youare.Quitting and Restarting: If you w ant to start ovfrom the beginning, type R E S T A R T and press thR E T U R N (o r E N T E R ) key. (This is usually fasterre-booting.) Just to make sure, PLANETFALLask if you really w ant to start over. If you do, tyY or Y E S and press the R E T U R N (o r E N T E R ) keI f you want to stop entirely, type Q U I T and pthe R E T U R N (or E N T E R ) key. Once again, PLAFALL will ask if this is really w hat you want toRemember when you R E S T A R T or QUIT: if yowant to be able to re turn to your current positiyou m ust first do a S A V E .



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Appendix AQuick Reference G uide1. To start the story ("boot up"), see the separateReference Card in your PLA NETFA LL package.2. When you see the prompt (>) on your screen,PLANETFALL is waiting fo r your input. There arefour kinds of sentences or commands that PLAN ET-FALL unders tands :A . Direction comm ands: To move from place toplace, just type the direction you want to go: N(o r NORTH) , E, S, W, NE, SE, NW, SW, U (orU P ) , D , I N , O U T , P ( o r P O R T ) , S B , F , or A F T .B . Actions: Just type w hatever you want to d o.Some examples: R E A D T H E BOOK or OPENT H E DOOR or LOOK T H R O U G H TH E W I N -DOW. Once you're familiar with simple com-mands, you'l l w ant to use more complexones as described in "Communicating with

PLANETFALL" on page 14.C. Comm ands given to people: To talk to char-acters in the story, type their name, then acomma, then what you want to say to them.For example: F L O Y D , G I V E ME T H E A X Eor OLDM A N , G O N O R T H .D. Special one-word commands: Some one-word commands, such as I N V E N T O R Y orDIAGNOSE, give you specific information oraffect your output. A list of these appears in the"Important Commands" appendix on page 18.

3. Important! A fter typing your sentence or command , you must press th e R E T U R N (or E N T E R )before PLAN ETFALL will respond.4. On most computers, your screen will have acial line called the status line. It tells you the namyour current location, the num ber of turns you ht aken , and the time in the story.5. Y ou can pick up and carry ma ny of the i tems yfind in the story. For example, if you type T A K EF L A S K , you will be carrying it. Type I N V E N T O R Ysee a list of the items you are carrying.6. When you want to stop, save your place fo r laor start over, read the "Starting and Stopping" tion on page 16.7 . If you have t rouble, re fe r to the specific sectiothe manual fo r m ore detailed instructions.

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Appendix BImportant Co m m a n dsThere are a num ber of one-word commands w hichyou can type instead of a sentence. Y ou can use themover and over as need ed . Some count as a turn,others d o not. Type the comm and af ter the prompt(>) and hit the R E T U R N (or E N T E R ) key.A G A I N - P L A N E T F A L L will usually respond as ifyou had repeated your previous sentence. Amongthe cases where AGAIN will not work is if you werejust talking to another character. Y ou can abbreviateA G A I N to G.BRIEF-This tel ls PLANETFALL to give you the f u l ldescription of a location only the first time you enterit . On subsequent visits, PLANETFALL will tellyou only the nam e of the location and the objectspresent . This is how PLA N ETFA LL will normallyact, unless you tell it otherwise using the V E R B O S Eor S U P E R B R I E F commands.DIAGNOS EPLANETFALL will give you a medi-ca l repor t of your physical condition, and will tell youw hether y ou're t ired or hungry.

INV ENTORY-PLANETFALL will list w hat yocarrying. Y ou can abbreviate I N V E N T O R Y to I .LOOK-This teUs PLANETFALL to describe ylocation in f u l l detail. You can abbreviate LOOK tQUITThis lets you stop. If you want to save yposition b ef ore quitting, follow the instructions i"Starting and Stopping" section on page 16. Y ouabbreviate Q U I T to Q .RESTARTThis stops the story and starts overthe beginning.RESTOREThis restores a position m ade usingS A V E comm and. See "Starting and Stopping" onpage 16 for m ore details.SAVEThis makes a "snapshot"of your currenposition onto your storage disk. Y ou ca n return tsaved position in the future using the R E S T O R E cmand . See "Starting and Stopping" on page 16 fmore details.SCOREPLANETFALL will show your currenscore and a rank ing w hich is based on that scorewill also be told the current Galactic Standard Tand how m any standard galactic days have elapssince your ad venture began.SCRIPTThis comm and tells your printer to bemaking a transcript of the story as you venture owards . A transcript may aid your m em ory but isnecessary. It will w ork only on certain computeread your Reference Card for details.



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SUPERBRIEF-This comm ands PLANETFA LL todisplay only the name of a place you have entered ,even if you have never been there before. In thismode , PLANETFALL will not even m ention whichobjects ar e present. Of course, you can always get ade scription of your location, and the items there , bytyping LOOK. In S U P E R B R I E F mode , the blank linebetween turns will be eliminated. This mod e ismeant fo r players w ho are already very familiar withthe geography. Also se e V E R B O S E and B R I E F .TIMEThis will give you the current time within thestory. It is useful fo r those versions w hich have nostatus line, and can be shortened to T.UNSCRIPTThis comm ands your printer to stopmaking a transcript.VERBOSE-This tells PLAN ETFALL tha t youwant a complete de scription of each location, and theobjects in it, every time you enter a location, eveni f you've been there before. A lso se e B R I E F andS U P E R B R I E F .V E R S I O N - P L A N E T F A L L responds by showingyou the release number and the serial number ofyour copy of the story. Please include this inform a-tion i f you ever report a "bug" n the story.WA IT This will cause time in the story to pass.Normally, be tween turns, nothing happens in thestory. Y ou could leave your computer, take a nap,and re turn to the story to find that nothing ha schanged. Y ou can use W A I T to make time pass in thestory w ithout d oing anything. For example, if youencounter an alien be ing, you could W A I T to seewhat it will d o. Or, if you are in a m oving vehicle, youcould W A I T to see where it will go . Y ou can abbre-viate W A I T to Z.

Appendix CSome Recognized VerbsThis is only a partial list of the verb s that PLA N EFALL unders tands . There are many more . Rember that you can use a variety of prepositions witthem. For example, LOOK can become LOOK I NS I D E , LOOK B E H I N D , L O O K U N D E R , LOOKT H R O U G H , L O O K A T and so on.BOARDCLIMBCLOSEDESTROYDISEMBARKDRINKDROPEATENTEREXAMINEEXITEXTENDFOLLOWGETGIVE

GOHELPHOLDJUMPKICKKILLKISSKNOCKLEAVELISTENLOCKLOOKMOVEOPENPICK

PLAYPOINTPOURPULLPUSHPU TREADREMOVESCRUBSEARCHSHAKESHOOTSHOWSITSLEEP

SLIDESMELLSTANDSTEPSWIMTAKETELLTHROTOUCTURNTYPEUNLOWALKWEARYELL

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Appendix DPLANETFALL ComplaintsPLANETFALL will complain if you type a sentencethat confuses it completely. P LA N ETFA LL will thenignore the rest of the input line. (Unusual events,such as being attacked , m ay also cause PLA N ET-FALL to ignore the rest of the sentences you typed ,since the event m ay have changed your situationdrastically.) Some of PLANETFALL's complaints:I DON'T KN OW T H E WORD "(your word)". Theword you typed is not in the story'svocabulary.Sometimes using a synonym or rephrasing will help.If not, PLAN ETFA LL probably doesn't know theidea you were trying to get across.I CAN'T U S E T H E WORD "(your word ) " H E R E .PLANETFALL knows th e word you t yped , butcouldn't use it in that sense. Usually this is becausePLANETFALL knows th e word as a different partof speech. For example, if you typed T U R N ONT H E L I G H T , you are using L I G H T as a noun, butPLANETFALL might know L I G H T only as a verb,as in L I G H T TH E L A M P .I C A N T F I N D A V E R B I N T H A T S E N T E N C E ! Unlessyou are answ ering a question, each sentence m usthave a verb (or a command) in it somewhere .I CpULDN'T F I N D A N O U N I N T H A T S E N T E N C E !This usually m eans that y our sentence w as incom-plete, such as E A T T H E B L U E .

I FOUNDTOO M A N Y N O U N S I N T H A T S E N T EA n example is PUT THE SOUP IN THE BOWL W IT H E L A D L E , which ha s three noun "phrases," omore than PLAN ETFALL ca n digest in a singleaction.I D O N T U N D E R S T A N D T H A T S E N T E N C E . T h etence you typed m ay have bee n g ibberish, suchG I V E C O M P U T E R W I T H ROBOT. Or, you may htyped a reasonable sentence but used a syntax PLANETFALL does no t recognize, such as S MU N D E R T H E R O C K . Try rephrasing the sentencI CAN'T U S E M U L T I P L E ( I N ) D I R E C T O B J E C T S W I"(your verb)". Y ou can ref er to several items atsame tim e only w ith certain verbs . A mong the useful of these verbs are TAK E, DROP, and PUThis restriction also applies to the use of A L L , aD R O P A L L . For example, ATTACK will not worwith m ultiple objects; you couldn't say A T T A C K Ao r A T T A C K T H E B E A S T A N D T H E ROBOT.I DON'T S E E W H A T Y O U A R E R E F E R R I N G TO. Yused IT , H I M , or H E R , but PLAN ETFALL w asnsure w hat object or person you meant . Try it agusing the name of the object or person. (For exple, R E A D T H E BOOK instead o f R E A D IT.)Y OU CAN'T S E E A NY "(object)" H E R E ! The obyou re fe rred to was not accessible to you. I t mabe somewhere else, inside a closed container, asoon .T H E O T H E R OBJECT(S) T H A T Y O U MENTIONEDI S N ' T ( A R E N ' T ) H E R E . Y ou re fe rred to several oin your sentence, but some of them weren't preor visible.I T ' S TOO D A R K Tp S E E ! There w asn't enough ligperform your action. Try moving o a lit area oring for a fight source.Y O U CAN'T G O T H A T W A Y . Y ou tried to move,there is no exit in your intended direction.I B E G Y O U R P A R D O N ? Y o u pressed t h e R E T U R(or E N T E R ) k ey w ithout typing anything.

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A ppend ix ESample Transcript and MapThis transcript is not fromP L A N E T F A L L , but itdoes show most of the usual things you can do in thestory. It contains several simple puzzles and theirsolutions, and i t will give you a good idea of howInfocom's interactive fiction works. The player'ssentences appear in capital letters af te r each prompt(>). The map represents the terrain in the sampletranscript as you might have drawn it.

HACKS*VVNOTTS!CUT BASTE

AF TWAITTime passes. . .The one-man space scooter glides into the station's dock-ing port.Theretro-thrusters fire automatically, and thescooter glides to a halt.The space door closes, the dock-ing portfillswith air, and the scooter's hatch opens.>LOOKScooter, in the pilot's couchYou are in a cramped one-manspace scooter. Throughthe viewport, you see the docking portof Space StationBG-12. The scooter's hatch isopen, leading toport.There is a toolbox here, (outside the pilot'scouch)>OPENTHETOOLBOXYou can't reach it from the couch.

>PORTYou'll have to stand before you can leave.>GETOUTOFTHE COUCHYou are standing again.>OPENTHETOOLBOXIt 's locked.>PORTDocking PortThis is the huge docking portof the spacestation. Oone ship is here at the moment, a one-man scooter,thedocking port seems unusually empty. Atube leaddown toward theheart of the station.>DOWNMain Hallway, Sector MThis is the station's main corridor,which continues toportandstarboard. A tube leads up toward thedocking port.>STARBOARDMain Hallway, Sector NThis is the station's main corridor, which continues toandstarboard. A roomlies tofore, and a tube leadsdown to the next level of the station. Lying near the wis a key.>TAKE THE KEYTaken.>EXAMINEITThe key looks like one of thosenew all-purpose keysmods itself to any lock. Atypical example of Garfooingenuity.>FO RESick BayLike the rest of the station, the medical facility looks dserted. This is odd, for regulations require thatthe sibay be staffed around the clock, ten chrons a day! Tonlyexit is aft.At the far end of the room, inside a steel cage, is a Tsian Fussbudget, apparently asleep.

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>WAKE THE FUSSBUDGETIt jumps to its feet, all twelve of them. "Hey what's goingon? Who are you? Lemme outta here!">OPENTHE CAGEThe cage is locked."Open thecage!" begs the Fussbudget, clawing at thebars. "I'm claustrophobic! I'll starve todeath! Iwannagojogging!"> UNLOCKTHECAGE WITH THE KEYThe lock seems to be one of those new sophisticated all-purpose key-proof locks."Break the bars! Get an acetylene torch! Find a tele-porter! I've got an appointment with mylawyer infiveminutes! I'mallergic tocages!" The Fussbudgetbeginssneezing wildly.>AF.PORT.UP.STARBOARD.UNLOCKTHETOOL-BOX WITHTHE KEYMain Hallway, Sector NMain Hallway, Sector MYou are beginning to get hungry.Docking PortScooterThe toolbox is now unlocked.>OPENTH E TOLBOXI don't know the word "tolbox.">OPENTHE TOOLBOXOpening the toolbox revealsan identitybracelet,a hacksaw, and a tube of nutrient paste.>TAKE ALL FROMTHE TOOLBOXidentity bracelet: Taken.hacksaw: Your loadis too heavy.tube of nutrient paste:Your load is too heavy.>INVENTORYYou are carrying:

an identitybraceletakeya box of radioactive isotopesa tri-video cassette

> DROP ALL BUT THE IDENTITY BRACELET THETAKE TH E HACKSAWANDTHETUBEkey: Dropped.box of radioactive isotopes: Dropped.tri-videocassette: Dropped.You are now quite hungry.hacksaw: Taken.tube of nutrientpaste: Taken.> PUT ON THEIDENTITY BRACELETYou are now wearing the identity bracelet.>INVENTORYYou arecarrying:

a tube of nutrient pastea hacksawan identity bracelet (being worn)

> EAT THENUTRIENTPASTEMmmm...one of your favorites... anchovies andnutbutter. You empty the entire tube, and your hudissipates.> PORT.DOWN.STARBOARD.FOREDocking PortMain Hallway, Sector MMain Hallway, Sector NSick Bay"It's about timeyou got back.Youthink it's fun beilockedin a cage? What if there were a fire?">CUT THE BARS WITH THE HACKSAWYou cutthrough one bar of the cage.The Fussbudsticks itshead through thegap. "Come on, cut sommore! I'malmost out...do you think these edges wyou cut the bars are sharp?">AGAINYou cutthrough another bar. The Fussbudget squethrough and leaps to the floor. "Thanks, bud. By thway, I'm a Fussbudget." It hopsacross the room apokes four or five eyestalks cautiously through theway. "Where is everyone? Hey, that looks like a tunutrient paste you've got there.">GIVE TUBE TOFUSSBUDGETThe Fussbudget grabs the tube, wildly squeezes it wsix hands, and then throws it to the deck. "It's emphungry. If I don't eat I'll getsick."



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>AFTMain Hallway, Sector NThe Fussbudget bounds after you.>PORTMain Hallway, Sector MThe Fussbudget bounds after you.>PORTMain Hallway, Sector LThis is sector L of the station's main corridor. The corridorcontinues toport andstarboard. Rooms lie fore andaft.The Fussbudget bounds after you.The Fussbudget suddenly notices your identity bracelet."Hey, a bracelet. If you gimme it, I can get us otsa food,whaddya say, huh?">GIVE BRACELET TO FUSSBUDGETThe Fussbudgetgrabs the braceletanddashes fore-ward.>FOREYou bounce off an invisible barrier. A recording says"Restrictedareaidentification required." Within,youcan see the Fussbudget, wearing the identity bracelet,greedily devouring a whole crate of Mondoweed Fruits.> FUSSBUDGET, GIVEMETH E BRACELETThe Fussbudget, without looking up or pausing for amoment, tosses you the bracelet.>PUT IT ONYou are now wearing the identity bracelet.>FOREStore RoomThis is a small storage roomof some sort.A hallway liesaft.There is an adapter plug here.The Fussbudget is ust devouring the last few fruits. "Allthe food isgone," it says with itsmouth full. "Where amI gonna sleep tonight?">AFT.AFMain Hallway, Sector LThe Fussbudget bounds after you.Director's OfficeThis is the office of the station manager. There is a filecabinet standing next to a desk.Sitting on the desk is:

a portable computerThe Fussbudget bounds after you.

>TURNON THEPORTABLE COMPUTERNothing happens.The Fussbudgetshivers. "Does itseem chilly inhere?hate drafty places." A look of concern crosses itsfac"Do you think the healing units have failed?">EXAMINE ITThe portable computer has a keyboard, a screen, aa power cord.The screen isblank.> LOOK BEHINDTHE FILE CABINETThere isnothing behind the file cabinet.The Fussbudget fretfully rubs most of its hands toget"If Idon't getsome sleep I'll catch a cold. See ya."bounds away.>LOOK UNDERTH E DESKThere is a power socket under the desk.> PLUGTHEPORTABLE COMPUTER INTOTHEPOWERSOCKETThe cordends in a nine-prong plug, but the powersocket looks like itwill onlyaccept five-prong plugs.>FORE. FOREMain Hallway, SectorLThe Fussbudget issnoring loudly in the corner.Store RoomThere is an adapter plug here.>TAKE(adapter plug)Taken.>EXAMINE ITThe adapter seems designedto fit nine-prong plugsinfive-prong outlets.>AFT.AFT.PLUGTH E COMPUTER INTOTHEADAPTERMain Hallway, SectorLThe Fussbudget issnoring loudly in the corner.Director's OfficeSitting on the desk is:

a portable computerDone.

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> PLUG THEADAPTER INTOTH E WA LL SOCKET.Done.>TURN ON THECOMPUTERThe computer beeps.The screen lights up, saying"Please type password.">OPENTH E DESKOpening thedesk reveals a slip of paper.>READ THE SLIP OF PAPER(Taking the slip of paper first)"Buy mlk. Dentist at 3300. New password is 133.">TYPE 133The screen says "Passwordaccepted.Type 7 for memopad, 11 for correspondence file."> T Y P E 8The computer merely beeps.> T Y P E 7The last page of the memo pad appears on the screen:"22-Bozbar. All personnel have teleporteddown tothe planet. Iwill be joining them in a chron or two, butI wantedtosay goodbye tothisold station; it's toobad the engineers couldn'tstop that reactor build-up.By theway, the latest reading for Critical is6900.">TIMEAdjusted toGalactic Standard Time, it's exactly 6897.> FOREMain Hallway, Sector LThe Fussbudget is snoring loudly in the corner.Suddenly, a giantthermo-fusion ion fireball engulfs theentire station.**** You have died. ****Y our score is 9points out of a total of 80 in 92 moves.This gives you me rank of pot scrubber.

Appendix FWe're Never SatisfiedHere at Infocom, w e take great pr ide in the quof ou r stories, spending m onth after m onth hoand perfecting, scrutinizing hem for bugs, forthem on te r rorized prod uct testers, and chantth e death scene from "Carmen."Even after th e marke t ing division storms thbuilding, gasses th e deve lopment offices, andthe disks from our fingers, w e continue strivinperfect ion.Your input is important . If you find a bug, orthink a certain puzzle w as too hard or too easyyou have some other suggestion, or if you'd juto tell us your opinion of the story, dro p us a nWe love every excuse to stop w orking, and a lfrom you is just such an excuse! Write to :I N F O C O M , I N C .55 Wheeler StreetCam bridge, MA 02138Attn : FLOYDAppendix GIf Y ou Have Technical Problem sYou ca n call the Infocom Technical Support Tereport bugs and technical problem s, but not foto solve p uzzles, at (617) 576-3190. If your d isvelops a problem within ninety (90) day s afterchase, w e will replace it at no charge. Otherwthere is a replacement fee of $5.00 (U.S. currIf you call to repor t a bug , please provide yourrelease num ber, w hich you can find by typingV E R S I O N . Please retur n y our registration caryou'd like to be on our mailing list and receivenewsletter, THE NEW ZORKTIMES.

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Appendix HAbout the AuthorSteve Meretzky. Steve Mer e t zk y was born inmid-1957, frightening the Soviet U nion into the ear lylaunching of its Sputnik satellite. Meretzky's gestaltw as shaped by a n u mb e r of painful childhood exper i-ence s, including rooting fo r t he Ne w York Mets. H eb lames his interactive fiction on a combination ofgrowing up in Yonke r s and studying at MIT. (We use"studying" in the most general sense.) Mer e t zk yha s never been a ru tabaga fa rmer , and believes thateating granola is a decision that should be left to theindividual's conscience. Mer e t zk y now lives nearBoston, and has been work ing for Infocom since1982 as an experimental a l ternat ive li festyle tounemploymen t . H e apologizes for PLANETFALLa n d S O R C E R E R :

Appendix ICopyright and Warranty InformationLimi ted War r an tyThis sof tware produc t and the attached instructional materials ar"AS IS ," w i thout war ranty as to their pe r fo rmanc e . The entire rito the quality and per formance of the compute r sof tware programas sumed by the user.How ever , to the or igina l purchase r of a d isk prepa red by Infococarrying th e Infocom label on the disk j a c ke t , Infocom, Inc. war rath e med ium on which th e program is recorded to be f ree f rom d emateria ls and faul ty workmanship unde r normal use and service fperiod of ninety (90) days from the da te of purchase. If during thiriod a d e f e c t on the me dium should occur, th e med ium may be reto Infocom, Inc. or to an author ized Infocom, Inc. dealer, and InfInc . wi ll r eplace the med ium w i thout charge to you. Your sole andsive remedy in the event of a d e f e c t is expressly l imited to replacof th e med ium as provided above.T H E A B O V E W A R R A N T I E S F O R G O O D S A R E I N L IE U OW A R R A N T I E S , E X PR E S S , IM PL IE D, OR S TATUTOR Y , INC LI N G , BUT N O T L IM I T E D T O , A N Y I M P L I E D W A R R A N T I ESM E R C H A N T A B I L IT Y A N D F IT N E S S F O R A P A R T I C U L A R PPOSE A N D OFA N Y O T H E R W A R R A N T Y O B L I G A T I O N O NP A R T O F I N F O C O M , IN C . IN N O E V EN T S H A L L IN F O C O MO R A N Y O N E EL SE W H O H A S B E E N INVOLVED IN T H E C RTION A N D P R O D U C T I O N OF T H IS C O M P U T E R S O F T W A RP R O G R A M B E L I A B L E F O R I N D IR E C T , S PE C I A L , O R C O NQ U E N T I A L D A M A G E S , S U C H A S , B U T NO T L IMITE D TO, OFANTIC IPATE D PROFITS ORBENEFITS R E S UL TING FRT H E U S E OF THIS P R O G R A M , O R A R I SIN G O U T OFA N YB R E A C H OF THIS W A R R A N T Y . S OME S TATE S DO NOT A LTH E E X C L U S I O N O R L IMITATION O F I N C I D E N T A L O R CQ U E N T I A L D A M A G E S, S O THE A B O V E L I M I TA T I O N M A YA PPLY TOY O U .

N.B. A f t e r the warranty period, a defective Infocom disk mayreturned to Infocom, Inc. with a check or money order for$5.00(U.S . cur rency) fo r r e p l a c emen t .CopyrightThe enclosed so ftwa r e p rod uc t is copyrighted and all rights are rserved by Infocom , Inc. I t is published ex clusively by Infocom, Indistr ibution and sale of th is prod uc t a re in tended for the use of thna l purchaser only and for use only on the com pute r sys tem specLawful users of this program are hereby l icensed only to read th egram from i t s med ium in to the m em ory of a compute r so le ly for tpurpose of execut ing the program . Copying (except for one backucopy on those systems which p rov id e f o r i t see R e f e r enc e C a rdduplicating, selling, or otherwise distributing this product is a vioof the law.This manua l and a l l other docum enta t ion conta ined he re in arer ighted and all r ights reserved by Infocom, Inc. These d oc umen tnot , in whole or in part, be copied , photocopied , reproduced , tralated, or r e d uc ed to any e lec tronic me d ium or machine- readable w i thout pr ior consent, in w r i t ing, from Infocom, Inc.

Willful violations of the Cop yright Law of the United States ca nin civil dam ages of up to $50,000 in add i t ion to ac tua l dam ages , pcriminal penalties of up to one year impr isonment and /or $10,000PL ANE TFAL L and S OR C E R E R a re t r a d em a rk s o f In foc om, Inc 1984 Infoc om , Inc.P r in t e d in U . S . A .

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