Marco Vallarino. 45th place, IFComp 2022.

Hahahaha! This happened to me so fast:

There was only one way to end up in game over in this adventure and you found it: congratulations!

Also not sure if this is a real person on the author’s campus, or if Val Kilmer is making an appearance that echoes Michael Keaton’s cameo on 30 Rock.

Try asking Val Kelmer, the campus janitor.

I had a good first impression of this game. It clearly feels like an early/student project, but there’s a likable quirkiness to it, epitomized by the game design professor somehow sluuuurping out of the vending machine.

Unfortunately in the course of play I ran across a bunch of places where synonyms I was hoping for weren’t implemented:

You can see a laptop computer here.

open computer
That’s not something you can open.

put password in computer
You can’t see any such thing.

x computer
Thanks to the password obtained by the general manager you can get into the computer.

Also some slightly weird modeling of player knowledge to unlock important options:

You can see a stuffed dog here.

take dog
You wouldn’t know what to do with it now.

x dog
The stuffed dog is a golden labrador with biscuit-colored ears, black nose, soft eyes and a tag with the words “Emy”.

take dog
That’s what the “Emy” Mica Hela was looking for. A stuffed dog. I’m sure she’ll be happy to have it back.

And some unfortunate cases where the game’s own synonyms from its prose aren’t implemented.

take projector

  Phew! The projector is really heavy, I doubt you’ll be able to go far with it. Why don’t you get a cart and put it in there?

>
put projector on cart
You can’t see any such thing.

drop cart
You can’t see any such thing.

i
You are carrying:
a projector
the closet key
a trolley
a pass
a flashlight (providing light)

put projector on trolley
You put the projector into the trolley.

Anyway, in the end I found this a bit fun and light. It did make me laugh.