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onehand.zip
The AdvSys data file and source code for an AdvSys runtime
This game requires an interpreter program - refer to the game's documentation for details. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)
onehand.tar.Z
The AdvSys data file and source code for an AdvSys runtime
This game requires an interpreter program - refer to the game's documentation for details. (Compressed with the Unix-style .tar.Z "tarball" format. Free unpacking tools are available for most platforms.)
onehand.html
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The Sound of One Hand Clapping

by Erica Sadun

Eastern, Religious
1993

(based on 3 ratings)
1 review

Game Details

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


An evocative game in a beautiful setting with Buddhist decor. Your task is to banish Black Dragon from the World Beyond. To do this, you will have to get the cooperation of the other dragons (who symbolize various elemental forces), despite the uncertainty of their own fate if you succeed. Intriguing but simple puzzles, good sense of freedom, built-in hints in the form of visions gained from meditating. It is possible to get into no-win situations without realizing it.

-- Carl Muckenhoupt

SPAG

While I don't hesitate to give this game near-perfect marks for writing and atmosphere, I must unfortunately rank it as less-than-average on gameplay, and the plot is only of average quality. [...] Play it, if only for the writing; immerse yourself in the atmosphere, let the gently flowing prose entice you away from the usually cold and logical world of computers, enjoy for a while the subtle simplicity of this world of imagination [...] (Magnus Olsson)
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SynTax
You will immediately realise from the title of the adventure that this is a game which draws heavily on Chinese philosophy and very much embodies the ethos of a non-violent approach to life. This is superbly conveyed in Erica Sadun's writing which is beautifully descriptive and quite eloquent throughout. However, though the 40+ (so far!) locations and the various characters are described in detail, some of the responses are somewhat limited. Many times I examined something of interest only to be greeted with 'That's just scenery!' and the number of commands which are understood is rather small. (Neil Shipman)
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SynTax
After wading through lines and lines of meaningless text and spending five minutes trying to examine every single noun mentioned in the text you find out you are, in fact, in an empty location. [...] Ignoring this extremely verbose manner in which the game world is described, what are the puzzles like? Well, they seem to be bordering on the surreal, for me. (James Judge)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A very good, old game based on Chinese mythology, June 5, 2017

This game came out the same year as Curses!, back before Inform was a thing. It's one of the very few games on ifdb written in adsys, and doesn't support undo.

You start the game near a fountain hub with paths leading in every direction. There are six dragons that you interact with to gain six coins.

Many of the puzzles are unfair in a sense, and the game feels like it could be polished more. But it's long and complex, and has a really likable fire iguana helper. The hints file on IFDB is annoying, but I was able to finish the game using it, after about 447 moves.

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The Sound of One Hand Clapping on IFDB

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