External Links


Story File (Release 3)
At the author's website.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
Post-competition release
At the IF Archive.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
Spring Thing 2014 version
Contains StoryOfMrP/mr-p.z5
Release 1.
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)

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The Story of Mr. P

by Hannes Schueller profile

Surreal
2014

Web Site

(based on 7 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

One morning, when P. woke from peaceful dreams, he found himself in his bed – still his old self.

A translation of Die Geschichte des Herrn P. from German to English.


Game Details


Awards

7th Place - Spring Thing 2014


News

The brand new release of the Spring Thing 2014 entrant has been released to the impatient public!
Reported by Hannes | History | Edit | Delete
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Good technical execution of inform 6, February 11, 2023
by prail (Texas)

As an Inform 7 author, I was curious to explore this surreal world of Mr. P. The map for the game was straightforward enough and I quickly sketched it out. I was disappointed I could not ask my wife any questions. The default interactions showed me the game was well-tested. I spotted no bugs. The path through the game felt very controlled and it kept me on track. The game interactions were brief and I never felt I was being tricked. I was able to (Spoiler - click to show)move the wardrobe aside to access the empty room but was never sure why that was valuable. (Spoiler - click to show)So the couple is childless. So what? So Margaret keeps a spotless house? So what?

The trip to the office was uneventful and therefore disappointing. I was hoping to understand the office characters at a deeper level, but that wasn't important apparently. I was surprised by the (Spoiler - click to show)rotten meat in my lunch bag but this wasn't satisfactorily explained. I assume we are to accept odd happenings like that because the game is "surreal." But know this: when basic questions are left unanswered, the player is left unsatisfied. That's why only 3 stars for this review.

Exploring the park was odd and at times surprising. I especially liked (Spoiler - click to show)poking the clouds with the stick to transform them into candy That was imaginative, but didn't really further the story.

Unfortunately, I spent a lot of my time waiting for things to happen and wandering from place to place. There were clearly timer counts in the game that waited a certain number of turns before something significant would happen. I wish these waits were shorter or the engagement with the characters would have furthered the story.

The climax of the story was the (Spoiler - click to show)wife swap which really got my attention. Unfortunately, with little explanation, the story abruptly ended with the cryptic message " *** Colorful (6/8) ***"

I wonder what that means. I assume it was a score.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Good existentialist IF, April 25, 2014
by delano (Canada)

You play through a day in the life of a man who experiences a series of strange events. Since I'm not above namedropping, I have to say it reminded a little of Dostoevsky's The Double. Awkward interactions with co-workers; a major faux-pas at a party; things like that. So there is quite a lot of good stuff built around themes of anxiety and embarassment and human relationships.

The first half of the game mainly consists of routine activity. The main character's personality, rather than being described, truly emerges from the actions that the player must perform. The game makes the player fret over little things like getting dressed in private, washing one's hands before lunch, and kissing one's wife before leaving for work. But the player's choices are open enough that the player does not feel locked in or led by the hand; for example, you can lose the game by (Spoiler - click to show)missing the bus.

The anxieties flow nicely into the second half of the game; when you discover (Spoiler - click to show)your rotten lunch, the story becomes much more surreal, and the gameplay involves more puzzles.

I spent more or less equal amounts of time on each half of the game. The mundane first half never becomes tedious, and the second surreal half never becomes overly frustrating--I only got stuck once in the second part. (Thanks to the author for helping me solve it.)

The end puzzle is truly excellent, and it's pure joy to try (Spoiler - click to show)different combinations of clothes and exit strategiesto arrive at different endings.

One puzzle that is troublesome involves enduring a conversation with guests. It involves trying a (Spoiler - click to show)certain number of actions rather than finding a particular correct action. This is a clever idea for a puzzle, because the only way not to win is to (Spoiler - click to show)give up. Unfortunately, some of the game's responses to my actions did not make sense. (eg. The game recognized biting as a completely different action.) The game's responses should have been much less specific given the high number of actions that players are bound to try.

If not for little technical errors like that, I would rate this game as a 4. As it is, it's probably worth 3.5 stars, but the star system doesn't allow for that.

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The Story of Mr. P on IFDB

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The following polls include votes for The Story of Mr. P:

Mouse & Milquetoast - Modern-World Games With a Timid Protagonist by Ghalev
In some games, you play a brave hero, or a cynical crime-fighter, or a cunning robber. In others, you play an artificial mind, an alien, or an animal. In many, you play nobody in particular, just an average person of some kind, doing a...

IF of yours you'd most recommend by blue/green
If someone were going to play one IF you've written, which one would you recommend? This can be based on any criteria you choose: personal favorite, highest rated, most representative, most accessible, whatever. (You can always change...




This is version 10 of this page, edited by JTN on 18 March 2024 at 2:01am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page