External Links

Play Online
Transparent v.8 *
Contains Transparent.v8.download.zip (play online with sound at itch.io)
Now with browser/​online play including multimedia sound using the Bisquixe interpreter. Play online at itch.​io or download the zip and run index.​html in a modern browser.
Play this game in your Web browser.
Transparent
Requires a Glulx interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
TransparentM (no sounds)
Sounds removed for smaller download (better for mobile)
Requires a Glulx interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
Supplement *
Contains VisitorGuideTM.pdf
Includes map and walkthrough.
To view this file, you need an Acrobat Reader for your system.
* Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.

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Transparent

by Hanon Ondricek profile

2014
Horror
Inform 7

(based on 19 ratings)
1 review26 members have played this game. It's on 49 wishlists.

About the Story

There is a house. There is a room in the house. There is a door in the room. The door is locked. Some people are in the room. Some people are transparent.

An eerie exploration of an abandoned historic house. Acquire pictures with your trusty camera to get paid and search for evidence of the 2nd unit crew who is supposed to be there with you. Someone is definitely making those sounds in the dark.

NEW: Version 8 can be played online in a browser with sound thanks to Mathbrush's Bisquixe interpreter.

Play online at itch.io via the link above, or download version 7 or 8 and run index.html in a modern browser or the .glulx file in a multimedia-enabled Glulx interpreter.

Contains creepy and possibly surprising atmospheric sound effects. Does not contain "screamer" type audio/visual jump-scares.

Awards

Ratings and Reviews

5 star:
(2)
4 star:
(9)
3 star:
(8)
2 star:
(0)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating: based on 19 ratings
Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1
Write a review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Open-ended paranormal investigation game, February 11, 2016

Transparent is a full IFComp-sized game (about 2 hours) set in an abandoned mansion. This game eschews the traditional linear format most common for horror games and adopts a 'slow-burn' instead. This didn't mesh well with the hectic format of IFComp, which may have caused it to be overlooked.

In this game, you are a photographer as part of a film crew investigating a location that is rumored to be haunted. You are provided with a map (as an in-game graphic and as a feel). You make it to the mansion, but the film crew is nowhere to be seen.

As you go about the mansion, various things happen. You have a camera you can wear around your neck, and you photograph everything. Sometimes the pictures don't turn out the way they should.

Eventually, the power goes out, but you can still see by using your flash. This often does not reveal what you want it to.

You can make your own goals in this game, and there are endings for most reasonable goals. I achieved one good ending and one bad ending, and I found the bad ending to be very appropriate, so I didn't try to fix it.

There are sounds, but my interpreter did not support them.

Finally, many , many people complained about the inventory limit, but there is nothing you need to carry for 90% of the game. Don't carry notes, leaflets, and memos, and drop keys if you're done with them (I recommend holding onto the property key).

Recommended for fans of the creepy.

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1 Off-Site Review

Good Old Days
The plot isn't just revealed interactively, the plot itself is interactive.
"Transparent is one of the few games which offer true interactivity in the sense of allowing the player to shape the story. Within limits, of course, but these shackles aren't nearly as restricting as most authors put them. Best of all, there are virtually no fixed plot points, no big reveals in non-interactive text dumps. Rather than told, the plot is experienced through the interaction itself."
See the full review

News

Mathbrush's Bisquixe browser interpreter now enables sound when playing TRANSPARENT online or in the browser.

On original release in 2014 in IFComp, Transparent contained an extensive sound and music system which was inaccessible to many players initially. Now the full multimedia set is enabled in the browser and is an easy way to experience the game as originally intended, and is a good demo of what the Bisquixe interpreter is capable of.

Play or download at itch.io: https://pyramidif.itch.io/transparent

Mathbrush's announcement and tech about how it was done: https://intfiction.org/t/ifcomp-2014-game-transparent-remastered-with-bisquixe/66277

Itch.io dev-log: https://pyramidif.itch.io/transparent/devlog/652516/transparent-now-with-sound-in-online-browser-play
Reported by Hanon Ondricek (updated on December 18, 2023) | History | Edit | Delete
Transparent placed 11th in the 2014 IFComp, and casts the player as a photographer hired to take pictures in an historic residence which is being filmed for a ghost-hunting reality show.

The full game contains about 8 megabytes of sound files.

TransparentM is the game with all audio stripped out, greatly reducing the file size down to to 2.3 meg, which makes the game more feasible to store on a mobile device for play, or if no sound is desired. Works in Frotz on iOS. Unfortunately I was unable to compile down to ZCode, so I left the small number of images in the game.
Reported by Hanon Ondricek | History | Edit | Delete
Minor update, fixes some vault door weirdness and other text corrections.
Reported by Hanon Ondricek | History | Edit | Delete
More news... | Add a news item

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Game Details

Transparent on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Transparent appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Great "white hat" horror games by genre by MathBrush
This list does not include games intended to disgust or to make you personally feel evil. The focus is on games where good overcomes evil, or that just make you think. That is what I mean by "white hat" games. Games like Vespers or...

Polls

The following polls include votes for Transparent:

Games with graphics and/or sound by eyesack
I couldn't find an easy way to search for this, so I figured I'd ask the hivemind: What games use graphics and/or sound to enhance the gameplay, similar to City of Secrets and Necrotic Drift?

Games with detailed descriptions of art works by Greg Frost
I am looking for games which use the literary technique of ekphrasis: "a vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art, either real or imagined" (Wikipedia).

Games with multiple endings by tggdan3
Obviously not counting "death" as an ending, but non-successful ends can count if there are other successful ends. Variation in endings should at least vary the ending somewhat (as opposed to be an extra word or two).

See all polls with votes for this game

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This is version 38 of this page, edited by Zape on 25 January 2024 at 8:14pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page