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A compact pirate puzzle game, May 9, 2021This game is part of the PunyInform competition. It's fairly polished, and features an quest to go looking for pirate treasure.
In the tradition of classic adventure games, the puzzles don't really make much sense, but they're fun. One involves a 2d block pushing puzzle (easier than the infamous Royal Puzzle from Zork III, but generally similar), and there are some math and logic puzzles.
The game has two endings, one easy to achieve and another harder. The game eschews walkthroughs and hints, but I decompiled the game to find the 'good' ending, which is significantly harder.
The largest negative in the game is the pedantry. Very frequently the game knows exactly what you want to do but forces you to phrase yourself a different way.
Examples include:
">UNLOCK BOX
I think you wanted to say “unlock wooden box with something”. Please try again."
and
">ROW
I think you wanted to say “row something”. Please try again."
A particularly egregious example (spoilers for the 'good ending'):
(Spoiler - click to show)
> lock chest
I think you wanted to say “lock treasure chest with something”. Please try again
> lock chest with golden key
Sorry, I don’t understand what “golden” means.
> lock chest with gold key
First you’d have to close the treasure chest.
> close chest
You close the treasure chest.
This is the equivalent of eating at a restaurant but the chef occasionally grabs your hands to make you move your knife to the other side or to drop your salad fork and take your regular one, to ensure that you are eating the meal in the proper way.
Overall, I think this will please people who primarily look for IF to have fun scenarios and puzzles that aren't immediately solvable but are fair.