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Merry Christmas, folks!

Star Wars RPing is still lurching back into gear, both off-line and online. The Renegade game has picked up some pace, which is good, and we can confidently expect the start of the new major storylines soon, with the current interludes being small distractions.

As promised, here is this year's Christmas bonus- a new episode in my brother's Inform-based 'Choose your own Adventure' series, set in his own take on a Knights of the Old Republic-style background. Although thousands of years before the current SW games, they are set in the same continuity and a certain amount of shared background can be discovered.

Last year, an unnamed Jedi found himself caught on the frontlines of a massive invasion by the Sith. His story will continue in the third episode, 'Generals of the Republic', which will follow next year. For now, though, we change perspective as we deal with the consequences of what that Jedi did...

-

The Sith invasion of the Republic has begun. The massed, elite forces of the Jovano warriors are smashing the borders of the Republic to pieces. Dozens of worlds fell on the first day, and hundreds more are following.

The Jovano owe complete allegiance to their revered living god Darth Malphas, the Lord of the Sith. It is he who commands the invasion. It is his first and greatest apprentice, Darth Varus, who leads it.

Yet Malphas has many apprentices- the Darths that run his empire. And in these days of triumph for the Sith, there has been one setback. One of his most talented Darths, Trayas, was entrusted by Malphas with a secret mission in the invasion of Damaria. On Damaria, resistance was led by a Jedi, caught up in the fighting by coincidence. Damaria fell- but Trayas' mission was not fulfilled. The Jedi killed Trayas (though reports on how he did it are somewhat confused...) and escaped the world along with a large number of refugees and the entire ruling council.

Trayas has failed- but the invasion goes on. And now, Trayas is to be replaced. His is the first death of a Darth by Jedi hands in an age. Normally, a Darth is replaced by the one who killed him. But what will Malphas do now?

Malphas' Sith empire has attracted many hopeful talent. One of them will be selected to be the new Darth. Malphas has put out news of a contest to be held to decide who it will be- only those willing to prove themselves need apply.

In 'Island of Fire', you play one of the new hopefuls that seeks to take the position of Darth.

Take a skilled Marauder, reasonably talented in all areas, competent in sabre and force alike. His additional talent with a gun may be looked down upon by others, but could be a real edge on the island- that is, if he can find one.

Or take a mighty Brute, an alien fiend of great strength and power. Lethal in a duel and with a regenerative physiology entirely immune to many of the environmental hazards on the island, he looks like a good candidate, if he can overcome his weakness with the force.

Or take a cunning Adept. His sabre skills are inferior to many other competitors. His skills with the Force are good... but not legendary. But he is armed with a quick mind, and a comprehensive knowledge of all things Sith that might come surprisingly in handy with a series of deathtraps built by a scholar such as Malphas...

Only one can survive the Island, and your competitors each have their great skills. Yet one being towers above them all. A more deadly duellist than you can be. Greater in body than the Brute. Greater in the Force than any rival. He is feared, he is the favourite... and most think he cannot lose.

Certainly no-one thinks you will be the one to beat him. Even your trainer was written you off. They don't even think you will survive long enough to meet him. Yet just one person- the most surprising of all- thinks there is more to you than others see.

Now it is your time to prove yourself. Can you survive Malphas' deadly traps? Can you fight through the skilled opponents and beasts that seek to kill you every step of the way? Can you find your way to the goal before the rising lava burns you to nothing? And at the end- how can you beat the unbeatable Dedrax Zeng?

The Island of Fire awaits...

-

Welcome to the Island of Fire, the first Dark Side game in this series. Where 'Fall of Damaria' was a relatively lightweight romp of fun and heroism as you took on Trayas and saved the day (and got a hold of a particular crystal that the current game Dark Siders end up with millennia later...), this game is a vicious bastard that will take you by the throat and crush you mercilessly. The Dark Side is harsh and unforgiving, and so is this game. The Island is hideously dangerous and will kill you repeatedly, and the death descriptions have become more intense in order to match this darker mood.

The game structure is more complex. Whilst Fall of Damaria had a series of alternate paths that connected various waypoints, island of Fire has a large open area that you can wonder back and forth about at your will. The main programming difficulties have related to getting this persistence working correctly without, say, dead things coming back to life due to issues with the event flags in the programming. The further you get, the smaller the explorable area becomes... though that's only because if you take too long, you've taken a lava bath. Hope you find a way up quickly! Though if you get up without finding what you needed down below either. Then that was not much good for you either...

Good Luck! Or, I suppose, may the Force be with you...

To play, you will ened a z-machine interpreter. Easiest thing to do is to get the latest version of Windows Frotz 2002- top link here.

http://www.inform-fiction.org/zmachine/windows.html

This link:

http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/

contains several folders of interpreters containing absolutely anything you could need. For example, 'Filfre' for Windows (in the 'multi' folder) is a relatively new fancy multi-platform interpreter, and probably provides more features than Windows Frotz (for example, upon opening the game, Filfre gives you the intro panel, which Windows Frontz does not).

All that remains, then, is the game file- which this year comes with the instructions as a separate pdf file, done as there was a max file size issue for the game during development, That issue no longer exists, but it only ceeased to be an issue... yesterday, so the majority of the game is written with the limit in mind.

The instructions are exactly the same as appeared in last year's game.



http://under-the-gun.org/christmas/Basic%20Rules.pdf

http://under-the-gun.org/christmas/Island%20of%20Fire.zblorb

I died twice so far. It's much fun though. I like it more than the last...cause being evil rocks.

On that sick note, merry christmas to you all.

What killed you?

Pfft, I also just died.

Stupid rabid mastiffs...

And this time I got destroyed by the Assassin.

However, I couldn't help but laugh. If I'd had one less point of stamina than I did when that entire encounter started, I would have pretty much killed myself...

I will play it tomorrow when I get back to my home computer.
Looking forward to it!

Originally posted by Ushgarak
What killed you? First a javelin through the heart, then a gun after a luck roll. It severed my elbow, it was not a pretty sight.

Ooh, it always means something has gone wrong if you are Luck rolling...

It's possible to luck it past a lot of the Island but it is hardly reliable.

Oooh, Lana's gone the wrong way...

Hush, you.

How many times have you gone the wrong way while playing this?

Well, seeing as when I was first playing, much of the stuff Iw as killing kept coming back to life...

Hehehehehe.

Damn those resurrecting enemies!

Spying on Malphas is amusing, btw.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Ooh, it always means something has gone wrong if you are Luck rolling...

It's possible to luck it past a lot of the Island but it is hardly reliable. Yeah, well it actually told me I could go back, but I figured 50/50 is good enough. Turns out it wasn't.

It can be a long way back to reload- you don't want to take those 50/50 chances unless you are running out of time.

There's always a better way.

Cool, I just got eaten by a giant lizard...

So, anyway.

How far has anyone else managed to get? So far I've only managed to find a silver key before dying/getting lost and running out of turns, with a high score of 2.

I haven't yet encountered any other competitors, either.

I have twice encountered other competitors, but they were dead or dying.

Yeah, I just came across one who told me where the path up the plateau was.

I cannot for the life of me find a gold key. I know where two silver keys are, but that's it.

It is touching how Darth Malphas cares for his pupils "death in molten lava is agonizing, I have been told, so you should throw yourself at your lightsabres. still, how you end your life is up to you..."

And isn't he beyond such things as slave girls?

You don't know what he wants them for.

I doubt it fits Star Wars rating....
Anything is better than Epirean slave girls, I quess.

Yuck.

Got impaled by a living statue. Fun!

You went to explore the islands, didn't you

I just tried as a marauder and got even less far as I'd managed as an Adept. I can't remember how I got to the one key that's protected by the sniper.

Did you get a gun?

Yep. Found and killed some bounty hunter and pilfered all sorts of stuff (guns, medikits, and mines).

Got one key so far and got killed by eagle. Had to restart.

Didn't get up to the comm array in time, lava devoured me with a score of 3. Blah.

Well, I know where one gold key is, and got to it while playing a Brute.

Problem is, I can't remember how I got to it, nor how to get to a silver key without starting as an Adept and exploring the small chain of islands.

Man, the game is vast. I think I am starting to have a decent understanding though. Maybe I will finally get somewhere tomorrow.

Woooo!

Figured out how to find both silver and gold keys with the Adept.

Now to just streamline how I got the gold one as to not waste turns, and then figure out how to get the the array in time.

Woo! According to Rex I'm the first one to face stab Zeng and become a Darth. Score of 9, not sure if that's good or bad...

Do I have to fight Sia Akura as Adept? She seems impossible battle.

Also, if I got to first savepoint with only silver key, should I restart the game from the beginning?

Do people want me to start giving out hints?

Just one question- depending on the route and timing of locations I visit, do the locations change even if I did not visit them yet?

Nope.

I'll drop in, if ok?

Feel free. It's an individual game.

Finished it with the Brute and 8 points now. Close call though.

I will probably play it again, finish the vast map I've been drawing. And maybe try getting 9 points.

Originally posted by Lord Melkor
Do I have to fight Sia Akura as Adept? She seems impossible battle.

Also, if I got to first savepoint with only silver key, should I restart the game from the beginning?

Akura is a nasty fight. There's probably a way up that doesn't require you to go through her, though.

Originally posted by Peach
Akura is a nasty fight. There's probably a way up that doesn't require you to go through her, though.

Yeah, you don't need to fight her. The one I didn't beat yet is Pax though, I will need to try it with an adept I think.

So far I've fought and defeated Terek, came across two of the competitors dead (can't recall which ones), and also came across and fought Pax and Akura once.

I lost both times

Both I think I should have been able to defeat, really; Pax I was simply really low on stamina when I got there (and had lost all my medikits) so I died the first time a roll didn't go my way, and against Akura the dice decided they wanted to hate me over and over. Even when she had a terrible roll, mine would still be like...one point lower.

A one point gap in Skill makes a significant odds diference; a two point one is enormous.

Akura is extremely dangerous, as noted in the briefing. The Brute can beat her head on by out stamina-ing her. The Marauder has a Hobson;s choice between Akura and Pax- Pax relies on an initial life./death gamble, Akura on elongated risk trhoughout the fight. He probably has the hardest time doing either, as there is no easy way. he can get an advantage against either at the start of thye game, of course, but that blows your Malphas point.

The Adept will be annihilated by Akura every time, but he makes Pax look like an idiot.

-

I think the hardest pla is the Marauder. The Adept and Brute both ave areas that will effectively kill them stone dead at once, but you can learn to avoid them and both have other areas where they excel.

The Marauder may be generally safrer but it is more difficult for him to find his ways to overcome specific things (unlike the Brute who just gets his bonus atomatically, and the Adept who just has to be sharp-eyed for the prompt).

For example- has anyone found the easy way for the Marauder to get the Gold key yet?

Originally posted by Ushgarak
The Brute can beat her head on by out stamina-ing her.

So long as the dice go your way.

I was using a Brute when I came across Akura and she still destroyed me.

But as I said, the dice were clearly hating me more than they usually do that time, as even when she rolled very poorly, I still managed to roll worse.

I like the Adept the best, though it's very difficult. Their bonus rarely ever pops up

I wouldn't say too easy though it wasn't that bad to get it heading southeast after the jovano patrol

But it comes up at the crucial points, so you just need to learn what to avoid. The Adept breezes through one scene that the others find enar-impossible.

The Brute is probably the easiest, though, as he has the besty general recovery from bad encounters. Again, he just needs to avoid anything with a Force roll. Generally he has routes built in for him (like the crab).

Crucial, or important? Because I had it pop up during something that as far as I can tell, was extremely pointless. Interesting, but pointless.

BTW, I keep getting the feeling that in some areas the directions aren't quite working properly? A few times I've wound up back in the same spot I just was, effectively going in a circle, even though I had continued going in one direction.

Originally posted by Bardock42
I wouldn't say too easy though it wasn't that bad to get it heading southeast after the jovano patrol

Jovano patrol? Cool, something I haven't yet found. I've only managed to get a gold key from killing the giant lizard.

The Jovano patrol is a good example of an obstacle that makes some types think but to which the Brute just goes 'Brute KILL!' and goes straight through.

I'm trying to get my mindset out of the "kill everything I see" one I usually have, since I've been mostly playing the Adept, but damn is it hard when my first instinct is to destroy everything...

I didn`t play for a very long time yet, but my Adept lost to Pax in lightsabre combat, so he certainly didn`t make him look like idiot....

I was surprised that Brute started in different area than Adept. Do i have to use the train to explore the places other start in?

I wonder if you meet Pax and Alura later if you don`t kill them.

The odds are greatly in favour of the Adept beating Pax, so long as you have not let the other threats on the island tear you to pieces.

All three characters start in different areas, actually tailored to help them out.

The train is not necessary for a link up, though once you are familiar with the Island it is bloody handy.

The train so far has done nothing but confuse the hell out of me and get me completely lost, yay.

Actually as Adept I had an impression that there are enough medikits to restore you between fights.

Well, no problem then!

Only if you manage to scavenge every medikit hidden around the island and don't nearly get dumped off the edge of the cliff, I'd say...

(that happened to me just after I'd found a stash with like four medikits in a cave, and I lost all of them. I was pissed.)

Well, what I am not hearing is much love for the Marauder...

But you can shoot everything, like you pointed out to me yesterday!

Hehe.

Personally, I tend to shy away from all-rounder types. I prefer having some sort of specific focus than being decently good at everything. More fun that way.

What's everyone been using the most, btw? I've mostly been using Adept, though I've tried all three. I know Rex has been using Brute and General Kaliero's been using Adept.

What did you use the most in this, Ush?

Still Ush, Pax beat me in lightsabre while I was in good health, I quess I was unlucky with rolls, a I tried once so far.

And pity Akura is untochable to Adept, maybe there should be a way to explore her soft feminine side

I could actually use a hint -if as Adept I reached the first savepoint at turn 19 and with one key (silver), should I restart or continue from that point?

I played the marauder most of the time, and mapped most of the island with him. After I found where the keys are though and where the brute starts, I wanted to beat the game so I pressured through it with him. It is pretty. Easy for him to get the gold and silver key and get tot the plateau. And it is kinda nice to not have to think too much and only select lightsabre really

If you are on the mid-level with only one key, you are in trouble. There is a way back down but time will be against you.

On reflection, it is feasible to build such a route as an Adept... it's just not worth it. Aside from anyhting else, better to get the save after you've wrapped the lower parts up.

As for losing to Pax with an Adept- it's never happened to me.

-

Yes, there are a lot of threats the Marauder gets a break with using a gun. As I mentioned, he is actually generally safer. But it is some of the IMPORTANT bits he has a slightly harder time with, the bits you HAVE to do, whilst the other classes can plot a path around the stuff that would cause them trouble. This is always the fate of all-rounders.

I learned the game with a Marauder. Based on his work, I knew exactly where to go with an Adept as soon as I saw his ability, as I went to the bits that had bugged me as a Marauder. Then you just walk through nearly everything as a Brute.

...damn, now I can't remember how I got to the gold key. Ahhhh.

Damm, how could I miss the islands as the Adept!

Sorry Ush, i was missing the additional options with Pax since there was just plain option of using the force.

A-ha! Careful there...

I've been using the Marauder but I keep dawdling around and getting caught by the lava.

Did get into a bowcaster duel with the sniper in the canyon, though.

I was trying to play it on my phone, but it seems the interpreters available only support z1 - z8 file format, not zblorb. Do you perhaps know what the difference is between them, Ush?

Just killed Zeng with my Adept! Got score of 9. I killed only Pax of other competitors. I will propably play again as Brute.

Is there only one black key to be found? And I think I found five places where the codeword Malphas could be used.

Even more interesting is that you can apparently fight Sith Lord in this game...

Ah, sadly, that iphone issue is currently insoluble. I mentioned the file size issue above; as part of various sophisticated programme strings in it and in beating the file size limit, this is a 'glulx' game rather than a straight out Frotz game (and it is worth noting, the frotz technology dates from the early 1980s, hence the file size limit being about 256k I think).

But Glulx is an entirely amateur, community-created platform and the people involved don't have the resources for an iphone development of it.

The latest version of Inform- the powerful tool used to create text adventures- has pretty much gone all glulx which is a problem for the iphone frotz version. Still, a heck of a lot of classics to be played on that.

-

Yes, there is only one black key.

I asked because the black key fight was rather hard even though I could use the force, unless I misssed the codeword option again...

This game is almost impossible to win without several replays, so it is definately more challenging than previous one. I like the fact that it is non-linear (in particular the final fight seems well done) and that play is very different for various templates. I quess having multiple paths is something I really enjoy in gamebooks. Though more social interaction in your next gamebook would be cool.

By the way, my favourite gamebook so far is this one: http://www.ffproject.com/outsider.htm which is free to play online. It has interesting story and there are multiple possible endings. But this one is also excellent, Ush!

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Ah, sadly, that iphone issue is currently insoluble. I mentioned the file size issue above; as part of various sophisticated programme strings in it and in beating the file size limit, this is a 'glulx' game rather than a straight out Frotz game (and it is worth noting, the frotz technology dates from the early 1980s, hence the file size limit being about 256k I think).

But Glulx is an entirely amateur, community-created platform and the people involved don't have the resources for an iphone development of it.

The latest version of Inform- the powerful tool used to create text adventures- has pretty much gone all glulx which is a problem for the iphone frotz version. Still, a heck of a lot of classics to be played on that.

-

Yes, there is only one black key.
Ah yeah, the iPhone development seems to be somewhat bothersome. I actually have a G1 though, I just read that the interpreter I have is currently undergoing a massive rewrite and that blorb functionality will be included. So perhaps I will soon be able to play Star Wars games on the go, haha.

How are those games written btw? Are there creators for that?


And do you have any suggestions for z games I could try, I have never really played text based adventures...just HHGTTG I think.

You missed the codeword option again I am afraid!

Oh indeed, I just replayed this part. It indeed seems that playing as Marauder is the greatest challenge as there is no obvious path in certain crucial moments.

By the way, how many traps can you make for Zeng in final fight and how many times can you beat him without full conclusion? And I cannot find a use for certain item that you can find and should work with communication array...

There are three traps possible for Zeng but one of them is class specific. There are only two places to duel Zeng to the death, so all the other places have different showdowns.

As a Marauder, I've trapped Zeng twice and beaten him in skirmishes four times, leaving him on -12 stamina and me with +2 bonuses to all rolls for the final fight. That's the way to do it...

I have just won the game as Brute. 8 points as I spied an Akura, which I killed, as well as Terek.

I didn`t like the plant fight with Zeng, though. I lost that both as Adept and Brute.

And I cannot fight the third trap besides array and plant.

Well, I just beat the game third time as the Marauder. I think I got all possible advantages against Zeng though he was at only -3 Stamina at final combat, so he had to miss one of my traps.

Actually, Marauder is not that hard to me, as he has only slightly weaker in Force than Adept (I still passed most Force rolls) but 2 point difference in Skill is significant.

That is rather not the point of what makes the Marauder more awkward, as I explained in detail above. Having better stats does not really make the game easier once you are playing it right- it makes him more survivable, but that's irrelevant as you can just learn to pick your dangers. What he lacks are easy win moves like the Adept and Brute have. He has the hardest time of all three finding safe ways to get the silver card, the gold card and a route up to the plateau. He has to absolutely chance it to fight either Pax or Akura, and he is the weakest by far against the mutant.

The best path for each class involves using no medi-kits, though in the case of the Brute this likely relies on his regeneration.

Originally posted by Bardock42
I was trying to play it on my phone, but it seems the interpreters available only support z1 - z8 file format, not zblorb. Do you perhaps know what the difference is between them, Ush?

A zblorb file is just a the game with a) cover art and b) a 'library card' classifying the game, so that it is easy to file with all the other games on the big Z-Machine file servers (if I ever submitted it for filing). I can build a Z8 version of the game. Ush is right about Glulx being the new standard but Island of Fire is actually a Z8 game at heart. It caused me no end of problems though (code re-write and I had to cut a couple of things from the game too) so for the next one I was going to make it Glulx. But if lots of people want to play on an iPhone or similar device I can aim for Z8 again. Post here or just let Ush know.

Oh, I use Frotz to play text games on my iTouch. It says it can play zblorb files (but oddly, not z8) though I haven't tried to run Island of Fire with it. In any case there should be a z8 version around soon.

I use an app called Twisty on Android. It says it can play z1 to z8, but not zblorb. though the developer page claims that it will be able to with the next revision. It would be pretty cool to just play wherever. I was just curious though whether I could play the game on the phone, I would probably just play your game on a PC anyways, so if no one else wants that, you don't have to make yourself any trouble just for me.

Well, my Marauder had it relatively easy against Pax after spying at him. I won the game with less deaths than Brute and Adept, but it is likely due to knowing the routes - knowing the route to the golden key posessed by the lizard by heart is useful, as I found him not a very hard fight with every character. Silver key is easy to get from the sniper if you are Marauder I believe, though Adept can get it from different place with one move at the beginning. I forgot where was the second golden key, I once got to it...

Adept can actually get to the array with around four fights, I think, counting Pax.

Actually, Ush, it is a bit too easy to get top 9 points score. You should get points for bonus things - like killing Terek or winning non-conlusive fights with Zeng.

Fighting the Lizard as the Adept, and just out and out fighting him as a Marauder, is highly inefficient. When you can play through the game with a character properly and, as I say, blowing no medkits, you can talk about the game being easy. As it is, killing more foes than Zeng is already set as a separate challenge. Meanwhile, killing Terek is NOT a bonus, it has its own value, and you thinking otherwise indicates incorrect Marauder play. And you blew a point to spy on Pax so that doesn't count. And even getting the silver key involves getting a gun, which is easy enough once you are aware of what is going on but it is a. not a given and b. still one step more complicated than t is for the other two.

The game is punishing enough as you are trying to get to grips with it. If it was made so hard that if you did not do it perfectly you always lost, most people would never finish.

You are right, with each character I used at least several medikits. As Adept you can get several medikits by using his class specialty, and this was more than enough.

As I said, this game is only relatively easy after you die 10 times before. So it was not easy for me.

Fighting the lizard as an Adept is a pain. I've won once and lost once, and now can't even remember how I got to it.

Need to find another way of getting a gold key ermm

The stuff you can pick up from Terek was a good enough reward for killing him, in my opinion.

And I still haven't managed to complete this. I just can't seem to keep track of where I'm going and where I've been and I'm constantly going in circles and getting lost.

Are you really doing an Adept by fighting the Lizard? Because that's an unacceptable risk of death for a general strategy. Plenty of people would die doing that and it nearly always costs too much stamina.

Remember, you can luck it through anything in the game, but that doesn't make it a good idea. You can, in theory, kill Zeng with no prep, but it's hardly laudable.

Well, for the Adept I got the following route (mind you I did not spend most of Christmas playing it).

Get the altar golden key, go east past the box with history question, go to the south station, go to east station, use the Force on Lizard (there was option to use the codeword there, right?), kill him, get to the West station, go North to get medikits that only Adept ctan get (to heal injuries after Lizard fight), go northeast to that weird bridge encounter, go south past the lion which is no-fight for Adept, defeat Pax, go east to get final key and get to the array, in short.

No, there's no option to use the codeword on the lizard. It's not a good way for the Adept to get a gold key- even on the Force roll, he's only evens with the lizard and that makes for a damaging fight.

Actually anyone can get the medkits with a force roll, though you should only get them if you are at full health. I'll check if that is bugged.

Nope, it's working fine. In which case, that's a very inefficient route- you will very possibly take as much damage from the Lizard as you get back from the kits. And not that unlikely that the lizard kills you.

There were the hornets, though i forgot the exact route. Which means I have to replay.

The Hornets can only be fought with the Force, which makes them a far better target for the Adept.

Only fought with the Force? I like the sound of that.

Now I'd just need to find them. Since I haven't come across those yet at all.

Meanwhile, the iphone version of the game is now available- do you still want it, Bardock?

-

The problem with the Hornets is that you have to go through the patrol, and it might end up being much of a muchness for the Adept in that case, now I look at it.

And I haven't yet even come across that patrol, either...

I did just find that Ogre thingy, though. Managed to successfully pass every roll and then once the fight itself started, it all went a bit south and I died.

The Adept shouldn't be messing with that thing.

-

The Marauder certainly shouldn't just straight-up fight the lizard; that is making his life way harder than need be.

Yeah, well. I hadn't quite intended to. Kind of walked into it on accident because I hadn't found it yet and hence didn't know it was there...

So, some other challenges that I have not seen answers to yet:


- What are all the things the Brute is immune to?

- What is the easy way for the Marauder to get the gold key?

- What two Adept revelations refer (trivially) to the current game backstory?

- Can you get up to the plateau via one route, go back down again and come back up the other route with time enough to get to the array?

- Have you hit Zeng with three traps?

And most of all...

- Have you fond the secret save code? If you have, please don't shout it out as that could spoil the game for others.


The game is full of trivia to build up a more complete world, from the fate of the pirates, to Akura's conversation with the similarly-minded Blaise in the opening scene being a prelude to her killing him on the bridge, to the poisoning of the soma being designed so it actually affects the Brute- like the sonic amplifiier, this is because Malphas littered the array with things tp help the competitors ill each other, intending to see who made best use of them.

Also meanwhile, for your amusement, here is the update log of the various changes that came about during production as I playtetsted it.

Spoilers within for those not finished yet.

http://under-the-gun.org/christmas/IoF%20Play%20Test%20Bugse.pdf

Well, Brute is immune to the disease that you can get near the pirates, at least. Though the volcanic fumes affected him as well, I think?


Two Adept revelations - about the guy called Melonath that Daradax killed and something from the History of the Nations of the Sith - about the Queen that cursed the Sith so that would always destroy each other.

Yup, that's the ones for the Adept...

The Brute is affected by the volcanic dust making him thirsty, but not by the fumes where you fight the Iron Legion- indeed, he gets a whole different bunch of text for that.

Okay, those hornets where in forest, right?

Somewhere.

I try to get to them from the east station while avoiding hard fights like the Ogre.

So, Adept has to either Force his way through the Jovani patrol or fight the Lizard. At least the Jovani have medikits. The Hornet route is also more time-consuming, since it is more turns from eastern station.

Well, I'm starting to map this out...my map is rather a mess that's already covered two pages in a notebook.

At least I now know exactly where the lizard is.

(It killed me, btw.)

Yay lizard dinner!

The dice hate me.

And I still haven't found the patrol nor the hornets.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Meanwhile, the iphone version of the game is now available- do you still want it, Bardock?
Oh yeah, definitely would like to try it.

Island of Fire in z8 format, which interpreters such as that on an iphone shoudl be able to read:


http://under-the-gun.org/christmas/Island%20of%20Fire.z8

Well Ush, I have won the game as Adept without using medpacks. I got the golden key from the hornets. Still, the Jovani patrol lost me a lot of stamina even if I used Force against them. Besides, I fought only the Sith Novices, Pax and Jovani mutant. I got to array with 4 Stamina. I have beaten Zeng in three encounters on the roof, plant and motor pool (I assumed that hydroponics one is too hard for Adept). He started final fight with 14 stamina.

Terek is supposed to be very hard for an Adept, right?

Yup- and also gets him little.

Now tried to win as Marauder with no medikit use.

It is easy to get silver key, but I I am not sure about the easy way to get the gold key. It does not involve the lizard, apparently?

Edit - I found it! You need to get the frost gun from Ogre!

Actually, I find it much harder to win as Marauder with no medikits. Even the fight with bounty hunter can kill you if you don`t make the force roll.

Well done on the frost gun!

So THAT'S what that was for...

Actually, for some reason playing as Brute with no medpacks I had no problem on the lowlands, but died several times on the plateau, mostly against Akuna.

So based on my experience Adept is very easy once you know the proper route. The only challenge is getting the golden key, since both Jovani patrol or lizard cost stamina.

Marauder is the hardest. With no medpack policy I haven`t even got from the lowlands with several replays, I quess the rolls were unlucky.

Well I've been playing through it rather completly, and while I haven't beaten it yet, I do have the entire lowlands completly mapped out, and am working on the plateau, once I finish mapping everything I should be able to plot the best ways through the whole thing.
Therefore I think I've found the way to go from the top down to the bottom and then up again without dying from lava.

I'm at the point now where really the only thing stopping me from winning is the fact that the rolls never, ever want to go my way. Grrrrr.

Hey, I found a bug. I'm up on the plateau, and I accidentally came across the Assassin (killed it) and the Jovano Commandos (killed them), and looted their medikits. So I should have a decent number of them, but when I used one after killing the commandos, it says I have one left - despite having immediately picked up three just before. Looking back, I should have had five left after using that one.

And there we go - I beat it! With 9 points, of course. Managed to intimidate Zeng and then immediately forced a confrontation with him. Killed him with the Force

I also found the secret save password, though it wasn't until the very end that I realized what it was. And I don't think I could figure out how to get back to where I found it, as I gave up on mapping after a while.

Originally posted by Peach
Hey, I found a bug. I'm up on the plateau, and I accidentally came across the Assassin (killed it) and the Jovano Commandos (killed them), and looted their medikits. So I should have a decent number of them, but when I used one after killing the commandos, it says I have one left - despite having immediately picked up three just before. Looking back, I should have had five left after using that one.

Yeah, that's a bug. I've fixed it. I'll wait a while for any other bugs to be reported then build a version with the fix in.

I think I've found a bug,
Against the sith novices, I beat the ones in saber combat, then tried to subdue the rest with the force, I rolled 3s for a total of six and beat them, then later I rolled something else for a 10 and failed the check...

Err, that might need to be more precise. If that was a Force check and you were not an Adept, then it was a failure.

Well, almost a week on. Anyone who has not had time to devote their lives to conquering the usland- any hints wanted? And meanwhile...

Coming... err... sometime in 2010!

-

GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC

The Jovano War is a few weeks old and the outlook is bleak for the Republic. World after world falls to the enemy. The local planetary defense forces no match for the Jovano aggressors. The pervading belief is that the Jovano are invincible and morale slumps.

Various Republican Generals demand the Senate raise a huge army before they will take the field against the Jovano. The Generals argue that only by outnumbering the Jovano can they bolstercrumbling morale and win a victory, but the Senate cannot agree how to finance such an army or where in the Republic they should recruit the soldiers needed. Meanwhile the Jovano advance continues, morale continues to decline, the Generals demand even larger numbers for the army, and the Senate seems to get further and further from a consensus.

Urgently needing a resolution, the Supreme Chancellor decides to break with tradition and find a General outside of the military cadre. He seeks out the one individual who has won any sort of success in the war, the Jedi who defeated Darth Trayas on Damaria. The Chancellor asks this Jedi to form an army and lead it to victory over the Sith to smash the
myth of Jovano invincibility and break the Generals and the Senate out of their deadlock.

The Jedi must win approval of the Senate and recruit enough men for the army before confronting the Jovano on Ganlidar, a battle whose outcome will decide the fate of the Republic.

I didn`t have time to play for the last few days. I haven`t managed yet to beat game with Marauder without using medpacks, it was not easy.

I actually don`t have a map of island, as I am bad at this stuff. I just learned which way I should go to find the best good route.

I have a partially-drawn map, which is rather messy (as is typical of my drawing style anyway as I prefer to sketch messily) and I stopped working on it once I figured out where things were. So it's not hugely useful.

And oooooh. More stuff.

Yes more stuff.

One thing my brother is awaiting is feedback on the difficulty. Island was hrader than Damaria; what did people prefer? General may be adjusted accordingly.

Island of Fire was rather difficult to start out, and only once you began to get an idea of where things were (which generally required several restarts) did it get easier. I got very frustrated with it several times.

I also had a lot of annoyances with failing rolls repeatedly and having to restart at very inopportune times, but I think that was more just me personally failing a luck roll

Once I knew were stuff was, though, it got pretty easy. I could probably get to the array in about five minutes now, playing as an Adept. Assuming I don't get crap rolls repeatedly, of course.

Part 4, meanwhile, is already in the planning statges, as implied at the end of Island...

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Yes more stuff.

One thing my brother is awaiting is feedback on the difficulty. Island was hrader than Damaria; what did people prefer? General may be adjusted accordingly. I much preferred Island, though it is a mood thing with me. I was in a major gaming mood lately So I enjoyed investing a lot of time in it. Though I think I'd generally prefer something in the direction of Island.

Difficulty of Island of Fire was okay, though I eagerly await for the implied strategic elements and maybe even poliitical in the next part!

There's only so much you can do in a Choose your own Adventure game, you know.

Politics would probably consist of 'Say this or say this to get this result,' Melkor.

Of course, but you can still give some choices in this regard. Have you ever played the Way of the Tiger series? It had a part where the protagonist took control of city-state and had to make some choices how to rule and remain in power.

Originally posted by REXXXX
Politics would probably consist of 'Say this or say this to get this result,' Melkor.

Of course, I know the limitations of this type of games.

Can't say that I have. Choose Your Own Adventure normally isn't my kind of thing with the exception of Ush n' Brith's recent productions.

Same here, I never even really read the choose your own adventure books when I was a kid.

And when I did, I usually cheated

I enjoyed it greatly when I was a kid...

Way of the Tiger, of course, is in the same universe as the Duelmaster books, and I suspect it is the third of those, The Shattered Realm, that is where some inspiration for GOTR is coming from. I hope he doesn't use many of the names, though; I pinched a load for the current Renegade game.

Kwon's Flail for the win!

Huh, neat to know sources for the games. What was Kwon's Flail?