The Problems Compound

IF Comp 2015 24th of 53

The Problems Compound
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Author(s)	Andrew Schultz
Publisher(s)	{{{publisher}}}
Release date(s)	01-Oct-2015
Authoring system	Inform 7
Platform(s)	Glulx
Language(s)	English
License(s)	{{{license}}}
Multimedia
Color effects	{{{color}}}
Graphics	{{{graphics}}}
Sound/Music	{{{sound}}}
Ratings
Cruelty scale	Merciful

How It Begins

You, Alec Smart, find a ticket leading away from your home to a place called Smart Street and the Problems Compound.

Notable Features

• Trizbort color map
• Director's Cut area with rejected rooms
• Fake deaths
• Unlockable verbs
  • XP/Explain to explain figures of speech
  • Four jump commands to skip ahead in the story
• Alternate endings
  • Good and great ending implemented in Version 2
  • Existentially bad ending in Version 1, three similar endings in Version 3
• Optional risque text that changes your antagonist's name

Versions

Competition version

• The Problems Compound (Andrew Schultz; 01-Oct-2015; Glulx).
  • IFID: C163600D-F937-431F-9275-320A8537DFD3
    IFID links: IFDB
  • IF Comp 2015: 24th place of 53 entries.

Release 2

• The Problems Compound (Andrew Schultz; 30-Mar-2016; Glulx).
  • GitHub release
  • Release notes with major changes

Future Release Plans

The author plans a release 3 in June 2016 to address a serious bug found in the alternate endings. Many character names are changed to something more specific, and many minor features are also implemented.

• Specific issues/tasks addressed
• Release notes with projected big-scale changes

Testers

• A + means more than one version. P means post-comp.
• (uncredited person)
• Neil Butters P
• Wade Clarke +
• Marco Innocenti
• Joey Jones P
• Hugo Labrande
• Juhana Leinonen +
• Brian Rushton
• Matt Weiner

Others Who Helped

The author traded post-comp "code tennis" (make a change every couple days, email the other guy, and repeat til someone faults) with Alex Butterfield and Hugo Labrande. Olly Kirk, Paul Lee, Michael Martin, David Welbourn and Al Golden pointed out some good bugs mid-comp.

Links

Author's repository

The author's latest changes and planned fixes are [GitHub].

General info

• The Problems Compound - at IFDB.

Spoilers

• Author Commentary:
  • Part 1.
  • A pop quiz on testing.
  • Part 2: testing.
  • Part 3: what was it about?.
• Walkthrough and map by David Welbourn.

Alec Smart saga by Andrew Schultz

The Problems Compound (2015) Slicker City (2016)