This is not about mood swings. It’s about annoying guess-the-verb and guess-whats-in-the-authors-mind. Here, just realized this: unscrewing doesn’t actually require that you’re holding the screwdriver. It does require though that you say when you want to unscrew with the screwdriver. You know how I realized that? By screwing up and forgetting I wasn’t holding anything but the torch when I got there after another frustrating incursion to that damned second floor. That is to say, I solved the puzzle by chance after every sensible attempt. Yes, I know the message was that my fingers aren’t up to the job, but I thought I simply lacked the skill. I tried to get the coffee addict to help me by all means…
what a damned screw up! a big 2 week screw up. And no, I don’t think that’s the hallmark of an ingenious puzzle.
Hey Peter! Would you believe I never even knew this site existed until you linked it in the intfiction thread?
Anyway, this was a great read, I’ve always thought of the Mulldoon games as the pinnacle of old school puzzley IF and so it’s great to see them still getting some love after all these years… ashamed as I am to admit I finally caved and used a walkthrough back in day.
It’s been so long though, and I was fairly new to IF at the time, maybe I should give them a fresh look…
I’m always glad to see new faces here. This place arose out of a complicated time in IntFiction, and it’s by design a smaller place, unmoderated, for people to feel at ease in.
I happen to think that as a result we’re seeing some posts here that I don’t see elsewhere. Unfortunately, because it’s a small place, there aren’t as many replies - but it’s an active place, in its way.
My pleasure. I not only caved but I actually PMd Ingold with my feedback on the five or six puzzles I couldn’t figure out for myself. 'Cause I’m a pain in the proverbial derrière.
We can trade recommendations, if you like - I get the feeling we have similar tastes.
Well I’m glad this place exists, I’m already in love with the layout and the general atmosphere. I do make a half-hearted attempt to keep up with what’s going on at IntFiction now and then because serious IF discussion anywhere is so rare I’ll take it wherever I can get it, but then I get to poking around in some of the locked threads there and wonder why I bother. .
Anyway, I grabbed the Mulldoon games again but I wish replaying them had occurred to me Friday, I’ll likely have to wait until next Sunday before I can sit down and really give them my full attention. They’re not exactly ‘lunch break’ games…
