I was stuck in a loop for a few minutes, but then I worked my way out of it...and ended up in 1922! It was a fun “when” to visit.
I’d like to time travel back to see Pangea. I’ve always wondered what the single, pre-human continent might have looked like. It must have been pretty quiet, don’t you think? At any rate, it probably would have been a decent place to get some writing done. 😄
I so wanted this one to work but I must have done it wrong. I just went around in circles... oh well. As for time tourism, I'd go back to the Neolithic in Europe and see how all those megaliths were really used and/or hang out with some barbarians around the 5th c. BCE :-)
GAME TIP: Did you experiment with different tubes? You'll need to fix the car before you can get out of reverse.
I think I'd be too scared to hang out with barbarians, but then again, maybe they were super friendly and I'm pre-judging them? If you go, let me know if they're cool.
Ok, this time I squeegeed a knight and got rescued from a tar pit by aliens... Thanks for the tip! And I do think barbarians are often misunderstood. They're basically only remembered as bloodthirsty savages despite some pretty amazing contributions to the world. But, if I do visit them, I'll totally bring you back a set of cups made from the skulls of your enemies ;-)
Jigged a lift o' a ticker tack jump. Only didn't glean da gunk. Cogs and twisters cogg'n and twist'n. Used my nog 'n peeped the flickers. Got'em worked out and got it all grunkin!
...got nicked by da cosmic glinters. Light walkers come in all shapes. Even grey.
Turns out hitting the brakes on a time traveling car sends you back to what I'm thinking might be the Big Bang. Or put you in a time loop. Either way don't do that.
If I can give some constructive feedback, I felt like this quest was a bit stiffer than others, not as much variance compared to other quests (including Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee's, so I'm not blaming Ink). For example most of the vials didn't seem to have any lingering effect beyond changing the dashboard symbols. Maybe I missed something, but finding different outcomes felt harder than usual and that's usually my favorite part, finding as many variations of the quest as I can.
Also when you click the link to the story, it just shows you the title page and you need to press 'reset' on the top menu to start the story proper. It's not the most intuitive, some sort of 'start' button under your name on the title page would be nice.
On a more positive note I liked that the brake ending varied based on how quickly you could get it to work, got both the 2023 and prehistory endings. That's a 'mechanic' from this story that I'm guessing was enabled by Ink and that I would be interested in seeing again. The presentation with Ink itself is good, and the ability to swap themes is something substack itself lacks at the moment while being a feature I've seen people request, so it's a good benefit.
As for the time tourist question, I'd travel back in time to the Aztec empire and earlier for research purposes. Get a good look at all the codexs and other things that the Spanish destroyed.
Substack + Discord is a combo I've been contemplating as well. Made a (currently inactive and unused) discord for my own substack and I've wondered if it'd really add something of value or if I should drop it. I'd give an Adventure Snack discord a try, which is probably what I already said on the survey. I have some experience as a discord mod if you go through with making it and want some mods to help.
Thank you for the terrific feedback! I consider this an important quest as we transition to Ink, so I want to get it right.
I hear you about different outcomes. The game has 10 different endings, which vary based on how long it takes to solve the issue (which you picked up on, and yes, was made possible by Ink) and which vials you put into the system. But the way it's currently designed, it would take a lot of guesswork to find them all. Good callout. If you want me to give you specific hints to help you find them, let me know.
The title page thing is a bug that I thought I'd fixed, lol. Thanks for pointing that out.
Good choice, re: Aztec Empire. Think about all the things you could learn! BTW, you might be interested in a comic series called Helm Greycastle written by Henry Barajas (https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/helm-greycastle), a Latinx fantasy adventure set in Azteca. I wrote a D&D module for issue two that ties into the series.
Yeah, I'm debating whether or not there'd be enough people to keep it active. That's the challenge, isn't it? Oh, amazing. If AS sets up a Discord, you'll be the first to know!
I'd appreciate some hints. Now that I know the system it should be a bit easier to find them, I wrote off the other vials as distractions after my first experiments with them.
It's cool that you got to write the module. Though I have to admit I've become a bit hesitant with Mesoamerican themed fiction because quite a few of the most prominent ones actively repulse me once I look into them, especially where mythology is concerned. I get very annoyed when people recommend Onyx Equinox as a faithful show for example, because its portrayal of Tezcatlipoca has more in common with conquistador narratives than actual Aztec ones.
I thought my stack would have more overlap with the fighting game community, which is very into discord (especially the indie/niche side), but there's been no interest in the server. Then again my substacks growth seems to be abnormally slow in general, I only just hit 30 subscribers and I'm coming up on a full year while other people appear to hit triple digits in three months.
A barely active server is more manageable than a super active one anyway, and you got the votes to show there are people interested in using it. Plus there's presumably some non-voters who'd also go for it. Though a discord locked behind a paid subscription is a different thing from a free one.
SPOILER GAME TIP: Besides the main liquid to fix the transmission, the ones that'll unlock ending variations are "oxygen," "liquid," and the "unknown."
Well, I can't speak to the accuracy of the Aztec mythology in Helm Greycastle, though I know Henry was very much inspired by it, but he very specifically set out to tell an anti-colonialist story.
I can relate. I've seen other newsletters start after I did and achieve much higher numbers in half the time or less. But it's not a race. Sometimes the intended audience turns out not to be the true audience. As your project evolves, I recommend experimenting with your outreach and see which types of gamers gravitate to your writing. I bet it'll surprise you!
Yeah it's not a race, but at the same time it doesn't feel too great to be surpassed by people who comment on how they weren't even trying to self promote versus my attempts to self promote with worse results. Just have to focus on the writing, that's what I really care about in the end.
I'll give Helm Greycastle a try sometime, at the very least the fact that it comes with modules for D&D is cool.
Now that I'm armed with that knowledge I'll see what other outcomes I can get from the quest. Feel like at this point I should start writing GameFAQS style guides for your quests with how much time I spend digging into them. Or a speedrun. Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee's 100% WR.
this was a satisfying game.
Thanks for playing!
I wound up either getting rescued or abducted by aliens. I can only assume our protagonist tries to steal their spaceship.
I really like these Ink adventures! They really capture the vibe of old text-based adventure games.
YOU are the hero! So yeah, you try to steal their spaceship... *Rolls die*
And you succeed! Enjoy your intergalactic joyride!
Thank you for playing! That’s very much the vibe I’m going for, so that’s great to hear.
I was stuck in a loop for a few minutes, but then I worked my way out of it...and ended up in 1922! It was a fun “when” to visit.
I’d like to time travel back to see Pangea. I’ve always wondered what the single, pre-human continent might have looked like. It must have been pretty quiet, don’t you think? At any rate, it probably would have been a decent place to get some writing done. 😄
Great job, Justin! That was my favorite ending to write. *Does the Charleston*
I bet it’ll be nice and quiet until the afternoon when all the continents break apart! Riiiiiiip! Whoa, there goes Australia...
*Dances maniacally with Geoffrey*
Haha! Now that would definitely interrupt the writing flow. 🤣
I so wanted this one to work but I must have done it wrong. I just went around in circles... oh well. As for time tourism, I'd go back to the Neolithic in Europe and see how all those megaliths were really used and/or hang out with some barbarians around the 5th c. BCE :-)
GAME TIP: Did you experiment with different tubes? You'll need to fix the car before you can get out of reverse.
I think I'd be too scared to hang out with barbarians, but then again, maybe they were super friendly and I'm pre-judging them? If you go, let me know if they're cool.
Ok, this time I squeegeed a knight and got rescued from a tar pit by aliens... Thanks for the tip! And I do think barbarians are often misunderstood. They're basically only remembered as bloodthirsty savages despite some pretty amazing contributions to the world. But, if I do visit them, I'll totally bring you back a set of cups made from the skulls of your enemies ;-)
Jigged a lift o' a ticker tack jump. Only didn't glean da gunk. Cogs and twisters cogg'n and twist'n. Used my nog 'n peeped the flickers. Got'em worked out and got it all grunkin!
...got nicked by da cosmic glinters. Light walkers come in all shapes. Even grey.
This one took ya to parts unknown, dinnit? I knew ya'd get it grunkin, cause nobody out grunks Vivi Vale!
Woo hoo! Thanks so much for the gift card!
Any idea what you might get? I think my next eBay purchase will be a TV Teddy. It was a 90s toy that was like Teddy Ruxpin meets MST3K.
Turns out hitting the brakes on a time traveling car sends you back to what I'm thinking might be the Big Bang. Or put you in a time loop. Either way don't do that.
If I can give some constructive feedback, I felt like this quest was a bit stiffer than others, not as much variance compared to other quests (including Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee's, so I'm not blaming Ink). For example most of the vials didn't seem to have any lingering effect beyond changing the dashboard symbols. Maybe I missed something, but finding different outcomes felt harder than usual and that's usually my favorite part, finding as many variations of the quest as I can.
Also when you click the link to the story, it just shows you the title page and you need to press 'reset' on the top menu to start the story proper. It's not the most intuitive, some sort of 'start' button under your name on the title page would be nice.
On a more positive note I liked that the brake ending varied based on how quickly you could get it to work, got both the 2023 and prehistory endings. That's a 'mechanic' from this story that I'm guessing was enabled by Ink and that I would be interested in seeing again. The presentation with Ink itself is good, and the ability to swap themes is something substack itself lacks at the moment while being a feature I've seen people request, so it's a good benefit.
As for the time tourist question, I'd travel back in time to the Aztec empire and earlier for research purposes. Get a good look at all the codexs and other things that the Spanish destroyed.
Substack + Discord is a combo I've been contemplating as well. Made a (currently inactive and unused) discord for my own substack and I've wondered if it'd really add something of value or if I should drop it. I'd give an Adventure Snack discord a try, which is probably what I already said on the survey. I have some experience as a discord mod if you go through with making it and want some mods to help.
Thank you for the terrific feedback! I consider this an important quest as we transition to Ink, so I want to get it right.
I hear you about different outcomes. The game has 10 different endings, which vary based on how long it takes to solve the issue (which you picked up on, and yes, was made possible by Ink) and which vials you put into the system. But the way it's currently designed, it would take a lot of guesswork to find them all. Good callout. If you want me to give you specific hints to help you find them, let me know.
The title page thing is a bug that I thought I'd fixed, lol. Thanks for pointing that out.
Good choice, re: Aztec Empire. Think about all the things you could learn! BTW, you might be interested in a comic series called Helm Greycastle written by Henry Barajas (https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/helm-greycastle), a Latinx fantasy adventure set in Azteca. I wrote a D&D module for issue two that ties into the series.
Yeah, I'm debating whether or not there'd be enough people to keep it active. That's the challenge, isn't it? Oh, amazing. If AS sets up a Discord, you'll be the first to know!
I'd appreciate some hints. Now that I know the system it should be a bit easier to find them, I wrote off the other vials as distractions after my first experiments with them.
It's cool that you got to write the module. Though I have to admit I've become a bit hesitant with Mesoamerican themed fiction because quite a few of the most prominent ones actively repulse me once I look into them, especially where mythology is concerned. I get very annoyed when people recommend Onyx Equinox as a faithful show for example, because its portrayal of Tezcatlipoca has more in common with conquistador narratives than actual Aztec ones.
I thought my stack would have more overlap with the fighting game community, which is very into discord (especially the indie/niche side), but there's been no interest in the server. Then again my substacks growth seems to be abnormally slow in general, I only just hit 30 subscribers and I'm coming up on a full year while other people appear to hit triple digits in three months.
A barely active server is more manageable than a super active one anyway, and you got the votes to show there are people interested in using it. Plus there's presumably some non-voters who'd also go for it. Though a discord locked behind a paid subscription is a different thing from a free one.
SPOILER GAME TIP: Besides the main liquid to fix the transmission, the ones that'll unlock ending variations are "oxygen," "liquid," and the "unknown."
Well, I can't speak to the accuracy of the Aztec mythology in Helm Greycastle, though I know Henry was very much inspired by it, but he very specifically set out to tell an anti-colonialist story.
I can relate. I've seen other newsletters start after I did and achieve much higher numbers in half the time or less. But it's not a race. Sometimes the intended audience turns out not to be the true audience. As your project evolves, I recommend experimenting with your outreach and see which types of gamers gravitate to your writing. I bet it'll surprise you!
Yeah it's not a race, but at the same time it doesn't feel too great to be surpassed by people who comment on how they weren't even trying to self promote versus my attempts to self promote with worse results. Just have to focus on the writing, that's what I really care about in the end.
I'll give Helm Greycastle a try sometime, at the very least the fact that it comes with modules for D&D is cool.
Now that I'm armed with that knowledge I'll see what other outcomes I can get from the quest. Feel like at this point I should start writing GameFAQS style guides for your quests with how much time I spend digging into them. Or a speedrun. Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee's 100% WR.