Nowhere by needles

Look at everything. Then look at it again. Especially yourself. You handsome devil.

This is going to be a sci-fi/horror game set in an alternative universe. Kinda. I've never made any sort of game before. This actually started off as a gameboy game, but when I realized how much text I wanted to put in, along with developing a newfound love for old 1980's Infocom text adventures, I thought I might give making my own a try.

This is not for the squeamish or faint of heart and it's absolutely not complete, though you definitely should be able to "finish" it (ie get out alive.) I wanted to make a "demo" area and cram as much as I could into a small space before I go balls out with expanding into the crazy ass world I've envisioned.

In the future I hope to make it even less appropriate for the squeamish or faint of heart. I have MANY plans for expansion. There are only a couple of rooms, and the goal is essentially escaping. Alive. I have put a bit of detail into them, so hopefully you'll at least enjoy some of the writing. I honestly don't know how difficult this would be for a normal person, so if you play it, please let me know if you breezed through it like nothing or if it actually gave you a semblance of a challenge. I tried to make it easy to get into. Just pay attention to the descriptions and TRY EVERYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF. Any verbs you think of. Use every object in every way you can think of. Get crazy. Seriously. I want to make a game with decent text-parsing, so it doesn't feel like you're fighting with a computer to understand a simple command, or feel restricted in what you can do within the world.

Thanks to anyone who can give it a try and offer feedback! Any bugs or glaring errors, feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated! :)

Some random background snippets for the universe/story:

************************

"Seems I displeased a God in one of my past lives. I was damned with the curse of recalling memories that aren't my own. Paper cut recollections from lives I never lived and can't understand. Volleys of disjointed thoughts that slam into me like jagged rocks. From the times before the Vanishing.

The world held over 13 billion of my species by the end. It's hard to comprehend. I still pray that I'm merely insane with a creative sense of imagination. A means of self-defense for my sanity, I guess. Yet I've seen too much to believe that it's simply a delusional concoction of my own mind. Too many scraps and records of the past that affirm this horrid knowledge that I was given. Countless lives and experiences from countless eras throughout human history."

The buzzing in my head has frequencies, and I've learned to tune and isolate them within the chaotic noise emitted by the roaming hordes of Others to pin-point figures of great importance. The linchpins. That's when the hunt begins. To kill this misery I must destroy the transmitters of pain. The Gods of sickness.

********

Then slowly, to an almost imperceptible extent, the Others began to arrive. Creatures not from our time, nor from our planet. Possibly from no planet at all. That which caused the Vanishing may have brought them from another dimension; another universe. From somewhere, or nowhere. Monsters that roam the world in various horrifying forms. Some almost look humanoid, or like other ordinary animal species. Most Others look like absurd monstrosities; utterly alien in their form. Yet, one thing they all have in common is a constant, unquenchable thirst for human blood. Most species of animal go untouched and from what people can deduce, the Others were created simply to hunt and kill human beings. They will stop at nothing to tear apart any unfortunate bipedal mammal who wanders into their senses. They have been known to rip off their own limbs, if needed, to gain access to a human in hiding. Once spotted, you're as good as dead. They aren't invincible, but simply finding the courage to face them, no matter your firepower, is the most difficult thing any person can do. Yet, to quote a famous politician from an ancient era: "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

************
Over the centuries, people began building large settlements with defenses to keep the Others at bay. These kingdoms are referred to as "Castrums." The main defense being reinforced walls. After many massacres of large settlements, maintenance of the walls takes top priority in every population. Teams regularly patrol the wall to find any structural weaknesses that may begin to occur due to attack. On top of these walls are patrols of Watchers. Armed with high-powered rifles, they coordinate as a precision laser to gun down any Others who approach. They act as the first layer of defense, attempting to prevent the Others from getting close enough to damage the wall. Along with those patrolling the walls, everyone is taught how to spot any structural weaknesses and patch them up quickly. A society of engineers are formed to ensure that humans can live free within these walls. It becomes a form of religion. Human life depends on the work of engineers. Every person knows the consequences of the Others getting through, so every citizen is taught to act as an extra defense to notify engineers or watchers if they suspect a problem.

Many strongholds fell over the years, ending in the massacre of large human populations. Once they got inside, it was all over. The cacophony of horrified screams would quickly cut into dead silence. The monsters simply and efficiently end the lives of dozens at once, going from one to the other systematically sniffing out and killing every human in the vicinity. They have formed the ability to herd us. To use human psychology against itself. Seemingly mindless killing machines, they have been imbued with a bloodlust for a sole breed of prey, and live only to hunt it down. The few who have witnessed their brutality without being massacred say that the scene appeared like a mass blood orgy. There was something sexually lustful in the entire process. As humans with sex, they find an immense orgasmic joy from killing us, and us alone.

**********

"Pox" - fliers, mosquito-esqe but thicker body that can be contorted into an almost bullet-like shape. they can strike a person at a speed and velocity greater than any man-made projectile, adjusting their body upon entry to cause the most internal damage. They can turn in an instant, in mid-air, without it hindering their speed or velocity. Like cockroaches, they can travel on the ground and contort themselves into the tightest of spaces. They were given an instinct that allows them home into a specific area of the human brain that not only kills efficiently, but also extends the life of the victim long enough for them to harvest as much excruciating pain as possible before they die. They don't just want you to die; they want to make sure you to know that you're dying; in order to extend and enhance the stimulation for them.

They move through the air in "schools," almost like fish, completely coordinated, so that no matter the number of people they come upon, a group of 10 can wipe out a colony of hundreds within minutes of first detection. The size of a school can be more than twice that. They can easily hide in the smallest cracks and crevices to stage an ambush.

******

The Engineers - an inherently important job is that of the engineer. Over time, it has become a pseudo-religion based entirely around maintaining the walls and auxiliary defenses that keep out the Others. Watchers are their deadly co-workers, keeping watch atop the walls and monitoring for any Other activity. They are armed with precision long-range rifles that can be loaded with explosive or rotted rounds. The scope is an advanced AI attachment that increases detection range beyond that of human vision or any traditional scope. The vast majority of incidents are resolved without anyone, other than the shooter, seeing any of it.

*****

The Day of the Disconnect, or D-Day. All trade, communication and contact between Castrums is officially severed in it's entirety. The need and desire for inter-Castrum communications and trade had greatly diminished over time. Each of them had become self-sufficient. Combined with numerous other factors, the idea of a severance became a growing topic of debate among all parties. Maintaining the link was too costly and fundamentally endangered the continued existence of all people residing in the Castrums. The official day of the disconnect occurred dozens of years after the official announcement was made by all parties. Near the finish of work, some became increasingly desperate to get through from one Castrum to another, as the enforcement of "virtual disconnect" became more and more prevalent, and more and more brutal in it's tactics. In the final days, anyone caught trying to enter or leave through the abandoned tunnels was shot on sight, with zero tolerance.

Another large contributor to the decision was the increasing activity of Others getting through via weak spots in connective tunnels. They began to grow an understanding of the infrastructure and general layout of the tunnels; so the attacks continued to occur in greater numbers and at a greater cost of human lives. The Castrums were self-maintaining at this point and, other than fading personal ties due to fears of an attack, there was little reason to maintain the long, expensive connective veins and arteries between the Castrums. There had also been considerable unrest over issues of religious and political beliefs growing within the individual kingdoms, though many stories had been fabricated to increase the momentum of the disconnect movement, which was creating a growing divide throughout the Castrums.