Basic walkthrough for "Traffic" (release 2) =============================== (warning: contains spoilers) Thanks for playing Traffic! If you have any questions about the game or this walkthrough, feel free to contact me (Dan Yu) at dsyu@hotmail.com. General advice -------------- You're stuck in a timeloop and need to visit and change specific sequences in the past to break the loop. To visit sequences you need to: 1. View (make eye contact with, really) an individual that was at that sequence in the past. For example, you can "LOOK AT BABY STROLLER" to make eye contact with a certain individual in that stroller. 2. "Die" in the car accident that keeps happening. After your untimely demise, you will be transported into the past, in a sequence associated with the person you looked at. Also, you will actually be transported into that person's body. You can visit most sequences in any order. You can "queue" up multiple sequences by viewing multiple key individuals before you are hit by the car. Each sequence has a puzzle to solve, which, when solved, will change the actions of the traffic in the "present". Once a sequence is solved, or otherwise runs its course, you will be transported back to your own body in the present (or visit the next queued sequence). Once you've solved a particular sequence, you cannot revisit it. You can't (unless there's a bug) render any sequence un-solveable. You can revisit unsolved sequences as many times as you like. The game has three possible endings: A "bad" ending, a "normal" ending, and a "best" ending. Commands and Verbs ------------------ This game uses Inform v6, and supports most of the default Inform library verbs. See the tables (starting at Table 6A) on this page: https://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/html/tables.html#tbl6a Additional verbs this game supports: - Input/Type/Enter: INPUT/TYPE/ENTER INTO - Cry/Sob - Yell/Scream - Stand: STAND UP, STAND ON - Sit: SIT DOWN, SIT ON TOP OF , SIT IN - Think: THINK ABOUT And a few more that you'll discover. In general, if you're stuck, try ASK ABOUT , or ASK FOR HELP, or THINK ABOUT . Traffic planner sequence hints ------------------------------ Your goal is to configure the traffic controller box such that the traffic lights are timed properly to let traffic flow through the intersection. - Your co-worker John is a wealth of information if you ask him about things. You may need to ask him multiple times in some cases. - You need to first open the controller box, but it's locked. Maybe check your INVENTORY? - The controller panel displays sets of traffic in/out flow values. You can ASK JOHN ABOUT PANEL for a more complete explanation. - To enter a value for "D", use the screen. For example, ENTER 30 IN SCREEN. - But, what value do you need to enter for "D"? The traffic values and variables actually are a set of linear equations, so you could apply linear algebra to solve these... - However, you may soon realize that _any_ value satisfies the set of equations. That's not helpful, is it? - You could enter random values for D and keep trying this sequence until you find the right value. But that's obviously no fun. - Maybe John could help? - If you ask John for the value, he doesn't know it. But he can offer his best hunch on any entered value. - Or, maybe there's something in all that documentation John has in the clipboard. Maybe try asking him about it. And keep asking him about it. - Or, if you've patiently waited before entering a random value that most likely is wrong, John might have alternate suggestions for ways around this whole thing, if you keep ASKing him for HELP. - As John mentions, you can simply reset the controller by OPENing the panel with a screwdriver (that he happens to have on his person). - Once you have a value entered in the screen that you're satisfied with, you need to PUSH the BUTTON to submit the value and end the sequence. Fun tip: If you hear something interesting, maybe ASK JOHN about it? Fun tip #2: If you spend a (very) long time in this sequence without pushing the button, John eventually gets impatient and tries to take over. Baby stroller sequence ---------------------- You need to get the woman pushing the stroller to stop pushing it in front of the car (so that the car won't swerve to avoid the stroller, resulting in the car crashing into you). The woman is absorbed in her phone and isn't paying attention to anything else. So, all you need to do is get her attention. Except...you're a baby. So what could you do? - Crying doesn't seem to work. - Maybe standing up? This might not work the first time around. - Could you find something to get her attention with? - Maybe under that blanket? - If you've found something, maybe THROW it at PHONE? Bus sequence ------------ You need to prevent the elderly woman from forcing her way off the bus, which results in the bus stopping and blocking traffic. The elderly woman is understandably upset about her current environment. Maybe you could improve it in some way? - First of all, you should probably deal with that boombox - Ok, now you can talk to the elderly woman. You might ASK her for HELP and see if she can help you with some suggestions? - It's a bit hot in the bus. Maybe doing something with that WINDOW would let some cooler air in. - It's considered good manners to OFFER your seat on a bus to someone that might need it more than you do. - The elderly woman doesn't mind chatting about things (the traffic, her day, maybe that funny smell in the air). It takes her mind off the stressful things around her. Note that if you haven't solved the traffic sequence yet, solving this sequence results in the bus getting stuck in the intersection for different reasons. Cab sequence ------------ You're driving a cab, but a police car keeps driving around you and making that driver crash again. You need to keep the police car from getting past you. Note: Please don't do this in real life (it's illegal in most places). You're driving on a one-way road with two lanes. You can only go/drive NORTH, NORTHWEST, or NORTHEAST (depending on which lane you're in). The police car starts several car-lengths behind you, but travels faster (two car-lengths per turn, versus your one). If the police car is one car-length behind you and the opposite lane to yours is empty, the police car will get past you on the next turn. So, conveniently, there's another car in the other lane (a "student driver" car), so if you can keep your car directly next to this car each turn, the police car will be stuck behind both of your cars, unable to get past. The basic sequence is: the student car moves "first", followed by the cab, followed by the police car. The problem is that at a certain point, the student driver car will switch lanes to avoid a badly parked car, which will typically allow the police car to pass. How can you control both the cab and the student driver car? - Back in the main "present", you can not only LOOK AT CAB, but also LOOK AT STUDENT DRIVER. - When you end up in the student driver car, you will be in the body of the instructor, not the student, so you'll have to drive the car by giving instructions like YOUNG MAN, DRIVE NORTH, or YOUNG MAN, STOP. - The young man also answers to a name, can you figure out what it is? - While in the cab, make sure to listen to the radio for at least a couple turns (you'll understand why later). - There's no one way to solve this sequence. One approach is given in the "Full Walkthrough" section below. Elevator sequence ----------------- You survived and escaped the time loop! Congratulations! But, something doesn't feel complete. - You can simply ride the elevator to your floor, deliver the package, and get the "normal" ending of the game. - Or, you could BREAK the PACKAGE and trigger the loop again. However, you'll just end up back here? So, there's something you need to do first. - Do you remember what they said on the radio in the cab, when they were reporting news about the driver that keeps crashing into you? - They mentioned something about a daughter? What was her name? You might have to review your gameplace transcript. - In case you can't remember and can't scroll back: THINK ABOUT SARAH - Once you've realized something about Sarah, you can break the package and loop again, but this time, look for Sarah's school, and from there, look for Sarah. Note that if you solved the cab sequence without listening to the radio when Sarah is mentioned, you will not be able to think about her, because, well, you didn't know about her. Sarah sequence -------------- You need to get Sarah's attention, because she has an important decision to make that could change your whole situation. - She's a little lost in thought though. How can you get her attention? - You can play the role of the affectionate little dog and LICK her. - Or, maybe there's something under the bed small enough that you can PUSH it to her. - Once you have her attention, she needs your help with making a decision. - Kids can be an important influence on their parents, so you should probably have her talk to her Dad. - But you need to somehow bark two times? If you simply enter "BARK", that gets interpreted as barking once. - BARK TWICE (or BARK TWO TIMES) should do the trick. Note the "BARK TWICE" trick is an intentional abuse of the parser. We're all used to entering single actions per turn, so I wondered if there was an amusing way to enter multiple actions in a single turn. Fun fact: "Burshie" was the name of Erwin Schrödinger's dog. Full Walkthrough (for one specific playthrough of the game) ---------------- examine box (this queues the traffic planner sequence) examine stroller (this queues the baby sequence) examine bus (this queues the bus sequence) wait until you are hit *traffic planner sequence unlock box open box ask man for help (3 times, until he mentions opening the panel) ask man for screwdriver open panel push button [there are at least 2 other ways to solve the traffic planner sequence] *bus sequence turn off boombox open window give seat to woman [there's one additional way to reduce the woman's stress levels] *baby sequence search blanket get pacifier throw pacifier at phone [there's at least two other ways to solve the baby sequence] *back in main loop examine cab wait until you are hit *cab sequence n (or "drive n") [4 times, make sure you hear about Sarah on the radio] n *back in main loop examine student driver wait until you are hit *student driver sequence young man, drive n [4 times] young man, stop [2 times] [there are multiple ways to solve cab + student driver scenario, but it depends on what actions you take. Keep in mind the student driver car "moves first"] *back in main loop wait until you are (not) hit *elevator sequence think about Sarah break package [if you do not break the package you will get one ending to the game] *back in main loop examine school examine girl wait until you are hit (on purpose) *sarah sequence look under bed push ball to Sarah wait [4 times, to listen to Sarah's situation] bark twice [use that phrase exactly, don't bark, then bark again] [there's at least 1 more way to get Sarah's attention initially] *back in main loop wait until you are (not) hit