Distress

Distress
Game
Main links	Play online IFDB
Published	1 October 2005
Credits
Author	Mike Snyder
Reception
Events	IFComp 2005 4th of 36 XYZZY Awards 2005 Winner: Best Puzzles XYZZY Awards 2005 Finalist: Best Game, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Setting, Best Story, Best Use of Medium
IFDB rating	3.5 out of 5 (22 ratings)
Gameplay
Interaction style	Parser
Literary genre	Science fiction
Location	Outer space
Language	English
Accessibility	Colour: none. Graphics: optional. Sound: none.
Technical details
Authoring system	Hugo
Format	Hugo
License	Freeware
IFID	HUGO-25-6A-61-09-30-05
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How it begins

You're a young ensign in the wreckage of an escape pod, stranded on the planet Runoma II. The lifeless body of your colleague lies crushed under the pod's torn door, while your lieutenant has slipped into a sleeping stupor; a spike has ground itself into his left shoulder. None of the other crew members made it.

The desert stretches away in all directions, with the wreckage of the Sirius Dream still blazing to the distant north.

You hear a faint, guttural droning.

Versions

Competition version

Date: 1 October 2005

• Distress (Mike Snyder; 01-Oct-2005; Hugo).
  • Beta-testing by Greg Boettcher, Kevin Venzke, Ray Rantala, Drew Mochak, Zach Flynn, William Head, James Cunningham, Robert Fogt, Ramona & Anna White.
  • Distress (Version 1.7)
  • IF Comp 2005: 4th place.
  • Note: Winner of Best Puzzles, XYZZY Awards 2005. Also, finalist for Best Game, Best Story, Best Setting, Best Individual Puzzle, and Best Use of Medium.
  • IFID: HUGO-25-6A-61-09-30-05
    IFID links: IFDB
  • Files in the hugo/distress/ directory:
    • distress.hex (184 KB; story file; download).
    • distress.txt (8 KB; readme; download).
    • distress.sol (30 KB; solution; download)
    • DISTRESS (19 KB; optional resource file with cover image; download).
  • Download or view contents of dist_src.zip, at the IF Archive - Source code.

Links

N.B. Many IF Archive games are temporarily unavailable in the UK.

General Info

• Distress homepage
• Distress (archived) - at Baf's Guide
• Distress - at IFDB
• Distress - at Home of the Underdogs

Reviews

• Distress - at SPAG - a review by Valentine Kopteltsev.
• Review by Dan Shiovitz.
• Review by Rob Menke.
• Spanish review (.pdf) at SPAC by Baltasar el Arquero.
• Distress - at IFReviews.org

Spoilers

• Solution by Mike Snyder, containing verbose, terse and "speed run" walkthroughs, an author's commentary, and a game map.

Note: To refer to this game from another page, you can type {{game citation|Distress}}. This will display as Distress (Mike Snyder; 2005; Hugo).

Date: 1 October 2005