Symetry
From IFWiki
| Symetry | |
|---|---|
| Game | |
| Main links | |
| Published | 1997 |
| Credits | |
| Author | Ryan Stevens |
| Reception | |
| Events | |
| IFDB rating | 2 out of 5 (9 ratings) |
| Gameplay | |
| Interaction style |  Parser |
| Literary genre |  Horror |
| Location |  One-room |
| Language | English |
| Cruelty scale | Cruel |
| Accessibility | Colour: none. Graphics: none. Sound: none. |
| Technical details | |
| Authoring system | Inform 6 |
| Format | Z-code 5 |
| License | Freeware |
| Browse the games database • Edit this page | |
Symetry
A Matter of Self Trust by Rybread Celsius
How it begins
The game begins with a quotation from "What is Literature?" by Sartre.
You might be anyone, carrying a envelope from your sister. You stand in your splendid bedroom which contains a new mirror, your canopy bed, a drawer with a lamp, a rug, and a letter opener. You're ready to climb into bed, but first you want to read the letter from your sister.
Notable features
- "One-room"? Although all the action takes place in just one room, the game implements sublocations such as in the bed and by the mirror as completely different rooms, and logical scope is broken (the mirror is not visible from the bed, for example).
- Purposeful misspellings. This is a deliberate part of Rybread's style.
- Inconsistent world model. For example: "ENTER BED" breaks the game, but "IN" works just fine. The lamp in the bedroom is not the same lamp available when in your bed. Your night gown only spontaneously appears in your inventory almost at the last minute, and only when the game mentions it.
- The help menu includes a walkthrough. After the game is won, the help menu is accessed via the amusing command, and all the menu topics are different.
- There is no score (except a last lousy point), but the game reports how many turns you took at the end.
- The horror aspect of the game is based on the Cthulhu mythos.
- As hinted at in the help menu, there is an easter egg one-room mini-game hiding in the main game. You'll need to guess the right magic word, and it's not xyzzy.
Trivia and Comments
- This is the game that gave us the much-quoted immortal line "My blood pumper is wronged!", later parodied in the joke game Pumping! (Stephen Granade as "Riley Hawkins"; 1998; TADS 2) for Textfire 12-Pack.
- The title may be just a misspelling of "Symmetry", but Adam Cadre pointed out that it's also an anagram of "Mystery".
Versions
Release 1
Date: 1997
- Symetry (Ryan Stevens as "Rybread Celsius"; 1997; Z-code 5).
- Release 1 / Serial number 970925 / Inform v6.14 Library 6/4
- IF Comp 1997: 32nd place of 34 entries.
Links
N.B. Many IF Archive games are temporarily unavailable in the UK.
General info
- Symetry (archived) - at Baf's Guide.
- Symetry - at IFDB.
- Symetry - at ifwizz interactive fiction (in German).
Reviews
- Symetry - at IF Ratings.
- Review - by Paul O'Brian.
- Review - by Duncan Stevens.
Spoilers
- SPAG #25 - Contains a SPAG Specifics analysis by Neil Yorke-Smith.
Date: 1997