solutions/Getfeldt_walkthrough.txt

                              Walkthrough for

                            Getfeldt's Treasure

                             by Mike Salisbury

                           Written by Richard Bos


  First, some notes. 
  
  To start with, this is an MS-DOS game written in Quick Basic, and a port of
an original for the even earlier Tandy Color. This shows, sometimes badly.
Technically, the program is rather restrictive. There are no command recall
facilities, not even the ones used by the DOS command line. At least capitals
are accepted, but never significant. The most unpleasant lack, though, is that
you cannot save your game. At least it's not very long.
  As far as vocabulary is concerned, it has what it needs and nothing more.
Only the first three letters of a word are significant, except where they
aren't - see below. Some abbreviations are recognised, and some are required;
specifically, "east" is only recognised as a full word in "go east", not on its
own. You'll have to use "e". This one limitation is not very onerous, of
course. Also, you can't use "it".
  Another limitation is that this program is very bad for guess-the-verb. At
times, it even needs guess-the-exact-command. Synonyms are not common. "Get"
and "Take" will both work, and that's about it except where a special case has
been accounted for. But those pre-defined commands have their foibles, one of
which is is that they do not always recognise abbreviated words. Some work with
a three-letter abbreviation but not with a four-letter one. Some demand the
entire noun but allow the verb to be abbreviated; some do not. Using the entire
words in all commands would be best, which makes it all the more inconsistent
that "east" is not recognised on its own. And, of course, where I've used "the"
below to make the text read better, omit it.
  Those special cases have another problem: they are not accepted except in the
very circumstances for which they have been anticipated. Everywhere else they
will be treated as if you typed nonsense, or give a non-committal message such
as "nothing happens" where "that is not here" would be a more appropriate.
Similarly, "look object" and "read object" are not the same thing even where
they should be - in at least one case, "look object" says "nothing to be read",
but "read object" tells you what is written on it!
  Real bugs are, as far as I have found, rare. That is to say, bugs which
affect gameplay seem rare. You need to be careful not to lose your dog before
you get him - that seems to be all. Cosmetic bugs are much more common. One or
two messages seem incomplete, but the most common bug is that room descriptions
remain static when they shouldn't - objects remain in view when you take them,
that sort of thing. Misspelled words are also common.
  Finally, since this is a walkthrough, spoilers are rife below. I'm not taking
you past every single clue and sight - in fact, I'm not taking you past any.
All code numbers I'll be giving you can be found in the game somewhere. As
mentioned above, the Look and Read commands are not always helpful, but they do
occasionally reveal something useful. Therefore, look at everything before you
resort to this walkthrough, and if you accidentally read the solution to a
problem you hadn't come across yet, don't blame me.

  Now, let's go and get that treasure.  


  You start in Getfeldt's garden. Go east, take the crowbar, and go west and
south. Use the crowbar. (Yes, "use". Tsk, tsk... naughty implementor.) Drop the
crowbar. Open door, go east and north. Move the painting. You're asked for a
combination, which is 121513. Yes, a hint this can be found elsewhere in the
game. No, I'm not telling you where. Serves you right for reading walkthroughs.
Take and wear the amulet.
  Go s, s, e. Open the refrigerator ("fridge" is not recognised) and take the
steak. Go east. Now (and you must enter this as one command, nor will you be
allowed to proceed until you do) "give steak". Get the treats, and give treat.
If you now check your inventory, you'll find that you are carrying the dog!
  Pull the lever and go down. Take the gear and the balloon. Go east twice.
Unlock the door - the code is 6603243e. Go east twice more, then north and up.
Start the engine and set the navigation. You'll be asked for the coordinates,
which are 121.15.09:34.09.12 - and you've already come across these, although
I haven't told you explicitly where to find them. 
  Go east twice. Wear your gear, then go down and north. First turn the wheel,
then the handle. Go east. Close the door, and when asked which, enter /~\I
(slash, tilde, backslash, single I: the "one" version of the visible door's
"two"). Now "push green". Do not "push green pad" - that doesn't work. Turn
the cross.
  Go east, look shelf, take batteries, go east, take flashlight. Go south. Put
batteries in flashlight. Drop the flashlight, batteries (yes, you have to drop
them individually even though you just put them in the flashlight), balloon,
gear and treats. Go west. Put amulet in star, get chest, go east. No, all your
stuff hasn't disappeared. It's still here, it's just not shown in the room
description.
  Take the gear and balloon - leave the rest. Go back n, w, w. Take the net.
Wear the gear. Close the door - enter /~\II, that is, slash, tilde, backslash,
double I - push red and go west. Put chest in net. Attach net. You'll be asked
"to what" - enter "ring", as a single word. Don't ask me why this command could
not be handled in the same way as "put object in object", but if you try that,
you get told to "slow down". Pull the tab.


  Hooray - you have beaten Getfeldt. Although there are messages spread around
the game which make it uncertain how much you've actually "beaten" him and how
much of it was his idea all along. In any case, you're now rich, so no matter
who was the mastermind, it counts as a victory for you!