IF at Its Comic Best: Lost Pig, and Place Under Ground
When you look at lists of the best IF stories ever, you often find, near the top, some long and serious works, like Andrew Plotkin’s Spider and Web, Brian Moriarty’s Trinity, Blue Lacuna by Aaron Reed, and Savoir Faire by Emily Short. But you also find one brief and funny story, in which you play the part of an orc who speaks broken English. This story is called Lost Pig, and it was written by a person whose pen-name is Admiral Jota. In 2007, when it first appeared, Lost Pig won the fall IF Competition, and it later took prestigious XYZZY Awards for Best Game, Best Writing, Best Individual Non-Player Character, and Best Player/Character.
Critics of all ages have praised the story in nearly every possible way. Some love the way it accommodates just about any response a player tries, even some very unlikely ones. (Try “Burn pants” or “Burp.”) Others can’t get enough of Grunk himself, a person of endless good nature and bad grammar, who always makes himself perfectly clear. Many laugh out loud at Grunk’s “opposite number,” a highly-cultured gnome who learns, it seems, a renewed sense of purpose from his new orc acquaintance. And even the pig has its own funny, “trickster” personality.
Kids a appreciate Lost Pig as a tale for all ages. The IF Database quotes a review by Racquel and Liza, aged ten, from Massachusetts in the USA.
“It was very fun and exciting and I liked the characters, especially Grunk. I liked the part with the bread machine. I also liked that whatever you ordered Grunk to do he did, including burping. I also liked that one thing led to another and you had to do things in order to solve the game.
I enjoyed how the game felt realistic, like it really was happening. The gnome dude was really cool and nice. It’s not like you can talk to a gnome every day! I also enjoyed the fact that you had to be precise on your commands. I thought it was cool that you had to say exact directions… not like right,and left. More of N,NW,NS,E,SW,SE,S,AND WEST. It was an awesome game. I hope there are other games with Grunk included!!!!!!”
Lost Pig takes place within a fairly small area, but the map that appears below may be helpful, anyway. Some very important clues appear in drawings that appear on the walls in the “Place Under Ground.” Grunk’s descriptions of these drawings appear below, too.
The Pictures on the Walls
Curtain in Fountain Room: Look like big rug, but it on wall instead of floor, so that make it curtain instead. Curtain have big picture of little man on it. Grunk think little man maybe called “gnome.” Him holding burning torch in dark cave. Point at way out of cave.
West Wall in Statue Room: Picture have big pile of black powder. Powder all on fire. Picture have bucket of water, too. Bucket pouring water onto fire. Grunk guess that water for making fire go out.
East Wall in Statue Room: Picture have long purple pole that go from side to side. All around pole, there different yellow thing that float in air, like honey and bottle of beer and pretty flower and lots of other thing too. Under that, there picture of pie. Mmm, pie.
Pie cut up into more than seven piece, and every piece have different color. Purple piece at top. To right of purple piece there orange piece, then there white piece at right side, then there red piece, and then yellow piece at bottom. Next piece blue, then there black at left side, and then green piece, and then it back to purple piece again at top. Grunk think red piece look most tasty.
A Color Wheel, Similar to the One Described in Lost Pig
Lost Pig: a Walkthrough for Beginners
This walkthrough may help beginners get started with interactive fiction, using the story Lost Pig and Place Under Ground, by Admiral Jota. In this story the reader plays the part of an ogre-like creature called an orc. The orc’s name is Grunk, and he speaks broken English. He communicates very well, though.
When the story begins, the reader sees the following text:
Pig lost! Boss say that it Grunk fault. Say Grunk forget about closing gate. Maybe boss right. Grunk not remember forgetting, but maybe Grunk just forget. Boss say Grunk go find pig, bring it back. Him say, if Grunk not bring back pig, not bring back Grunk either. Grunk like working at pig farm, so now Grunk need find pig.
Lost Pig
And Place Under Ground
Release 1 / Serial number 070917 / Inform v6.30 Library 6/11 S
(For help, use “HELP”.)
Outside
Grunk think that pig probably go this way. It hard to tell at night time, because moon not bright as sun. There forest to east and north. It even darker there, and Grunk hear lots of strange animal. West of Grunk, there big field with little stone wall. Farm back to south.
>
That “greater than” sign, which looks like “>,” is very important in interactive fiction. It signals the reader that it time for him or her to tell the main character what he or she should try to do. You could think of the “>” symbol as meaning “I would like the main character in the story to try to…”
Mostly, an interactive fiction story understands only a few kinds of sentences. Some of the sentences that would usually work are:
LOOK AT ME
LOOK AT THE FOREST
GO NORTH
GO SOUTH
INVENTORY (that is, list what the character is carrying)
WAIT
Let’s try some of these sentences in Lost Pig.
>GO SOUTH
>GO EAST
>GO WEST
>GO NORTH
It seems that Grunk is not going to go very far into the darkness, even with his torch, unless he can get a better idea of where the pig might be.
Let’s try some of the other ideas we’ve listed above.
>LOOK AT FOREST
>LOOK AT FARM
>LOOK AT ME
>INVENTORY
“Inventory” (abbreviated “i”) gives us a list of what Grunk is carrying. By chance, in this case, it gives us an indication of how we might get a better idea of where the pig is. Grunk can’t see the pig, but he can hear a sound that the pig may have made.
>LISTEN
It seems that the pig may be off to the northeast.
>NE (An abbreviation for “GO NORTHEAST”)
Well, it seems that Grunk’s unwillingness to wander around in the dark made some sense. Even so, Grunk seems uninjured after his fall into the hole, so let’s grab our torch and look around. We’ll use the abbreviation “X” for “EXAMINE.”
>TAKE TORCH
>X STAIRS
>TAKE THING
>X THING
Experiment a bit to see if you can find out what the “thing” might be used for. Then we’ll look explore some more. But, first, courtesy of the People’s Republic of Interactive Fiction and noted author Andrew Plotkin, here’s a postcard that you may find helpful.
And now, back to our walkthrough.
>E (Abbreviation for “GO EAST”)
You may find the lost pig here. And, if you don’t, you’ll find it soon. When you find the pig, try to catch it.
>TAKE PIG
>CHASE PIG
It looks as though we can’t catch the pig just yet, but this might be a good time to think of a strategy for grabbing it. Perhaps some sort of distraction…
>X FOUNTAIN
By now, you may have noticed that, in interactive fiction, it’s a good idea to examine practically everything. But sometimes mere examining isn’t enough. Sometimes, we’ll need a more exact kind of looking.
>LOOK IN FOUNTAIN
We now have a coin, so we should be looking for opportunities to use it. Also, the story is apparently continuing to keep a score, as we’ve just earned our second point. Not all IF stories keep a score, though.
It’s time for a bit more exploring.
>SW
>LOOK AT BOX
What could this box be. Try to figure it out. It’s important.
>TAKE CHAIR
In interactive fiction, it’s often good to take anything that’s not nailed down, unless there’s a clear reason not to.
But what is that box?
>PUT COIN IN SLOT
>PULL LEVER
>TAKE BRICK
>X BRICK
>EAT BRICK
Maybe this edible “brick” is a way to distract the pig. Let’s try it.
>NE
>DROP BRICK
>WAIT
>Z (An abbreviation for “WAIT”)
Well, the brick did seem to distract the pig a bit, but it seems that one brick is not enough. Can we get more? Remember the dents on the vending machine? How could those have happened?
>SW
>HIT BOX
>TAKE COIN
>PUT COIN IN SLOT
>PULL LEVER
>TAKE BRICK
>HIT MACHINE
>TAKE COIN
>PUT COIN IN SLOT
>TAKE BRICK AND COIN
>PUT COIN IN SLOT
>TAKE BRICK AND COIN
Let’s see if we can use our supply of bricks to catch the pig.
>NE
>DROP BRICK
>WAIT
>Z
>Z
>DROP BRICK
>Z
>TAKE PIG
With enough bricks, Grunk can feed the pig until it becomes distracted enough to catch, and so, in our walkthrough, we have solved one of the main puzzles in the story. Other readers might not solve this problem until much later.
Often, in interactive fiction, we find ourselves working on more than one puzzle at a time. In that way, IF is a little like real life. As a result, it’s important to keep track of the problems we’re working on at any one time. Some readers even write down the puzzles, so as not to forget any of them.
In our walkthrough, Grunk still has to get out of the hole, and solving this puzzle requires solving several others, first.. The hole itself, which is really more of an underground shrine, has some hints to offer, and one of them is in this room.
>LOOK AT CURTAIN
Let’s look around some more. The order in which we check out the remaining rooms doesn’t really matter much, but we’ll have to explore them thoroughly.
>SE
>OPEN CHEST
>TAKE POLE
The pole tries to push Grunk away when he tries to pick it up. He succeeds anyway, but this sort of odd detail is often important in interactive fiction, so we should keep it in mind.
>NW
>N
>X STATUE
This statue has some details that might be worth a closer look.
>X SHOES
>TAKE SHOES
>X HAT
>TAKE HAT
We should also have a look at the pictures on the wall in this room.
>X EAST WALL
>X PIE
>X WEST WALL
Now, we’ve seen three wall pictures, all of which look important. Reviewing quickly, we find these descriptions of the pictures:
Curtain in Fountain Room: Look like big rug, but it on wall instead of floor, so that make it curtain instead. Curtain have big picture of little man on it. Grunk think little man maybe called “gnome.” Him holding burning torch in dark cave. Point at way out of cave.
West Wall in Statue Room: Picture have big pile of black powder. Powder all on fire. Picture have bucket of water, too. Bucket pouring water onto fire. Grunk guess that water for making fire go out.
East Wall in Statue Room: Picture have long purple pole that go from side to side. All around pole, there different yellow thing that float in air, like honey and bottle of beer and pretty flower and lots of other thing too. Under that, there picture of pie. Mmm, pie.
Pie cut up into more than seven piece, and every piece have different color. Purple piece at top. To right of purple piece there orange piece, then there white piece at right side, then there red piece, and then yellow piece at bottom. Next piece blue, then there black at left side, and then green piece, and then it back to purple piece again at top. Grunk think red piece look most tasty.
The “pie” sounds like a standard color wheel, similar to the one below, except that Grunk’s has the purple piece at the top.
>S
>E
>LOOK AT THING
This might be a chance to use one of the items we’re carrying to solve a puzzle.
>TAKE THING WITH POLE
Now, Grunk has solved the puzzle of getting the red thing, a key, which might be the solution to another problem, the locked chest in the shelf room. We also have another example of the odd behavior of the green pole, which repels Grunk but attracts the red key.
>W
>SE
>OPEN CHEST
Now we have a chest full of powder, which looks a lot like what we saw on the west wall in the statue room. Could it be that the water in the picture was not really putting out the fire?
This would be a fine time to put aside this walkthrough and try to solve some problems on your own for a while. You might start with re-lighting the torch.
>NW
>E
>FILL HAT WITH WATER
>W
>SE
>POUR WATER IN CHEST
>LIGHT TORCH
Grunk has now explored almost all of the important locations in the story. With a lighted torch, he might be able to get a better look at one or two of them.
>W
>TALK TO GNOME
>TELL GNOME ABOUT GRUNK
>ASK GNOME ABOUT THIS PLACE
>ASK GNOME ABOUT ALCHEMIST
>ASK GNOME ABOUT INVENTION
>ASK GNOME ABOUT GNOME
>ASK GNOME HOW LONG GNOME HERE
We’ve now visited all the major locations in the story. Even in a story like this one, which has only a few rooms, some readers like to make a map.
We’ve also encountered a gnome has quite a lot to say, in perfect, standard English. In fact, the depth of his ability to converse is one of the many strong points of Lost Pig.
Notice that we started the conversation off with “TALK TO GNOME.” “TALK TO” works in many, though not all, interactive fiction stories. Once we get the conversation started, the story gives us hints about what we might have Grunk say next. Even in stories that don’t use “TALK TO,” a command like “ASK GNOME ABOUT ALCHEMIST” will often work.
It looks as though the gnome is looking for a book. Maybe we can help him out.
>E
>X SHELF
>DROP CHAIR
>STAND ON CHAIR
>LOOK AT TOP SHELF
>TAKE BOOK
>GO DOWN
>W
>GIVE BOOK TO GNOME
>TALK TO GNOME
Apparently, Grunk has returned the right book but there’s a page missing. By poking around a bit with a lighted torch, we can find that page.
>W
>NE
>W
>X CRACK
>TAKE PAPER WITH POLE
Grunk’s pole, in its present state, won’t help to retrieve the missing page. How might we change the pole to make it attract the white paper? Think about colors and magnetism. Put away this walkthrough for a while and try to figure it out.
SPOILER SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK HERE
>BURN POLE
>TAKE PAPER WITH POLE
>E
>SW
>E
>GIVE PAPER TO GNOME
>TALK TO GNOME
The gnome seems appropriately grateful, but there’s no obvious way he can help us right now. Let’s work on another problem, the problem of finding a way out of the hole. Remember the picture on the curtain in the Fountain Room?
>W
>NE
>N
>PUT TORCH IN HAND
This certainly looks promising. Let’s try to get out through the formerly-secret door.
>TAKE TORCH
>N
>N
>N
Grunk has found a cave that may be the way out of the hole/shrine, but the tunnel is so windy that he can’t use his torch there. Where can he find a source of light that won’t blow out? Maybe he should re-light the torch first.
>S
>S
>E
>FILL HAT WITH WATER
>W
>SE
>POUR WATER ON POWDER
>LIGHT TORCH
>W
>ASK GNOME FOR BALL
>GIVE TORCH TO GNOME
With his new light source, maybe Grunk can escape from the underground shrine.
>W
>NE
>N
>N
>N
It seems that Grunk is hopelessly lost in a maze of tunnels! However, Admiral Jota is not going to make the reader map a huge web of rooms here. Actually, almost anything we try to call for help will work.
>BLOW IN TUBE
>SE
>D
>S
Forest
Hey, Grunk outside again! Yay! It still night time, but Grunk have light, so that OK. This look like it near place Grunk at before. Farm not far at all from here. Just little way to southwest.
Gnome here, waiting for Grunk.
Gnome take trunk back from Grunk. “I think this is where we part ways,” him say. “You can probably find your way back to the farm from here.” Gnome shake Grunk hand. Then gnome say, “Remember the name Zugilbor Galrogginpots sem Endali dec Frebensalbibit. This won’t be the last time you hear it.”
Then gnome go one way and Grunk go other way. It not long before Grunk back at farm. Boss already sleeping, so Grunk put pig back quiet and go to bed. Tomorrow, maybe boss proud of Grunk.
*** Grunk bring pig back to farm ***
Grunk have 6 out of 7 that time.
Time for Grunk to RESTART or RESTORE a saved story or UNDO what Grunk just do or tell FULL score or look at MENU (with different silly thing Grunk can try doing) or just QUIT?
Now, see if you can figure out how to get that “last lousy point”!
