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Unwinnable is a state in many text adventures, graphical adventure games and computer role-playing games where it is impossible for the player to reach the end goal (finishing the game), and where the only other options are restarting the game, a previously saved game, wandering indefinitely, or meeting death. It is also known as a walking dead, dead end or zombie situation.
Unwinnable should not be confused with "unbeatable," which is used to describe a character, monster, or puzzle that is too powerful or difficult to be overcome by the player or character at a lower standing, and is normally found in computer role-playing games. This state is not unwinnable because it can be solved by leveling up (unless, of course, the player is unable to reach any sufficiently weak monsters at all, which occasionally occurs).
Occurrences
Walking dead situations occur due to an earlier mistake or oversight by the player that cannot be corrected (compare with point of no return), for example the player has lost or destroyed an essential object, become trapped in a place with no exit, failed to complete a puzzle within a time or turn limit, or failed to interact with a non-player character to meet a subgoal. Other ways to enter such a state include exploiting a cheat that changes the game mechanics, or upon finding a bug in the map continuity.
Since there is no hope for an optimal ending (or, in many cases, any ending), and there is no indication that the game is now unwinnable since the main character is still alive, the player is often blocked from further progress but does not die. Thinking that the problem relies on a puzzle he hasn't solved yet, he is reduced to trying increasingly outlandish actions to find a way out of this 'trap': hence the term zombie or walking dead. The player rarely knows exactly what caused the dead-end situation, which can cause severe frustration. A term sometimes used to describe games with unwinnable states is "cruel." Some players prefer to either cheat or rely on walkthroughs in order to finish games that can result in dead end situations.
A very general example of a "walking dead" scenario: a game starts in a cave. As soon as the player leaves the cave, it collapses and can not be reentered. Later, the player finds a house with a locked front door. The key to the house is in the cave — but if the player did not search the cave thoroughly before leaving, the door can never be unlocked. The player, not knowing this, will think that he will find a key or some way to enter the house so he will keep looking until he reads a walkthrough, or decides to restart the game.
Reasons
The early generations of text adventure games tended to have a lot of chances that could lead you to unwinnable states, as a way to make a game deeper and more challenging; this kind of game design was not yet considered unfair. It was usually considered a product of the game's difficulty rather than poor design and encouraged (or, as its opponents would say, forced) replayability. Veteran players created save files before every major action to avoid making the game unwinnable. Some games let the undo command take back an action or event, including the player's death, but many designers considered this cheating. Other games limited the use to one undo over a certain number of turns. In the case of unlimited undos these could be used instead of multiple save files.
The undo/save features, however, did little good in cases where the player had to replay half the game in order to correct a mistake he made much earlier.
Infocom's Zork was particularly notorious for leaving players in unwinnable situations without clueing them in. Many other early Infocom games deliberately had the same issues, as a means of extending playing time to justify their cost. Mike Dornbrook, Infocom's head of marketing, conducted a customer survey in late 1984 which showed a distinct correlation between the Infocom games players considered their favorites, and the games they had actually finished. This piece of marketing intelligence led to the more foolproof design of Wishbringer and later games.
Some work has been done on automatically verifying winnability and losability in interactive fiction by the gr@m group at McGill University.
Modern graphical adventures are much more resource-intensive, and it can be an arduous task to search through earlier parts of such a game for a missed object. Therefore, 'dead ends' have recently come to be equated with design flaws that designers overlooked, bugs or poor game design.
As a generalization, Sierra's graphical adventures during the '80s and early '90s tended to contain walking dead situations, whereas LucasArts often boasted that most of their games could not result in a dead end. Although some die-hard adventure purists scorned such practices as "dumbing down games for the masses", more game companies adopted the approach over time, like Sierra, whose previous games e.g. King's Quest V and Codename: Iceman are rather notorious for their sheer amount of zombie situations. Space Quest 5 marked a departure from Sierra's traditional zombie situations and deliberately contained only one, which informed the player when it was triggered in order to give them a fighting chance to reload and try again without excessive wandering.
Examples
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Early on in the game, the player character is presented with the opportunity to pick up a massive pile of junk mail while in his house. Later on in the game, the player must use the junk mail in the infamously obscure "Babel Fish Dispenser" puzzle, and the need for the junk mail arises only after testing it several times. The junk mail is, at that point, inaccessible, as it has been destroyed along with the rest of the planet Earth. Also destroyed are the screwdriver and toothbrush from the very first scene, which are necessary to finish the final puzzle at the very end of the game.
- Codename: Iceman: In The Pentagon before the briefing, John gives his ID to the guard. After the briefing the guard returns the ID to him. The player must specifically do a LOOK ID to see that the guard actually gave him wrong ID and then ask for it back. The Pentagon cannot be visited again in the game so the player will be in trouble when he is later asked for his ID.
- Space Quest II: At the very beginning of the game, Roger has the option of retrieving a Rubix cube from his locker on Xenon Orbital Station 4. The cube is needed to distract a monster much later on in the game shortly before escaping the planet Labion.
- King's Quest IV: Rosella is stranded on an islet. Behind a rock there is a bridle (which is not visible, nor hinted at, and can be found only by explicit searching) which she will use to ride the Unicorn later on after she leaves the islet. There is no way to return to the islet after she has left.
- Leisure Suit Larry 2: Before the player leaves the cruise ship, Larry must obtain several items - including a soda, a wig, and some thread - in order to survive on the lifeboat. Later in the game, he must obtain a knife, a pin, a parachute, and a bottle before boarding an airplane, all of which are needed later.
- Legend of Kyrandia: In Book One: Of Fables and Fiends, protagonist Brandon drinks a potion to turn himself into a pegasus and fly over the sea. Once he's landed, he must put a flower on his mother's grave who'll give him the power of invisibility. Later, he will have to open the gate of the castle by using a special key that can only be found deep in the Serpent Grotto maze. If the player doesn't have the key or a flower, the power will not be granted, the gate will not be opened and the game becomes unwinnable. Also, at one point, you can be bitten by a poison snake. You can still continue, and even save. However, unless you have a specific healing ability, you will die in a few turns.
- The 7th Guest: As the player searches the house in which the game takes place, he can find a book that contains hints to the last puzzle the player attempted. Reading the book three times in a row will automatically solve the puzzle for the player, but overusing the hint book will lock some doors in the house, making some puzzles inaccessible and the game unwinnable.
- Return to Zork: If the player commits murder on any non-player character, the game still continues, however at some point soon thereafter a character called the vigilante appears, chastises the player, and takes all items in the player's inventory. This renders the game unwinnable, however the player may continue in a "walking dead" mode if he/she believes the vigilante simply hid the items somewhere, since similar characters steal items in games such as Colossal Cave Adventure, yet the player is usually able to retrieve them.
- Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic: At the very beginning of the game you are required to pick up a photo showing the sky above your in-game house. This photo is used in the final puzzle of the game, so if the player is careless with the picture and inadvertantly loses it in the Succ-U-Bus system then the game is unwinnable.