Slouching Towards Bedlam — 3 of 76

Chapter 1 - Metadata

The story headline is "An entry in the 9th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (10th Anniversary Edition)".

After printing the banner text, say "[bracket]First time players should type [']about[']. Credits are available via [']credits['].[close bracket][line break]"

Understand "about" as asking for an overview. Asking for an overview is an action out of world.

Carry out asking for an overview:

say "A few, brief notes:[paragraph break]- Regardless of how the game responds to them, all meta-commands (SAVE, RESTORE, RESTART, UNDO, QUIT) work as you would expect them to.[paragraph break]- Conversation is best handled by the following syntax:[paragraph break]ASK <PERSON> ABOUT <TOPIC>.[line break]TELL <PERSON> ABOUT <TOPIC>.[line break]<PERSON>, <ORDER>.[paragraph break]Note that it is advantageous to ask about the same topic multiple times.[paragraph break]- Hints and spoilers are available via the 'hint' command.[paragraph break]- Slouching Towards Bedlam contains multiple endings - you may wish to go back and try different actions or attempting to reach different goals to see how your actions affect the story.[paragraph break]- Daniel Ravipinto can be contacted at peccable@peccable.com."

Understand "credits" as asking for credits. Asking for credits is an action out of world.

Carry out asking for credits:

say "(original 2003 release)[line break][italic type]SLOUCHING TOWARDS BEDLAM[roman type][line break]Concept, design, and writing by: Star C. Foster and Daniel Ravipinto[line break]Code by Daniel Ravipinto[paragraph break]This game was written using the Inform programming language, created by Graham Nelson. Inform's web page can be found at http://www.inform-fiction.org/. Inform, TADS, and other tools for creating interactive-fiction can be found at the Interactive Fiction Archive at http://www.ifarchive.org or at one of its many mirrors.[paragraph break]Beta-Testers: Jim 'Jesus' Genzano, Steve Evans, and Amy McClenahan[paragraph break]Special Thanks For Putting Up With Random Insane Ramblings: Neil McGarry and Emmett Plant[paragraph break](2013 rerelease)[line break][italic type]IN MEMORY OF STAR C. FOSTER (1973 - 2006)[roman type][paragraph break]Reimplementation in Inform 7: Daniel Ravipinto[paragraph break]Testing and Feedback: Ori Avtalion[paragraph break]Special Thanks - Now, as Always: Neil McGarry[paragraph break]";

The story description is "In the beginning was the Word, and it was hungry. Enter a steampunk adventure set in a London that might have been. The year is 1885. Bedlam Hospital still stands in Moorsfield, a decaying shell used to house the poor and the hopeless. Steam-driven mechanical wonders roam the streets. Gear-wheeled analytical engines spin out reams of thought onto punched paper tapes. And in the darkness - in the alleys and the side shops - hide secrets. A ten-year anniversary reimplementation/rerelease of the original 2003 story."

The story creation year is 2013.

Release along with an a library card, cover art, the source text, and a website.