search

the-infocom-files / cutthroats

Cutthroats
3 stars 3 forks source link

Putting the magnet on objects cause them to (temporarily) disappear #59

Open eriktorbjorn opened 4 years ago

eriktorbjorn commented 4 years ago

When you put the magnet (turned off) on an object, that object is - with a few exceptions - moved into the magnet. This can be used to fun effect:

>NW
Winding Road
The road ends at the lighthouse to the north, and heads back to the southeast.
You can see and hear the ocean pound the shoreline.
Pete the Rat fiddles with his eyepatch, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
A short, wiry guy known only as "the Weasel" is over in a corner, picking his
teeth with a knife.
Johnny Red is here.
Johnny nods, then pulls out a gold coin he says he came across while on a shark
hunt.

>PUT MAGNET ON COIN
The portable electromagnet is now touching the gold coin.

The scene plays out as before. But if you wait until Johnny leaves, leave the room, and then go back again:

>NW
Winding Road
The road ends at the lighthouse to the north, and heads back to the southeast.
You can see and hear the ocean pound the shoreline.
There is a gold coin here.
Pete the Rat fiddles with his eyepatch, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
The Weasel is picking his teeth with a nasty knife, looking around furtively.

>GET COIN
Red pulls it back. "If we get the loot, there'll be plenty for all."

You still can't get the coin (even though Red isn't here any more), but just the fact that you can move it away from him opens up the possibilities for so much abuse. I've already managed to steal the Weasel's knife and Pete's eyepatch, but as with the coin you can't actually pick them up afterwards.

eriktorbjorn commented 4 years ago

By the way, I think it's GOTO that's responsible for moving the objects out of the magnet when you move to another room. The only way I've found to get an object out of the room is to wait for closing time, because you're not moved with GOTO in that case.

Theoretically you could use that to steal the envelope from McGinty, but I don't know if you can get to that situation. The magnet is expensive, so you won't have enough money to show Johnny.

You can also use it to steal objects from Outfitter's Int'l that you can't ordinarily buy. Again, nothing exciting comes from this.