Show HN: Automatically detect and patch walking-dead states in Sierra games

https://github.com/katiahayati/lucasartsifier/

161 pointsbywkfauna•6日前•97 コメント

Hi HN, I've become lazier in my old age and struggle to replay my favorite Sierra games from the 80s and 90s because I keep getting into those situations where I need an item from 3 acts ago, I have no save game handy, and now I gotta make dinner.

So I'm building the Lucasartsifier: a static analysis tool that decompiles Sierra resource files, automatically finds those states, automatically generates code to prevent the player from getting into those states, then emits loose patch files that can be placed alongside the original game resources. There's no game-specific code involved; all the logic is generic, though of course Sierra introduces new idioms and mechanics in every game so every new supported game needs a bunch of engine work.

So for example in Leisure Suit Larry 2, the patched game prevents you from boarding the cruise ship until you have both the sunscreen and the Grotesque Gulp. Without them you die on the raft 3 play-hours later.

So far this works on Leisure Suit Larry 2 (SCI0), King's Quest 4 (SCI0), King's Quest 6 (SCI1.1), and Laura Bow 2 (SCI1.1). I'm currently working on King's Quest 5 (SCI1.0).

This is work done with Claude -- I do the design and playtesting and it does the rest :D

Any feedback, play testing, and suggestions would be great!

コメント (15)

bsammon•6日前

The discussion here reminded me of the "Cruelty Scale" (https://www.ifwiki.org/Cruelty_scale) It was originally created specifically in relation to text adventure games, but seems appropriate to a broader range of game types.

The rankings are based on criteria like how far the game lets you go after making a get-stuck choice before you realize you're stuck, and whether that realization comes with clear information about what the wrong choice was.

dafelst•6日前

This is so cool, what a great project!

I remember using a single save game and soft locking myself in Space Quest 2 by not getting the glowing gem, and in Space Quest 1 I think by not picking up the shard of broken glass, and being so pissed off about having to replay.

The LSL dip and sunscreen issues you fixed were particularly egregious, by that point I feel like they should have fixed things.

While Sierra should absolutely be recognized for spawning an entire genre of games that were legitimately fun, it is crazy that they were fine with shipping games with these broken states, when it was eminently preventable.

shoo•6日前

tangent: this unfortunate design choice by the old Sierra adventure games has been discussed a number of times on the Designer Notes podcast, focused on game design [1]. Soren opens each discussion by asking the guest which is the first game they remember.

[1] https://www.idlethumbs.net/designernotes/

matheusmoreira•6日前

For those wondering just how pervasive this is:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UnwinnableByDesign/Si...

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UnintentionallyUnwinn...

vunderba•6日前

Nice job! I actually wrote a blog article about my love/hate relationship with KQ4 in particular - with a particular shoutout to my incredible irritation with the whole golden bridle scene [1].

Without spoiling anything, are you accounting for stuff like a player saving in the Minotaur's Labyrinth without a... shall we say crucial item necessary for a trap scene?

[1] - https://mordenstar.com/blog/kqiv

jddj•6日前

I remember in Kings Quest 6 you can meet a guy early on in the bookstore which becomes relevant (but not critical?) right at the end. I never knew how relevant though, as the time I played it through right to the end wasn't one of the times when he'd happened to be in the bookstore early on.

I guess that's not enough of a dead end to block progress.

Maybe it'd be enough just to know what happens in the castle if Prince Alexander had befriended him. Otherwise I guess I'll carry that unresolved thread around with me for another ~25 years.

Edit: went looking for spoilers and yeah, alternate ending which admittedly sounds better than the one I got

thom•6日前

Talking of being softlocked on a boat crossing:

https://www.kensblog.com/update-on-our-journey-through-the-n...

sunir•6日前

I'm still traumatized from Space Quest I because I didn't grab a broken glass from the windshield of our crashed spaceship before entering the cave with the laser.

It's been 40 years. I vote wkfauna for President.

sirtaj•6日前

I remember being mostly okay with this level of cruelty when this was one of the few games I had available all summer, but I tried to play some of them again as a middle aged guy and I couldn't believe I had put up with this.

This is one of those so obvious it's brilliant ideas and a lot of people are going to be grateful. Thank you.

qarl2•6日前

This is wonderfully delightful. I wish I'd thought of it.

I am exploring decompilation - MAME ROM to idiomatic JavaScript. It's going pretty well - the LLM does a good job translating from one language (machine) to another (JavaScript) which I guess is how the LLMs got their start.

Does your input have symbols to assist understanding, or do the LLMs have to work it out for themselves?

Warning: self-promotion: https://github.com/qarl/arcade-js

snipem•6日前

This is great. Would you provide the changes as patches like they do for romhacks?

This is some true quality of life improvement when playing these games and have to make dinner.

catoc•6日前

This is so cool - very impressive!

Read the whole ReadMe to understand how you pulled this off.

Halfway through, I shiver, wait a minute I recognize this writing style…

I would have so preferred to remain impressed and excited by what a fellow human came up with - sometimes I really hate what AI is taking from us

jonathanlydall•6日前

Games used to often be brutally unforgiving. If you hadn't saved recently and you died (or inadvertently made the game unwinnable without knowing), tough luck, so for some games I'd save regularly "just in case", even if saving was relatively slow.

I was somewhat astonished when mid/late 2000's I was watching a friend play a game (on a console I think) where if you missed a jump over a bottomless pit, instead of you going back to your last save or check point, your character was right back to just before the jump and you could try again instantly.

One of my very favourite games of all time is Star Control II and I was thrilled when Jimmy Maher did a review of it [0] (and then felt a bit upset that he essentially said he felt it was overrated). One of his criticisms which I felt was very fair was that the game had a hard in-game time limit, and although the warning signs are obvious in retrospect, until you actually hit it you don't realize it's there, meaning that your fate could have been sealed hours and hours before the actual time limit because there was not enough remaining time to travel to the places needed to win and you were actually walking-dead for that period. However, I suppose it makes the next play through easier as you'll know more of what to do.

[0]: https://www.filfre.net/2018/12/star-control-ii/

smrtinsert•6日前

Years later, I appreciated the ability the get stuck in Sierra games. It makes each decision or moment just that much more important. Leave no stone unturned or thought unthunk!

foobarian•6日前

Warning: this whole thread is full of spoilers!! :-D