Deadline


                       BUG
         VERSION   1 2 3 4 5 6
        18/820311  N N Y Y Y Y
        19/820427  Y N Y Y Y Y
        21/820512  N N Y Y Y Y
        22/820809  N Y Y Y Y Y
        26/821108  N Y Y Y Y Y
       *27/831005  N Y Y Y Y Y


          1. In Version 19/820427 (only), the bathroom door on the first floor is impossible to open. OPEN DOOR generates the response, "Which door do you mean, the door or the south closet door?" Answering THE DOOR will start the process all over again.
          In earlier versions, the south closet door is visible from the hallway, but cannot be interacted with unless you are inside the closet itself, and so the game regards the bathroom door as the only one in the room. In later versions, it is called THE BATHROOM DOOR, rather than just THE DOOR, thus fixing the problem.
          However, not until Version 27/831005 is it possible to close the closet door from the hallway. Trying to CLOSE THE CLOSET DOOR generates the same "Which door do you mean" loop as trying to open the bathroom door in Version 19. -- New Zork Times



          2. You can give objects to characters by putting the objects inside them, using the command PUT [object] IN [character]. For example if you PUT BOOK IN MS. DUNBAR, and then LOOK, you get the message:

Ms. Dunbar is holding:
    a book.

In Versions 18, 19, and 21, this is merely an oddity rather than a true bug, since the book can be given to the character anyway. But in Versions 22, 26 and 27, you can still give her the book by putting it inside her, although she will now refuse it if you try to give it to her in the normal fashion (i.e. GIVE BOOK TO MS. DUNBAR). -- Chris D. Lang



          3. MR. ROBNER'S GHOST: Mr. Robner's ghosts haunts the estate, and can be interacted with if you phrase the commands properly. You can SAY TO MR. ROBNER "WHERE IS GEORGE", and get a response like "I haven't seen him today." or "I last saw him a few minutes ago. I don't know where he went, though." Mr. Robner's ghost will report seeing other characters at the same time you last saw them, as if you had asked the game WHERE IS GEORGE?
          On the other hand, if you phrase the command as ASK MR. ROBNER ABOUT GEORGE, you get the response "Mr. Robner can't hear you."
          Finally, you can even get this sequence:

>KILL MR. ROBNER
With a lethal blow of your hand, Mr. Robner falls dead.
          You must put a period after the "r" in Mr. for this to work. Since Mr. Robner is already dead before the game begins, this is a clear-cut case of overkill. To add insult to injury, the game then gives a description of your remorse and arrest for killing someone who's already dead.
          This bug appears in all versions of the game. -- Chris D. Lang



          4. In all versions, Sergeant Duffy will always show up immediately if you try to arrest someone (or something!), even if he is away at the lab awaiting analysis results. Interestingly, in The Witness (all versions) this error is corrected, and you won't be able to arrest anyone in that game until Duffy returns. -- Chris D. Lang



          5. No versions recognize the player as being in the room when he's sitting on a piece of furniture. For example, sitting on the couch and typing, BAXTER, TELL ME ABOUT ROBNER would respond with "You can't see any me here." -- New Zork Times



          6. The six-letter recognition system used by Infocom's early parser often creates problems. LISTEN TO THE GARDENER generates a reply of "The roses make no sound." in all versions. The game, looking at the first six letters, considers "GARDEN" and "GARDENer" to be the same word. -- New Zork Times



Click here to return to the Infocom Bugs List Table of Contents

Click here to return to Graeme Cree's "Bob & Ray Overstocked Surplus Warehouse" Home Page.