Containment55.bin
> If you're reading this, it means that I failed. This drive contains all the research on it I was able to save. I started a containment program, but I couldn't complete in time. ..5ac9c400b100d.. lines are missing. Please, you have to finish it. Lock the creature away again before it's too late.
_Containment55.bin_ is an interactive horror game. You, dear player, have stumbled across an old hard drive, and your task is to piece together the code required to contain an ancient and mysterious alien creature.
This game should be considered mature.
Stuck? Click to reveal hints:
!>There are 7 pieces of code hidden throughout the game. Anything ending in ".exe" is code, even if the game text does not explicitly say you found some.
!>If you're unable to access a directory or file, try exploring other areas of the hard drive. These files/directories will unlock as you progress.
Content note: one image is derived from a Renaissance-era sketch of nude, humanoid monsters.
I recommend using Chrome to play this game, to get the full experience. The background audio seems to work there, but not in the other browsers I've tested.
There was so, so much more I wanted to add to this game, but didn't have time. There will likely be an updated version posted later as a Ludum Dare Extra submission. Hopefully *this* version doesn't have any critical errors, because I'm too tired to fix anything more complicated than drink right now.
_edit 2024-04-17:_ yeah, so, about those critical errors, found one that would prevent someone from winning the game, whoops. Used the wrong filename, so fixed that, along with a bug that allowed the user to view an access folder. In theory you could still open it, but it's not visible, so at least it's not confusing. Sorry, folks!
_edit 2024-4-20:_ so, about that access folder bug, uh, I guess my fix from a few days ago did not, in fact, fix the bug I was thing to fix, and instead it broke something else, which wasn't evident in the Gamemaker test build. Many thanks to the people who left comments alerting me to the problem, and sorry to anyone who played the game earlier this week and weren't able to finish!
_Containment55.bin_ is an interactive horror game. You, dear player, have stumbled across an old hard drive, and your task is to piece together the code required to contain an ancient and mysterious alien creature.
This game should be considered mature.
Stuck? Click to reveal hints:
!>There are 7 pieces of code hidden throughout the game. Anything ending in ".exe" is code, even if the game text does not explicitly say you found some.
!>If you're unable to access a directory or file, try exploring other areas of the hard drive. These files/directories will unlock as you progress.
Content note: one image is derived from a Renaissance-era sketch of nude, humanoid monsters.
I recommend using Chrome to play this game, to get the full experience. The background audio seems to work there, but not in the other browsers I've tested.
There was so, so much more I wanted to add to this game, but didn't have time. There will likely be an updated version posted later as a Ludum Dare Extra submission. Hopefully *this* version doesn't have any critical errors, because I'm too tired to fix anything more complicated than drink right now.
_edit 2024-04-17:_ yeah, so, about those critical errors, found one that would prevent someone from winning the game, whoops. Used the wrong filename, so fixed that, along with a bug that allowed the user to view an access folder. In theory you could still open it, but it's not visible, so at least it's not confusing. Sorry, folks!
_edit 2024-4-20:_ so, about that access folder bug, uh, I guess my fix from a few days ago did not, in fact, fix the bug I was thing to fix, and instead it broke something else, which wasn't evident in the Gamemaker test build. Many thanks to the people who left comments alerting me to the problem, and sorry to anyone who played the game earlier this week and weren't able to finish!
Genres: interactive fiction
Comments22
That being said, I really like the concept of a horror terminal game! I couldn't figure out how to advance after pushing three files to contain.bin, but would love to see more.
A full screen option would be awesome or something with higher contrast!
I'm not an audio person, but I believe there's a way to splice an audio clip, swap 'em, then cross-fade so the transition is at least less jarring if not pretty difficult to notice that it isn't just a continuous audio clip. But I really like the sounds you chose, they fit really well into the mood of the whole experience.
The image in the location files also looked super cool in the terminal aesthetic, would love to see more images in the different files. Also had the same issue as the other commenters: I couldn't figure out anything past pushing the three files, but I would love to play any future updates. Great job!
While I managed to find the first few (easy to find) codes the rest elude me ... for now MOUXAXA ;-).
That's one seriously unique idea of a game! Congrats!
Excellent job!
Is there a way to run the local version without setting up a local webserver?
I also got stuck after pushing the 3 exes I found in /locations and /history (soul/eerie/supremeaten) – I was unable to open other directories and ussr.txt (even sudo and su didn’t help). Did I miss something?
Attaching the lore to real history was very cool and compelling, and made me feel like I was exploring an old computer with evidence of a supernatural creature. I’d love to play a post-jam version of this.
At the moment, I don't have plans to add local builds. I stick to HTML5 builds because I can't make Windows builds (I work on a Mac), and Mac builds seem to require paying for an Apple developer account, and making games is just a hobby for me.
I was able to get to the end and summon something I believe...
@ha-kuro This was my first time building a terminal-based game, and when I was describing my idea to my husband, I made the mistake of speaking the words, "it'll be easy!" out loud. Nope, turns out it's the most challenging project I've ever attempted. Whoops! Glad you liked the game!
- Sound effects, maybe when pushing codes or opening files. Could add more ambience to it.
- More files / commands / actions the user has to make
- Improve terminal navigation (remove files extension to make it easier to type, or include tab autocomplete function)
At least some things i think could improve the game.
@kjscott whoops, maybe I buried the twist a bit too deeply after all! I did try to leave hints throughout that you, dear player, might be being played, but I also had to cut out some content because I ran out of time to write it (and film it; the original concept had video files). IMO, the best twist is unexpected the first time, but the second time, you can see how the foundation was laid.
@ilbini that's some really solid feedback. Adding a tab autocomplete function is something others have mentioned, and would have been really useful as a player, but also for me; I kept mistyping those file extensions myself! Behind the scenes, they're useful, because it tells my code if something is a file or a directory, and which function(s) to run. Sound effects were definitely on my to-do list- those old computer sounds were originally going to play when opening/pushing, before I ended up just having them play on a timer (and that code was only added maybe 15 minutes before the deadline). Had to sacrifice stuff to the jam gods, unfortunately.
@human The images were pretty easy, actually! I used GIMP for those. Convert to grayscale, invert the colours (unless it looks weird, I was inconsistent about it) then adjust the brightness, contrast, and levels to eliminate some of the greys and get it closer to a true black-and-white without losing detail. GIMP also has a video degradation filer, which I used to apply the scanlines. Finally, add a layer of green overtop of it all, blend mode set to multiply. I *could* have saved myself some steps by using a shader instead, but ain't got time to code that for just a handful of images.
The final image was the most fun. That's my kitchen. Alfred Hitchcock used chocolate syrup to make fake blood; I used strawberry. The original image is very pink.