Rain Systems by thebmxeur
Rain Systems thanks you for acquiring our latest Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer.
Please take note of the following documentation addendum.
The [help], [syshelp] and other command may specify parameters starting with the number sign '#'. Those parameter are expected to be a single or several decimal character.
For example the documentation for storing a range of memory onto magnetic tape (often refer as a 'saving a file') reads:
save #start #end name
And should be use in the following way to save the memory from address 0 (included) to address 10 (not included) into a file name 'douglas':
save 0 10 douglas
The [write] command text parameter writes characters into memory as ascii values. Using:
write 5 0
writes the value 48 at address 5 since 48 is the value for ascii character '0'.
The [execute] command uses a value of 0 as end of line separator. This is the value zero, no the ascii character '0'.
The [blank] command sets the given memory range to 0.
Until the system is properly configured and the correct drivers are loaded, the magnetic tape system only allows to store 16 files and limits file names to 8 characters.
| Link | https://www.sisyphe.be/ld48/51/rain_systems.7z |
| Link | https://www.sisyphe.be/ld48/51/rain_systems_sources.7z |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/rain-systems |
Ratings
| Given | 36🗳️ | 33🗨️ |
This was a very unique experience, great job!
@cptplastic that's probably a false positive, I played it (on Linux via Wine) with no problems.
For other people who are lost, here's my Rain Systems unofficial manual:
* The computer tries to boot in 10 seconds
* The manufacturer messed up and shipped it with a broken system configuration, so it will crash when it tries to boot
* Use the `diagnostic` command to learn why it crashed
* Disable turbo mode to give yourself more time to diagnose/fix the problem
* You can also use `pause` to freeze the machine. That's useful for reading the help docs
* The `sys` command lets you change the system configuration. Use `syshelp` to learn how to use it
This was fun, but once I figured out what to do it was too easy. Disabling turbo gives you enough time to just type out all of the commands. I assume that the file write/save/execute commands are probably so that you can save commands between reboots if you don't have enough time, however I ended up just typing the commands I needed in an external text editor and then manually typing them out on reboot.
I know that's cheating, but building a text file in the game was too tedious. Maybe it would've made more sense if the machine configuration was loaded from a specific file on boot, so that players are forced to create a file? The game is already pretty confusing as it is though.
Anyways, I really loved this idea. It's not for everyone, but diagnosing and fixing an imaginary system is so cool. Awesome work with this!
I like the fact you just went for something very abstract and difficult. Knowing a lot of people would just give up (myself included but I did spend half an hour trying and now I have to go. :sweat_smile:)
If you like programming games, I would recommend [this submission](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/the-stack-machine) and mine as well hehe.
I adore the concept, but I think I would've benefitted from a clearer objective... Didn't occur to me that I was meant to fix the bug until reading some comments here... But maybe that's what you were going for?
!> The file related commands confused me for a long time as I assumed that they were necessary. Otherwise very solid and realistic diagnostic process, great game!
A boot loop every 10 seconds remind me some GRUB stuff back in the days :smile:
With patience and a pen & paper, I finally beat the game :wink: Nice job!
Since the window shows up for a second, it looks like your antivirus might be closing the game (several persons reported issues with antivirus softwares). So if you are willing you may try to add an exception for the game.
It's also possible that I screwed something up, but unfortunately I didn't took the time to add detail logs. If you can, try running the game with the "-gfx_log" parameter, it should create a text file called "win32_opengl.log". In that file there should be a line that says "Actual context" followed by "GL_VERSION: 3.3". It would be very unlikely that your hardware doesn't support OpenGL 3.3 as the window wouldn't show up in that case.
I love puzzles like this. Took out a pen an paper, noted down all things, and tried commands one by one. I think I get it, but it seems my execution is off, unfortunately. Had a blast just thinking about it. Thanks for the fun!! And congrats on your entry.
Instructions I used: (SPOILERS)
!> turbo 2
!> sys 1 1
!> sys 2 1
!> sys 3 2
!> sys 5 3
!> sys 7 1 2
!> sys 7 1 3
!> sys 8 1
If it doesn't work, could you try to launch the game with the "-gfx_log" parameter, it should generate a text file called "win32_opengl.log", and look in that file if it contains a line that says “Actual context” followed by “GL_VERSION: 3.3”.
```
Actual context
GL_VERSION: 3.3.0 - Build 23.20.16.5018
```
Nice job!
After I beat the game, it didn't sit right with me that my solution wasn't automated and required several lines of human input, so I scripted it into one file. Here's a GIF of me beating it in Turbo mode using a file:
But already, I wanted to say I love this idea and the execution. This is already the closest I've ever felt to debugging foreign/alien technology. There's a lot of potential to this idea and genre in general.
Can't wait to complete this game!