The Hollywood Murders (Text only)
An Interactive Mystery

Version 1.2 -  Freeware

This text adventure puts you into the shoes of a hardboiled 1950's
private eye. You are about to begin a case that will either bring you a
nice fat paycheck, or death.

To begin the game, click on the HM.exe file, then type the command 'HM' 
and hit enter. The game will then begin.

This game has a reasonably flexible parser and should accept short sentences
in the Verb-Noun format. Adjectives, pronouns and prepositions are also
allowed. If a certain command doesn't work, try experimenting.  You may use
normal English sentences, such as:

 Take the gun and the bullets.
 Open the desk drawer and look inside it.
 Take everything.

When interacting with characters in the game, there are a number of
specific commands you may use. To speak with a character, you may:

Talk to <character>
Ask <character> about <object>

You may also give or show objects to characters. The correct syntax for
these commands would be:

Give <object> to <character>
Show <object> to <character>

These are just a couple of examples, but it will give you the right idea
for interacting with people in the game. Again, if something doesn't seem
to work (and you think it should), try experimenting with different commands.

To travel about, use the directional commands, N, S, E, W, Up and Down.
You may need to use objects to travel in certain situations. The Inventory
command will show all the items currently in your possession.

In order to save your current game position, use the Save command. Restore
will load your saved games. To exit a game, simply use the quit command.

Other useful commands and shortcuts are:

X <object> : Examine object
L : Look (will repeat room description)
I : Inventory (will display current player inventory)

It may be useful to save your position in the game while playing, (in case
you get killed or are stumped on a puzzle). If you get stuck on a puzzle,
try to use common sense and logic. Hope you have fun.


This game may be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes.

Design...  Michael Zerbo
Special thanks to...  Thomas Nilsson, Goran Forslund, Bob Newell
                                 and Christopher Zerbo                     



E-mail: deadletteroffice0@lycos.com

(C) 1996 M. Zerbo

