423 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
423 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
┌─────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐
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│ ┌─┐ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ ┌┐ ┌┐ │ │ ┌─┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ ┌─┐ │ │ ┌─┐ │ │ │ │ │
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│ │ └─┘ │ └──┘ │ │ ││ ││ │ │ └─┘ │ │ └─┘ │ │ └──┘ │ │ └─┘ │ │ └─┘ │ │ └─┘ │
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│ │ ┌─┐ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │└─┘│ │ │ ┌───┘ │ ┌─┐ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ ┌───┘ │ ┌───┘ └─┐ ┌─┘
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│ └─┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
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└─────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘
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┌───┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─┐ ┌──────┐ ┌───┐ ┌─┐ ┌──────┐
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└┐ ┌┘ │ ┌───┘ │ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ └┐ │ │ └┐ ┌─┐ │
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│ │ │ └───┐ │ │ │ └──┘ │ │ ├┐ └┐│ │ │ │ │ │
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│ │ └───┐ │ │ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │└┐ └┤ │ │ │ │ │
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┌┘ └┐ ┌───┘ │ │ └──┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ └┐ │ ┌┘ └─┘ │
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└───┘ └─────┘ └────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └───┘ └──────┘
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▄██████▄ ▄█████▄ ▄█████▄ ▄█████▄ ▄█████▄ ▄█████▄ ██████▄ ▄██████ ██
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██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ▀█████▀ ▀█████▀ ██ ██ ▀█████▀ ██ ▀██ ▀██████ ██
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"We Have Such Sights To Show You... "
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=============================================================================
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Camp Happy Island Massacre FAQ v1.1
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by Eric Woodward (hey@itsericwoodward.com)
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=============================================================================
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Table of Contents
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Section 1 - The Beginning
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1.0 - SPECIAL NOTE - 20 Years Later
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1.1 - What is 'Camp Happy Island Massacre'?
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1.2 - Who Wrote This Wonderful Game?
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1.3 - What Kind of System Do I Need to Run This Game?
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1.4 - How Do I Install and Run This Game?
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1.5 - How Can I Play This Game Online?
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Section 2 - The Game
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2.1 - The Story So Far...
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2.2 - So How Do I Play?
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2.3 - Is There a Map?
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2.4 - What Horror Movies Inspired This Game (aka The Reference Section)?
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2.5 - Will There Be a Sequel?
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Section 3 - The Boring Stuff
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3.0 - SPECIAL NOTE!
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3.1 - What About Bugs?
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3.2 - What License is CHIM Released Under?
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3.3 - Why Isn't CHIM Open Source?
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3.4 - Where Can I Find This Game?
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3.5 - Game Version History
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3.6 - FAQ Version History
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3.7 - Acknowledgements
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3.8 - Support (Such As It Is)
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Section 4 - The Secrets
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4.1 - The Big (well, Fairly Big) Secret
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4.2 - How Do I Win?
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4.3 - How (Can / Do) I Cheat?
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-------------------------
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Section 1 - The Beginning
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-------------------------
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1.0 - SPECIAL NOTE - 20 Years Later
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The FAQ that you are about to read was originally written in January 1997,
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when this game was first released. Since then, alot has happened, and much
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of this FAQ had grown *severely* out-of-date. As a result, I've gone in and
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cleaned-up some of the questions, updated several of the references in the
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answers, and just generally tried to improve the usefulness of these
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Frequently Asked Questions.
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Thanks for taking a look!
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1.1 - What is 'Camp Happy Island Massacre'?
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'Camp Happy Island Massacre' (from here-on-out referred to as 'CHIM') is a
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single-player computer game, with an interface not entirely unlike the old
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(I prefer the term 'classic') script-adventure style of games, like
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'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' or the original 'Zork' (among
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others).
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Why this interface? For several reasons:
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1) This is my first full game, and I knew that I couldn't start with
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anything much more involved than a script-adventure,
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2) This game was programmed in C++, a language that I am still not
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completely at-ease with (and don't particularly care for, TBH), and
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3) I wanted to prove that a game could still be fun without it being 100+
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MBs big and requiring a 3-D graphics card (something that, I feel,
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far too many game-making companies don't believe).
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If this sounds boring, it should be noted that the bulk of the game's
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appeal lies in it's comedic elements. As one can probably tell based on the
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story, the game is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek parody of horror films,
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and, I feel that the game works fairly well in a picture-less format (after
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all, the works of Poe, Lovecraft, and even King are much scarier as books
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than as movies for just this reason). If you disagree, though, you'll be
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glad to hear that the sequel (if it ever happens) will be more visual in
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nature (for more information, see the question concerning the sequel).
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1.2 - Who Wrote This Wonderful Game?
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I did, over 20 years ago.
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My name is Eric Woodward and, at the time of this game's release, I was in
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my second year of college, slowly approaching a degree in Computer Science
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(which I completed in 2000).
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In the 20+ years since, I've gotten married, had a couple of kids, and
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managed to carve out a fairly comfortable life as a coder / web developer.
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But, through it all, CHIM remains the only computer game that I ever
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released (although I did manage to put out a tabletop card game earlier
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this year called 'Mythic Wars: Clash of the Gods', available at many fine
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gaming stores from Excalibre Games -- find out more at
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https://mythicwarsgame.com!).
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Oh yeah... I wrote this FAQ, too.
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1.3 - What Kind of System Do I Need to Run This Game?
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Initially, I'd said "you need a computer; that's about it. Anything from a
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286 on up to the latest Pentium II should be sufficient to run the game",
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and that was true at the time (when MS-DOS still ruled the world). However,
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to run this game in 2018, you probably need a copy of DOSBox (see the next
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question for more information).
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Or, if you don't want to wait, you can most likely play it in your browser
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*right now* on my website: https://www.itsericwoodward.com/chim/.
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1.4 - How Do I Install and Run This Game?
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To play the game on your own machine, you'll need a couple of different
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programs. Since the game is distributed in the pkzip archive format, you
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may need a program to 'unzip' it (unless your OS does it for you, like
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Windows 10). Additionally, you'll need a copy of
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DOSBox (https://www.dosbox.com/). If I were you, I'd unzip CHIM to its
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own folder (ex: `c:\games\chim`), and startup DOSBox. Next, mount the CHIM
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folder (ex: `mount m c:\games\chim`) and switch to that drive (ex: `m:`).
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Finally, start the game with the `chim` command.
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1.5 - How Can I Play This Game Online?
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Thanks to modern software miracles like DOSBox (https://www.dosbox.com/),
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Emscripten (http://emscripten.org/), and their unholy lovechild,
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JS-DOS (https://js-dos.com/), you can play this game in a modern browser
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on my website: https://www.itsericwoodward.com/chim/.
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--------------------
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Section 2 - The Game
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--------------------
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2.1 - The Story So Far...
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Some 15 years ago, someone decided to build a summer camp on
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'Happy Island', a small island in Lake Hades, near the town of Springfield.
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Despite the fact that the island had been known as 'Death Island' (that is,
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until the Springfield Tourism Bureau decided to rename it), or the fact
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that the town's resident drunk, homeless, crazy, old Native American, John,
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continually warned of a great, ancient evil living on the island, the camp
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was built.
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Then, the night before the campers were supposed to arrive, something
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horrible happened. The next day, all 13 counselors were found dead, their
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body parts scattered all over the island. Needless to say, the camp was
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closed.
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Then, 5 years later, someone else decided to re-open the camp, despite the
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still unsolved murders of 5 years before, and despite the fact that many of
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Springfield's residents had seen strange lights circling in the sky above
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the island. Again, 13 counselors were brought from the surrounding areas to
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help run the camp, and again, the night before the campers were to arrive,
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something horrbile happened. The next day, the strange lights were gone...
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and so were the counselors - nothing remained of them but a few scattered
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arms and legs. And, again, the camp was closed down.
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And it remained closed until 5 years later, when someone else decided to
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re-open the summer camp. This person, being a little superstitious, decided
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to hire 14 counselors instead of just 13, hoping to break the apparent
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curse over the camp. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, the 14th counselor,
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named Jason Frederick Bates-Myers (his friends called him 'Jack', but his
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enemies called him 'Mr. Leather-Ghost-Face Man'), was a violent psycopath
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who, on the night before the campers were to arrive, killed the 13 other
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counselors using a leaf blower and homemade 'explosive' attachment. In the
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end, Jack was taken to Belleward Mental Institute, and the camp was closed
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down.
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And that was 5 years ago. Now, they want to re-open it again, this time
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with 13 brand-new counselors, and a fresh look on life. Finding counselors
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was easy - after all, what teenager doesn't want to spend 6 weeks as
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relatively unsupervised counselors at a co-ed summer camp, away from
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parents, teachers, and other adults? So what if John, the Native American
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is talking about the 'ancient evil' again? So what if the strange lights
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have re-appeared? And so what if that Bates-Myers guy has escaped from
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Belleward? That doesn't mean anything, right?
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Wrong... Because it's the night before the campers are to arrive... And the
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camp head, Ranger Bud, has gone into town... And the other 10 counselors
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have all disappeared into the woods, leaving only the three of you back at
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camp... And you're scared... You're scared that you might not survive...
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The Camp Happy Island Massacre!
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2.2 - So How Do I Play?
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When you run the game, it will ask if you need instructions. Moving around
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the island is accomplished via four keys: 'N' for North, 'S' for South,
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'E' for East, and 'W' for West. You can't always go all four ways, so it
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pays to read the descriptions of the areas you find yourself in (if
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something is blocking a certain direction, you can't go that way).
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Incidentally, if you can't remember where you can go, you can always use
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the 'L' (Look) command to read the description again.
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If you encounter an item while you are walking around, you can try to pick
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it up by using the 'G' (Get) command, but don't be surprised if it tells
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you that you can't pick an item up (typically, this only happens with items
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that are particularly nasty or heavy). Once you have an item, you can take
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a closer look at it by using the 'X' (eXamine) command, and you can try to
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use it via the 'U' (Use) command. Again, don't be surprised if you beat the
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game without ever using certain items - many of them are just there for fun
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and can't be used at all.
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The remaining commands are either used to get on-line help ('?' or 'H' for
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Quick Help, or 'M' to read the Manual), or to quit the game ('Q').
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Oh yeah - there are some hidden rooms on the island, one of which you will
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have to find in order to beat the game... Good Luck.
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2.3 - Is There a Map?
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Included in the distribution should be "MAP.TXT", a map in UTF-8 text-file
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format (if your distribution didn't include one, get a new distribution).
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Granted, this map is only slightly helpful, as it doesn't have any actual
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trails drawn on it, just major landmarks. If you were in fact looking for
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a map of trails... sorry, but there isn't one (at least, there isn't one
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that I'm distributing...) I feel that having that kind of a map would
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subtract SEVERELY from the game's fun-factor. So, in short, make due with
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what you got, and if you are an enterprising individual and wish to make
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a map, it shouldn't be too hard.
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2.4 - What Horror Movies Inspired This Game (aka The Reference Section)?
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This game was, more or less, inspired by a whole slew of movies. Some are
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more obvious than others (the many and varied 'Friday the 13th' movies
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stand out in my mind), and sometimes it isn't even movies that inspired
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certain elements of this game, but rather books (like the works of one H.P.
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Lovecraft). Regardless, here's a brief list of movies and movie series that
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inspired me:
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Evil Dead (including Army of Darkness), Scream, Friday the 13th, Psycho,
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Hellraiser, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Nightbreed, Carrie, Firestarter,
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Phantasm, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Re-Animator, Bad Taste,
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Puppet Master, Dead Alive (Braindead), The Frighteners, Alien, Showgirls,
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Night of the Living Dead, There's Nothing Out There, and countless others.
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2.5 - Will There Be a Sequel?
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Initially, I had planned to make one, "Cause nowadays, ya' gotta have a
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sequel!". I had even begun work on one, a CD-ROM-based game complete with
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full-motion video, special effects, even a script! But, it never came to
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fruition, and by now, the code is lost to time (along with the video,
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the photos, and the age of most of the original cast).
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On the other hand, I have considered making a board or card game based on
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the characters and concepts from CHIM, so... Who knows what the future has
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in store for CHIM?
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----------------------------
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Section 3 - The Boring Stuff
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----------------------------
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3.0 - SPECIAL NOTE!
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This version (v1.0) of the game will be the only version ever to be
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released. This was not my original intention; I had fully intended to fix
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any and all bugs that turned up, colorize the output (to make it pretty),
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and then re-release it. Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and
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men (and me) can't stand up to a total hard-drive loss, especially when
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the last remaining copy of the source code was contained therein. So, you
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can keep playing CHIM all you want, but there almost certainly won't be a
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new version of it, ever. We now return you to your regularly scheduled FAQ.
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3.1 - What About Bugs?
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What Bugs? I write perfect programs.
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Not really. Despite my best efforts, my program does have some unintended
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(and unwanted) 'features'. The complete (to my knowledge) list is below:
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- Some problems with garbage characters popping into descriptions of some
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of the areas (caused by a char-pointer problem).
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If you find a bug that isn't listed here, please feel free to e-mail me
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at hey@itsericwoodward.com, or snail-mail them to me at the address listed
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a little later.
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3.2 - What License is CHIM Released Under?
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CHIM was originally released as "<Whatever>-ware", wherein I asked people
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who enjoyed the game to "send me something (preferably not something that
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is alive, ticking, or that has a strange odor)." In the 20 years since the
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game's original release, free software licensing has grown by leaps and
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bounds (plus, I'm kind of afraid to ask people to send me things now).
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As a result of these factors, I'm re-releasing CHIM under the so-called
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MIT License (a copy of which should have been included in your ZIP file
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distribution as "LICENSE.TXT") and which can be found at:
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https://www.itsericwoodward.com/chim/LICENSE.TXT
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3.3 - Is CHIM Open Source?
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Well, it would be, but (as noted above), the code was lost during a hard-
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drive crash in mid-1997 (just a couple of months after the game was
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released). As a result, there is no source to open (otherwise, I would
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definitely have re-released it under an open-source license years ago).
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3.4 - Where Can I Find This Game?
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The latest version of the game, FAQ, and other related files can always be
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found at:
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https://www.itsericwoodward.com/chim/
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3.5 - Game Version History
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v0.9b - released on 10/31/97 (Halloween) - Original Beta Release
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v1.0 - released on 01/05/97 - Original Full Release
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- Fixed small problem with movement and the map
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- Made output prettier
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3.6 - FAQ Version History
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v1.0 - released on 01/05/1997 - Original Full Release
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v1.1 - released on 10/10/2018 - 21 Years Worth of Updates
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3.7 - Acknowledgements
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There are many people I want to thank, but I can't, so I'll just hit the
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major ones...
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- Mark, Donnie, Tommy, Jeff, and Sarah for not laughing at me when I
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mentioned that I was writing a game;
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- My playtester, Mike, for actually doing playtesting (maps and all);
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- All of my professors and friends at school for their help, both direct
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and implicit;
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- And my wonderful wife, Stacie, for supporting me.
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3.8 - Support (Such As It Is)
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I offer no promises for support, but feel free to contact me at any of the
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following addresses / locations:
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Email: hey@itsericwoodward.com
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WWW: https://www.itsericwoodward.com/chim/
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Fediverse: @eric@social.wonderdome.net
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-----------------------
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Section 4 - The Secrets
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-----------------------
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WARNING! - This section contains many gratuitous spoilers. If you read this
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section, there is a chance that some of the fun of the game will be lost.
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So, I urge you to skip this section entirely. Just so no secrets get out,
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let me fill up the rest of this space with, um, filler:
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Alright... You asked for it...
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4.1 - The Big (well, Fairly Big) Secret
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The Fairly Big Secret is that the game doesn't just have 1 ending. Each
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time the game is loaded, there is a random chance that the killer will be
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either a group of aliens, an unnamable Thing, or a vengeful psychopath
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(Jason Frederick Bates-Myers, to be more specific).
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4.2 - How Do I Win?
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First off, you MUST find the radio tower and signal for help (it may sound
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like the message didn't get out, but rest assured that it did).
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After that, it depends on who the killer is.
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- If it's the Aliens - you need to get the credit card type-thing out of
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the cave, take it to the secret room (in the lodge) and use it, and then
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go to the baseball field, where the ship will land.
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- If it's the Thing - you need to get the Unholy Book from the secret room
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(in the lodge), take it to the baseball field and use it, and then go to
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the cave, where the thing will be waiting.
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- If it's the Psycho - you need to get the flashlight from the baseball
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field, take it to the cave and use it to read the words on the wall, and
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then you need to go to the secret room (in the lodge) to confront Jason.
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4.3 - How (Can / Do) I Cheat?
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Well, it seems to me that that's exactly what you're doing right now. But,
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you can cheat by entering one or two command line arguments when executing
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the game. They are called by typing 'chim -arg1 -arg2' where the args
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can be:
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'-nokiller' - tired of the killer getting you before you can get him? Use
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this little switch to prevent him from ever finding you until the end of
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the game.
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'-aliens' - forces the bad guys to be the aliens.
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'-thing' - forces the bad guy to be the unnamable thing.
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'-psycho' - forces the bad guy to be Jason Frederick Bates-Myers.
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So, to make the bad guys be the aliens, type 'chim -aliens' at the
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command prompt. Or, to make it be the psycho, and to keep him from killing
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you first, type 'chim -nokiller -psycho'. Of course, entering the
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command 'chim -aliens -thing' doesn't work; the bad guy winds up being
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the thing.
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And that, my friend, is how you cheat.
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