UH'S PROFILE

I'm not totally convinced it's real but sort of hoping it is, because that would make it much more hilarious.

@Deacon: you can get OJ with your McBreakfast here in the USA, might be different in your part of the world. Don't feel like you're missing out though. Their OJ isn't terrible but there's something not quite right about it; I think they dump sugar into it or something, or they don't dilute their concentrate enough, I dunno. I gave up trying to apply logic to McDogfood's food prep methods years ago.

When a friend of mine used to do that and we'd go through his drive through window, he would ask us "would you like a napkin"

That was his code word.

Napkin.

catmitts that Ron Gilbert article is fantastic, thanks.

hey wait, i didn't get my fries

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(like you have to attach the gum to the stick, then put on a nail, use the inside of the chicken to blahblahblah) which adventure games sometimes do.

I actually really love this aspect of adventure game puzzles. They make me feel like MacGyver :D

A really standout game that illustrates how this can be done well is Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess. Released under the name Kult in some regions, I'm pretty sure the DOS version is available for download as abandonware.

For me it had the perfect balance of obscurity and sensibility. The situations you get thrown into are completely alien (literally, too) and the whole game setting is just so damn weird that it makes sense to be, at times, unforgivingly hard to figure out. It probably also helps that it has a "pass these mind-racking ordeals, filthy human" premise. You typically don't get any clear clues. In the beginning you're given an item and told what room it will be useful in, but then you get to the room and it looks something like this:

yes that is a fetus used as a HUD element

Anyway, you get to the room and realize you weren't given much of a head start at all. The game involves clicking around (the game tells you if an object is interactive so you're not flying blind) and interacting with objects until you figure out how to beat the puzzle. It's not all trial and error, though, because common sense does play a part. Touching boiling acid kills you, mouthing off to guards gets you beaten to death with zapsticks, obeying the spider lady when she asks for a kiss means you get bitten and have your liquefied guts sucked out (not as hot as it sounds), and generally it's pretty clear if doing something will make you destroy or lose important items ("hmm... drop wooden die down long tube... shit.")

It's just.... really hard for most games to get puzzles that rely on intuition right.