Lost Pig (And Place Under Ground)

Lost Pig is a text adventure game (also known as "Interactive Fiction") about an orc named Grunk and a pig who would much prefer to remain lost. The story is told entirely from Grunk's perspective, in his own words (just words — no pictures), so the player gets to experience the world through Grunk's unique point of view. It's entirely up to you to figure out how he's going to find that pig and get it back home. Along the way, you'll get to discover a lost underground shrine, solve a few puzzles, practice your conversational skills, and maybe even learn a thing or two about alchemy. So enjoy the ride!

How To Play

You can play Lost Pig online or download it to your computer. To play online, you can either go here to use the javascript-based Parchment interpreter or here for a version that uses Flash.

If you'd rather download Lost Pig to play on your own computer, you'll need two things: the game itself and an interpreter. (Downloading the interpreter is kind of like getting WinAmp in order to play an MP3 or upgrading your Flash plugin to play a Flash game.)

Here are a the links to download the game. If you're not sure which you want, then just pick the first one. Download Lost Pig...

...as a blorb file, with cover art included.
...as a Z8 file, without cover art.

There are different interpreters available, but Gargoyle is one that has versions for Windows, Macs and Linux. You can download it here. Once you've installed it, you just run the interpreter and use it to open the game file.

If you've already started running the game, but you're still confused, then more help is available!

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Reviews and Such

“Lost Pig could be the proverbial poster child for all that's right in puzzle-game design.”

— Mike Snyder

“I found myself laughing most of the time while I gleefully wandered around.”

— Jay is Games

“Lost Pig is rock-solid.”

— Jason Dyer

“Grunk is a nice juicy character to get into, not really evil but sort of perpetually confused, like an enormous green child.”

— Carl Muckenhoupt

“...Lost Pig makes a hilarious case for why text still matters.”

— Onion A.V. Club

“I highly recommend it, if you're inclined to take my word for it.”

— Emily Short

Lost Pig was originally released as an entry in the thirteenth annual IF Competition, an open contest for Interactive Fiction authors. Out of twenty-seven entries, it took first place.

It was also nominated for eight XYZZY Awards, which are given out annually to recognize the most popular text adventure games of each year. Lost Pig won four of these awards for 2007: Best Individual PC, Best Individual NPC, Best Writing, and Best Game.

More information about Lost Pig and other adventure games can be found at the Interactive Fiction Database, Baf's Guide to the IF Archive and the IF Wiki.

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Help!

When you play a text adventure game, you're taking on the role of the main character of the story. You control what they do by typing in short, simple commands, like LOOK AT THE FIELD or CLIMB THE WALL or SEARCH THE BUSHES or EAT PANTS or PICK UP MOON or BURN FOREST WITH TORCH. There are also some special commands, like INVENTORY (which tells you what your character is carrying) and SAVE and RESTORE (which let you save your place and then pick up from the same spot later on) and UNDO (which takes back your last command — handy if you've made a mistake) and the compass directions (like EAST or SOUTHWEST, for saying where you want to go). Some games also have a command like HELP or ABOUT that gives you some extra information about how to play. (Lost Pig does this; you should try it out. It'll bring up a set of menus, including one with some other handy commands you might like to use.)

If you're not sure how to get started, or if you've done a few things but aren't really sure where to go next, here are a few tips that might be handy:

Look at everything. Most things in the game have descriptions that might give helpful clues about what's going on or what you can do. (Or they might just add some extra color to your surroundings.)
Go everywhere. If you think you've already been everywhere, it might not hurt to take a quick walk around anyway, double-checking to make sure you didn't miss any exits.
Take everything you can. A lot of objects can be picked up and carried around with you. These will often turn out to be useful for dealing with obstacles elsewhere in the game.
Play with everything. If you find a ball, try throwing it. If you find a box, try opening it. If you find a knife, try cutting things with it. If you find something that you're not sure what to do with, try to figure out what it's for. You can't actually get permanently stuck in Lost Pig, so there's no harm in experimenting.
Think creatively. Sometimes, it might not be obvious what something is really for. And other times, an object might turn out to be useful for something other than its obvious purpose. If you need a ball but can't find one, an apple might serve just as well.

Finally, if you wind up getting completely stuck on some particularly difficult puzzle, and you can't figure out how to make any more progress without solving it, then Lost Pig does provide hints. You can find them in one of the menus that you get when you type HELP.

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Credits

The Author

The game is, of course, by Grunk. He claims that it's autobiographical, although not using that exact word, as it's not actually in his vocabulary. (But for that matter, neither is "vocabulary"). In his own words: "This story about thing that happen to Grunk when Grunk work on pig farm." He's recently been engaged performing a tour of duty in the army, and a portion of his military journal can be found online, beginning here. Detailed information about his endeavors since that time is still unknown.

The Implementor

Admiral Jota was responsible for translating Grunk's story into this computerized form. He's also responsible for a few other pieces of Interactive Fiction which are probably better left unmentioned. He is also actively working on shirking any future responsibility, although that will likely be a futile pursuit. Jota can be reached by email at jota [-xxx-] grunk.org (replace the [-xxx-] with an @ sign). If you have any comments on the game, he welcomes your feedback. (But be warned that he does not always get around to actually replying to his all email.)

The Others

The game was betatested by Emily Short, Jacqueline Lott, Sam Kabo Ashwell, Dan Shiovitz, and Jason Dyer. Their assistance and their patience were both immeasurable. We'd also like to thank Graham Nelson, L. Ross Raszewski, Stephen Granade, the denizens of ifMUD, and everyone who has provided feedback on the game so far. Thanks!

License

Lost Pig by Admiral Jota and Grunk is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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Other Games

If you enjoyed playing Lost Pig, then you'll be pleased to know that there are plenty of other great IF games out there. Here's a small sampling of games which I've had fun with, and which I think fans of Lost Pig might enjoy as well:

Child's Play by Stephen Granade
It's not a bad life, being a baby — until the parents take away your favorite toy! How will you get it back without letting it fall into Zoe's thieving little hands?
Savoir Faire by Emily Short
Magic and puzzles and a dash of humor in eighteenth century France, when Pierre returns to the mansion where he grew up but finds it mysteriously vacant. What will he do with no one around to cook his supper?
Suveh Nux by David Fisher
Trapped. Sealed inside a wizard's vault. Fortunately, you're not completely alone: what secrets might there be in that old book, and could they help you to escape?
Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus by Dan Shiovitz and Emily Short
Xavian Warlord Ch'awwwk-k'pot has a new secret weapon and is threatening the Earth with total domination! But between Doris's rocket pants and Max's trusty blaster pistol, those Venusian villains don't stand a chance.
Augmented Fourth by Brian Uri
When the king doesn't like your trumpet-playing, he naturally opts to have you thrown in a nearly-bottomless pit. So begins an expansive underground puzzle romp featuring wacky humor and a music-based magic system.

And if those aren't enough, you can find more at places like the Interactive Fiction Database or Baf's Guide to the IF Archive.

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