content warnings:

animatronics, (fake) guns, swords, player character derealization, player character mental breakdown, descriptions of misogyny, descriptions of fatphobia, descriptions of sexual harassment, blood, decapitation, player character murdering NPC

(highlight text for content warnings)

yo-heave-ho is an interactive fiction game about ghosts. Ghosts that haunt buildings. Ghosts that haunt machines.

Your name is Sarah. You work at a dark ride in a popular theme park in the early 2000s. A hurricane's right on top of the park...but your boss insists that you close up the ride.

Good luck.

yo-heave-ho.
a ghost in the machine story by chloe spears.
created for the scream machine jam.
made with inform 7.
special thanks to dana lubow, and to every cast member who has shared backstage details for the magic kingdom version of pirates of the caribbean on the internet;
especially foxxfur, for her blog post Goodnight George... a Ghost Story, which was invaluable.

Comments

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(2 edits)

I'm new to this type of game format and I really enjoyed it, thanks! The pacing and plot had me treading carefully, and the ending commands had me holding my breath and waiting for what's next. I second the possibility of a 'help' command for newbies (like me) that could remind the user on what they could do when stuck (even a reminder saying 'pay attention to your surroundings' or 'remember to inspect/view everything').
Minor suggestions:
-adding 'back' as an alternate command for south (to match forward+north) & 'pull down' as an additional answer to one of the puzzles (since that's what I deciphered from the description, but getting stuck there was on me)
-"You want to give the kids going on it now the best experience, so they get the chance [to] love it just like you did..."
-I'm not sure if I ended the game correctly (I assumed it was the end when I couldn't type anymore), perhaps something to indicate the end/credits scene?

Thanks again for this game (and introducing the game format)!  It was really fun, can't wait for more (:

(+1)

thank you for the feedback! glad the writing comes across well, and I'm really glad it works okay as a first work of IF. (if you'd like to play more in the genre, consider ryan veeder's taco fiction, adam cadre's photopia, and/or emily short's counterfeit monkey for a few different takes on what parser IF can look like!)

I've been working on an update, so I'll definitely put your suggestions on the list! I do want to ask if you could give a little bit more information on what you mean by "pull down," because I can't think of an action in the game that that'd apply to. either I've forgotten the action or my description's misleading/vague.

thanks again!

Thank you, I'll definitely check them out! In Auction Scene (Destroyed), the redhead's dress is pulled up, the answer 'cover up' makes sense but I initially inferred the answer as 'pull down dress'. Inferring that I had to do anything with her dress at all was new to me so it took some time haha
Good luck!

(+1)

oh! yeah, that's a totally reasonable action to try. will put it on the list!