Voice of Spoon River Game
VOSR

About This Game
This interactive fiction game is based on Edgar Lee Master’s collection of poems, The Spoon River Anthology. Each poem is an epitaph of someone from the fictional town of Spoon River. There are many connections and stories that can be discovered from a careful reading of the individual poems. This is a game about resolving conflicts and uncovering mysteries relating to these epitaphs. Solving these conflicts requires good reading and problem solving skills. 

What is interactive fiction?
Interactive Fiction (or IF for short) is both a computer game and a book, or rather something in between. You usually take on the role of the main character in a story. The game tells you what happens to the character, and you tell the game how the character should act. This is not always simple, but can make for a very rewarding experience. The game's output is usually text based, and by typing text into the computer, allows you to communicate with the game.

Where does the game take place?
The game takes place in the Spoon River Cemetery and the town of Spoon River. Players will encounter ghosts and be able to read epitaphs throughout the game.
 
What can I as a player control?
You will be able to manipulate the game’s environment in numerous ways by typing commands into the computer.

What is the main focus of this game?
The main goal of the game is to help the ghostly citizens of Spoon River find resolutions to issues that plagued their lives and left them in a restless state.

Contact information
If you are interested in using this game for educational purposes, please contact Dr. Brett E. Shelton of Utah State University.
brett.shelton@usu.edu 

To learn more about the game and the related research go to the URL below.
http://it.usu.edu/cle/CLE_IF_learning.html 

Getting Started: Instructions for Beginners
This readme file is packaged with free Z-code interpreters for both PC and Mac. An interpreter is a program that lets you open and run interactive fiction games. Once you have downloaded and unzipped the VOSR_IF_game.zip package you should click on an interpreter (Frotz for PC or Zoom for Mac). To start a game using the interpreter, click on File --> Open, then select the appropriate game file, in this case VOSR_v2_14_06.z5.

Game Introduction
It has been years since anyone walked down Spoon River’s dusty Main Street. Only the sound of the wind and the timeless trickle of the fountain in the cemetery make any noise at all. The town of Spoon River sleeps. But not all are at peace. Some say the town slowly faded away as the old people died and the young ones moved away. Others say it happened suddenly when the wells dried up. Somehow, Spoon River became a ghost town. And all the secrets would have faded, too, if it wasn’t for the epitaphs. You must examine the past, collect clues, and help find and resolve the issues of those who are not at rest.

How do I play?

Movement
To move to a new location simply type the direction you want to move. You can type GO SOUTH, but just SOUTH will also do the trick, as will S (which is the commonly accepted abbreviation for SOUTH). Other directions and their abbreviations are NORTH (N), EAST (E), WEST (W), NORTHEAST (NE), SOUTHEAST (SE), NORTHWEST (NW), SOUTHWEST (SW), UP (U), DOWN (D), IN and OUT. 

Common verbs
Here are some of the most important verbs, with examples:
LOOK or L (L or LOOK AROUND or LOOK IN JAR or LOOK UNDER BED)
TAKE	(TAKE BOOK or TAKE ALL)
DROP	(DROP BOOK or DROP ALL)
EXAMINE or X (EXAMINE DESK or X DESK)
SEARCH (SEARCH DESK)
INVENTORY or I (This will show what you are carrying with you.)
OPEN	(OPEN DOOR)
CLOSE (CLOSE DOOR)
LOCK	(LOCK DOOR WITH RUSTY KEY)
UNLOCK (UNLOCK DOOR WITH RUSTY KEY)
TALK (TALK TO BOB)

Other verbs you will need from time to time include ATTACK, DRINK, EAT,  LISTEN, MOVE, PULL, PUSH, REMOVE, READ, SHOOT, SIT, STRIKE, THROW, TURN. There are lots more. Hopefully they will seem natural to you when you need them.

Special verbs
UNDO		Takes back the last move you made. You can do this multiple times.
QUIT or Q	Ends the current game.
RESTART	Starts the game over from the beginning.
SAVE		Saves your current position to a file on disk.
RESTORE	Loads a previously saved game position.
HELP 		Information about the game and its author and hints to some of the puzzles.

Getting stuck and unstuck
While playing IF, you will get stuck. If you feel that you can not get unstuck from the same spot, you can type HELP to see if there are any hints available. One more thing about playing interactive fiction: Make a map as you play. You are very likely to need it.