# this is general information I didn't want to duplicate TXT ABOUT Write or Reflect is sort of factual and sort of speculative at the same time. I'm aware there's no shortage of "my lousy writer's block" works, so if I wrote one, I hopefully could make something funny and relevant and not too ponderous. TXT ABOUT I originally had this planned as an EctoComp Petite Mort game, but it went over 4 hours. I liked having the binary choice available. TXT ABOUT It's not the first game to have pretty much binary choices, as The Ascot has what's probably a better puzzle. But you might be surprised at what else inspired it! # expanded about TXT ABOUTX Mike Spivey's _A Beauty Cold and Austere_ has an influence on this, because it's about exploring stuff that looks odd or that you don't understand in general. I remember him roughly asking me "Well, what would you add, if you could?" My response was the cubic or quadratic formula, which seems impractical, I know. But it opened the question: what sort of exploration COULD we do? TXT ABOUTX Then I remembered an old high school math contest with an interesting problem that is the crux of what's going on here. I got it right with brute force when I saw the pattern. But I struggled to find why. An upperclassman showed me. And I wondered how I could've seen it earlier, or looked at the right thing, to understand the pattern? It was a driving force to learn stuff beyond getting the next math contest problem right. TXT ABOUTX _Progress Quest_ had influence on this, too. The whole idea of having to (very oblique spoiler) work exponentially harder to level up amused me, but of course I wanted to give you a way to solve things. # credits TXT CREDITS Thanks to StackOverflow for so much Python help. TXT CREDITS Thanks to Brian Rushton for taking over Spring Thing after Aaron Reed's long tenure. TXT CREDITS TXT CREDITSX Thanks to Dave Revelle for showing me the math to this long ago. Whether or not he ever stumbles on this, he probably won't remember any of the math stuff he helped me with, but he answered so many dumb questions of mine without treating me like an idiot. # help TXT HELP You can give no command or ? to get help. TXT HELP P shows you progress so far. PP shows you all the sessions that have worked. PPP shows you all the sessions that have worked, plus previous chapters written. TXT HELP N puts Write or Reflect in normal mode. H puts it in helpful mode. Normal mode will not redirect you from roads you traveled before. Helpful will. TXT HELP Most commands will be W or R or, later, you can string them together as need be. TXT HELP A gives ABOUT information, and C gives CREDITS. Each gives a bit extra if you type it twice in a row. TXT HELP Q twice in a row quits. TXT HELPX You're far enough along that guessing how many different sessions there are will help speed things up. # TXT INTROCHOICE Write or Reflect has two modes, (H)elpful or (N)ormal. This can be changed in-game, but they're different enough, I want to give you your choice to start. TXT INTROCHOICE Normal will not warn you when you reach a point where all paths ahead are exhausted. This may lengthen game time. TXT INTROCHOICE Helpful ushers you only to points where you haven't exhausted all possible paths yet. This shortens game time but creates less challenge. TXT INTROCHOICE Paths taken can also be tracked with the (P) command, so this option is more about having an additional bumper to help push you ahead, if you want it. TXT INTROCHOICE For those who enjoy the challenge of mathematical puzzles, (N)ormal is recommended. Others, or those with less time, may wish to try (H)elpful. ;