Adventure: The Inside Job Read-Me, Disclaimer and Legal Info
Introduction:
Welcome to Adventure: The Inside Job. In this game, you play the part of Thalia James, CGMS agent. What a CGMS agent does and what the CGMS is will become apparent to you once you start playing the game.
If you've played a lot of adventure games, you'll definitely recognize many of the people and places you'll encounter. If you haven't, be prepared for one wild and confusing ride. It's definitely not necessary to have played all of the games mentioned/featured in The Inside Job, but if you've played a few of the more popular games, you'll probably have an easier time solving some of the puzzles.
If you're completely new to the world of adventure games, I'll try to describe the genre for you: Adventure games are games where progress is made not by shooting enemies or fighting opponents, but by solving puzzles. These puzzles might be literal (opening a puzzle box, putting a jigsaw puzzle together) or figurative (getting a guard to move away from a door, trapping an animal), but they are the hallmark of the genre, as is a story that links the puzzles together. This style of game has become unpopular in recent years, but some people still enjoy adventure a good deal. This game was made not only for these people, but as a homage to all the great adventure games of the past.
Gameplay:
To move Thalia around, click on the Walk icon and click where you want to go.
To look at something, click the Eye icon and click on what you want to examine more closely.
To manipulate or pick up something, click on the Hand icon, then click on whatever you want to touch.
To talk to someone (or something), use the Talk icon on a person or an object.
Clicking on the Inventory button will bring up the Inventory Window. There you can examine whatever you're carrying, select items and occasionally combine items (by selecting one item and clicking it on another item). You can use inventory items on other objects and entities in the game world by selecting an item using the Arrow button, clicking the OK button to close the Inventory Window, then clicking the item on the thing you want to use it on. Your previously selected inventory item will appear in the window to the right of the Inventory button.
To manipulate an inventory item (juggle a set of balls, open a box, etc.), select an object with the Arrow icon, click the OK button, then use the object on Thalia. This may not always do anything useful, but it never hurts to try.
To save or restore a game, restart the game or quit, click on the Options button.
The About icon displays a brief snippet of information about the game.
To skip a line of dialogue, either click either mouse button or press any key on your keyboard. To skip a lengthy cutscene, press Escape (don't do this unless you've seen the scene before, or you might miss some valuable information!).
And lastly, in the name of all that is pixellated, don't open the file in the game's directory called "door.wmv" unless you want to spoil the game's ending!
Disclaimer/Legal Info:
Most of the music, characters and backgrounds in this game weren't created by me: they were copied from a number of adventure games without permission. This game was created to be nothing more than a fun diversion for people who play too many adventure games...so please don't sue me.
MP3 player is almp3, by Javier Gonzalez and the FreeAmp team. It uses the mpg123 MP3 decoder, and is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1.
Pentium is a trademark of Intel corporation. Windows is a trademark or registered trademark of Microsoft corp.
Visit the game's website at http://akril.sq7.org/atij/atij.html.
-Akril, October 2008