S W I S S F A M I L Y R O B I N S O N
by Tom Snyder Productions, Inc.
A Graphic Text Adventure Game for the C64.
Game Authors: Gabrielle Savage, David Dookterman, Tom Snyder
Commodore 64 version by Leonard Bertoni
Based on the book by Samuel Wyss.
Copyright 1984 Windham Classics Corp. All rights reserved.
This FAQ/Walkthrough was written by Umbreon2000, is copyright 2004 and also
has all rights reserved. Please do not reproduce any part of this FAQ/
Walkthrough without permission from the author, who can be reached by
e-mailing umbreon2@hotmail.com
11/12/04 Walkthrough version 1.2 NEWLY ADDED: Go Fish! Thanks to info
contributed by YourMom, the secret of where and how to fish has finally been
revealed. See Goal 5 (Obtaining Enough Food for the Rainy Season) for
details.
Walkthrough History:
Version 1.1 Added: How to get out of the Quicksand, plus rumors of being
able to go fishing and possibly build a treehouse. Thanks to KalPhoenix and
Amy Robinson (appropriately enough) for this new information.
Version 1.0 Basic walkthrough, asking if anyone knew how to escape from the
Quicksand (remedied in Version 1.1)
===========================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Before You Begin (game mechanics and vocabulary list)
2. Walkthrough
Goal One: Getting Your Family Safely Ashore
Goal Two: Building a Tent
Goal Three: Beachcombing and Finding a Better Place to Live
Goal Four: Making a Candle
Goal Five: Obtaining Enough Food for the Rainy Season
Goal Six: Keeping the Family Happy
Goal Seven: Hunting for Fresh Meat
Goal Eight: Finding and Rescuing Jenny
Goal Nine: Getting Yourself Rescued
3. Things to Be Aware of While Exploring
Hunger and Thirst
Quicksand
Dangerous Creatures
The Rainy Season
4. Survival Tips (FAQs)
5. Credits/Game Rumors
============================================================================
BEFORE YOU BEGIN:
This game is a text adventure with a limited vocabulary. No joystick is
required; all commands are typed out on the keyboard and executed by pressing
the Enter/Return key. Here is a list of words that the game recognizes:
Verbs
Chop, Close, Cut, Dig, Drink, Drop, Eat, Empty, Find, Go, Grab, Launch,
Light, Load (Gun), Look, Nail, Open, Put, Read, Saw, Shoot, Take, Tell,
Throw, Tie, Write
Please note that some verbs automatically supply extra words when you type
them. For example, if you type the command "LAUNCH" and press the spacebar,
the computer adds the words "BOAT TO THE" -- and you only need to type in the
direction you wish to launch the boat in to complete the command line.
Likewise, if you type the word "THROW" followed by the object you wish to
throw, the word "TOWARD" will automatically follow, after which you type in
what you're throwing your object at.
You can also SAVE your current game, CONTINUE an old game or START a new one.
Typing INVENTORY will list all of the items you are currently carrying.
Nouns - Living Creatures
Albatross, Bear, Chicken, Cow, Dog, Eagle, Family, Flamingo, Franz, Hornets,
Jenny, Lion, Monkey, Ostrich, Python, Shark, Tiger, Turtle, Walrus, Whale
(Note: Actually, the Whale is just a skeleton, and therefore not "living."
It also appears to have no known use in the game. Let me know if I'm wrong.)
Nouns - Food
Bearsteaks, Beefsteaks, Biscuits, Cheese, Coconut, Eggs, Fish, Lionsteaks,
Pineapple, Potatoes, Pythonsteaks, Rice, Sugar Cane, Tigersteaks,
Turtlesteaks
Nouns - Tools and Other Items
Aloe, Ax, Bamboo, Boat, Bottle, Barrels, Book, Candle, Canvas, Cauldron,
Cave, Clay, Cotton, Driftwood, Feather, Fire, Footprints, Fuller's Earth,
Gun, Harpoon, Hat, Ink Jar, Knife, Latex, Map, Match, Matchbox, Message,
Musicbox, Nest, Nails, Pail, Paper, Pebble, Planks, Quicksand, Reeds, Rope,
Saw, Shovel, Stalactite, String, Tin, Water, Waxberries
When moving from one area to the next, simply type "N" for North, "S" for
South, etc. The only exception to this occurs at the very beginning of the
game, where you type GO BELOW to get into the hold, and GO TOPSIDE to get
back on deck. To get off the ship after you've built a boat, use the
"Launch" command.
============================================================================
WALKTHROUGH
After placing game disk in drive, type: LOAD "WIND",8,1
Press Return. When the “Windham Classics” screen appears, press G and wait
while the game program loads. After the title screen, the following text
will appear:
"Shipwrecked! Fritz, you and your family are perched precariously atop rocks
just off the coast of a remote tropical island. How will you get everyone
safely ashore? Once on land, will you have the skill and ingenuity to
survive in the wilderness? Can you cleverly devise a way to be rescued?
Like the characters in the classic book, SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, you'll
discover a vast, rich new world that is exciting, challenging, and fun to
explore."
Press any key to continue.
GOAL 1: Getting Your Family and Yourself Safely From the Ship to the Shore.
Go Below. Open Toolchest. Look Toolchest. Take everything you see, both
inside and outside the Toolchest, except the Cauldron. (Note: You can only
Take one item at a time; typing Take All won’t work in this game.) When your
arms are too full to pick up anything else, Put All in Cauldron. Now take
everything that's left except the Cauldron, and Put it All in the Cauldron as
well. Now you can Take the Cauldron! Go Topside, and you won't need to Go
Below again. Your Family waits here, consisting of your mother, father, an
unnamed brother (Earnst?) and Franz the youngest, who shadows you almost
throughout the entire adventure.
Drop Cauldron. Take Hammer. Take Nails. Take Planks. Take Saw. Saw
Barrels. Nail Planks to Barrels. [You've made a Boat.] Put All in
Cauldron. Take Cauldron. Put Cauldron in Boat. Take Canvas. Put Canvas in
Cauldron. Take Harpoon. Take Rope. Tie Cow to Boat. Take Gun. Load Gun.
Launch Boat to the South. Shoot Shark [or else it will kill your cow].
East. The Turtle is harmless, but it’s also a source of food, so Throw
Harpoon Toward Turtle. [You'll retrieve them both later.] Head South three
times. [Your boat runs aground. Congratulations, you've overcome the first
hurdle by getting your family safe to the island.]
GOAL 2: Building a Tent
Put All In Cauldron. Take Cauldron. West. [You see your family. They say
they need materials for a tent.] Drop Cauldron. Take Canvas. Drop Canvas.
[Good work, but now they say they need some "sturdy supports"(tent poles).]
Take Knife. Take Gun. Load Gun -- it's a good idea (in this game, anyway)
to keep the gun with you and loaded at all times. Take Flask. Take Cheese,
so you'll have it on hand when Franz invariably starts complaining about
being hungry. When he does, Eat Cheese.
Take Map. Open Map. Look Map. [It shows you all the squares (areas) you've
visited so far. As you explore the island and the surrounding areas, the Map
will eventually fill up.]
Go East four times. [The turtle you killed earlier should be here, along
with your harpoon. If they're not here, they may be in a neighboring area,
but only along the shore.] Take Harpoon. Cut Turtle. [You get some yummy
Turtlesteaks.] Take Turtlesteaks. [Never leave meat lying around -- it may
not be there when you come back.]
South [You should see a dried-up riverbed that looks like an old dirt road].
Go East five times. [You see some monkeys and a Pebble. A Coconut is
hanging just out of reach. Take Pebble, and Throw it Toward Monkey. Monkey
see, Monkey do -- it promptly grabs the Coconut and throws it at you (don't
worry, it doesn't hit you). Now you can Take the Coconut. You may find
another Coconut here later, but not right away.]
Go East nine times. [You've reached a Bamboo grove.] Cut Bamboo. Take
Bamboo. North. [Now you're in a grove of Sugar Cane.] Cut and Take the
Sugar Cane. North. [You’ve reached a rocky promontory.] North. [You see a
nest.] Look Nest. [There's an Eagle in it.] Take the Nest (Eagle and all
-- apparently it's very tame).
Retrace your steps back to your Family. Look at the Map if you get confused
-- your family is located in the westernmost area that you have already been
to. Once you're reunited with your family, Drop Bamboo. Your family praises
you and says that they can now build a tent. Congratulations! On to the
next goal....
GOAL 3: Beachcombing and Finding a Better Place to Live
Drop Nest. Take Eagle. Take Feather [from the Eagle, presumably]. Drop
Eagle. Drop Harpoon and Feather. Put Turtlesteaks, Coconut and Sugar Cane
in Cauldron.
Time for a little beachcombing. Go East five times. [You see a Tin of
Biscuits.] Take Tin. East. [You see a Pail.] Take Pail. East. [This
time you see an Ink Jar.] Take Ink Jar. East. East. [A Musicbox? Where
did all this stuff come from??] Take Musicbox. East. East. [A Bottle!
This will definitely come in handy later.] Take Bottle. If you liked the
repetitive music played during the title screen, Open Musicbox. Otherwise,
keep it closed.
Go East six more times, then go North. [You see some Driftwood.] Take
Driftwood. By this time you should be carrying a full load, so head on back
to your Family to drop it off. Go South once and keep going West until you
find them.
There’s a special event that may or may not occur by the time you’ve
accomplished all of the above. If you just see your Family, the Cow and the
other things you’ve gathered so far, Drop everything except your Knife, Gun,
Flask, Map and Cheese (assuming you haven’t eaten it yet) and go exploring
(see goals 4, 5 and 6). Come back to the campsite after Franz demands a
drink and you Drink from the opened Flask.
Eeek! A huge Python is slithering towards your campsite! Don't bother
trying to shoot it, as you will miss. Put All in Cauldron. Take Ax. The
monster is stalking your pet Eagle. If you Take the Eagle at this point, you
will save it, but at the expense of losing your Cow. Chop Python [it won't
do any good, but at least you can say that you tried]. Chop Python again,
after it has eaten your pet bird. This time it will die (serves it right).
Your Family, shaken by this experience, will comment on needing a new place
to live. After all of your hard work to build the tent, too. >_<
Take Knife and Cut Python into tasty Pythonsteaks. Take Pythonsteaks and Put
them in the Cauldron. Take Shovel. South. [Notice the loose earth -- hint,
hint.] Dig. [You've revealed the opening of a Cave.] South. [You enter the
Cave. It seems nice, and Franz says you should tell the rest of the family
about it.] Return to Family (North twice). Tell Family About Cave. This
will cause them to haul baggage over to the new location. Fortunately, they
take everything with them so you don't have to make constant trips carrying
everything from one location to the other. Congratulations, you've achieved
another goal!
GOAL 4: Making a Candle.
South. South. At the Cave, your Family is already complaining about not
having a decent light source. It's always something. Luckily, you've got
the means to satisfy them close at hand. Take Matchbox. Open Matchbox.
Take Match. Light Match. Light Driftwood [it makes a nice campfire]. Drop
All. [Yes, typing Drop All works, even though Take All doesn’t. Go figure.]
Take Cauldron. Put Cauldron in Fire. [Don't worry if you've left anything
in the cauldron that isn't food; cooking these things doesn't seem to hurt
them any. Watch for a funny response if you’ve left the live Chicken in the
Cauldron!]
Go North once, then East twelve times and finally South. [You see some low
bushes loaded with sticky white berries. These are Waxberries, which can be
made into a Candle, believe it or not.] Take Waxberries. Go back the way
you came. Put Waxberries in Cauldron.
If the Cauldron contains Waxberries and String, you should now have a Candle.
Take Candle. Take Match. Light Match. Light Candle. That wasn't so hard,
was it?
The best place for the Candle is in the back of the Cave, where it’s
otherwise pitch-black. Go South and Drop the Candle. Go North and get ready
for your next assignment.
GOAL 5: Obtaining Enough Food to Last Through the Rainy Season.
You'd think that after all you've done for your Family thus far that they
would ease up on you a little, right? Nope, the Rainy Season is coming, and
you've got to collect enough food to last through the monsoon. Once again,
luck is with you, because at this point the Cauldron should be holding plenty
of provisions. Look Cauldron to review what’s in there. Take and Drop the
Pythonsteaks, Turtlesteaks, Eggs (laid by the Chicken, of course) and Sugar
Cane -- this should be more than sufficient.
If, for whatever reason, you're short of food (say, you avoided the Python
encounter by bringing your Family to the Cave before it appeared), grab your
Harpoon -- it's time to go fishing. This is an option I've only just learned
about, because the fish in this game are invisible! Sounds crazy? Read on:
From your Family in the Cave, go North. West. [Note the swampy graphics --
there is Quicksand near here. Be careful.] West. West. [You're in another
cave with some drippy Stalactites on the ceiling and a narrow stream of water
running across the floor. Look Fish. [You see no fish here. Like I said,
they're invisible.] Throw Harpoon Toward Fish (even though you can't see
any). Surprise! Now the thing can be seen in your inventory. I guess they
lose their power of invisibility when they die. You can only catch one fish
at a time (just like you can only have one of any item at a time), so make
sure to drop it off in the Family Cave before you try to get another.
You can fish almost anywhere that water is displayed -- rivers, ponds, the
ocean, etc. Sometimes you'll miss, even if you don't already have a Fish in
your inventory. If this happens, just try again, or move to a different
fishing spot. If you've caught and dropped off several in a row, you may
have to wait a bit before getting lucky again.
When your Family says that they have enough food, don't drop any more, as it
would be a waste. All you need to do now is wait for the swiftly approaching
storm to begin. Feel free to explore the island while you’re waiting (see
Goal 6 for suggestions), but make sure you head straight home as soon as the
sky turns from blue to gray. If you’re not there when the sky turns black,
you’re dead! :(
If you’d rather not risk the dangers of running around the island at this
point, you can keep yourself amused by reading the Book or talking to your
Family. If you choose the former, Take Book. Open Book. The Book is sort
of a one-volume encyclopedia, and the only way to read it is to type “Find”
followed by whatever you’d like to read about. See the list of nouns at the
beginning of this walkthrough for some ideas on what to look up.
If you’d rather just talk to your Family, you can Tell Family About whatever
you feel like, though be warned that most of the time their only response
will be, “Fritz, that’s good to know.” For a bit of variety, try Telling the
Family about Feather, Eggs, any other food item, Python, and Shark. (If you
Tell them about Franz, you’ll get scolded for being a tattletale!)
GOAL 6: Keeping the Family Happy
Now that the first rainy season is over, your loving Family looks to you to
bring them "items to cheer everyone up." What would this bunch do if you
weren't around? Never mind. Time to go exploring again.
Your inventory should contain your Map, Flask, Gun, Knife, and Pail. If you
like, you can Take the Biscuit Tin along for a handy source of food -- when
you get hungry, Take the Biscuits, Eat Biscuits. The empty Tin can be Thrown
at the Monkey for another Coconut.
Go back to the drippy cave where you caught the Fish. In addition to not
giving you a clue about those invisible Fish, the text also makes no mention
of the fact that there is Fuller's Earth in this cave. Take the Fuller's
Earth. When you bring this back to your Family, they will say something to
the effect that they can make soap out of it. Whatever. :p
Return to the entrance of the Family Cave, but don't enter it just yet.
East. South. South. East. A small river runs here, with banks of red
Clay. Take Clay. East. A juicy Pineapple grows here, ripe for the
plucking. Take Pineapple. The Aloe is only there in case you walk into the
Hornets nest (which is in the next space East, so watch out). If you get
stung, Cut Aloe. You will automatically take and use it, curing yourself and
Franz of the painful Hornet stings.
Go back to where you found the Waxberries. (from the Pineapple/Aloe screen,
it’s North once, East nine times). Go one more space East. You've
discovered yet another grove, this time of Rubber Trees. Cut Rubber Tree.
Take Latex. (This is what you need the Pail for.)
From the Rubber Trees, go South, then West three times. You've stumbled onto
a field of Cotton. This island has everything! Take Cotton. Return to the
Cave (North twice, West ten times, South) and drop off everything you’ve
collected so far, one item at a time so you can bask in your Family’s praise.
Hey, you’ve earned it! ^_^
Take Shovel. You'll need to obtain more food, so go get some Sugar Cane.
There should be another Coconut where the Monkeys are. If there's no pebble
handy, try Throwing something renewable like the Clay. No matter what you
Throw at the Monkey, it will always toss the Coconut back at you. Now, from
where the Monkeys are, go East twice and South four times. Holy rice paddies
Batman! Take the Rice. North. North. West.
From the Cotton field, go West five more times. There's no text here, but
see those strange-looking bushes all growing so neatly? Take your Shovel and
Dig. Wow, Potatoes! Take the Potatoes -- they'll taste good boiled in the
Cauldron.
Don't go West of here, unless you want to visit the Hornets. Go North
instead, and make your way back to your Family.
Once you've dropped off these things, go back and dig more Potatoes and get
more Rice and Sugar Cane. You can also check to see if another Pineapple has
sprung up in the same location you found the first one, but don’t check too
soon. Don't go hunting (see Goal 7) unless you’ve reached this point very
quickly after the first rainy season, since you might get caught in the storm
if you go too far. A good way to measure how much time you have left is
whether or not Franz has asked for food yet (he does this once per season).
If you’ve already eaten something, chances are it’s too late to go on a meat
safari.
If it starts raining and you still need more food, grit your teeth and Shoot
the poor Cow. (She never gave any milk anyway.) Cut her up into nice,
tender Beefsteaks. Yum!
Sky turning black and you're STILL short of food? Reload your Gun and Shoot
the Chicken! *Brawk!* (Needless to say, you won’t get any more Eggs after
this…)
GOAL 7: Hunting for Fresh Meat
The second rainy season passes. You and your family have survived, but you
know you're going to need more than Rice, Potatoes, Pineapple, Coconut and
Sugar Cane to get you through the next one. Sure, you can always go fishing
(see Goal 5), but that gets dull after a while. Time to go big-game hunting,
which means a long trek across the island. Equip your essentials – the Gun
(make sure it's loaded!), Knife, Flask (make sure it’s full) and Map.
Go to the Sugar Cane Grove. Cut and Take some for a snack when needed. Now
go South to the Bamboo grove. East. South. A Bear!! In the tropics, yet!
Shoot it quickly -- you DID remember to Load your Gun after using it last,
didn't you? Cut the now upside-down (i.e. dead) Bear. Take the juicy
Bearsteaks.
You could go home now, if you want, and forage for the rest of the season's
vittles. But if you want more meat, there's a delicious Lion not far away.
Load your gun (as stated before, never forget to do this). Go South four
times. Go West four times. There he is! Shoot Simba and reduce him to
Lionsteaks. Now you're all set for the third Rainy Season.
Feeling ambitious? If you’ve accomplished all of the above before Franz asks
for his first drink of water (he asks twice per season), you might want to
attempt to find Jenny (see goal 8). Otherwise, it might be best to play it
safe by sticking close to the Cave and waiting until the start of the next
dry season to tackle this time-consuming task.
If you stay home, and you’re bored with reading the Book and chatting with
your Family, you could start the preparations for getting you and your Family
rescued (see Goal 9), but don’t leave the Cave lest the rains catch you wet-
handed. Plus, if you want to rescue Jenny (Goal 8), you don’t want to send
out your message in a bottle too soon. All in good time.
GOAL 8: Finding and Rescuing Jenny (optional)
Now that you've weathered at least two rainy seasons on the island, you're
probably ready for something more challenging than just doing the same old
hunting and foraging routine. Go back to the Boat, taking the usual
necessities with you (Gun, Knife, Flask, Map and something to eat). Make
sure the Gun is loaded and the Flask is full before you set off!
Launch Boat to the North. West. West. North. North. West. (You see a
promontory extending into the sea with a big nose-shaped rock at the end of
it. No, I don’t know what this means, but keep going.) North. West. West.
South. (You’re in a small sheltered cove.) West. (You’ve reached the
entrance of a natural rock formation, an archway that is the only way to
travel further West.) West. West. West. South. (Your boat runs aground,
and you are greeted by a Tiger!! You should know what to do: *bang*--*slice*
mmm, Tigersteaks, they're grrrRRREAT! This is the last of the meat-producing
animals to be found, so don’t waste it.)
Launch Boat to the North. East. North. East. (An Albatross just landed on
your Boat!) Look Albatross. (There is something tied to its leg — a Rag.)
Take Rag. Look Rag. It’s a message (what else?) from an unfortunate
Englishwoman who needs to be saved from “the smoking rock.” What’s that, you
wonder? Fortunately, you don’t have to go far to find out.
North. North. West. North. (You run aground again, near some Footprints.)
Look Footprints (they’re human, Caruso!). North. (There it is – Chimney
Rock! If you had arrived here during an earlier season, the rock would not
be smoking, and Jenny would not be here.) South. West (you see a hut).
Look Hut. There’s Jenny! After telling you a little about herself, she
joins you, much to Franz’s disgust. Time to go home and show your find to
the rest of your Family. From that point on, Jenny will be your companion
instead of Franz! :)
Refer to the Map to help you find your way back home. If the Albatross
appears again, just ignore it unless you missed the opportunity to Take a
Feather from the Eagle or the Flamingo.
GOAL 9: Getting Yourself Rescued!
This, of course, is the ultimate goal of the game, and can actually be
accomplished before the second rainy season, if you know just what to do.
But then you would never get to meet Jenny and would be stuck with having
Franz tagging at your heels for the entire game, and who wants that?? :P
In your Family's cave, make sure you're holding the Book, Feather, Ink Jar
and Bottle. Open Book. Look Book (you'll see some blank pages at the end of
it). Take Paper. Open Ink Jar. Put Feather in Ink Jar. Write (you’ll
automatically compose this message: “Help! My family and I are shipwrecked
on a tropical island. Save us soon.”) Open Bottle. Put Message in Bottle.
Close Bottle. Drop Feather and Ink Jar; you won’t need them again.
So far, so good. Now you just need to find a decent place to Throw the
Bottle. It's no good tossing it from the main beach near your cave, since
the waves will simply bring it right back. (You didn't really think it would
be that easy, did you?) Gear yourself up with the usual survival equipment,
making sure to keep the Bottle with you. Head east, young man, back to where
you encountered the Bear. Continue all the way over to the most eastern part
of the main island, where a black-sand beach with an outgoing current awaits.
Throw the Bottle towards the Water. By this time, your Map should be mostly
revealed, and the Lion and the Bear should be nothing more than meaty
memories. Say hello to the Ostrich if you encounter it, but otherwise ignore
the endlessly circling creature. Ostrich burgers may be a healthy
alternative to beef in real life, but you're not allowed to have them here.
Go back to beachcombing and foraging until you've got enough groceries for
the ubiquitous rainy season. Go home, sit out the monsoon and when it's
over, head for the beach to the north. Walk east along the beach. Hey,
what's that -- a Hat? That wasn't there before! Take Hat and go back to the
Cave. Tell Family about Hat. (They’ll respond by saying that there must be a
ship nearby.) Go foraging, as though you intend to stock up for yet another
Rainy Season, but keep the volume turned up! Eventually, you’ll hear what
sounds like a ship’s cannon booming for attention (this may not happen until
after you’ve had your first drink of the season). Search everywhere (except
where the Quicksand and the Hornets are). At the end of one game, I found
the Ship right by the black-sand beach where I threw the Bottle, but in
another, I had to use the Boat and found it anchored near where the Walrus is.
Hurrah, you’ve found the Ship!! You’re almost home! All that remains is to
rush back to the Cave for the last time, Tell your Family about the Ship
(they will automatically join you) and lead them back to the Ship. You’ve
done it! You’ve saved your family, yourself and your new girl friend
(assuming you found Jenny). The game’s ending differs from the book in that
the Swiss Family actually preferred living on the island to returning to so-
called civilization. You can, of course, forget about being rescued and
continue to forage year after year, but if you want the game to end happily,
this is the only way to do it. Bon Voyage!
=========================================================================
THINGS TO BE AWARE OF WHILE EXPLORING
Hunger and Thirst
First off, it is important to note that time passes in this game even if you
take no actions. If the phone rings and you leave the computer for a ten-
minute conversation, don’t be surprised to see a large, scripted “THE END”
when you return, along with the explanation that you have died of thirst or
hunger. Unfortunately, there is no way to put the game on pause.
Franz (or later, Jenny) will always tell you when you need to eat or drink.
Ignore them three times and you're history. Keep the Flask with you at all
times, in case you need a drink and are nowhere near drinkable water. There
are several sources of safe drinking water on the island, and you can refill
your Flask at any of them. Most rivers and ponds you encounter are suitable
for drinking and filling the Flask. You can drink from the Flask three times
before it's empty, so make sure it's filled to capacity before setting off on
a long journey.
When hunger pangs strike, Sugar Cane is probably the best thing to have on
hand, as it is a constantly renewable resource that can be eaten raw.
Potatoes and Rice are renewable, but have to be cooked in the Cauldron first.
Pineapple and Coconuts grow just once or twice per season, while the Cheese,
the various Steaks and the Biscuits in the Tin are one-time only foods --
once eaten (or stored) you never find another. The Chicken can be shot for
food, but if left alive it will produce Eggs once per season, and of course
they must be cooked before eating. To see a funny response, try Put Chicken
Into Cauldron (while it's on the fire), or Eat (the live) Chicken. Squawk!!
Quicksand
There are two Quicksand bogs on the main island. One is two spaces west of
where your Family first made their tent. The other is six screens east of
the Cotton Field. Both are deadly. If, while you are exploring the Island,
you enter an area that says, "The constant droning of buzzing insects fills
your head. The warm mud oozes around your feet," it means a Quicksand bog is
nearby. The same can be said if the graphics depict a bunch of cattail
plants growing in your area. Check your map and make a note of where you are.
If you want to know for certain where the bogs are, save your game and check
the adjacent area. Once you find it, restore your game and remember to avoid
that area in the future. Quicksand bogs are only as large as one square on
the map, so once you've pinpointed the location of one, you can check all the
other surrounding areas without fear.
If you end up in the Quicksand, either by accident or on purpose (if you want
your entire map to be filled up, you must visit both Quicksand sites), here's
what you need to do: Grabbing the Reeds keeps you from going under, but it
does not get you free. However, your Dog finally gets a chance to be useful.
Grab the Dog, and he'll drag you to safety. Or, if you're carrying the Rope,
you can Throw the Rope toward the Dog, and the results will be the same.
Once you're safe, get away of there! And now you know why it's important to
keep your Dog from becoming Shark/Python/Bear/Lion/Tiger food. Good Dog! :)
Dangerous Creatures
In certain different areas of the game, you will encounter a Lion, a Tiger
and a Bear (oh my!). All are extremely hostile, and will attack and kill
your Dog if you have it with you. (If you've already lost your Dog, they
will attack and kill YOU!) Make sure you have your gun with you at all
times, and that it is always loaded (once again, don't forget to reload each
time you use it). These animals are also a source of food, so make sure you
have your Knife or some other cutting instrument with you at all times as
well, so you can cut the carcass into steaks. If you have to go home to
fetch your Knife, the body may not be there when you return. You will need
this meat to get you through the Rainy Seasons.
The Shark you encounter after leaving the ship is also after your Dog (or
your Cow), but killing it will not yield any sharksteaks. Unlike the Turtle,
its body does not wash up on shore after it dies. Pity. But you must Shoot
the Shark or else you'll lose an animal.
The Python cannot be killed until it has eaten one of your pets. ;_; You
will have to decide who to sacrifice -- if your Dog is the only animal in the
vicinity, that will be the one, but since you need it to save you from the
Quicksand, you should avoid losing it. If you brought the Cow (an easy meat
source) from the ship, you'll lose that. The only way to spare both the Dog
and the Cow is to obtain the Eagle from the Nest at the northeastern point of
the island. Make sure you Take a Feather from the Eagle before you return to
the tent where the Python will attack. It's sad to lose the tame Eagle, but
at least you have the satisfaction of carving the nasty Python up into
pythonsteaks, then cooking and eating them. Ah, revenge...
Mind you, there is a way to keep the Python from appearing, so you won't lose
any of your animals. Instead of helping your Family build a tent when you
first land on the island, simply go to where the Cave will be, Dig with the
Shovel and enter the Cave. Go back and Tell your Family About the Cave, and
they will promptly move there, with no Python showing up at all. The only
downside to this is that the Python is a source of food you'll have to do
without. Still, there are plenty of other food sources to be found . . . .
However, the Walrus is not a food source. If you happen to encounter the
small islet it inhabits, it won’t attack on sight -- but any attempt to kill
it will be met with fatal retaliation. I don’t know how a Walrus ended up in
the tropics, but this one can get rough if you wound him with the Gun or
Harpoon. In other words, don’t bother Wally and he won’t bother you.
The only other dangerous creature on the island is a swarm of Hornets. They
are encountered one space east of where you find the Pineapple and Aloe. If
you accidentally wander into their territory, you won't get away without
being stung, and no matter which direction you try to escape in, you’ll
always end up back where the Aloe grows. This is actually a good thing,
since Aloe is the antidote for the Hornet stings. Make sure you have your
Knife with you, or you won't be able to Cut the Aloe, and you'll be in
trouble.
The Rainy Season
You can't miss the Rainy Season. The sky will turn from blue to gray to
darker and darker gray and finally to black. All the while, little brother
Franz will be giving you updates on the status of the weather. If you
already have enough food to get you through the tough times ahead (your
family will tell you when you've gathered enough provisions), you should head
back to the cave at the first indication of approaching rain. Getting
caught in the rain can be deadly, but so is not having enough food. You
should therefore make sure that collecting food is always your top priority
after each rainy season.
=============================================================================
SURVIVAL TIPS:
1. Always carry these items with you: Map, Knife, Flask, LOADED Gun and a
ready-to-eat food item, like Sugar Cane. The only exception to this is when
you have to carry the Cauldron and the Canvas, as these items are so big and
heavy that you can only carry one of them and nothing else. The Cauldron
inexplicably holds an infinite number of items (including the Canvas!).
2. After the first Rainy Season, only kill one meat-providing animal a year
(not counting the Fish, which you can catch several of per season). Once you
shoot a beast, it's gone for good, and it may take you several years (game
time, of course) to achieve all the goals of the game. When you Drop any
food item in the Cave, your Family will automatically put it into storage for
the Rainy Season. To keep them from taking food you’re not quite ready to
give them yet, put it into the Cauldron. If you want to eat certain foods
like Potatoes, Rice, Eggs, Fish or any of the steaks, make certain there’s a
Fire under the Cauldron when you put the food in.
3. Don't be in too big a hurry to rescue Jenny -- she won't appear until
after the second Rainy Season. You'll know she's there when you see smoke
coming from Chimney Rock.
4. Remember to keep your Gun loaded at all times! I cannot stress this
enough! Reload immediately after firing it, lest you forget. There's
nothing worse than suddenly encountering the Bear or Lion with an empty gun.
You won’t have time to load it before tragedy strikes.
5. However, don't shoot everything you see. Leave the Ostrich alone;
shooting it won't get you any meat, strange to say. Worse, killing the
Ostrich will annoy your family (who can somehow see what you're doing while
you're clear over on the other side of the island), and they will temporarily
take your gun away! You don't want to shoot the Monkey either, as it provides
you with a Coconut now and then, plus you can't eat it. Shooting at the
Flamingo only causes it to fly away (though it may drop a feather if you
didn't get one from the Eagle), and Shooting the Hornets won't do any good.
As stated earlier, if you shoot the Walrus, you won’t get any walrus steaks –
just death. And no matter how annoying he can become, you can't shoot your
little brother Franz. (You can try, but you'll only lose your gun.)
6. There are LOTS of ways to die in this game, aside from the obvious. If
you want to see what happens when you do weird stuff like Eating the Feather,
make sure you Save the game before you start such experiments. Some of the
deaths can be pretty humiliating...
7. As stated earlier, time flows relentlessly in this game, and even a
moderately-long potty break may prove fatal as your character succumbs to
thirst, hunger or getting caught out in the rain. It pays to use the
bathroom before you start to play. ;)
=============================================================================
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE:
Thanks to Windham Classics Corp. and Tom Snyder Productions for producing an
innovative survival game – one of the first of its kind. Thanks to Gabrielle
Savage, David Dookterman and Tom Snyder for creating it, and to Leonard
Bertoni for adapting it to the Commodore 64. Thanks also to the late Samuel
Wyss for writing the book that inspired it.
A big THANK YOU goes out to KalPhoenix and Amy Robinson for explaining how to
get out of the Quicksand by using the Dog. KalPhoenix also contributed the
following information tidbit:
Do you know if there is any way to build the treehouse? If you look on the
map, on the main island, there is a spot on the map that looks suspiciously
like a house/hut graphic. I believe it is the spot that is a green field
with only three palm trees that is one line south of the beach.
-KalPhoenix
All I can say is, while this would be in keeping with the traditional story,
I have no idea how to build one in the game, or if it is even possible to do
so here. Again, if anyone knows otherwise, please email me at the following
address, and I'll update this walkthrough once again. Thanks!
Another round of applause goes to YourMom, who revealed the well-hidden
secret of catching Fish in the Fuller's Earth cave. Way to go, YourMom!
Thanks to GameFAQS for allowing me to post this walkthrough, and thanks to
YOU, the reader, for by reading all this you have kept my effort from going
to waste. If you do not already own a copy of this game (but would like to),
check Ebay — Commodore 64 games.
Comments? Additional info about this game? Write me at umbreon2@hotmail.com
