THE

EPSILON OUTCOME
Game Manual

Writing, graphics, animation,

music, and programming
Kenneth Perrine

Testing
Richard Henwood

Book Arts
Karen Perrine

Game Engine
AGS, by Chris Jones

Perrine
Copyright (C) 2020, Kenneth
h word of
Th is game is not co py-prote cte d. You will not be asked for the fift
Notice: un
h on Pa ge 3. Ma king illega l copies of copyrighted games is bad,
third paragrap
make copies.
you've not been given the okay to
Overview
where you control the
An adventure game is an interactive story
ter in this game is a guy.
main character onscreen. The main charac
plete your mission,
The goal of the game is to send help and com
breakdown. You must
while avoiding alien abduction and mental
oundings and bring
discover the secrets of your foreign surr
cess. Otherwise, you
together pieces that are the key to your suc
will wander aimlessly for a long, long time.

Installation
e on a personal computer:
Follow these steps to run your adventure gam
the game and extract it or run the
1. If you haven’t already done so, download
installer.
y have the option of running the
2. If you are running Windows, you ma
es with AGS adventure games.
“Winsetup” configuration utility that com
recommended, if your system
This game is meant to be immersive; it is
game in a window.
supports it, to run in fullscreen—not to run this

Tips for the Adventurer

on playing an adventure game like
Here are some tips and unsolicited advice
r mileage may vary.
this one. Pick and choose what you want; you
the world using the instructions in
1. You can move around and interact with
d help, there is a walkthrough
the next section. For those of us who nee
included at the end of this manual.
game’s world, save your game often.
2. Because of the dangerous nature of the
e. (Sorry to those who play an
Even so, it is impossible to die in this gam
way possible). But save often
adventure game so they can die in every
covered all of his bases when he
because the poor developer may not have
ws if there could be a system
dealt with testing the game. Goodness kno
t to review a missed clue in a
crash or a bad state. And you might wan
a particular bit of music again.

conversation, replay a sequence, or listen to

 3. Look around at as much stuff as you can, and take anything that isn’t nailed
down. (Well, actually, you need to eventually take a ladder that is nailed
down, but that’s a different matter). Read carefully for important clues.
4. Key clues come in conversations with other characters, so exhaust all
possible conversation topics.
5. Map your progress through the world
by drawing something like what’s to
the right. Make notes about

landmarks, objects found, and other things that

may be interesting. In this game, a screen may
change as events occur and characters appear
and disappear. If you get stuck, try walking
through all of the locations to make sure that
nothing new has appeared, as these new things
are needed for completing the game.

6. Play along with a friend. Be social. Two heads are better than one and two
sets of eyes will spot more clues.
7. If a character refuses to do something or offer a desired topic
conversation, don’t work too hard to try to work around it. The character
may be more willing to cooperate when the time is right. Likewise with
using and finding objects. The game was never intended to be a pixel-
hunting exercise.
8. If you’ve tried everything, use Google to find a walkthrough. Walkthroughs
usually magically appear after an adventure game has debuted online.

Playing the Adventure

When playing the game, the screen or window is filled with a background,
objects, and/or characters, and you interact with them by using the mouse. Or,
if you have one of those newfangled tablet PCs, you can tap with your finger.

Title Screen
When the game first appears, the Epsilon Outcome title is displayed along with
three icons. This is what they do:
New: Begins a new game. The opening cutscenes introduce the
game’s story, and when the regular game icons appear, the new
 Th e cu ts ce ne s m ay be skipped by
ay.
game is ready to pl
pressing the ESC key.
d : Res to re s a prev iously-saved game.
Loa
e by
u it : Fo r th os e w ho started the gam
Q
in handy.
accident, this comes

Game Actions r- le ft ha nd portion of the scre

en
e up pe
Icons appear in th cl ic k or ta p on the rest of the
hat a le ft
ri ng no rm al ga m eplay. These pick w
du
ing:
screen will do, includ clicked
in es th e po rt io n of the screen that is
Exam
Magnifying Glass: el or oc ca si on al ly -u seful information.
eless driv
or tapped, giving us ct or character that
is
ra ct s w ith th e ob je
n. Inte to
Hand: Causes actio en d up ca us in g the main character
this may e inventory, or a
clicked or tapped; an d ad de d to th
picked up
walk, an item to be ith another character.
n to be st ar te d w
conversatio Bar
th e In ve nt or y W in dow and the System
Backpack: Opens ed inventory item on
the
e cu rr en tly se le ct
: Use th the
Active Inventory . If th e in ve nt ory item is used on
place that is clicked
or tapp ed
tr ie s to m an ip ul at e the inventory
the main character ventory item selected
.
main character, then th er e is no ac tiv e in
pear here if
item. Nothing will ap ese
or tc ut fo r cy cl in g through three of th
button as a sh nifying Glass, Hand,
Use the right mouse iv e In ve nt or y, M ag
g Glass, Hand, Act respective icon.
functions (Magnifyin tu al ly cl ic k on th e
) without having to ac
Active Inventory, etc.
ly cl os e- up s of th in gs being examined,
cial
In some screens, espe re en m ay di sa pp ea r and the word
of the sc
the icons on the top po rt io n. To exit these close-up
s,
th e lo w er
“Exit” will appear in e em pt y bo rd ers of the screen.
or alon g th
click or tap on “Exit”

Inventory do w an d Sy st em Bar to appear.

yW in
e B ac kp ac k Ic on causes the Inventor si bl e, the game is paused.
The
Th th es e ar e vi
do this. While aracter is carrying
as
The TAB key will also s th at th e m ai n ch
lists all of the item an inventory item
Inventory Window bl e, a cl ic k or ta p on
ntory Window is visi
icons. While the Inve
 will cause one of these things to happen, depending upon which of these is
active:
Magnifying Glass: If this icon is active, then sometimes-useful
information will be displayed about the inventory item. For
example, if you have scissors in your inventory, examining the
scissors would tell you information about the scissors.
Hand: If this icon is active, then the inventory item will become the
active item, and the mouse cursor will change likewise. For
example, if the Hand Icon is active and you click on the scissors
inventory item, then the scissors will become the active item. You
can then use the scissors in the game.
Apply: Then, if an active item is already selected while the Inventory
Window is open, that active item can be used on another inventory item.
So, if the scissors are the active item, and you have a sheet of paper in your
inventory, then clicking the scissors on the sheet of paper would likely cause
the sheet of paper to be cut up.
Manipulate: If an active item is selected and that same item is clicked or
tapped in the Inventory Window, then that item can be manipulated. This
can also be done by double-clicking on an inventory item, or using the
inventory item on the main character. For example, if you have a flashlight
in your inventory, you would manipulate it to switch it on or off.
Close Inventory: A click or tap on the Backpack Icon or outside of
the Inventory Window will close the Inventory Window, resuming
gameplay. The active inventory item can then be used on the
current screen.

System Bar
The System Bar is the
bar of icons that
partially appears at the
bottom of the screen whenever the Inventory Window is opened through the
use of the Backpack Icon. The System Bar may also be opened fully by pressing
the ESC key. This is what the icons do:

Fast: This will toggle on and off the ability for the main character to
walk fast. This can be done to optionally speed up gameplay. This
 ll
inc rea se the ga me ’s dif fic ult y in any way. A yellow border wi
does not
hed on.
appear when this function is switc
be
s so that the point in time may
Save: Saves the game-in-progres a
res tor ed . W he n the Sa ve W indow appears, you may enter
later
for yo ur sav ed ga me be fore clicking on the “Save”
description will be overwritten. Even
ec t an exi stin g sav ed ga me , it
button. If you sel ed to
h it is im po ssib le for the ma in character to die, it is recommend
thoug
de r dif fer en t de scr ipt ion s to make it easier to go back and
save often un possible bugs in the game,
on or seq ue nc e, rec ov er fro m
review a conversati
etc.
Re sto res a pre vio usl y-s av ed ga me. Unless the current game
Load:
tly be en sav ed , the cu rre nt ga me is lost when a game is
had recen
restored.
About: Displays game credits.
Clo ses the ga me . Be sur e to save the current game before
Quit:
closing; otherwise it will be lost.

Conversations be
encounter characters that can
Throughout the game you will
to. To be gin a co nv ers ati on , select the Hand Icon and then
talked
list of topics will then appear at the
click or tap on the character. A
m of the scree n. Th ese ca n be selected by clicking or tapping on
botto
as they are conversed, while new
them. Many topics will disappear
ma y ap pe ar as a ch ara cte r dis closes information. Normally the
topics ing
the conversation for the time be
last conversation topic will end
.
until you decide to converse again

Key Shortcuts
used during the game
These keyboard shortcuts may be ing and
C: To gg les on an d off the Sy ste m Bar which has options for sav
ES
s as we ll as qu itti ng . W hil e it ap pears, the game is paused.
restoring game
ow
TAB: Shows the Inventory Wind
ar
F5: Makes the Save Window appe
me
F7: Restores a previously-saved ga
CTRL+Q: Quits the game
Introductory Walkthro ugh
the Epsilon Outcome gameplay.
u with
This walkthrough will acquaint yo
Watch
ga me ’s titl e scree n, cli ck on the New Icon to begin a new game.
At the The
uc tor y seq ue nc e to fin d ou t how much trouble you are in.
the introd joi ning of three trails outdoors
d on a scr ee n tha t sho ws the
sequence will en
a garage door.
next to a mysterious structure with
ft of
Two icons appear on the top-le
and
your screen: a hand (for “do”
ing
“walk to” actions) and a magnify
t’s
glass (for “examine” actions). Le
lect
investigate the surroundings. Se
the Magnifying Glass Icon, and:
Click or tap on the garage door.
Click or tap on the big bush next
to the garage.
Click or tap on the area where the
trails join together.
bottom of the screen.
Click or tap on the brush that is at the
t’s try
t. All of tha t ga ve ab sol ute ly no good information whatsoever. Le
Grea
ga rag e. Se lec t the Ha nd Ico n, and then click or tap on the door.
opening the

t's try an oth er scr ee n. Ma ke sure the hand icon is still

Brilliant. Still nothing. Le
n cli ck or tap on the tra il tha t heads toward the top of the
selected, and the ll now
n. (Le t's say tha t thi s is the no rth direction). The main character wi
scree
ge.
walk north and the screen will chan
xt to a radio
Interesting. Here is a little shack ne
north next to
tower. There is a trail that goes
really see it
the shack (even though you can’t
d another
because it goes downhill) an
west). Let’s
direction that goes off to the left, or
Click on the
look at what’s around here.
magnifying glass icon, and:
 e tower.
Click or tap on th g s o n th e le ft side of the towe
r.
e ru n
Click or tap on th io shack door.
Click o r ta p o n th e ra d
a t’ s a t th e b a se of the tower.
k th
c k o r ta p o n th e little gray bloc
C li
m e th in g . S e lect the Hand
so
e d a ro u n d ; le t’ s now try to do
ok
Alright, we’ve lo
Icon, and:
n th e ra d io shack door.
Click or ta p o
o n th e le ft si de of the tower.
Click or tap on th
e run g s
th a t’ s a t th e b a se of the tower.
k
c k o r ta p o n th e little gray bloc
C li
w . Y o u m a y h ave an idea of
o
b e d o n e o n th is screen right n r p a rt s of the game.
le lo t c a n fo r in o th e
Not a who you’ll want to lo
ok of
d s o f in v e n to ry it e m s
in g o r ta p p in g on the very left
what kin ti n g to the left by c
lick
ne.
For the mean ti m e , tr y e xi
e n w il l c h a n g e to another sce
re
re e n n e a r th e left trail. The sc
the sc
a p o w e r p o le with wires, and
and
a sc re e n w h e re there’s a trail u th o r d idn’t plan out all
of
w th e re ’s eg a m e ’s a
Okay, no y. T hat’s because th
o n is sc re w
the orientati ry w e ll . A s it is, the main
e n s v e
the game’s scre th e e a st e n d and heads
fro m
character enters e w e st end. Or, mayb
e
a rd th
down a hill tow g tr a il th a t oriented the
nne c ti n
there was a co th e w est a bit and the
n
r o v e r to
main characte . A n y w ay, don’t worry
e so u th
down toward th . S e le ct the magnifyin
g
k a ro u n d
about it. Loo
glass icon, and:
k o r ta p o n th e power pole.
Clic es.
c k o r ta p so m e where on the tre
Cli
e path.
Click or tap on th
p o n th e g e o g raphic marker.
Click or ta e h a nd icon and
ing . S e le c t th
t’ s tr y in te ra c ti ng with someth b o tt o m of the screen.
th a t. L e o ff th e
Well, that’s g ra p h ic marker. Now
walk
th e g e o
click or tap on c a r. L e t’ s first check
his d e a d
u y w ho’s working on
a ! O n th e n e xt sc re e n is a g
if y in g g la ss ic o n, and then:
Ah agn
e su rr o u n d in g s. Click on the m
out th
 Click or tap on the car.
Click or tap on the road.
Then, click or tap on the
character.

Now, let’s try interacting with

the guy. This will be done with
the hand icon. Select the hand
icon, and then click or tap on
the character. He will begin
tal kin g to yo u by say ing
“Dude!” That’s because that is
the type of person he is.
rk
’ll say stu ff to you . Fin d ou t if he knows anything about the area. Wo
He
con ver sat ion top ics un til you can get no further. You will
through the
ntu ally find tha t he wa nts bat ter y cab les for his car. This is a puzzle to solve
eve
gam e, as the re ma y be som eth ing that he can provide to you in
within the
to be persistent with him.
exchange. Or maybe not. You may need
gh. You should now have an idea of
That ends the Introductory Walkthrou
like.
what the Epsilon Outcome gameplay is