Having a computer awaiting parts and my laptop cd drive appears to have stopped working I am getting severe game withdrawal. I see a whole bunch of free games listed here, but which ones are good. The only one I tryed so far was the Mystery of Time and Space. Any suggestions from anyone out there. Nothing too hard, nothing gruesome. Thanks!!

You might like to try my free game, Sigma. It's listed on the free games page and is available from my site at http://www.alanthorn.net

It's a first person point and click with 360 panorama. It's not gruesome, is suitable for all ages, but does contain some difficult puzzles. However, there is a walkthrough on my site if you get stuck.

Hope you give it a try and hope you enjoy.
Alan.

Thanks for the info, but my laptop is not up to the requirements, it is only a PII, and too slow. But I will look at it when the computer is fixed

I suggest saving up flash games like Samarost and Crimson Room. You can always download them and set the settings to open swf files with a web browser.

http://justadventure.com/IndependentDevs/MichaelZerbo/MichaelZerboGames.shtm

I also recommend "The Murderer".

I was able to download The Murderer without any problems, but not to be dense or anything, what do I open it with?

I suggest Alzip.

http://www.alzip.com/

The most common tool for this task is Winzip but I found the program inconvenient.

You would have to extract the installation files on a separate folder. ex)c:\temp\ Then go to that folder and click install. Then you can erase the separate folder. This sequence is common for freeware games.

There are a lot of freeware adventure games created with AGS (Adventure Game Studio).

Descriptions and downloads of these games are available here .

--Erwin

AGS games like the King's Quest 1/2 remake are great! Strongly recommended. But I have a hunch that a PII laptop can't meet requirements of those games (probably would run too slow).

I downloaded Art's game (took almost 2 hours) and tried to play it today - and I get to the first room and try to play one of those 4 puzzles to unlock doors and it locks up my computer - no way out except to turn it off and then when I turn it back on it not only has to reboot the computer scans for errors and this takes time. What's up with that? Have tried to play this game several times but can't. Too bad, guess I have to just delete it from my hard drive and won't get to play it at all. Looked like it would be fun, too.
Love, Betty Lou

Betty,

Sorry to hear about your technical difficulty. I am not aware of a bug at this location in the game. If you could provide some more details regarding the error, I will do my best to assist.

Thanks for trying,
Alan.

Hi Art, I am not sure that what happens is a "bug" and I do not get any error message, the computer just freezes-up and I cannot get my cursor back nor can I go thru regular shut-down procedures, have to turn computer off and go thru reboot & scan just to get back to my desktop. Have tried several times to go back into the game and play one of those 4 puzzles on that turn-table thingy and get hung up again next time I am making moves in the puzzle or switching the lever and 'which puzzle to try thing' - sorry I can't give more information than that. It must have something to do with my computer's hardware, ya think?
Love, Betty Lou

If you haven't deleted the game, I would recommend removing all .WAV files from the Sigma program folder and then playing the game.

If you try this, please let me know whether it works.

Thanks,
Alan.

Hi Art, I did remove all the WAV files as you suggest and it did not work either. Have deleted the game from this harddrive. Sorry. It looked like it would be fun!
Love, Betty Lou

Art, I've also downloaded the game and when I try to play I get a message that there's a missing file: D3D9.DLL. I downloaded this dll file and tried putting it in the game files, but still get the same message. Can you advise what I do next?

Bristol,

Sorry to hear about your problem. You receive this error because you do not have the latest version of DirectX installed on your machine. Sigma requires DirectX 9.0b

DirectX can be freely downloaded from Microsoft's DirectX web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/

Once installed, you should restart your computer and then try running Sigma.

Thanks, if you have further problems I will be happy to help.

Hope it works, and enjoy.
Alan.

Thanks, Alan. It's a bit late now but I'll definitely try it tomorrow and let you know if it works.

Hi Art, (Everyone else, SPOILERS HERE - if you do not want to 'cheat' then don't read THIS=I use walkthroughs and 'tell it like it is' *********
I was able to download your game Sigma onto my computer yesterday and it runs just fine, it must not like my hubby's computer for some reason. I like your game! BUT this "Simonsaysmemorygame" is driving me CRAZY & HAIRLESS! I solved the chessboard/checkerboard puzzle with that metal lever (the one with the big ball on the end) in the 3rd position and heard a door open - so I saved my game. I have tried the Simonsaysmemgame in the other positions i.e., 1, 2 & 4 and do NOT get the sound of any door opening - Did you program this game so that any one puzzle will open more than one door?
And I do not understand about the "guess which Egyptian symbol is correct" game = the w/t is very confusing - I can figure out what I am supposed to do but cannot figure out HOW to do it?
Loving this game.
QUESTION - if the "solitaire" puzzle cannot be solved, then why is it there? Does this mean I can only open 3 doors? And, am I remembering that someone else posted a solution to this type of "Chinese Checkers" puzzle? or did I 'dream' it? Tally Ho usually posts his solution to the more difficult puzzles and I hope this is one of them..
Love, Betty Lou

SPOILERS.

Hello Betty,

Thanks for your feedback and glad you got the game working. There is a walkthrough available for Sigma at my site http://www.alanthorn.net (on the details page).

The letter on the desk explains about the four puzzles. You only need to open 3 doors and solve three puzzles (one puzzle per door). As you solve the puzzle, and as long as the switch is in the correct position, a door will open.

The memory (Simonsaysmemorygame) opens door 3. So, you must put the switch to the third position, press the button and then solve the puzzle. Once solved, this will open door 3.

As for the other puzzles, one puzzle is impossible and one door cannot be opened.

Once all three puzzles have been solved and all three doors opened (and their switches pulled down), another secret door will open somewhere else in the game.

Hope this helps,

Thanks,
Alan.

BUT, BUT, BUT I already solved the chessboard puzzle for position #3 and I distinctly heard a door grind open somewhere, not that pinging sound I get when I have done the puzzle in the wrong position - what gives with that? I assumed I had opened the 3rd position door OK......now I am confused.
Love, Betty Lou
P.S. I have your walkthru
Also please explain better that Egyptian symbol puzzle, I am not understanding how to make it work

SPOILERS.

In the Egyptian Symbol puzzle you must attempt to guess which tiles are concelaed beneath the top row of question marks. You must attempt to deduce them by entering symbols in the rows beneath (one row per guess). Once you have made your guess, you press the button below and the number tells you how many tiles are correct. You should use this number to estimate which symbols to change in the next row. The process continues and hopefully you should guess the answer by the time you reach the bottom row. Otherwise the puzzle resets and you must try again. Note, the puzzle answer changes everytime you restart.

If you have guessed correctly, the puzzle will end and a door will unlock if you have placed the lever at the correct position.

By the way, the doors which open as you solve puzzles are those numbered doors on the building in the centre of the room. You can open unlocked doors by clicking on them. If the door is not unlocked and you click upon it, then you will simply hear knocking on the door.

Thanks,
Alan.

Ok, Ok, Ok I GIVE UP!!!! I have solved that blankety-blank memory puzzle CORRECTLY 1000 times in each door position and no door will open - I cannot tell you how sick I am of this particular puzzle.................PLEASE what the heck is going on here? No door will open. ByTheWay the chessboard puzzle opened door #1 for me - halleleiuya (spelling?) and I did solve the Egyptian Puzzle once but wrong door I guess.
Just how do I move the door lever/handle to another position and keep it there when I go to do the puzzle? A couple of times it has moved back to 1st position for me even before I approach the puzzle board - What is that button under the lever supposed to do?
Love, Betty Lou
P.S. I know I have done the memory puzzle correctly most of the time because I have made grids and written down the number of each position of the right square on that grid from 1-10 as they are lit up then follow this grid very closely when repeating what I saw I HATE THIS PUZZLE!

Betty,

This could be two things. 1 - You may have already unlocked the door. Trying clicking on all the doors, open them and flip the switches. If you have opened three doors then you should go elsewhere in the game.

2. Remember, the original lever position is number 1. So, by zooming in on the lever and just pressing the button without moving the lever, this will set it to number 1.

If you have tried all of these things and it still doesn't work, then you could send the savegame file to me by email. I can examine this file to see if there are any problems or if there is a bug I don't know about. The files will be called SAVEGAME01.X or 02 0r 03, depending on how many games you have saved.

Thanks,
Alan.

Thanks Alan. I will do that if I can't get it to work, next time I'm able to get back to the game....got lunch and a meeting today so will be busy most of the day.
Love, Betty Lou

Hey Alan - !! I did it! I solved the memory puzzle and opened door #3! Yippee! Please tell me you did not repeat this puzzle further on in the game*****************QUESTION here = I am not sure just what the proper procedure is for setting the lever to the position I want it to be at for the Egyptian puzzle, when I move the lever to position 2 do I push the button underneath it to set it in place, it seems as if when I turn to go back to the puzzle board the lever is NOT in the position I set it in but has returned to position #1 - if this is so, then solving the puzzle will not open the door I want - and I have solved that puzzle by accident twice now and the door will not open - give me step by step, like "1. press the button, then 2. move the lever, then 3. press the button again" or whatever, PLEASE
Love, Betty Lou

Since this thread has now become a hints thread for the game. We are moving it to the Hints forum so that others looking for help as they play, can see it and get the hints they might need.

Thanks for helping people with your game Alan - Can't wait to see your new project as it evolves.