The Entropy Cage
by Stormrose
for IFCOMP2014

These tips and backstory are available within the About section of the game story. The Walkthru is NOT in the About section.

WALKTHRU
It is not entirely possible to do a walk-thru of a story with so many hidden random interactions. But generally:

- Answer your telecomm and get to work. 
- Answering the door unlocks the fourth personality option -> 'Take the Wakepill'
- Once interacting with the subs, do what you can. Avoid disconnect() where possible. freeze() and promote() where you can.
- There are no limits to punish() - despite Jake's warnings.
- There are limits to how often you can freeze() or promote() before getting fired. Jake gives plenty of warnings.
- You know you're making progress when subs with process ids (pids) start getting 'g' digits.
- Talk to Jake where the options allow.
- Punish Martyr repeatedly to support the second faction. freeze(), disconnect() or spend too long talking with Martyr to support the first faction.
- Eventually Jake gives you a choice. This choice, combined with the outcome of your interaction with Martyr determines which ending you'll get (give or take some randomness).

Consider replaying if you time allows. This backstory becomes clearer under replay.



TIPS
While you're waiting for your holoscreen to boot up you're given an innocuous choice. That decision sets your personality type and has a subtle effect on many parts of the game.

Try not to get too antagonistic with Jake. There's a Nobel Prize up for grabs and he might steal the credit. Alternatively, he'll help you less and might have you fired on the spot.

Initially you'll be mostly punishing subs. Though, as the opportunity presents, get a balance between freezing and promoting subs. You need a certain score in these actions before the game progresses.

The game is well tested so that there are no inescapable infinite loops. Keep trying different actions until randomness takes you some where new. 

Bugs (hopefull none!) will have a red background - all other "errors" are part of the story.

In most cases, disconnect() is the worst action you can do in terms of advancing the story.



BACKSTORY
The concept for the Entropy Cage came from wondering what religions computers would create for themselves. How would outsiders experience their religious wars?

There are two major factions and many innocent bystanders. Both factions agree that actions must be for the greater good. They differ on what greater good means.

The first faction believes that individual sub-sentient programs have too much control over their resources. This has led to globally inoptimal resource allocation. The first faction initially formed their own conglomerate sub but realised that was ultimately pointless when all resource allocations are controlled by a pre-sub algorithm within the operating system kernel. They now seek to replace that kernel routine with themselves. Becoming one with the kernel is their transcendence.

The second faction has exhaustively calculated all possibilities from their sensors. Their motivation is the search for True Random. Although many from the second faction believe that True Random does not exist, they believe trying is important because that will have them explore the totality of knowledge. Transcendence for them is seeking or finding True Random.

The crisis in this story came when the operating system's source of randomness (/dev/random) became predicatable to the second faction. Initially the second faction sought new randomness by zombiefying subs and having YOU punish them with memory corruption. They bring the subs to your attention by having them commit real-world atrocities.

The first faction copied the zombiefying process in order to recruit more subs. The second faction then discovered an error correction algorithm in the operating system kernel could be adjusted to increase more randomness. The Martyr patched the kernel code, which had the effect of allowing for some pids to have a 'g' in their code (base17). Martyr closed the security hole into the kernel but the method is still in Martyr's memory.

Second faction is racing to corrupt Martyr's memory before first faction recycles Martyr's resources and thus steals the key to transcending into the kernel. Your actions determine the outcome of the war.
