Suspended (game)

Suspended's box

Back of Suspended's box

"They said you would sleep for half a millennium -- not an unreasonable length of time, considering you'd be in limited cryogenic suspension. Your body would rest frozen at the planet's nerve center, an underground complex 20 miles beneath the surface. Your brain, they told you, would be wired to a network of computers; your mind would continue to operate at a minimal level, overseeing maintenance of surface-side equilibrium. And you would not awake, so they promised, until your 500 years had elapsed -- barring, of course, the most dire emergency.

Then, and only then, you would be awakened to save your planet by strategically manipulating six robots, each of whom perceives the world differently. But such a catastrophe, you have been assured, could not possibly occur.

Good morning."

bugs

                    BUG
        VERSION  1 2 3 4 5
       5/830222  Y Y Y Y Y
       7/830419  N Y Y Y Y
       8/830521  N Y Y Y Y
      *8/840521  N Y Y Y Y

In the earliest version (5/830222), there was no way to determine which of Iris' chips was shorted and needed to be repaired. You don't need to use two robots to move Fred from the cabinet. In all versions, you can cheat and use just one: "BOTH SENSA AND SENSA, MOVE FRED." In any release, you can configure the game on the second move, not just the first. This means you can make one move (most likely picking up an object) and then re-configure the game to put the robot with the object in a better position. This can be a great time-saver if used correctly. There's also an error with the map that was never fixed. Referring to the southeastern section:

                                         Alpha FC
                                        /    |
                                       /  Primary Channel
                                      /      |
       --- Cavernous Room --- East End --- Beta FC
                                      \      |
                                       \  Secondary Channel
                                        \    |
                                         Gamma FC

While you can walk northeast from East End to the Alpha FC, there is no direct route back from Alpha FC to East End, and no indication that this is a one-way corridor. An attempt to backtrack results in the standard "You can't go that way" message, despite the fact that it directly contradicts the map. To get back to East End, you have to walk south through Primary Channel and Beta FC. Have Waldo get the four-inch cable and be incapacitated. Have Poet drag him to Alpha Repair to be fixed, and send them back to the Primary Channel, this time letting Waldo get zapped. If Poet LOOKs, he will see a non-functional Waldo in the room, while Waldo will see a non-functional Poet. -- Graeme Cree Reader response

I have an addition to your complete Infocom Bug list: In Suspended (early versions, anyway; I never tried it on LTOI), you could type HUMANS, KILL SELF, and the humans would obey the order and kill themselves. Although this kept the humans from turning you (the player) off, it had the side effect of making the game unsolvable, since the humans wouldn't be alive to perform their necessary plot functions. I don't think the humans obeyed any other orders. Monty monty@blarg.net Reader response

I once reported this to you, only the humans don't actually obey the order per se -- they notice that someone receives an order to attack them, so they turn that someone off in self defence -- only it happens to be themselves that they turn off. Put Auda in the room with them, and you'll see. Also, they will still carry out their tasks, but they will be described as "non-functional humans" or something similar by other robots, and they can't accept a cryolink again, since they have been turned off. /Fredrik f.r@mail.com Reader response

Suspended bug: Iris (the one who can see) can be used to describe all rooms. There was something that you plug in so that can see the room that you are in. Anyway, have one robot (e.g., Poet) plug in the device, then direct that robot to follow another robot (e.g., Sensa), then move Sensa. Poet will forget to unplug the device, and you can then view the descriptions of all rooms, including the ones that are in the section that requires the wedge for access. Perhaps stranger that such descriptions exist... or have I missed something? Peter Ferrie

known versions

• suspende-05.z3: Infocom game data (Z-machine 3, Release 5 / Serial 830222)
• suspende-05h.z3: Release 5 Copyright (c) 1983 by Infocom
• suspende-07.z3: Infocom game data (Z-machine 3, Release 7 / Serial 830419)
• suspende-08.z3: Infocom game data (Z-machine 3, Release 8 / Serial 830521)
• suspende-08a.z3: Infocom game data (Z-machine 3, Release 8 / Serial 840521)