Fine-Tuned
               This issue's SynTax Challenge

                      Reviewed by Sue

"The life of a daredevil adventurer leaves precious little time
for rest. There's always wickedness to thwart, innocence to
preserve and honour to uphold."

So starts Fine-Tuned, an Inform adventure described as an auto-
mated romance by its author, Dionysius Porcupine. Why auto-mated?
That will become clear as soon as you start the game.

Chapter 1 is titled The Call of the Open Road and starts on the
driveway of your house. You are Troy Sterling, gentleman
adventurer and sitting in your car is your loyal companion, the
brilliant inventor Aloysius Pratt. Your car is his latest
invention and is called the Pratt Dynamo. It's fast and looks good
with its white bodywork and gold trim.

Aloysius impatiently points east and insists you get into the car.
At this point you have no idea why. Hopefully things will become
clearer soon. Daredevil adventurer you may be, but you need
instructions for starting the car and once you've sorted these out
and got properly attired, you're ready to roll.

You haven't got very far when real life catches up with you. You
haven't paid your electricity bill and here comes the post van to
ease you into the game! A bit of nifty footwork is necessary to
avoid the power being disconnected.

But now who's this? It's MacDougal. He's the founder of the local
chapter of the Farmers Anti-Autoist League and thinks you and the
Dynamo are a joke. He prefers to travel by horse-drawn buggy. He
thinks it's safer but you soon prove him wrong. Of course, being a
'good guy', you now have to come to his rescue.  By doing so you
make him feel a little bit guilty and get yourself a job into the
bargain - collecting a young lady called Melody Sweet from the
railway station and taking her to Professor Sneedlewood's house.
MacDougal was meant to do the job but now his buggy is in bits,
you'll have to do it for him.

Finding Miss Sweet is no problem once you've found the station,
but who's the strange man wandering about? The train driver
doesn't like you any more than MacDougal does and challenges you
to a race - your car against his train. Can you beat him without
upsetting the locals? Some subsequent damage to your car makes it
harder for you to get Miss Sweet safely to her destination but
once you do, you'll start chapter 2.

Ahha! In this chapter, you are suddenly transformed into Miss
Sweet, taking tea with the Professor. You're here, officially, to
create a piece of music for him, but once you're alone he explains
that he has an ancient artifact belonging to the Nisnoc Siw
people. He says that with your vocal accomplishments and heritage,
you may be the key to it.

By this time I wasn't too keen on the Prof. He rambled on for
quite a while about the artifact he'd found, before handing it to
you, inviting you to use it and bring the ancient music to life.
Indeed when you look at the object's markings, they do look
musical, though unlike any musical notation you recognise.
Fortunately the Prof explains that he's been investigating the
markings and managed to work out the basics of the system and
gives you his notes. But what should fall out of them but a lot of
newspaper clippings about you which show you've had some problems
with your voice, and your nerves, recently. The Prof explains that
he's been following your career closely and justifies his nosiness
by saying he thinks your problems are somehow connected to the
musical puzzle which so intrigues him.

When you take a manuscript from the piano, the Prof kicks off on
another long discourse about old folk songs with recurring
melodies, including this one, the Stone Soup Song. You try to sing
it but it's too difficult. But the Prof says that the artifact and
the song are somehow linked, as some of the tune, again, appears
in the marks on it.

Eventually he wanders off for a sleep, and you're left to explore.
In Sneedlewood's study is a display case with several interesting
items in it but of course it's locked. The door to the cellar is
locked and a hatch in the roof is too heavy for you to move it.

Outside you'll find the grounds of the house which includes the
guest cottage where you're staying. There's a stove in there and
by this time I was sure I had to heat the artifact (though I can't
remember why I got that idea now!) but there isn't enough fuel in
the firebox. There's coal but no wood. Luckily outside is a pile
of firewood.

And this is where I'm stuck. There's a cat lying on the wood and
try as I might, it won't let me take any of it and I can't get rid
of it.  I've tried throwing water at it, but that hasn't worked.

So this is this issue's SynTax challenge, to add to Caverns City
which continues. Any ideas?

If you wondered about the author's name, it's really Dennis Jerz
... Jerz is the Polish word for porcupine. The game, he says, was
inspired by various films including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and
The Great Race, and several books such as Wind in the Willows and
The Great Gatsby.

The game is very nicely programmed and written. It leads you
gently from one part to the next and most reasonable inputs have
been catered for. I've enjoyed it a lot as far as I've got.













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