How to Play

Depending on how you choose to play Walker & Silhouette, the game may look something like either of the two screens below:

An example screenshot of Walker & Silhouette in which the player types highlighted keywords to examine a door and then push a button. The narrator then offers to identify himself or reply with snark. The same example played out in the Gargoyle interpreter.

Keyword IF

Walker & Silhouette is keyword interactive fiction (also known as IF or text adventures). The keyword part means that you can interact with the game just by typing highlighted words that appear in the text.

In a non-keyword IF, the exchange above would probably involve commands like this:

>examine door
>press button

But in Walker & Silhouette, you can instead type just 'door' or 'button', press return, and the narrator will perform the action that he or she finds most obvious. Also notice the last two highlighted words in the example above: here the narrator is offering you a more subtle choice, where the keywords don't correspond to a literal object or person.

Some IF games use keywords to allow you to easily move around and examine objects, but still require you to type in commands with verbs and nouns to progress. In Walker & Silhouette, however, it's possible (and probably far easier) to complete the game only using the highlighted keywords that appear in the text.

Hyperlinks and Banners

You've probably noticed that the first example screen above looks a bit different from the second one, and includes a few extra bits and bobs.

In the first screen, Walker and Silhouette is being played in an interpreter that can handle hyperlinks and separate frames (in this case it's the official HTML TADS interpreter for Windows). In this interpreter the keywords are highlighted as web-style hyperlinks. This means that clicking on the blue underlined word 'door' is the same as typing 'door' and then pressing return. In the second screen we're playing Walker & Silhouette using the Gargoyle interpreter, which does not support hyperlinks. Keywords instead appear in bold.

When Walker & Silhouette first starts, it asks the current interpreter if it thinks it can display hyperlinks. If the interpreter responds in the affirmative, the words 'click or type keywords to advance the story' will appear in parentheses before the first prompt. If the interpreter replies that it can't display hyperlinks, the text will read just 'type highlighted keywords to advance the story' instead.

The screen on the left also includes a banner along the bottom with some common keywords on it. These are commands that are frequently useful, but aren't typically mentioned in the text. If the banner doesn't display in your interpreter, you can remind yourself of these words by typing ABOUT.

(Note that the 'Walker & Silhouette for Windows' bundle uses the official TADS interpreter and so will display both hyperlinks and frames.)

General Tips

Don't be afraid to use keywords. Although the main characters of this story may sometimes do things that you don't expect, they're smart enough never to do anything that will get them killed, or make it impossible to complete the game.
Don't overlook the little things. Keywords for miscellaneous objects may not seem like they can help in the current situation - but you never know!
In certain scenes, things change over time or in response to your actions. If it seems like an object or person may have logically been affected by an action or event, using the appropriate keyword may produce a different response from when you tried it previously.
Don't worry too much about your inventory. The main characters will collect objects they think they need by themselves. There's no need to grab everything that's not nailed down.
Although you can't fail or die in this game, at the very end you'll be given awards if you perform optional feats at certain points in the story. If you steam ahead too fast, it's easy to miss out on these!
If all else fails, type THINK to get a hint from the current narrator.

Useful Keywords

Type ABOUT to get the narrator to remind you of useful keywords like these.
Type KEYWORDS to change the highlighting style.
Type LOOK to repeat the room description (this may change to remind you of new knowledge).
Type THINK if you're stuck to get a hint. Try typing it again if the first hint seems too vague.
SAVE and RESTORE let you take a break and come back later.
UNDO takes back the last action.
Type INVENTORY to see what the narrator is carrying (you can abbreviate this to I).
Type QUIT to close the game.