1. The screen is divided into 3 places (from the top):

Ø Information Line – there you will see the playing time; eventually, some information will be displayed there, like when Susan adds a note in her notebook.
Ø Inventory Bar – just after the information line, there’s the inventory. You played an adventure before, right? Classical stuff, enough said! Also you can combine these objects with others (either in the inventory itself or on the playing screen)…
Ø Main screen – that’s where the game takes place.

2. The interface of this game is meant to be as simple as possible.

Ø Left clicking (LC) means “action interfacing” – like picking things up, talking to people, using objects in other objects … Left click also means “walk” if the mouse cursor is not over a “clickable” part of the screen.
Ø Right clicking (RC) means “look”.

As things are explained as Susan looks into them, I suggest you always right click first. There is a special case: in the inventory, many objects have “zoom views” . Good examples are: the mobile phone, a laptop computer, the notebook. You can only really use those objects are they are meant to be used, in their zoom view (i.e., after right clicking (RC) them – in the inventory – first).

As general suggestions, look at everything, pick everything you can, talk to everyone and use (look – right click)) the mobile phone, laptop and notebook …

3. Complete walkthrough for The Uncertainty Machine

You play Susan Gant, a young reporter.

DAY 1

The game starts as she arrives at the newspaper. There’s a robbery just by the entrance of the building. Look at the purse (RC “purse(closed)” - inventory). So, there’s some inventory now.
Look at the mobile phone (RC “mobile phone” - inventory).
There will be a zoom of the mobile phone. Click the ‘1’ key or the address ‘Newspaper’.
She will simulate a call for help. The mugger runs away, and his victim disappears quickly.

Before going on, take a moment to experiment with the interface. Right click and left click on the graffiti – see the difference. Also, go to the inventory bar and try looking at all items. At the beginning of the game, only two of those allow zooming views, but as the game advances many other objects will let you have a zoom view, too.

Enter the building. Once at the hall, it is probably better to look at everything you can (remember –look is right click). Pick up the newspaper (you don’t really have to do it – but it’s good practice on adventure games to pick everything you can). Look at the newspaper when it is in the inventory. So there’s the future for you.
Press the lift button on the panel next to the lift door
The lift’s not working. Talk to Jack – all topics. He will give you an excuse for not doing anything and will give you a screwdriver. Jack also gave you a note. Look at the note in the inventory – the boss (Colin) wants to talk to you.
Use the screwdriver (from the inventory) on the panel.
You’ll see a zoom of the panel (opened). There’s a broken wire – that’s why the lift is not working. To fix it you will need some cable – or metallic object. Use the paper clip on the broken wire. She doesn’t try it because it’s not insulated. Exit the zoom of the panel back to the hall, and look or use the vase you will find a paper handkerchief wrapper – it’s plastic so it will insulated. Combine paper clip with paper handkerchief wrapper, creating an insulated wire. Look again to the lift panel. Try using the insulated wire on the broken wire. You need something to hold it in place. Exit the zoom view. Pick something from the ashtray – yuck! an used chewing gum. Look once more to the lift panel. Put the chewing gum in the broken wire. And then put the insulated wire onto the chewing gum. The lift is working now. Click on the panel.

Once inside the lift, click on the 10th floor – that’s the one available for now – apart from the Ground floor.
In the newsroom, look or interact with everything there, if you want to: many objects don’t really have a use in the game, but some will – later. Talk to Phil – all topics. Pick up the lighter. Look at the ashtray – now you’ll know what kind of brand Pete smokes. Enter door on the right.
At Colin’s office, talk to Colin – all topics. You can also look and interact with everything here. Most will only be available later on the game. You now know that you have an assignment – to report on the vice-consul’s burglary. So, exit to the outside of the newspaper building (going through Colin’s leftmost door, the lift to the ground floor, and the right-side of the entrance hall).

Outside the building go either left or right –you’ll presented to a map. Click on the ring that locates the vice-consul’s.
Walk to the mansion to go to its front door. Knock on the door, a butler will appear. Talk to him – he is not very helpful, is he? He will close the door, knock again. He wants some proof you are a journalist, so show him the press card. (As he is quite quick on shutting down the conversation, we might have to try a few times). Still not enough. Forget the butler for now. Search the bush on the left to automatically find a painting, a paperknife, a rock and a folder. Knock on the door and talk to the butler again, and show him one of the items you found on the bush. He still doesn’t let you in. Knock again on the door, pursue every line of dialog until – “So the mansion is vulnerable?” appears and choose that line. Eventually, he will let you in.
Once inside, talk to the vice-consul – all topics.
Get out and back to the map.
Your next destination is the police. Talk to the police at the booth – all topics. He won’t give you the photo. Remember you still have the rock or stone you found at the bush. Position yourself behind the pillar and use the stone on the left window. There – major damage! – aren’t you feeling guilty? Anyhow, the coast is clear – Grab the photo that stands at the booth.
Exit the police and get back to the newspaper and either talk to Colin (about Styl Malz) – he will tell you to talk to Phil, or go right to Phil and show him the photo of the statue. Exit the newspaper.
The map will now feature the Artists Garden. Malz is easy to find. Talk to him – all topics. Show him in the picture. You can now have a zoom view of the statue to see what Malz is talking about.

In the zoom view of the photo, look, by clicking, at the scribblings. Exit view. Still in the Artists Garden, pick up a bit of wax.
Back to the newspaper, and to the newsroom. You are looking for some clues about the scribblings. Use the photo on the anthropology books. There’s information there to be able to translate the scribblings or runes. The information line (at the top of the inventory bar) says, “note added to notebook”. So, now look at the notebook (in the inventory): “ABOVE A SKY LIES THE TRUTH”. That’s what the scribblings mean. Go to Colin’s office and talk to him. After the dialog, you know your next task is looking for some painting – that holds they key!? While you are at Colin’s office, look at that painting. No, it doesn’t seem this painting holds anything. Go back to the entrance hall, and look at the big painting there. You get a zoom view of it: there are some more strange characters. Susan notes those in her notebook. You can have a look again at your notebook. Go up to the newsroom, and use notebook on the laptop. You got those translated too. Those characters are the same words, but the phrase is all mixed up. Take a look at your notebook, it says: “A LIES ABOVE SKY THE TRUTH”.
So,
1st symbol means: A
2nd symbol means: LIES
3rd symbol means ABOVE
4th symbol means SKY
5th symbol means THE
6th symbol TRUTH
Go back to the entrance hall, and look at the painting…In the zoom view of the painting, click on the one of the symbols (it doesn’t matter which). Susan says that “the symbols look like buttons… why not press them?”. Press them in order to make the correct sentence. So, if you number the buttons (from left to right), First press button 3, then 1,4,2,5,6. A drawer in the painting will open, revealing a thin glass disc. Pick it up.


Go to Colin’s office and tell him about the painting having a secret panel – Susan won’t tell she found a lens or something, there. Now, you can go to the police but insp. Madji is out, so you’d better go directly to the vice-consul mansion. The butler now poses no constraincts. Talk to the vice-consul. Go through all the topics of the dialog. The vice-consul will tell you that the statuette was a gift by Jacob Illya. Illya is supposed to be out of town. He usually hangs around at the museum, so you will have another place to visit. You can also give back the photo of the statuette to the vice-consul… (You can go to the museum, but it’s closed so you have to return tomorrow). Now, return to the newspaper. At the newsroom, something happened: there is a policeman guarding the door to Colin’s office. Talk to Phil and to the special agent policeman. Colin was kidnapped and the police regards the reporters as suspects. Insp. Madji is – again – the man in charge…Now leave and go to the police and talk to the policeman at the booth. Ask to talk to insp. Madji. (he already returned from the newspaper). You can enter now. Talk to Madji all topics (about the vice-consul’s burglary and the kidnap). Madji.isn’t very helpful. While you are there look at the poster of the Caribbean. So, Madji is thinking of a vacation, perhaps? Get out of his office. Use your mobile phone to call the police. You’ll make a prank call so that Madji gets out of his office, leaving you free to search. So, go inside Madji’s office. Look at the files and search the trashcan. You now have some more notes on your notebook and a trashed report. Look at both. So, who is this Obrero guy? Get out and talk to the policeman. Obrero is the commissioner… Go again to Madji’s office and talk to him. He doesn’t think too much of Obrero’s intromission… Get back to the newspaper. The newsroom. Go to Colin’s office. Use a card (your press card or credit card) to break into Colin’s private room. Pick up the glove at the shelves (on the right) and the cigarette near the stereo set. Go back to Colin’s office and use the glove on the aquarium. Susan will find a plastic bag in the fish cave. Look at the plastic bag (in your inventory) – there’s Colin’s card – boy, isn’t he twisted? Go to the lift and use Colin’s card in the slot. Now press button 11 to go to the Administration floor. Look into everything, but especially search the vase on your left. Susan finds another cigarette – she knows how to add 2 and 2 and concludes that Pete was at Colin’s private room and at the administration floor (probably the night before when Colin overheard the meeting about the painting). Look at the access control panel. Susan doesn’t know the code. You may try it: use Colin’s card and press a few buttons. Unless you are very lucky you won’t crack the code. Use the nail polish on the access control panel – so that when someone uses it, it willl leave the marks on the buttons that were pressed… It’s time to make it a day, so leave the newspaper building…

DAY 2

Go inside the newspaper building. At the entrance hall, there is today’s newspaper. Pick it up an read it – a famous scientist died in mysterious circumstances and there’s also a reference about Jacob Illya. The article was written by Loris Regiani (you make a mental note to talk to Phil about meeting Loris). Go up to the newsroom. No one there, but there is a parcel in Pete’s desk (sent by Obrero!). Pick it up. Look at it when in the inventory. There is a key. Look at the key –it’s a P.O.Box key. While you are at the newspaper, go up to the administration floor. Look at the access panel. Buttons 7 and 3 are smudged (the 7 more so than the 3). The code is a combination of several 7’s and a 3: Insert Colin’s card in the slot. Try some combinations but the right one is: 7 7 3 7. Now, go inside the meeting room. Look at the statue: there is a curious vessel with a head of a duck. Move the duck’s beak – the painting will open revealing a secret compartment. Look at everything there, pick a white sheet of paper from the notebook and read the red book. When in your inventory, look at the white sheet of paper. There are some pen markings. Use pencil in it to see the pen markings. It’s a diagram for some kind of machine. There’s also a “subquark filter” that looks that disc that was hidden in the painting in the newspaper’s entrance hall. So, that’s not a lens as you thought at first but a “subquark filter.” You notice also some characters “65A”. An address number, maybe? Where to?
Go out and when at the map, select the Post Office. What’s happening in front of the Post Office? Talk to the man with the board (all topics) – they are not letting anyone in. Walk to the right and look at the hole (that leads into the sewers). There is a working man’s suit. Take it – unfortunately you will drop the P.O.Box key (you only have the label now “345”). You are not going down there! Use the suit on yourself. Nice disguise. Now you can enter the building… The box you are looking is among the ones numbered from 300 to 400, on the left and bit close to the floor… It’s labelled “box” (not “boxes”). Look at it…In the zoom view of the box, use the screwdriver in the lock to try to break it – almost, but not quite. Go outside and talk to the man with the board. You will convince him to lend you his key… Go in, and use that key in the lock (when in the zoom view of the box). That’s enough to open it… Take everything you can from the box (ie, leave the money, but take the seringe and vial, the envelope and the plane tickets.) Look at the envelope. Hmmm: Obrero and Peter kidnapped Colin, serving some “organization”. The vial contains a powerful sedative.

Now, it’s a good time to phone Madji – you have proof enough… With Obrero’s involvement, Madji is too scared, so he prefers to ignore you. You will have to rescue Colin on your own… (You can go to the police and try to convince Madji – even giving Obrero’s letter to Madji - but he isn’t very interested in risking his neck pursuing Obrero.) In the meantime, load the seringe with vial (use vial on seringe, or vice versa). Leave the Post Office and go back to the newspaper. Phil is back so talk to him (all topics). You will ask Phil to call Loris since you want to know more about Illya. Also, Phil will tell you that he found out a key in Colin’s office – he will give you that key. Go to Colin’s office and use the key on the panel (just below the aquarium…). There are some papers there, one of them with Pete’s address. Look at the green paper in your inventory. Exit the newspaper and go to Pete’s. Use the credit card technique to open doors. You know you have to be quick. After some time, you’ll hear some one coming – must be Peter. Hide yourself from his view, behind the leftmost column. Once there, use the loaded seringe on Pete. He will turn docile as a lamb. Ask him what he knows, but he doesn’t make any sense. Search him. You’ll find 2 keys. Use them (only one works) in the leftmost door. The door opens, revealing Colin handcuffed and gagged. Ungagg and uncuff him. Colin is saved… Talk to him – you’ll return to the newspaper. After a brief conversation, return to the newsroom – Loris is already there. Talk to him – all topics… You will find out Illya’s probable whereabouts – his lab at the docks… So, number 65A must be the number of his warehouse lab… You can go to the warehouse, but you can’t find a way to go in. Go to the museum, then… When inside, talk to the museum’s clerk. He isn’t helpful at all. He will wander around, so when he can’t see you – ie when he is in the bottom part of the screen – grab your chance and enter the door just right of the Staff sign. Once inside, go to to lockers – take key (in the second locker). She won’t leave with the original key, so you have to make a copy. Use lighter with hard wax – to melt it a bit. The use the (softened) wax on that strange key. Now use the created mold with the synthetic resin to create a perfect copy of the key. Before you leave, take a brochure (they are on the table…). You can now leave (she will put back the original key on its place). Now, go to the warehouse.

So, here’s address 65 A of the docks. A nifty warehouse. You’ll see the big 65 A to confirm that it’s the right place. Also, there’s a graffiti reminding you to email the author of the game. It is always nice to hear from the players, so please take a minute and email me at ratracer@sapo.pt. I hope you are enjoying the game, but even if that isn’t the case, tell me your impressions about it, so I can improve in my future games. Let’s get back to the game. Use the replica of the key (you found at the museum) and enter the warehouse. Once you go in you’ll see someone – he disappeared quickly! Go downstairs to see where he went. Going to the bottom left (as far as you can go) you’ll end up in a place with some crates and other containers. Trying to open the fridge-looking ones, you’ll notice the rightmost is closed. Open the card box – there’s a crowbar. Nice! Pick up the hose and put it in the water tap. You have to put the other end of the hose somewhere: put it against the door of the rightmost container. Open the water tap – the floor gets flooded. Use the crowbar on the small panel on the floor (it reveals an electrical plug). The water goes in the electrical plug – pooof! – an explosion and the magnetic lock of the door of the container is busted and the door opens. There’s a entrance to another room. Go in… At the next room it’s almost total obscurity… Although you don’t see much, walk around that room… One of the “?” objects is a light switch (more or less in the middle of the room). Push it – and there was light! Just above the light switch there’s a drawer. Look at it – take metal part (the one that looks like a metallic umbrella) and the magnet (you don’t need the tape). Exit the zoom view and open the ventilation grate. Look inside it. Pick up the metal piece in the left and use the magnet to reach the one on the right. Now, look at the strange key (the replica, I mean) and use the two metallic pieces that were in the ventilation duct and the umbrella thingy – the assembly is obvious, but you need to use those 3 pieces with the key. Now use the “new” key on the panel (just below the light switch)… And a secret passage will open.

Walk down there – then, down the stairs, and then to the left. You reach the very spacious lab, the machine attracting all attentions, in the middle of the screen. No time to do much, since Jacob Illya comes up pretty quicky. Go through all topics of the dialog – to get him to trust you. Once the long conversation has ended, use the lens (the subquark filter) on the filter holder (the left most part of the machine) - Illya starts the machine but, apart from a small burst of light, nothing happens. Talk to Illya again, we need to think about what happened. You both go to the meeting room (the small “house” on the right of the screen) and after Illya gives you a note from Mathus and a access card to the lab, leave the warehouse. Look at the note that Illya gave you – Mathus makes a reference to Crusoe’s Island. Go to the newspaper and talk to Phil (also with Colin, but he won’t give you any help on that). Hmmm, Phil doesn’t know enough, so you’d better get back to the meeting room at the lab. This time, use the lift directly to the lab (you just have to use the lab card on the leftmost door, once inside the warehouse): Illya isn’t around, that’s probably better that way. Look at the library – the non-specialised books are the ones that matter (they are labelled “books”). Look at them – a collection by Kafka, Lewis Carroll and so on – the ones that really matter are the ones by Nuno Grande - on the right shelf.
 

Now return to the newspaper and talk again to Phil – once you make the reference he will remember – and decode the mystery phrase - ABOVE THE SKY LIES THE TRUTH THAT POINTS TO FREEDOM… But, what do you do with that? Well, look at the brochure of the museum: now you can see a hall that is called Hall of Representation of Concepts. Go back to the museum; there look at the brochure and click on the Hall. At the Hall, you can have a go at seeing all the exhibits but the important thing is: a huge friese next to the wall and above it a massive painting. Look at the descriptions for both of them (little squares to the right) – so the friese depicts the Ladies of the Sky and the painting represents the truth. So look at the painting – it definitely points to freedom, a gigantic statue near the door. Try to have a closer look at the statue, but the tourist that wanders around comes talking to you every time. Give him the brochure, he will be happy and leave. Have a closer look at the statue: below the feet on the left, there are some shadows: look into them, and you’ll see another filter. This must be the right one. Look also at the description for the statue. The only important thing to retain are the numbers: 1945-15-288. Now, leave the museum, go to the warehouse, use the lab card to go directly throught the lift to the lab. Use the new subquark filter on the machine (on the filter holder or support). Look at the console. Click the swith and the red button. When asked to input the coordinates, just write (using your keyboard) 194515288. The machine will start working – then walk into the sphere of light.

Everything is dark. Totally dark. Walk to the right until you’ll find a strange thing pulsating. Talk to it. After a lengthy dialog, you’ll see that thing is really Mathus, transformed by the physical laws of that universe. He will give you something. Also he will open a door so you can get out.

Once back to the lab, there will be an automatic save and you will have three choices:
1. Call (by phone) Illya;
2. Get out of there, forgetting everything and – hopefully – return to your normal life.
3. See what Mathus gave you: it’s a device with what seems a range of coordinates. Try them –substituting the X with any number - at the console and enter the machine again.

The choice you make will determine …
THE END OF THE GAME
 

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