I learned I have to write a walkthrough for my game in case the judges can't get through my whole game, so here it is. It took me one and a half hours to write up too!
Early choices: They affect what page you get, but not the progression of the story.
For the first real choices, pick 'Open Up' and 'Kitchen Knife Redux' or you die a gruesome death.
When deciding whether to run, pick 'Run Away from Everything' and then 'Slum it Out in the Streets'.
At the three-way fork, only 'Look Around the Train Station' leads to the epilogue, but the side-path 'Sleep in a Large Garbage Bin' has some legitimate endings in it.
In the Alleyway: if you go to the Bookstore, the solutions to the Bookstore Puzzles/Riddles are 'Your front door was unlocked', 'You troll Stan! They're all wrong!', and 'March 16'.
If you go to the Stadium, don't steal from the store. At the job interview, the answers to the questions are 'I was the dux of my high school', 'I will be changing the world, from the bottom up' and '10' if you want to get the job, but there's another ending you can get if you answer one of the questions wrong, and I highly recommend you find it.
If you didn't get the job: there are a few options, but those leading to the riddles/puzzles are 'Look for Brain Teasers'. The answers are 'Two blackbirds remain', 'Royal Dux' and 'C'.
Chatting to the girl: If you answer a question wrong, you get the busker's ending. If you want the ending with the girl, pick 'How come you live by yourself?', 'I just lost my family too', and 'A Home'.
Looking Around the Train Station: Make sure you 'Look for the Man' if you want to avoid hearing a rape/murder scene.
Veggies/Panhandling: You get a valid ending with the vegetable seeds path, but you need to 'Continue Panhandling' to get the epilogue.
At the Second Three-Way Fork: Only 'Find a Nicer Homeless Shelter' leads to the epilogue, but 'Stay with your Homeless Friends' leads to valid endings as well. If you do explore the 'Search for a Backpacker's Lodge' side path, make sure not to stay in the Lodge if you want to avoid a rape scene.
Homeless Friends: Don't lie to them on the three-way choice. From here there are two different endings, most people would consider either of them 'good'.
Homeless Shelter: Change your look first to avoid getting detained. Click 'Strike a Deal with the Library' and then 'Traffic' if you want to move toward the Epilogue. There is an alternative ending if you pick 'Money' then 'Change Libraries' mind you, you may find the "development" of the character entertaining there. You eventually get arrested if you go 'Stick to Private Tutoring'.
How to Evade the Police: Make sure you 'Call for a Break', then 'Catch a Bus' and 'Run into the Forest'.
The Forest Survival Puzzle: First I will give some hints, then the full walkthrough, as I think you'll enjoy it more if you try to work it out for yourself.
Hint 1: Don't go to the cave. There's no benefit and you just lose time and nourishment.
Hint 2: The stream provides. And you only need to survive to Half-Day 13.
Hint 3: Focus on finding water, you'll die of dehydration sooner than hunger.
Hint 4: Dehydration and Hunger increase by 10 every time you click something from 'Decision Page' (not at any other time). You die automatically if dehydration reaches 40 or hunger reaches 60. Eating does not increase dehydration.
Hint 5: Make a spear fast, you can use it for hunting bears and fish, and cutting wood trees.
Hint 6: Think creatively about how you will store your water.
Hint 7: Don't bother making shelter items except the fire, this was part of a random event or two I was going to program into this part, but ran out of time to execute.
Hint 8: Click 'Find Materials' early if you want hints on where each path leads. North is a waste of time, you can make fire with your items at the very start.
If the above hints weren't enough, then here's the full Walkthrough: Note, you have to be accurate at the start, or you will quickly die of dehydration or hunger. You might be complaining, but the wild is a very unforgiving place.
Items: Pick up all items except the Yew Berries, they will kill you. I didn't know how to set the foraging page so you have to pick any two of the three items to move on, sorry about that.
Half-Day 1: Click 'Find Materials', then 'Head East'. Pick up the items.
Half-Day 2: Click 'Find Materials'. then 'Head South'. Pick up the items.
Half-Day 3: Click 'Build Something', then 'Shelter', then use the Branches, and finally use your Glasses to make fire. Yes, reflecting light off glasses can start a fire, I looked it up.
Half-Day 4: On the 'Decision Page', use the Fire, then use the Mud to get a Bucket.
Half-Day 5: Click 'Build Something', then 'Weapons', then use first the Branches, then the Rocks to get a 'Spear'.
Half-Day 6: Click 'Find Water', then 'Drink from the Stream'. Use the Spear to get Fish and reduce your hunger by 30, then click 'Previous Page' and use the Bucket to have a week's supply of fresh water (which of course, you take) you can drink at any point to reset your dehydration to 0.
Half-Day 7: From here there are a few different means to the same goal, this is how I do it though to keep my hunger to a minimum. Click 'Find Food', then 'Hunting', then use the Spear. You will lose five life doing this, but it doesn't really matter.
Half-Day 8: On the 'Decision Page', use the Fire, then use the Bear Carcass to reduce your hunger. Return to the Decision Page and click 'Find Materials' then 'Head West'. Grab the twigs and use the Spear to get Wood.
Half-Day 9: 'Build Something', 'Weapons', combine Wood and Rocks (in that order). Take the Knife.
Half-Day 10: 'Find Food', 'Hunting', use the Knife, pick up the 'Dead Bear'.
Half-Day 11: Use Fire, use Dead Bear. 'Find Food' by going 'Trapping', pick up the Bait and collect your catches.
Half-Day 12: Use Fire, use Rodents, 'Previous Page', use Woodpeckers (could be reversed with Rodents), 'Decision Page'. Now it shouldn't matter, but if you messed up a bit earlier and need food fast, go to 'Find Food' and 'Foraging', making sure you don't pick the Yew Berries.
Half-Day 13: Doesn't matter, I usually choose to 'Rest' though. The only way you can really screw up is if you get careless and forgot to regularly use the Bucket Full of Water or cook your catches over the fire. Pick 'Week in the Wild' and go on to Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 - now this is the hardest puzzle in the game. In its original setting (having to complete it before the timer hits 48) it would have possibly been the hardest puzzle in all of CYS, so I reduced the difficulty a bit - by setting an automatic death when the timer hits 73.
I'll give you the fastest solution I've been able to come up with, I don't think there is a faster way, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. I do think you should attempt the puzzle yourself before going through the walkthrough, as the whole point of this intricate maze was so the character wouldn't be 'gifted' his place in the new world, like in the rest of the story, he would have to prove himself.
Before I give the full solution, here are some hints so you can try to find the answer yourself:
Hint 1: Most places, if visited at the wrong time, lead to death. Think about when such places would be busiest in a normal village when deciding whether to visit (assuming you aren't pressing back whenever you reach an 'End Game' link).
Hint 2: You need a certain item to progress in key parts. Getting the bronze sword and tiger skin should be your first priorities.
Hint 3: Avoid the Main Road during 'school zones'.
Hint 4: You can learn a lot of useful information at the chemist, but you'll need a bucket of water from the stream to go there safely.
Hint 5: Only visit residential areas while the inhabitants are out at work.
Hint 6: Certain places are safer when you wear a tiger skin. One isn't.
Hint 7: Save up your hunting rifle for when you really need it.
Hint 8: The keys can be found at the school and the toilet.
Hint 9: There are two ways to get the first key.
Hint 10: Alternate between the Bar and Cottage House to access the toilet.
Hint 11: Two of the riddles (which must be solved to win) can be worked out by playing through each hypothetical in your head. The answer to a third can be found in the cottage house, or avoided altogether with a certain item.
Hint 12: The greenhouse is exposed in the early morning, else you'll need an axe.
Hint 13: There are a few safe zones, move between them if you can't progress to the next place you need to go.
Hint 14: Using the wrong item at certain moments will kill you. The bronze sword helps there.
If you're still stuck, here's a full walkthrough:
Note (T0), Village Entrance (T1), Old Smithy (T2), press the button.
Riddle Answer: 20, Twenty.
Village Entrance (T3), The Main Road (T4), Church (T5), The Main Road (T6), The Bank (T7), Don't Wear It, Answer,
Riddle Answer: 0(VM), 7(VM2)
The Main Road (T8), The Village Entrance (T9), My One Safe Zone (T10), Farmhouse (T11), use bronze sword, grab items (but the loaf of bread is useless, didn't have time to incorporate it), The Greenhouse (T12), Enter the Greenhouse, grab Greenhouse Plants, The Farmhouse (T13), My One Safe Zone (T14), Dirt Path (T15), Stand Still and Wait, Right Turn (but you can check the ground for clues first, it will help slightly without the walkthrough), The Stream (T16), The Cave (T17), grab Hunting Rifle, The Stream (T18), Back Along the Dirt Path (T19), My One Safe Zone (T20), The Village Entrance (T21), The Main Road (T22), The Bar (T23), Use Tiger Skin, pick up Steak (but don't use on yourself), The Toilet (T24), The Cottage House (T25), use Steak, grab Rum, read the answer to the next riddle if you want to make your life easier. The Bar (T26), use Tiger Skin, use Rum, grab Toilet Key, The Main Road (T27), The Village Entrance (T28), The Markets (T29), use Greenhouse Plants, pick up both the Backpack and Glasses, The Main Road (T30), The School (T31), Sneak Around the Back, click 'Nothing to Give' (as you don't have ginseng, at least not in this walkthrough), click '11525', The Cottage House (T32), The Toilet (T32), use Black King, use Toilet Key, grab Key 2, Cottage House (T33), The Locked Door (T34), use Key 1, then Key 2, use the Hunting Rifle, use the Bronze Sword, you get the only epilogue and the only score greater than zero.
Note that there are many points with this run where, if you are even half an hour later, you would die, so make sure to follow it perfectly.
Thanks for playing my game!
