Despite the vast amount of technical issues encountered, the circumstances would probably have allowed this little ditty to be shown green light months earlier but it'd be reckless to rush projects, even for a persona non grata. These editor tools (DxTre3D, PixStr, fexmerger, TRviewer, Metasequoia-converters but NOT RView this time; its accursed unstability outweights the usefulness) sure have helped me to deliver crispier self-expression than previous two instalments put together. Big heap of thanks to all the developers behind 'em! Same goes for BORISPYLLY on tiny although excellent idea concerning the game.

~Drobridski
16th March 2022, 15:10 local time 





~STORY~ 

You are invited to gape with awe and amazement as Janice demonstrates the wonders of evidence decimation. Having outfoxed Lara into leaving the apple of her eye (must I REALLY spell it out for you which legendary munchies are in question...?) to fend for themselves during the events of "Zeitgeist", seemingly nothing stood between this sympathetic dame and gluttony-orientated high jinks. In fact it'd only be gravy for a truly rollicking twenty-four. Y'see, Janice meets Bernard in a bit. Their monthly tete-a-tete consists of sitting side by side on the sofa – holding hands as adorably as Ico and Yorda if you may – whilst sharing profound new-found bugs in Tom Braider multiplayer. Ah yes... they certainly won't manifest the magnificence of someone down below through iconoclasm or by biting avians' heads off. Honest.

But alas, karma is a ditch. Returning onto the semi-derelict Acacia Avenue, the threshold on Janice's flat had to play a part in this charade. It sent both the hoodlum and her prize flying – causing the latter to collide with a doormat. Physicists should know what kinda Swiss cheese came out of this "galvanized ectoplasm-ruthlessly-smites-pyromolecules"-reaction. Moreover the taken tumble left Janice out cold.

Upon waking up a hair-raising realisation awaits: Bernard shows up in approximately nine minutes! The problem here's the mess to be swept under the rug, since the miserable old devil will surely get puppies even from a single whiff of odours this obnoxious – and he's definitely not a dog person. Disappointed Bernard's visage would shatter Janice's heart into itsy-bitsy pieces, but as this damsel's budget cannot right now bear the superglue required in her organ's reassembly, she'll teach that boorish neanderthal a lesson in manners later. Luckily a state-of-the-art washing machine next to Janice's stash of her favourite coffin nails promises not only tip-top-quality, but also does its silent hocus-pocus without raising both of Bernard's brows. As the icing on the cake she'll avert any remaining attention by elegantly decorating her throne room before things turn sour. Shamelessly painless! Are you ready for this?

*Keep in mind that time does stop as you inspect the knick-knacks or the "Compass" – a scrap of paper with thy objectives in it.
*Secrets in the traditional sense? Nuh-uh! Thorough brainiacs, however, are prone to find the 4 clues which all help open the included & encrypted "Boonus Material"-folder.
*An Anemone or Clematis plant's juice can cause a rash. When pruning them it's a good idea to wear gloves.





~HOW TO PLAY~

•Start by running TOMBATI, it should open the game nicely if your operating system is Windows 8 or newer.
•Remedy a possible "Invalid patch module"-error by moving the game folder to a directory which name has no special symbols.
•In the Main Menu, select the cube saying "Play the Game!!". The "Crash test!!"-cube does exactly as it promises.
•Then – enjoy!
•TOMBATI settings (found in "Patches"-folder) have been altered for optimal playing experience. You may change these but it might cause glitches/inconvenience.
•"Postmortem" is designed to be experienced with the provided TOMBATI; DOSBOX users heed this.





~KNOWN ISSUES/BUGS~

*With sound effects in mind the Main Menu is mute on purpose, in case you're wonderin'.
*There is a risk of soft-locking the level should you use an item simultaneously as the brief "clock counter"-view is on. So aim not to do so.
*You'll get some funky camera angles during those "clock counter"-moments when standing on tiles which activate other cameras.
*At times some objects flicker in and out of existence. Naturally the fault is on the game engine, not on my megalomaniacal desire of pushing its limits.
*Theoretically it is possible to see both "endings" at the same time... though it asks for a stopwatch to witness.
*Yeah yeah I know the lighting is notoriously yet unavoidably choppy on the stairwell. What's more these stairs itself have a number of pass-through and other bugs as well.
*The top face of a pushblock rotates according where you interact with objects.
*Janice glides on the floor during certain death animation.





~BOONUS MATERIAL-HINT~

In the game you'll most likely come across 4 boards of quiz-like questions on previous Drobridski levels-of-the-years. The answers are always numerical in manner. Input them one after the other while opening the "Boonus Material"-folder; for example if you think the correct set of answers are 12, 3, 45 and 6, type "123456" as the password. The valid code is 6 digits long... and remember: input your answers in chronological order (= the oldest game first) of the levels in question! You can do it!





~COPYRIGHT~

Akin to earlier solo-works, few things originate elsewhere than "me, myself & I":

*Janice/Bernard voiceovers are a mix between "Tomb Raider The Angel of Darkness" and "Tomb Raider III (PSX beta demo)"
*Janice's movement sounds (footsteps, rolling, shimmy etc.) are reused from the original 1996 game
*So-called lyrics on the hidden track have been nicked from "EarthSiege II"

All other audio is recorded and mixed by the infamous Drobridski Studios. In the music guitar, bass guitar(s), ukulele and keyboards are real instruments - simple percussion is artificially sampled with the aid of Soundation. 

Drobridski Photography would like to express their gratitude towards Drobridski Ateliers; the latter made clear enough textures/illustrations utilising somewhat common 0.5 millimeter lead pencil to be shot by the former, resulting in a full-on hand-made (excluding the solid colours such as two-tone red & black) amateurishly cheap style. In short nearly everything you'll see is paper. Minimum digital image manipulation was used, mainly on transition textures plus the "inverse colours"-effect on some faces. Drobridski Modeling congratulates forementioned departments for their efforts on spicing up custom 3D-models.

The work of Michael Patton, Farrokh Bulsara, Glen Benton and Terence Butler have all provided mild inspiration to the level's development.