My Name is Jack Mills

About the game

Your name is Jack Mills, and your evening starts in the cell block of the local police station. Professor Humphrey, a mild-mannered academic you have known for years, has been locked up for assault, and he does not want to be bailed out. He wants a favour: something valuable was stolen from him, and he needs it back before it is too late.

The trail takes you across the city by car, from the police station to a hotel, a nightclub with a back room you are not supposed to see and an upscale restaurant, and ends with a car chase and an auction at a rich collector's mansion. Along the way you sneak past a hotel receptionist, make phone calls and take photographs.

It is a story in the style of the old pulp detective magazines, narrated by Jack in the first person, and it has more than one ending.

Playing it here

Click Play now and the story starts in the player. Type a command after the > prompt and press Enter. The game understands short English sentences, such as examine the bars or ask the policewoman about the professor. If you are new to text adventures, type newbie for a short guide.

Commands

Command	What it does
`north`, `south`, `east`, `west` (or `n`, `s`, `e`, `w`)	walk; also `up`, `down`, `enter` and `exit`
`drive to` place	go to another part of the city once you know about it
`look` (`l`)	describe where you are again
`examine` (`x`) something	look closer
`inventory` (`i`)	list what you are carrying
`ask` someone `about` something	the way to talk to people
`yes` / `no`	answer when someone asks you something
`call` number	use a telephone
`photograph` something	take a picture as evidence
`help`, `commands`, `newbie`	the in-game guides and the full list of verbs
`about`, `license`	the introduction, the credits and the licence
`save` / `restore`	keep your progress in this browser and load it back

A few things worth knowing

You cannot get stuck. Some choices close off some of the endings, but there is always a way to reach the end of the story.

Save before you drive off in a hurry. The night has a car chase, and taking the wrong turn there can end the game.

Ask about everything. Conversations only use ask ... about, so try the names of people, places and things you have heard of. Hints are not built in; the author's site has a walkthrough if you need one.

Credits and licence

My Name is Jack Mills was written by Juhana Leinonen, with beta testing by Taleslinger, Poster and Jackie Keith; the release played here is the first, from September 2007. It is free software under the author's own licence, which allows copying and even selling the game as long as its source code is available alongside it. The full source code of this release is hosted here and linked from this page, together with the licence text, which you can also read in the game by typing license.