The Song of the Mockingbird

About the game

It is 1867, and Texas is close to lawless after the war. The town of El Crucero has been terrorised by a gang led by a man in black leather who carries a sword, and the telegraph is down, so there is nobody to send for. You are "Boots" Taylor, an old cowhand who whistles and sings on the trail so much that people call you the Texas Mockingbird.

You went after the gang alone instead of waiting for a posse, and it did not go well: the story opens with the outlaws holding you and planning to finish the job. Getting out of that is only the beginning.

It is a classic puzzle adventure in a western setting, with horses, cattle pens, windmills under the Texas sun and a dry sense of humour.

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 horse or search the bunk.

Commands

Command	What it does
`north`, `south`, `east`, `west` (or `n`, `s`, `e`, `w`)	walk; also `up`, `down`, `in`, `out`
`look` (`l`)	describe where you are again
`inventory` (`i`)	list what you are carrying
`examine` (`x`) something	look closer
`read` / `search` something	the author's own suggestion: both matter here
`hint`	adaptive hints for what you are doing now; `hints off` turns them off
`about`	the author's notes and the credits
`save` / `restore`	keep your progress in this browser and load it back

A few things worth knowing

Search and read. The game's own help points out that, beyond the usual actions, searching and reading things is worth doing.

It is forgiving. The author rates it Merciful on the Zarfian scale, so you can experiment without fear of getting stuck for good.

The hints follow you. hint adapts to the puzzle you are on, so a nudge does not spoil what comes later.

Credits and licence

The Song of the Mockingbird was written by Mike Carletta for the 2021 Interactive Fiction Competition and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The cover art, by Crystal Rain, is not covered by that licence and is not distributed here, so the art command has nothing to show. The licence text is linked from this page.