Follow Professor Catheline Falk and her assistant Iris Wilson as they uncover what lies hidden beneath the museum...

INTRODUCTION

This is my first-ever text adventure, written for the Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2026 with the theme Archeology. It was written with my own parser, programmed in JavaScript.

"Beneath the Exhibition" contains around 15 unique rooms, 4 talkable NPCs, and 20+ manipulable objects.

HOW TO PLAY

A text adventure is a genre of role-playing games where you are presented with a story through room descriptions and a list of items you can interact with. Like any story, text adventures have a goal that you will reach through exploration and puzzle solving.

You can move around, interact with, and manipulate objects by using simple commands that follow the pattern <verb> <object>. For example: take weapon

Movement

You move by typing go <north/east/south/west>. The directions can also be shortened to n, e, s, or w.

Examination

You can and should examine everything. You can examine objects by typing examine <object>, or simply x <object>. You can also examine the room itself by typing examine room. Doing so may reveal hidden objects that are not immediately visible.

Talking & Thinking

You can talk to NPCs (non-player characters) when they are in the room with you. You can start a general conversation by typing talk to <NPC name>, or talk about specific topics by typing talk to <NPC name> about <topic>.

You can also think about specific topics to access your character’s general knowledge. This can provide additional information about places, characters, and systems. For example "think about braille"

Help

The game includes several built-in systems to support you if you get stuck or need guidance:

• hint
  Provides a context-sensitive hint related to your current situation or puzzle. Hints are progressive, meaning repeated use may reveal more detailed guidance.
• commands
  Displays a full list of all available verbs and their usage, helping you understand what actions are possible.
• look
  Reprints the current room description, allowing you to revisit details you may have missed.
• restart
  Restarts the game from the beginning, letting you try a different approach or experience the story again.

CREDITS

A BIG thank you to my amazing testers for all the time and patience they invested into me and this game -couldn't have asked for better people to work with

• g0blin
• Zophobas Morio
• justfenex