Carl will be here soon
March 10, 2016 11:34 AM   Subscribe

 
Totally worth it.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:52 AM on March 10, 2016


I really enjoyed this. Going through it on a smartphone made it feel very quick but intimate.
posted by none of these will bring disaster at 11:53 AM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


I stopped at q3. Does it get better than a market survey?
posted by pantufla_milagrosa at 11:55 AM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have great patience for things that I find interesting, but I did not finish whatever this turns out to be.
posted by clockzero at 11:55 AM on March 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


I'm confused why are the headphone options only skull candy, beats or ear buds? Why is pianoforte an option for first instrument? Why is listening on ham radio and option but no lossless formats. What is this.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:56 AM on March 10, 2016 [3 favorites]


I'll admit I don't get it other than that it's a unique way of engaging with a story. What's frustrating is that you have to pick from preordained answers. It would be more interesting if I could type in an answer.
posted by spicynuts at 11:56 AM on March 10, 2016


No progress bar so I bailed after about ten questions. Did anyone finish? How many questions were there?
posted by octothorpe at 11:58 AM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't know what this is, but I love this.
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:59 AM on March 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


I finished only because I had to.

For Carl.
posted by bondcliff at 11:59 AM on March 10, 2016 [19 favorites]


I am sad for Carl, but not sad enough to sit in the basement with him.
posted by skyscraper at 12:01 PM on March 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


I think Carl is hitting on me...and his mother too.
posted by Muddler at 12:01 PM on March 10, 2016


I don't bother to invest any energy into things, could someone who isn't dead inside tell me what happens?
posted by beerperson at 12:01 PM on March 10, 2016 [6 favorites]


Carl is not hitting on his mother.
posted by skyscraper at 12:02 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Neat way to tell a story. Really expected there to be something in that tea...
posted by Monster_Zero at 12:02 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


I got the secret ending, and just... wow, I'm speechless. Carl is indeed very passionate about music.
posted by naju at 12:03 PM on March 10, 2016


I think I didn't get the secret ending? I'll be honest, it was sort of a letdown.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:08 PM on March 10, 2016


The list of possible headphones pretty much ruled out musicians.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2016 [3 favorites]


Does no one else find "all right" super annoying?
posted by wyndham at 12:23 PM on March 10, 2016


i got the secret ending and now my head hurts carl why dues my head hurt
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:24 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


what is the secret ending! I made it through twice and got the same ending both times.
posted by bigstace at 12:28 PM on March 10, 2016


I wasn't expecting to enjoy this, but after finishing I find myself wanting to run through it again with different replies. The idea of a secret ending delights me!
posted by dozo at 12:29 PM on March 10, 2016


rot13 the secret ending please
posted by synthetik at 12:29 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't see any way to get a secret ending. You can jump around by messing with the anchor tag number in your location bar and refreshing.
posted by mattamatic at 12:46 PM on March 10, 2016


the secret ending grants the ability to get jokes
posted by beerperson at 12:51 PM on March 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


I'll give it a 67, it's got a solid beat, but I can't dance to it.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 12:57 PM on March 10, 2016


Sigh, ok, major spoilers below. You've been warned.

___

So there are two paths you can take throughout the convo with the mother, and two paths for Carl too.

Mother:
You can play along with her throughout, or discourage her

Carl:
You can agree to have him pay you to sit with him in the basement, or you can be weirded out by it

Basically if you play along with Mother in all the choices, and then agree to payment with Carl in all the choices, without any hesitation whatsoever, then you GET TO GO DOWN INTO THE BASEMENT WITH CARL. Both of you just sit in the basement, and you try to keep yourself warm before you shiver to death. If you say anything, the game ends. There's a cardigan stuffed inside of the bass drum to muffle it, you have to poke a hole in the bass drum with the screwdriver to get it. Once you put on the cardigan Carl tells you about his plan to poison the tea. Basically you need to gather the ingredients for the poison. Follow the rats to their lair, but don't make too much noise. If everything works out properly and Mother is poisoned, the secret ending is that you and Carl take over the house and practice only twice a week, and you form a duo which goes on to sell out every concert hall in North America. The act always ends with Carl smashing his trombone into the ground over and over. You have to do it in time with the music, or the crowds will boo you and your Star Power goes down. If not, you win and buy Skull Candy headphones at a Best Buy. If you stay after the credits, there's a short scene of the future. You and Carl get married and have a kid, and then you force the kid to take music lessons and he hates it.
posted by naju at 12:57 PM on March 10, 2016 [16 favorites]


rot13 the secret ending please

gur frperg raqvat
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:04 PM on March 10, 2016 [11 favorites]


This game makes me super happy that my parents were mostly hands-off in terms of my activities. I took up trumpet and then piano and then singing because I wanted to. I got into computers because they interested me. By the time high school came around I was busy almost every night and on weekends, but that was by choice and not as a result of a parental dictum. The only activities I was forced to engage in were cub scouts and church. They are noticeably absent from my life now.
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:07 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Stay in the house, Coral!
posted by entropicamericana at 1:15 PM on March 10, 2016 [3 favorites]


I kept trying to pick the answer that would make it be over. And then it was.
posted by bongo_x at 1:19 PM on March 10, 2016


I was hoping for something like Unedited Footage of a Bear, but it was not to be.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:28 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


you should finish it.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:48 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


What is your reaction to interactive fiction? posted by davejh at 1:51 PM on March 10, 2016 [8 favorites]


What is your reaction to interactive fiction?

* "Not today."
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 1:56 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


The TLDR is it's a nice, well written short story about a family that will hit a nerve for a good number of people who were made to study music harder than they would have preferred, delivered in a clever (if arguably glib) Twiney IF mode.

If that sounds dull then you definitely shouldn't read it.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:13 PM on March 10, 2016


  • Open up the developer toolbar and read the source
posted by mattamatic at 2:14 PM on March 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


am i being dumb? it looks like i'd need to pull data from a firebase database to see how it's structured.
posted by andrewcooke at 3:11 PM on March 10, 2016


I went through it because my new kitten is named Carl.
posted by Obscure Reference at 3:31 PM on March 10, 2016


I didn't get an ending. I got a screen that wanted my email so it could tell me "how the story ended". I bailed. What a load of crap.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 4:14 PM on March 10, 2016


You should probably skip buying him a trombone.

But totally give him piano lessons.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:15 PM on March 10, 2016


I was a little envious of that kid, to be honest. But only a little.
posted by droplet at 4:34 PM on March 10, 2016


I went through it because my new kitten is named Carl.

I played through because my name is Carl. And when I was ten years old my parents did hire a piano teacher for me. The lessons took place in our basement, which was quite soundproof. I think it formerly used to be a dungeon. We don't live in a real castle or anything, just a relatively modest chateau. Although it did have crenelations and towers and curtain walls and stuff, but anyway the basement was soundproof and the piano teacher and I would just hang out down there and listen to Bowie. It was well enough until Father decided he wanted me to learn the coronet as well. I hated that thing. It was one too many music lessons. Maybe the brass section is just not for me. I took that stupid trumpet and smashed it against the pavement. The next day I was quietly and forcefully presented with a new one. I ran over it with the land rover. The next one, I threw in the moat. I never did learn to play the piano very well, but I can handle a bass guitar okay. The point is, that basement really was too cold.
posted by sfenders at 5:00 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


Who is David Bowie?
posted by maggiemaggie at 6:08 PM on March 10, 2016


Naju, I can't tell if you're messing with us or not, and don't care enough to check. If not, the developer is a genius. If you are, YOU are a genius.
posted by TheCoug at 8:39 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


This is not completely unlike some stuff I've read on a certain piano teachers forum.
posted by lagomorphius at 9:36 PM on March 10, 2016


Does no one else find "all right" super annoying?

As opposed to what? Alright? Alright isn't a word. Fun story: my okcupid name has "all right" in it, but the name is smushed together with no spaces. But it's there and spelled correctly. Dudes who send messages with the word "alright" in them don't get responses. Because I have fucking standards. Alright is one of those things that's like nails on a chalkboard for me. It's the kind of thing that makes me want to go smash my trombone into the driveway over and over and over.
posted by phunniemee at 9:46 AM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


I think my new statement for expressing frustration will be "this makes me want to smash my trombone in the driveway."
posted by sara is disenchanted at 11:32 AM on March 11, 2016


Metafilter: trombones smashed into the driveway over and over and over
posted by numaner at 2:18 PM on March 11, 2016


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