No spoilers here
How to play
For someone who has just downloaded the game: what it is, how to start it, the controls, the menu and where your saves go. All of it is also in the illustrated manual (PDF), to read offline or print.
The game
Seymour Goes to Hollywood is a flip-screen arcade adventure: Seymour walks and jumps through 77 rooms of a film studio, its backlots and eight film sets, the picture changing as he reaches the edge of a screen. He can carry three things at once, picks things up and drops them, uses them where they are needed and talks to the people he meets. Most of them want something before they help. Energy runs down when he gets hurt; lose it all and a life goes.
This unofficial fan-game remake plays exactly as the 1993 DOS original does (checked frame by frame against the original running in an emulator, through a complete playthrough), with its AdLib or PC-speaker music, and adds a pause menu, save slots, controllers, key rebinding and an optional CRT look. The finer rules: how the game works.
Starting the game
Unpack the package and start the game: seymour.exe on Windows, Seymour Goes to Hollywood on macOS, seymour on Linux. Everything the game needs is inside the program; it starts fullscreen (F11 or Alt+Enter switches to a window).
- On the title screen, fire (Space, or A) starts and Esc quits.
- The first time on Windows or macOS, the system may warn about an unsigned program: the download page says how to get past it.
Controls
Keyboard
Controller
| Keyboard | Controller | |
|---|---|---|
| Walk | Left / Right | D-pad or left stick |
| Jump | Up | B |
| Action: pick up, drop, use, talk, and answer messages | Space | A |
| Pause menu | Esc | Menu (Start) |
| Quick save / quick load | F5 / F8 | View / – |
| Screenshot | F1 | – |
| Fullscreen | F11, Alt+Enter | – |
On the title screen, fire (Space or A) starts and Esc quits. All keys and buttons except the menu ones can be changed in the menu.
The pause menu
- Resume.
- Save: eight slots, each with a picture and the time saved. Saving over a slot asks first.
- Load: the eight slots and the quick save; the newest is selected.
- Settings: fullscreen; sound effect and music volume; the CRT effect; the audio mode, AdLib (FM) or PC Speaker (the original's two sound drivers, both reproduced); keyboard and controller mapping, each with Restore defaults.
- Cheats: infinite lives, infinite energy (off at every start).
- Quit: back to the title (it asks first).
Up / Down choose, Left / Right change a setting, Enter or A confirms, Esc or B goes back.
Where your files are
Settings, saves and screenshots are kept in your user folder:
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\Seymour\SeymourGoesToHollywood\ - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Seymour/SeymourGoesToHollywood/ - Linux:
~/.local/share/Seymour/SeymourGoesToHollywood/
settings.json, quicksave.json, saves/slot_1.json … slot_8.json (each with a .png picture), and screenshots/. A save is the game's input from a new game, so it is small and loads by replaying.
FAQ
There's no CRT option, or the picture is plainly scaled
The CRT look and the sharp scaling need OpenGL 3.2. Without it the game runs with plain scaling. Updating the graphics driver usually helps. See system requirements.
macOS or Windows won't open the game
It isn't signed with a paid certificate or notarised, so the first time your system blocks it. On macOS, try to open it once, click Done, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway. On Windows, choose More info → Run anyway. You only have to do it once. Step by step, for all three systems: if your system won't open the game.
My controller does nothing
Any controller SDL supports works (Xbox, PlayStation and most others). Check that the system sees it, then look at the mapping in Settings → Controller mapping; Restore defaults puts it back.
Where are my saves?
In your user folder: see where your files are. A save is the game's input from a new game, so it's tiny.
Can I make it easier?
Yes: the pause menu's Cheats has infinite lives and infinite energy (they're off at every start). And the hints give a nudge at a time, if you're stuck.
Is this the official game?
No. It's an unofficial fan-game remake, not affiliated with or endorsed by Codemasters, who made Seymour Goes to Hollywood. More: the remake.