How the game works

The inventory is a queue

Seymour carries at most three things, shown in the box at the top left of the panel. It works like a queue:

• Picking something up puts it in the first slot and pushes the others along. If all three slots were full, the oldest item (the third) is put down where the new one was lying.
• Pressing action away from everything turns the inventory: if the third slot is empty, everything moves one slot along; if it isn't, the third item is put down at Seymour's feet and the rest move along.

So to put down one particular thing, press action a few times until it's third, then once more. And when you plan a long errand, think about the order you pick things up in: the thing you picked up first is the first to go.

Picking things up

Stand at a thing and press action. The first time, the game names it in a speech bubble ("GOSH ITS A SPANNER !!") and it counts towards the score.

• Seymour's reach is generous: things a little to his left, right, above or below are in reach. Two things in reach at once? The game takes the one later in its list, which is usually the one lying on top. Step away from the one you don't want.
• Things that hang high (on a ledge, on a wall) can often be picked up at the top of a jump: jump, and press action while in the air.
• Some scenery can be picked up: a barrel, a plant pot, a packing case… and there may be something underneath.

Energy and lives

The bar on the panel is Seymour's energy; the little clapperboards are his lives (three).

• Hazards take energy while Seymour touches them: traffic, flames, spikes, creatures on patrol, things thrown at him. A few take it all at once.
• Energy never comes back on its own. When it runs out, a life goes and Seymour starts again, full of energy, at the last place he stood safely after entering a room.
• Lives never come back. When the last one goes, the game is over.

The remake's pause menu has Cheats (infinite lives, infinite energy) if you'd rather not worry, and quick saves (F5, F8) if you'd rather be careful.

Doors, huts and cars

Doors are not walked through: stand at a door and press action. That goes for the studio's doors, Seymour's car, the huts in the trees, the film sets' doors and the gaps between the backlot buildings.

Walking off the edge

Most rooms join their neighbours left, right, up and down: walk off the edge and the screen flips. Some edges and some doors take Seymour somewhere further away: the backlot maze is built like that (Lost in the maze of studios).

Platforms and steps

Thin platforms (planks, branches, girders) are solid from above and open from below: jump up through them and land on top. Brick walls and floors are solid everywhere.

Lifts

Stand in the middle of a lift's platform and press up or down once: it travels to the next stop and waits. Some lifts need something first.

Talking

Walk up to someone to talk, and press action beside them if nothing happens. While a speech bubble is up, the game waits: press action to go on. Nobody gives something for nothing: most characters want something first, and say so (perhaps not in so many words).

The score

The number on the panel goes up for every new thing picked up and every problem solved: it shows how far you've got. It reaches 99 by the end.