FAQ
Last Updated: January 1, 2024

These are the most asked (or most interesting) questions I've culled from the e-mail inbox over the years.

General Questions

What’s the deal with the name TackyWorld?
My friend Scott Smith created the name and an early version of the logo for a proposed clothing store that would only sell ugly, ugly leisure suits, Hawaiian shirts and the like. I like to think that he was joking.

Why Barn Runner?
Because we loved Blade Runner and we needed an idea for an amateur film way back in 1994. After combining that short film with the plots of several of our other movies, I felt that it was a world suited for an adventure game.

Why don't you post the Barn Runner short film?
Because I am not an actor. I wrote it because I like to tell funny stories. I acted in it out of necessity (three day production schedule!). The guy who played Prick actually has acting talent. I'm more from the Adam West school of acting (graduated top of my class -- majored in over-emoting, with a minor in scenery chewing). I would be doing the world a disservice if I uploaded my acting debut to YouTube. I might even stand trial for crimes against humanity.

How did you make these games?
Most  were made using Chris Jones’ amazing Adventure Game Studio. The other installments use Mark Overmars’ Game Maker.

I downloaded the game but I can't open the file!
All TackyWorld games are compiled with WinRar and you'll need a program that can read that format to "unzip" them before you can play. Before you ask why don't we just use WinZip instead, it's because WinRar packs big game files into a much smaller package that WinZip does and that makes it faster to download and a lot easier on the ol' bandwidth! However, we do host a free alternative to WinRar here that allows you to unpack the games without getting those annoying shareware reminders. Just click here to get it.

Game Related

When is the next game coming out?
The Forever Friday was supposed to be released more or less quarterly, but that plan went out the window when I started working sixty hour weeks. But rest assured, I'm working as fast as I can to get this train back on track!

Would you release your source code?
There are a lot of people just starting out with Adventure Game Studio, and figuring out how to do things with the engine can be tricky at first. So, while I have no intention at this time to release any of my code (at least until the series is over), if you want to get a good head start on using AGS, I recommend browsing the AGS Wiki. It has a wealth of resources for AGS users new and old.

What's the deal with Evansville? Is it a real place or is it made up like the Simpson's Springfield?
Arcology 19 (Evansville) is actually based on a real place in Indiana. As for the inevitable question of why I chose Evansville, the thinking is that all the major cities were destroyed in the Big Oops and so the only pockets of civilization left to mankind were the smaller communities. So while San Diego wouldn't survive the withering destruction accidentally focused upon it on during the cataclysm, the not-too-distant towns of Santee or El Cajon might survive. Thus, while Chicago (hometown of Buck Rogers) was reduced to ash, Evansville survived somewhat intact. Also, I needed someplace close enough to the Blue Grass Containment Zone (formerly Old Kentucky) that robots escaping from the Arcology could feasibly walk to it. For the extremely curious, Evansville is not my hometown and I'm not from Indiana or anything like that. It was just conveniently located next to the BGCZ. By the way, aren't the Simpson's supposed to be from Northern Kentucky? I seem to remember that tidbit from that fake documentary "Simpson's: Behind the Laughter." Sex, Lies, Milhouse, baby!

Did I just find an Easter egg?
If you are willing to dig around enough, you can find at least one Easter egg in every Barn Runner game (yes, even the Spatha Owner's Manual!). These are often secret side-quests and are not required to finish the game so they are not covered in the walkthroughs. Just poke around long enough and you are bound to find something. Just don't ask me to point them out for you... cause if you ask me long enough, I'm probably going to put a "eastereggs.txt" file on each game page ;-)

How old is Prick supposed to be?
Of all the questions I’ve received, I was most surprised to see this one… TWICE! Well, Prick is about 37 years old in The Armageddon Éclair (though in Arc 19 time, he would be recorded as being about 27). He’s drawn to look a bit older, though, to fit with his ‘hard-boiled’  demeanor.

I’m stuck. How do I get past this puzzle?
Complete walkthroughs are available for each and every game on their respective pages. Use the NavBar on the side of this page to find the game you're stuck on. Select that page and scroll down to the bottom. The walkthroughs are found in the "Free Goodies" section on each game page. They also have their own page here.

What’s the deal with Prick’s shirts? Man, those things are ugly!
Prick’s wears those kind of shirts because the person (Scott Smith) who played him in the original short film has an affinity for really tacky shirts.

Isn’t that the robot from (insert old movie or TV show here)?
All of the robots in the game are from old science fiction. It’s all a good-natured parody so please don’t write in decrying the role I placed Daleks in. And before anyone writes in, YES, I know that Daleks aren’t technically robots, per se. For a complete listing of all the robots appearing in each game, go here.

Where's Bender?
Apparently, a lot of you want to see this wise-cracking robot from Futurama tell the player to bite his shiny metal ass. Seriously, I got this question more than any other during 2007. Well, rest assured, Bender is going to be in a Barn Runner game. He was one of the first robots (behind R2 D2 and C3PO) I wanted to put in the game when I started this whole thing, but the scene I had in mind for him doesn't appear until later in the series. So be patient. Bender is on his way, baby!

Why don't you put a Sorayama gynoid in a game?
Hajime Sorayama really defined the look of the sexy female robot (called a "gynoid" for those of you not in the know) back in the 80s and since Barn Runner is set in the far future as we imagined it back in the 80s, it seems like a perfect fit, doesn't it? So I finally did put a gynoid styled robot in the game in the form of Bride of Pinbot, from the old pinball game I loved as a kid. You can find the robot in part one of The Forever Friday, in the elevator of the RitzPlex.

Why don't you put (insert robot here) in a game?
Suddenly everyone wants to see their favorite robot in one of these games! I've received requests for Necrons (a Warhammer 40K robot army), Sonny from I, Robot, Canti from the anime series Fooly Cooly, Fruit F*cker 2000 from Penny Arcade, Wiki from Jason of Star Command (Hey! Somebody besides me remembers that show!) and somebody called Metal Mickey from a British children's TV series of the same name. I'll try to work all of these robots in the series at one point or another, I promise. Believe me, if I can find a spot for The Bride of PinBot to appear (and she does, in part one of The Forever Friday), I can find room for Metal Mickey. But first, I have to find a place for UrkelBot to make a cameo.

Isn't that the song from (insert Nintendo game here)?
You loved that game and you want that song! Revisit your childhood here: Video Game Music Archives.

What happened to the Field Guide?
I yanked the original version of the guide after I realized that it contained too many spoilers. But after a little clever editing, the guide has finally returned to the interwebs. You can download it HERE.

What is the back story to Barn Runner?
People have asked about the Big Oops, The Tobacco Wars, lists of surviving arcologies, and other questions regarding the world of Barn Runner. These will be revealed as the series progresses but for the foreseeable future, there won't be any comprehensive guide to the world made available. Besides, that would spoil the fun of discovering the story as you go along!

Is there a Barn Runner story bible?
For those not familiar with this term, a story bible is something most long-running shows or books rely on to keep the plotline relatively consistent and to help the creators(s) avoid as many loose ends as possible. And, yes, Barn Runner has a story bible. I can't share it for two reasons: 1) It's all in long hand scrawled across a couple of hundred pages (yes, really) in a big binder on one of my bookshelves, and there's no way I'm scanning all of that into a pdf to upload. 2) It's filled with spoilers from start to finish. When I started this whole endeavor, I plotted out a story arc of a length somewhere between nine and twelve games in all!! Holy cow, I was ambitious! The story bible contains lengthy tracts of dialogue, character sketches, terminology, a complete list of all 99 arcologies built after the Big Oops, and rather detailed maps of both Arc 19 and the BGCZ. I have no plans to release it, even after the series is done. (I may find a use for a bunch of the ideas and puzzles I never got around to if I make other games one day).

Does the Adult Mode Patch for The Forever Friday actually do anything?
Absolutely! The Adult Mode Patch unlocks hidden content in every chapter of The Forever Friday (except part four -- that one is made with a different engine than the other four and thus the patch won't work). Some of the content unlocked is just risque dialog, or minor nudity in some expanded scenes. Other content is unlocked but remains hidden in the form of side quests or Easter Eggs for you to find. Of course, what the patch unlocks may not be exactly what you're expecting ;-)

Why hide adult content in The Forever Friday?
Many of you loved it. A few of you hated it. But it seems a lot of you wanted to share your opinions on this one. I included the unlockable content for lots of different reasons (mostly to amuse myself and the play testers as development of the game went on and on). I also wanted to show that the people around Prick actually live fulfilling lives, while he sleepwalks through his own. Mostly, I did it because I thought the jokes were funny (if a little risque). But for those of you offended by Dr. Noriko's naked boobs or Prick's bare bottom, I have only this to say: You downloaded the Adult Mode Patch to unlock hidden adult content. What the hell are you complaining about? It's not like it was snuck in there to be stumbled upon accidentally (I learned that valuable lesson after The Ejection Rejection). You need a damn patch to see that stuff! (And for those who are grumbling that I should have put some hard core stuff in there, download some porn or something. This is Barn Runner, not Backdoor Sluts 9)

Are the Xmas games canon? If so, where do they fit in the storyline?
The games are canon. Christmas Soup takes place a few days before The Prick Who Came in From the Cold and Cyclone Alley takes place immediately afterwards. Fully Automatic Mojo and Wreck the Halls takes place during the uneventful year between Cyclone Alley and The Forever Friday.

You eventually re-released (insert game here). Are there any more older Barn Runner games I'm not aware of that you're going to re-release, and if so when?
For those of you new here, there were several old Barn Runner games and doo-dads there were unavailable for quite a while, for one reason or another. She's So Fine, My AutoDyne (the original Barn Runner 2) was pulled in order to retool it (it was the first game I made with Game Maker and was pretty buggy). It took longer to rebuild it than I thought, and so it sort of became the "lost" Barn Runner game for a couple of years until I finally fixed it and uploaded it under the new title The Ejection Rejection. Cyclone Alley was a Christmas exclusive that I only made available for the holidays in 2004. Later, as more people discovered the series, demand for it went up and finally, thanks to nudging from another game creator, "Rui Pires," I dug it out and made it available again.
A few other doo-dads, such as the Field Guide, have found their way back on the the site as I dug them out of the treacherous depths of my closet. But, as of this moment, there isn't much left in the way of "unreleased" material laying around. Most of what I have is up on the site now.

Site Related

Why aren't you on Facebook / Twitter / YouTube?
I don't want to pay someone to maintain a social media presence for me and I could never be bothered to maintain one of my own. I'm too old and grumpy to get into the Twitches and the BitChutes and the whatnots.

How often is this site updated?
For those of you who just discovered this place and wonder why I haven't updated in the last couple of days (or weeks (or months)), please understand that I only update this site with new content when I have something new to add. I used to update this place monthly, but I just don't have time to do that anymore. Being an adult is time consuming.

Why don’t you have a forum?
There isn’t demand for one. Once upon a time, it seems almost every other website had an EZ Board attached to it. Those days are long.

Why does this site look like this? This design seems very out-dated.
Like the world of Barn Runner, TackyWorld is very retro. However, I have updated the look of this site quite a bit in an effort to stop the "OMG! This looks like a GeoCities site. Do you need help making a web page?" e-mails that seem to arrive on a regular basis. But I'll probably avoid moving away from the Web 1.0 look for as long as I can. So long as browsers still support basic html, I'm going to keep this site as archaic as I can.

Who hosts your files?
For a while, I hosted the games through anyone who would let me use their bandwidth. But traffic finally became high enough that I bit the bullet and registered my own domain name and bought some server space.