Flash game - Coded Hallway

Where did this game come from? Well, it was a combination of several interests of mine. 1.) I've been a gamer as long as I can remember, and have always had ideas for my own games, which 2.) partly led me into graphic design, and 3.) made me want to (someday) learn how to program, and 4.) I've always been into secret codes, puzzles, treasure hunts and such, and again, liked to come up with my own. I used to play Flash games all the time (and still do) in high school, but never really thought of making my own Flash games then. One day I was kinda bored and had an idea for a game, tentatively (and eventually permanently) titled "Coded Hallway." The idea, which I hadn't really seen before, was to start with a code and a riddle (used to help crack the code). The code, once cracked, became another riddle to help solve the next code, and so on. So I wrote down several ideas for the types of codes I could make, and left it at that. A few years after that, I was looking through the notebook I wrote in previously, and something came over me: I had to make the game. I worked to put the codes in a good order, wrote the riddles and the finalized codes, spent about a month making the graphics in Photoshop, bought Flash on eBay, and learned how to use it by making Coded Hallway (which took another month). I even ended up writing two pieces of music for the game (another interest of mine), and recording my own sound effects. Partway through the process I found out about a Flash game contest on MaxGames.com which motivated me even further to finish. I didn't even place in the contest, but I had my very first game! :)

Play the game here: Coded Hallway

Hello and welcome to the Coded Hallway! This game will be challenging, and will test your mind like never before! When you crack a code, it will leave behind a riddle, which will help you to solve the next code! Type in your answers to advance to the next room! Each riddle will be stored in your Notebook! Do I have enough exclamation points! I await all who are smart enough to complete this challenge at the end of the Coded Hallway!

Read carefully
Pay attention to Capital Letters
Check your spelling/punctuation
Use the Internet (you're gonna need it)
If you get stuck, press the Hint button
Have fun, you might even learn something!

Here are a few screenshots, to give you an idea of what the game is like.

These are the links to the two music tracks I composed for the game.
Coded Hallway - Title Screen
Coded Hallway - Main Theme

Play the game here: Coded Hallway

In this section I will first explain what to do in order to crack each code, then I will tell you the answer. Keep in mind that, while only one answer is given for each question, several variations may be acceptable depending on the code (different spellings, capitalized or lower case).

#0
Notice the placement of the colon in the sentence. It's giving you the answer.

Answer
here

#1
The part in the riddle ("just look the other way"), and the hint ("mirror"), are telling you that the code is a sentence written backwards. This is where I lost a lot of people, because they tried to answer the question the forward text was asking. All you have to do is enter it in the box forwards. When you get into the next room, that will be the new riddle.

Answer
That was easy! The Babel Fish says the answer to the next code can be found in the Land of the Rising Sun.

#2
The first thing you should look for in this room is a little white rectangle next to the door. Click it and it will become the "1 2 3" bar next to "Notebook." If you click it again, it will turn into a row of numbers 1-26, and can be used for the next room. Since "Babel Fish" is capitalized, if you don't already know what it is, do a web search. Babel Fish is an online language translator. It's also named after a creature in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I didn't know about when I made the game, and which confused a few people who knew about the creature and not the website. The "Land of the Rising Sun" is Japan. If you didn't know, one of the hints is "Ninja," or you could do a search for it. What you do is go to the Babel Fish website (http://babelfish.yahoo.com), and translate the kanji (symbols) from Japanese to English by copying and pasting. If you only see empty boxes, you can still copy and paste.

Answer
There is this many number in alphabet

#3
This room also contains a white rectangle, located in the corner on the wall. Click it, and it becomes the "a b c" bar, under the "1 2 3" bar. Click it again, and it becomes the alphabet. With the alphabet up, click the "1 2 3" bar, to see that each letter has a number above it. The riddle points to this fact, letting you know that each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a number. (Note that the two bars are not required, but were provided to make things a little bit easier. Otherwise, you have to figure it out yourself). Using that, switch each of the numbers in the code with their corresponding letter of the alphabet. Where there are two periods, that represents a space.

Answer
the army of darkness was raised the day the earth stood still

#4
If you look at the capitalized words, you will find two movie titles, "Army of Darkness," and "The Day the Earth Stood Still." A quick web search should reveal a three word phrase common to both movies. One note, though. This game was made before the new version of The Day the Earth Stood Still came out, and that version does not use this phrase. Be sure to look at the original from 1951. Just enter one of the words in each box, top to bottom. Also note, that some websites spell it different ways. I made it possible to input two different spellings, but if what you find doesn't work, look elsewhere.

Answer
Klaatu Berada Nikto

#5
On this one, we get a new riddle, unrelated to the last code. The riddle talks about shifting (the word shift, I just realized, should have been capitalized, to let people know it's a word they should look up. Oops). Anyway, the riddle also mentions Caesar, as in Julius Caeser. There is a famous cipher called the "Caeser shift cipher," which Caeser used to send encoded messages, by taking each letter of the alphabet, and shifting it 3 letters forward (A = D, B = E, etc.). The part about Treble and Bass is talking about transposing music from Treble Clef to Bass Clef, where you take each note and move it down two notes. Taking one of the hints (up = back, down = forward), you find that you need to shift each letter in the code forward two letters (A = C, B = D, etc.). The "a b c" bar comes in handy here as well.

Answer
One day, Charlie and Oscar went out to the Delta to listen to some music, but there was too much of an Echo. Charlie said, 'we should go somewhere else.' Oscar replied, 'let's ASK Dvorak, I hear he has a good DSK system.'

#6
The major things of note here are "ASK," "DSK," "Dvorak," and the two hints ("It's really simplified", and "keyboard"). Basically, doing a web search will reveal that a man named Dvorak designed a new keyboard layout (different from the standard QWERTY layout), called both the American Simplified Keyboard (ASK), and the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK). What you need to do here is translate the letters in the code from their positions on a normal QWERTY keyboard to their positions on a Dvorak keyboard. Both pictures and translators can be found online.

Answer
Halt, Private! Take a step back, and maybe I'll let you pass! Just FYI.

#7
On this one, you are told to take a step back. What that means is, go back to the last room. Since you can't, you'll have to settle for the next best thing, your Notebook. The Notebook stores all of the riddles for you, up to and including the current one. Just look at page six. Now, what to look for? Well, at the end of the current riddle, it says FYI, which normally stands for "For Your Information." The hint, however, says Foxtrot Yankee India. If you do a web search for those three words, you should be able to find the military alphabet, officially called the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. In the Notebook, on page 6, look for any words that are a part of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. There are four words. They are, in order, Charlie, Oscar, Delta, Echo. Each word stands for it's first letter, and there are four input boxes.

Answer
c o d e

#8
The hint says "Let Nicholas out of the Cage." This is a reference to actor Nicholas Cage. Two of the capitalized words in the riddle form the title of a movie he was in, "National Treasure." In the movie, they used something called an "Ottendorf cipher," a variation on the real "Arnold cipher," and also where the "Ott" comes from in the riddle. If you haven't seen the movie, the screenplay/script can be found online. The only problem with this it that in the script, it was called an "Andor cipher," so if you use your browsers find feature, look for the word cipher instead. In both the movie and the script, it is explained how the cipher works. In each set of three numbers, the first is a page number, the second is a line number on that page, and the third is a letter number on that line. The only problem is finding the correct "cipher text" to look at in order to solve the cipher. Luckily there is something resembling a book right here in the game, your Notebook (it's turning out to be pretty handy, huh?). It's solved the same way as the movie, page number, line number, letter number. After you've found all of the letters, you have to figure out where the spaces between words go (like in the movie).

Answer
whose base are all belong to cats?

#9
If you already know what the riddle means, welcome to 2001! If not, if you do a search for either of the two hints ("take off every zig", and "for great justice"), you should find a flash video (along with several copies and remixes, and hundreds of pictures) called All Yor Base R Blong 2 Us, which became an internet phenomenon around 2001. It originated from a badly translated video game called Zero Wing. Anyway, watch the video (pretty much any version will do). The riddle refers to Cats, the bad guy in the video. What we want to know is whose bases is he taking (who is he talking to).

Answer
captain

#10
This riddle is more in the style of a classic riddle, sort of a rhyming poem. The easiest part is "But I used to be a tree," meaning it's something made of wood. With the third line, we know that it's something made of wood that can be found on a desk. The tricky part is the first two lines. Basically it's an object made to look like something else, but at the same time, the thing it's made to look like also uses it as a reference for other things. More specifically, it's made by people, to look like a person, and people use it in order to draw people.

Answer
wood mannequin

These are all of the little facts related to each question that I give the player after they pass through each room.

-Some of the earliest mirrors were made out of polished Obsidian, dating back about 8000 years.

-Japanese video game company Nintendo began in 1889 as a playing card manufacturer.

-The original Latin (or Roman) alphabet only had 21 letters.

-The words Klaatu Barada Nikto originally came from the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, but have since appeared more than 80 times in pop culture.

-Julius Caesar used a shift cipher to communicate with his generals. All he did was shift every letter over three spaces (Ex. A=D).

-The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout was introduced in 1936, 62 years after the common QWERTY layout, but is still not widely used.

-The NATO Phonetic Alphabet (not to be confused with the International Phonetic Alphabet) has been used in some form since the early 1900's, throughout most of the world.

-Much of the 2004 film National Treasure is based in real history.

-All Your Base Are Belong To Us, is from a badly translated Japanese video game called Zero Wing. The saying became an Internet phenomenon in 2001.