The Space Bar

The Space Bar is a graphic adventure game that takes place from a first-person camera perspective. The player points and clicks with a mouse cursor to navigate the game world, examine and manipulate the environment, look around and converse with non-player characters. In a manner that has been compared to Myst and Zork Nemesis, player movement is restricted to jumps between panoramic static screens; the camera view can rotate 360° on each screen. A pop-up menu is used to interact with characters and the environment: the menu's options change depending on the object selected, and can include actions such as "greet" or "take". At the bottom of the game screen, the PDA interface contains an item inventory, a mini-map, a journal and other features.

The Space Bar is a work of comic science fiction and detective fiction,[4] set on the planet Armpit VI and inside a fantastical alien bar called The Thirsty Tentacle. The story begins with the murder of a private investigator near The Thirsty Tentacle, in an act of industrial espionage. Human detective Alias Node and his partner Maksh witness the murder, committed by a shapeshifting assassin; and Maksh is kidnapped by the perpetrator, who hides inside the bar. Assuming the role of Alias, the player interrogates roughly 40 aliens within The Thirsty Tentacle to locate the killer. Gameplay is nonlinear: the player may progress through The Space Bar and search for clues in any order. However, there is a time limit, and the player receives a game over for failing to arrest the assassin before they escape. It is also possible for the player character to be killed.

The core gameplay of The Space Bar occurs through Alias Node's Empathy Telepathy power. Activated when the protagonist establishes an emotional connection with another character it inserts the player into the target's mind to live out its memories. Eight of these vignettes are included, with estimated lengths of 5-10 hours per segment. The Space Bar's structure and puzzles change to suit each alien. For example, the blind Auditon creature must navigate by sound; objects in the game world are invisible until they make noise. Seedrot of the Vedj race is an immobile plant, and must solve puzzles from a single location, while "714-Z-367" of the Zzazzl race views the world through compound eyes. In the end, the player rescues Maksh and identifies the killer, Ni'Dopal, via an Empathy Telepathy excursion into the shapeshifter's memories.