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You run down the concrete steps as fast as you can, the smell of smoke getting stronger and stronger. It becomes hard to breathe, you might not be able to continue much further at this rate.\n\n[[Make a mask out of your shirt to cover your mouth to filter the air.|END12]]\n[[Smoke rises - stay low!|FINALE_2]]

You're a mild-mannered data entry clerk. You work on the 17th floor of a boring office building. You enter ones and zeroes into a computer all day. It's not interesting.\n\nExcept today. Twenty seconds ago something happened outside. There was an enormous bang, the floor shook. You can hear panic everywhere, but there's no clue what's going on - internet is down, mobile phone networks have been knocked out, phones are disconnected. You can hear sirens outside already, and you can see a building on fire. The fire alarm is going off in your bulding.\n\nYou have to get out! You could take the stairs, but you don't know where they are - you think safety seminars are boring and played Bejweled on your phone during every one you've had here, and you always take the lift.\n\nWhat are you going to do?! Think fast!\n\n[[Get going|A]]!

You run as low as you can, and try to stay below the smoke. You jump down the stairs as fast as you can.\n\nFinally, there aren't any more stairs. There's a door in front of you with a pushbar on it. You burst through it into the noise of sirens, shouting people and sunlight.\n\nCongratulations! You escaped!

Silly human! You waited for help? \n\nYOU DIE OF SMOKE INHILATION AND STUPIDITY. Thanks for playing!

You bang on the door, trying to attract the attention of the emergency crews below or the circling helicopters. No one seems to be paying attention.\n\nYou bang harder and harder, then use both arms. \n\nYou don't know how long you're there, but eventually ... all other paths of escape are blocked off, and you succumb to smoke inhilation.\n\nNext time, keep moving.\n\nThanks for playing!

Wait, you're going to hang on to what?! You work on the 17th floor!\n\nNeedless to say, you fall backwards and plummet to your death. Thanks for playing!

While you were wasting precious seconds changing your mind, the fire is enveloping the building. Your only route of escape has been blocked off. The smoke gets thicker, the world turns black.\n\nNext time, make faster decisions!\n\nThanks for playing!

You hang by your arms.\n\nFive seconds later, you make it to the ground floor by very efficient means ...\n\nYou plummet to your death.\n\nThanks for playing!

You feel with your hands for the ledge above your head. With an almighty effort you lift yourself up ...\n\nBut you're far too heavy for your data-entry-weakened arms. \n\nYou find an efficient way to the ground floor: you plummet to your death.\n\nThanks for playing!

Your body relaxes with relief! You smile and laugh and breathe a silent prayer because you're saved. Their arms reach out and grab you ...\n\nBut you've relaxed too much.\n\nTheir hands slide off your polyester shirt. You start to fall backwards. You see their horrified faces. You can't propel yourself forward.\n\nYou got to the ground floor ... by plummeting to your death.\n\nThanks for playing!

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PANIC!

Your coworkers are running around, panicking. There's a door in front of you - that leads to the kitchen. There's a door behind you - that leads to the hallway.\n\nWhich one do you take? Think fast!\n\n[[Door to the kitchen - food helps in a crisis!|B]]\n[[Door to the hallway- that must go somewhere!|C]]\n

You're in the hallway. It's long! The lift is out of service because of the fire alarm, but there's another door close by, or you can continue to run down the hall.\n\n[[Let's get out of here - run down the hall!|F]]\n[[Take the door, wherever it goes!|G]]

You're in the kitchen. This place is a mess! Worse news: there's no door out of here, only a window.\n\n[[Window? I'll take it!|D]]\n[[Stay and clean the place up!|E]]\n

You start to turn on the tap when you catch sight of your hands. You look out the window - there's a ledge there, you could hang from it. Is it too risky? Maybe you should just stay here and wait for help.\n\n[[Hang off ledge|I]]\n[[Wait for help|END1]]

You open the window. There's a little ledge outside. Do you stand on it and try to balance, or hang from it and try to hang on?\n\n[[Step on it and balance!|H]]\n[[Hang from it and try not to fall!|I]]

You open the door and find yourself in a boardroom. There's a big wooden table, big, comfy-looking chairs around it, and \n\n[[I choose boardroom!|J]]\n[[Let's try the toilet!|K]]

You run down the hall. There's a long window on the left, a door on the right, and another door at the end. You can hear sirens outside; maybe if you just wait by the window and wave, someone will see you and come to your rescue? Or should you try one of the doors?\n\n[[Just wait and wave your arms in front of the window - help is on the way!|END1]]\n[[Try the closest door!|J]]\n[[Try that door at the end!|T]]

You step onto the ledge, decide it's sturdy, grip it with your hands and lower your body over the side. Uh ... you're heavier than you expected ... now what?\n\n[[Stay there, moving is risky!|M]]\n[[Start edging along the ledge with your hands!|N]]

You ease yourself outside, and place your feet on the ledge. Uh oh. Now what?\n\n[[You stand with your back against the building so you can edge along.|L]]\n[[You stand with your front to the building so you can hold on.|END2]]

You go through the last door in the hallway and find yourself in ... the bathroom. You spy a heating duct near the ceiling, but you don't know if you'll quite be able to fit through it.\n\n[[Nuts to this, let's try that other door in the hallway!|T]]\n[[I can probably fit into that vent ...|Q]]

You're in a boardroom. There's a huge wooden table in the middle, and about a dozen large, comfy-looking chairs around it. Tasteful art is on the walls. Windows line one wall, books line the other. You hear sirens outside. There doesn't seem to be much in here.\n\n[[Look around, there has to be something here!|O]]\n[[Bang on the windows - sirens mean emergency crews, someone will see you!|END3]]\n

You hang there, and after a few seconds your hands start to ache. You try to look over your shoulder to see what's going on below but you can't, and all you can hear are sirens and panic. \n\n[[Hang in there - someone will see you and save you!|END4]]\n[[Okay, time to get moving.|U]]

You stand up on the narrow ledge. You can only go two ways: left or right. Don't look down!\n\n[[Go left!|R]]\n[[Go right!|S]]

For a few seconds you scour the room. Then, it hits you - there are maps to the emergency exits somewhere in every room! Sure enough, there's a little map on the back of the board room door about what to do in case of emergency. It says the stairs are in the hallway, the other direction from the boardroom. You run into the hallway, but there's two doors - do you take the one in the middle, or the one at the end?\n\n[[Middle door!|T]]\n[[The one at the end!|K]]

You start to move. Your hands are soon tired, and your arms ache. You don't know how long you'll be able to hang on.\n\n[[Keep going - anything's better than hanging around!|U]]\n[[Stop and rest for a bit - anything's better than losing your grip!|END4]]

You stand on a toilet and manage to get the vent cover off. You hoist yourself up and you barely manage to wiggle inside. The duct is metal, dark and dusty. You have no idea where it goes. \n\n[[Start crawling, it's the only way forward!|P]]\n[[Maybe I should try that other door ...|END5]]

You start pulling yourself along the narrow vent. It's hard work. Soon you smell smoke, and you remember that the building is on fire. You start to pull yourself along faster.\n\nYou hear a creak, and feel the metal give beneath you.\n\n[[You freeze, trying not to put the metal under any more strain.|END13]]\n[[You pull yourself along even faster - let's get out of here!|II]]

You start to edge your way to the right. The wind is blowing and you feel unsteady. You look down and your vision swims; it's a long way down. You don't know how much longer you can do this.\n\n[[Grit your teeth and keep going anyway.|Y]]\n[[Lower your body down and hang by your hands - better to try that than fall.|I]]

You start to edge your way to the left, trying not to look down. You look up instead, and notice another window ledge, just above your head. \n\n[[Grab it and haul your way up - maybe this ledge wasn't such a good idea.|END6]]\n[[Haul myself UP? Are you serious? I'll keep going.|Y]]

You crawl along, gripping that ledge with all your might and concentrating on not looking down. Your arms are on fire. After some time you find yourself beside a window washer platform - it hangs off the building on ropes. Get on?\n\n[[Absolutely. Let's go.|KK]]\n[[No way, press on.|END14]]

OH GOOD! Here's the stairs! You start to descend. You get down two floors and over the sirens outside and distant panic inside you hear yelling and banging - the door to the stairs on the 14th floor seems to be stuck, people are pounding on the door and yelling for someone to help them. Do you stop?\n\n[[Let's get this door open!|END10]]\n[[Sorry, fellow humans - gotta go!|AA]]

Steeling your nerves you inch your way along the platform, not looking down. You hear voices over the sirens and the rush of blood in your ears - people are hanging out a window, reaching out to you to pull you back inside! Do you go?\n\n[[Oh good, they'll rescue you! Go inside with them!|END9]]\n[[Go inside again? Thanks but no thanks!|HH]]

You tug the stuck door with all your might. You tug and tug, and feel it give way.\n\nSuddenly it bursts open, throwing you against a wall. You lose consciousness as your coworkers several floors below trample you as they run to safety.\n\nYou die in the stairwell of internal injuries. That'll teach you to be an altruist.\n\nThanks for playing!

Wait? In an air vent? While the building is on fire?\n\nYou die of smoke inhilation as the vent starts to fill up with smoke. Should have listened during those safety talks!\n\nThanks for playing!

You pull your shirt over your face and try to keep going. It's a useless filter, it does nothing against the rising smoke. You succumb to smoke inhilation.\n\nYou should have listened during those safety demonstrations.\n\nThanks for playing!

You wave and wave, but the billowing smoke is too thick, and the noise of sirens and panic is too loud. Nobody can see you, up on the 17th floor.\n\nThe smoke envelops you. Your vision blurs, the world goes black. You die of smoke inhilation.\n\nThanks for playing!

Your adrenaline and any strength you had in your arms is spent. The last thing you feel is your fingers slip from the ledge.\n\nYou found an efficient way to the ground floor: You plummet to your death.\n\nThanks for playing!

You make it to the window. You realise then that they don't open from the outside - it's a skyscraper, why would they?\n\nYou wrestle with it for awhile, but then you lose your grip.\n\nYou find an efficient method of getting to the ground floor: you plummet to your death.\n\nThanks for playing!

You pull yourself along again, and see another vent up ahead.\n\n[[Kick through it and jump into whatever room it is!|B]]\n[[Wait here for a second and collect your thoughts, the answer will become clear.|END13]]

You lift up the rope coiled on the platform and start to thread it through the pulley. The platform jerks and sways but you hold on tight.\n\nThe platform lowers and lowers, and finally you are within shouting distance of firemen. You're rescued!\n\nCongratulations - you win!

You make it to the platform! Something that looks like solid ground at last. You can see the emergency workers down below, but they're far away. There's a lot of noise and smoke. There's a pulley next to you, but it looks complicated. Do you try it out?\n\n[[Yep. Desperate times call for desperate measures.|FINALE_1]]\n[[No way. Try to attract attention upwards instead.|END15]]

You yell over the screams and sirens that you're going to go it alone. \n\nYou pass them and realise that you're wobbling, and you're going to have to find something soon that isn't a ledge. You see another bank of windows ahead. You also see a window washer platform - the window washers are gone, but they have left their platform. Which do you head for?\n\n[[Get to the window!|END11]]\n[[Get to the platform!|KK]]

by Astrid Bin\nBerlin Game Jam, October 2012