A Bark in the Dark

***A Bark in the Dark*** is a Bonte game created for the 3rd JayIsGames design competition. The goal of this contest was to create a replay-themed (memory) game within a month.

## Basics

In this game, you wake up to barking and find yourself in an unknown house of light lavender walls, as suggested by the name, at a very navy-blue night.

You see a garden outside, but you can't clamber through the window, since it is shut and there seems to be no way to pry it open. Along with this is a locked sports bag with an extension cable on a lime couch with four cushions and two pillows. There is also a cylindrical wooden table with *Tasty Mouse Food*, the latter out-of-reach in the starting room.

As you look around, you will find that the door is also locked and does not seem to have a keyhole. There is a telephone next to it with the pad replaced with a grey button that makes beeps when you click it. It seems useless right now, but the system is built into the door, so you need a code. To enter a digit, press the button 1-8 times and wait for "*x* beeps !?" at the bottom. If you want to input a 9, simply press the button 9 times. Meanwhile, there is a piece of loose birch wood in the wall lining you may pick up.

Behind you is a surprisingly unbreakable lime vase that contains the red-brownish sports bag key; a mouse in a cage; and what appears to be a JayIsGames sculpture carrying a dog bone. You **could** pick up the vase and dump the key out, but the game does **not** allow that. There is also a useless ceiling lamp that could be the light source. When you put some mouse food at the bottom of the cage, the mouse will consume it and go back, but when you place it atop the tower, the mouse will climb the tower, eat, and hop back down.

On the last wall, there is a black arcade machine you apparently are not strong enough to lift up and whose cord is too short to reach the nearby outlet. On the black arcade chair is a glass. You may now pick up the *Tasty Mouse Food*, so do.

You will realize there is no code to be found *in the room* alone.

### Walkthrough

**This section contains spoilers!**

Place the glass on the floor of the cage, and feed the mouse on the tower. The mouse should knock the glass onto its curved surface, since the glass is a cylinder and all cylinders have curved surfaces, as their faces are circles. This will act as a lever fulcrum. Then, lay the birch wood on the fulcrum and put the JayIsGames sculpture on the lower end. Feed the mouse on the tower and watch as your contraption sends it flying. Pick up the red key and unlock the sports bag. Attach the extension cable to the arcade.

Now, you can play *Bark Bark Bark*! The instructions are given before you begin. When you complete all 9 levels with at least 1 life remaining, you will receive a 4-digit completion code that does not have any 0s. This is where the telephone comes into play. For each digit, starting with the thousands, press the button *x* times. For instance, if your completion code is 2583, press the button 2 times and wait, press the button 5 times and wait, press the button 8 times and wait, then press the button 3 times and the door should open.

You are now in the garden. Each of 5 levels has some mice and strings of lights. The lights will illuminate in a set pattern. You need to replicate it.

At the end of the strings with mice are food containers. Immediately when there is mouse food in its corresponding container, the mouse will move. If it moves over a light bulb, it will buzz it. Timing is key to success. Red light bulbs will move mice down 1 string.

Once you finish all those levels, you will find the dog behind all the barking. Feed it the dog bone you found in the house.

**WARNING: The end scroll may trigger mild photosensitive epilepsy.**

## Trivia

* The typing in the intro is a reference to the *Kids Next Door* intro.
* When you click the window, the dog will bark thrice similar to the intro.
* The mice were reused from the previous Bonte game, *Loose the Moose*.
* Contrary to logic, the mouse does not land inside the glass, tip it over, then run back to its hamster wheel.
* The JayIsGames sculpture is able to do a front flip, cover a good altitude, AND send the mouse flying without breaking the lever, which makes no sense due to logic and physics.
	+ The mouse does not move while phasing through this.
* The barking of the real dog is the same as the barking of the middle dog in *Bark Bark Bark*.
* Even after you escape the house, you will never see its exterior, but it must at least have a roof due to the light source being on the ceiling, and assuming the starting area (the one with the window) is north, the house is facing east, since the door is to the right.
	+ This means the front yard could wrap around to the south, since the scene progresses to the right.
* It is now on the Bart Bonte Collection.
	+ The game is still playable on Math Playground.
	+ 35.2% of players have all 3 stars in this game, the 2nd lowest with above 30% of players. The 3rd lowest is *Me and the Key 2* with 36.4%, and the lowest is *Factory Balls 4* with 34.3%. After the latter, the number of people who own the achievement drops by around 20%.