Who Likes Text Based Games?

[Reaperman]

I like some text based games, namely "Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy"

[Omuletzu]

I only like graphic games.

[Reup]

Text Based gaming is like MUDding, but without the social obligation ;) And I like it!

:ot: Allthough there are a lot of people who don't consider MUDding social at all... nor gaming for that matter... e.g. my girlfriend :whistle:

[Reaperman]

Some text based games are really bad, but some rule, i am totally addicted to a game called The Hitchikers guide to the galaxy! :D

[Borodin]

I used to work in a for-pay text-based MMORPG that's still running: DragonRealms. For what it's worth, I still think you can achieve a great deal with text, but many games simply require visuals. I'd not want to play one of my favorite RPGs, King of Dragon Pass, as a text-based game. It would be incredibly unwieldy.

[Eagle of Fire]

I played muds for a while, and it was very interesting. You just can't do a mud with graphics, else you got something like EverQuest and it just waste 80% of the potential...

[samus2k]

i have a few text based games i u want me to upload to abandonia just tell me ok ? :ok:

[The Fifth Horseman]

Only rarely. Though IF Quake was VERY fun indeed...

[Borodin]

There are a lot of them up on HOTU, including a ton of text-based titles that are quite recent.

[xoopx]

text based games were cool back in their day! we had one at school on the bbc b computer (bbc branded acorn electron - was very popular in the 80's in uk) and my favourite was this semi-edutainment one where you had to explore this magic mansion or castle or something, and it had really cool tasks like complete a tune on the keys and stuff like that. the most important thing, like with all written words, is that its well written!! so you can picture yourself in the places with your imagination. if they just have "you are in a clearing" its like. oh, right.
text games were huge on the zx spectrum (another popular uk 8bit - sold as timex in usa but didnt catch on) with various tolkien based ones being especially popular.
ive heard that there were cool ones on the apple II, but i never had one

[Reup]

Originally posted by Eagle of Fire@Jan 5 2005, 02:07 PM
I played muds for a while, and it was very interesting. You just can't do a mud with graphics, else you got something like EverQuest and it just waste 80% of the potential...

The power of MUDs/Text-Based games/interactive novels, IMHO lies in the fact that it leaves so much to your own imagination. By saying stuff like:

"An old gnarled oak with crooked branches looms over you. The bark has been torn from it in many places, probably by strange animals and eerie sounds can be heard coming from between the braches. A small hole near the bottom emits a strange purple glow."

really makes you see the thing. Without having to resort to heavy hardware... :)

Edit: I should have read the previous post more thoroughly, which more or less says the same thing :whistle:

[wormpaul]

Text base games are just to difficult for me :not_ok:

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by Reup@Jan 5 2005, 01:52 PM
Text Based gaming is like MUDding, but without the social obligation ;)* And I like it!

:ot: Allthough there are a lot of people who don't consider MUDding social at all... nor gaming for that matter... e.g. my girlfriend* :whistle:
I feel your pain man!
But text based games really give you something to think about - plus I feel that all this clicking and moving simply makes people hate the keyboard, which is the most importaint link between the human and the computer ( :not_ok: mouse :not_ok: - except for our board regular mouse32).

[Iron_Scarecrow]

Whats MUDding?

Anyway Zork 2 was the only one I could handle. But even then I didn't get into it too much.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by Iron_Scarecrow@Jan 5 2005, 08:24 PM
Whats MUDding?

MUDs, MUCKs, MUSHES, etc: text-based online multiplayer games in a shared environment, run by admins, with many users. Quite a few are like Everquest, but without the graphics. Some strictly have a social function, instead. Others serve a particular purpose: the environment is tailored in a specific fashion, and visitors are expected to take tests. Many of these environments are for those among us who enjoy building secondhand: we don't develop the code, but we use it to create text-based rooms, with embedded objects that "do things" to other objects, including ourselves. There are literally more than half a thousand of these places on the Web, in English. I expect the total number exceeds a couple of thousand.

There are a few high-end, extremely sophisticated ones that are play-for-pay, only, where the user doesn't design, but only interacts with the gamemasters' creations.

[Iron_Scarecrow]

Doesn't sound very interesting. Who would want to participate in that.

[Sebatianos]

Oh no! Our side is loosing on the pools... Vote for YES please or I'll break your knees. :sneaky: , nah not really, or...

-Sebatianos entered the room.
-Sees people voting for no.
-Starts breaking their knees.
-Possible exits - there are none.
What do you do: RUN
You can't your knee caps are smashed!
What do you do: VOTE YES
You can't you voted already.
What do you do: RECONSIDER
I don't know that word "Reconsider"
What do you do: CHANGE VOTE TO YES
By some merciful power your knees are heeled and you exit to a room full of willing maidens.

[Iron_Scarecrow]

Well since I hadn't voted yet, I gave you your "yes". :ok:

Now where are these maidens? :sneaky: :whistle:

LOL

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by Iron_Scarecrow@Jan 5 2005, 11:37 PM
Well since I hadn't voted yet, I gave you your "yes". :ok:

Now where are these maidens? :sneaky: :whistle:

LOL
Ah, you're after the prize! Just fall asleep and wait for the devine force to tell you -you shouldn't belive everything you read :bleh: .

[Iron_Scarecrow]

I'm dissapointed.

[The_EgAt]

I like text-based games very much, and have played them for years.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by Iron_Scarecrow@Jan 5 2005, 09:19 PM
Doesn't sound very interesting. Who would want to participate in that.
Enough people to create several thousand MUDs, MUCKs, MUSHes, etc, and populate them with several hundred thousand users. The pay-to-play uber-MUDs like Gemstone III and DragonRealms each maintain roughly 15,000-20,000 people at all times in their respective game environments. Clearly, text-based MMORPGs aren't for everyone, and I'm not about to sing their virtues to you; but that's not to say others don't like them.

[BlackMageJawa]

I want to like them, but I can never seem to get the hang of the kind of commands they're looking for. I guess that's because I've gotten hooked on menu-driven Adventures where I'm used to a set vocabulary. Use, Talk etc present no problem. Put Junk Mail In Front Of Slot, on the other hand, is beyond me.

So, yes I like them, but I'm really bad. Huh, just like Starcraft.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by BlackMageJawa@Jan 6 2005, 12:13 AM
I want to like them, but I can never seem to get the hang of the kind of commands they're looking for. I guess that's because I've gotten hooked on menu-driven Adventures where I'm used to a set vocabulary. Use, Talk etc present no problem.
I know that some of these multiplayer text-based games--at least, the Simutronics pay-for-play titles--do offer a separate frontend with menus, if you wish to you it. They even had one back in the old GEnie days, when that DOS-based online service was the major provider of games and forums, and even had something new--the Internet! (With text-only, no less.) The frontends tend to be pretty sophisticated. I've seen several that allow you to build complex scripts, permitting your character to run automatically through large areas, fight different monsters in different ways, search and gather items from the kill.

[Reaperman]

You know, what is a good Text Based Game Engine, Im interested in making one, & since I started this poll, you better tell me :ranting:

Just Kidding :D

[Squalidangel]

Text games are fun because it takes imagination and ingenuity.
Personally, I love to read. Text games are kind of like interactive books.

[Borodin]

Reaperman, if you're looking for text game engines, you might start here (http://www.the-underdogs.org/interpret.php). HOTU has a lot of IF games, and they list plenty of links to IF interpreters and other speciality sites.

[cheesegrater]

Where do I get more text games? They are sooo cool. Does HOTU have a special section for them? I couldn't find one.

[MasterGrazzt]

Interactive Fiction, cheesegrater.

And I play text based games. Damn kids and their graphics...

[Reaperman]

Thanks for The-Underdogs!

[Reup]

If anyone is really interested in the whole MUD (and MUCK/MUSH) thing, check out
MUDConnector (http://www.mudconnector.com/)
Here you can find a lot of MUDs, sorted by type and theme (e.g. scifi, Tolkien, Dune anything really). If you're looking for a decent one I recommend DiscWorld-MUD, which is huge. friendly and free ;) (oh, and funny)

[Omuletzu]

Originally posted by MasterGrazzt@Jan 6 2005, 07:12 AM
Damn kids and their graphics...
:Titan: :sniper:

[TheVoid]

Me likey text games. Me put them in Abandonia. Me is happy when someone adds and reviews new ones. Me thinks they're wondersome (wonderful+awesome).

Me gives you a link to something:

Aaberg: The Quest for the Beer - example of text game writing. (http://www.abandonia.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1490&st=15&hl=aaberg)

[xoopx]

i found this site called the interactive fiction archive

it has a bunch of games for many formats including for pc

http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXpc.html

as far as i can see theyre all "legit"

[MasterGrazzt]

By legit you mean they're not porn, right?