Where Can You Find Text Based Games?

[Darkwolf11235 0]

I have always wondered how good text based games are, i have heard good and bad things about them and i would like to try them for my self. If anyone knows sites where there are text based games please respond to this post.

[roggle 0]

Check out utopia...

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

One of the most famous text based games with a thriving community.

I think it is the first of its kind and even though it appears simple, it gets really involving and many people have played it for years on end.

Has a large worldwide community as well and made many long term friends through there as well..

Basically it's about managing your province, training troops, invading other ppl's lands and working with the kd to win standings. It's tough to explain here but do go and try it out.

It is turn based.

However if you are looking into real time stuff then I suggest you look into MUDs though personally they are just MMOs without graphics which isn't really something that interests me since it's just a step backward rather than something unique of a text game.

[austiniskoge 0]

hah, there's a funny (parody?) one at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ you're into that.But if you seriously want to play a text command game... sorry, I can't help you there.

[iGuest 3]

I use to play a lot of text based games (known as Interactive Fiction) in my younger days and that increased my typing speed, probably improved my spelling and grammar. It is a good idea to get children to play these types of games, which I think is better than a mouse-click type game. I then went on to learning how to write these games using BASIC at the time, it was a completely text-based game with no graphics, similar to choose your plot story combined with fighting monsters using a dice, holding inventory, and completing puzzles. There are now many Interactive Fiction engines around so that creating your own games are much easier now.I don't know of any sites but a search for Interactive Fiction will provide you with many related things.Cheers,MC

[yordan 10]

The father of all the RPG games, text-based games running on big computers, which were devoted to completely different work (payroll work for instance).The PC's made this kind of game quite old-fashioned.

[Gayla 0]

I have always wondered how good text based games are, i have heard good and bad things about them and i would like to try them for my self. If anyone knows sites where there are text based games please respond to this post.

You might want to take a look at my game "Finding Martin", a large text-based game with a fantasy/scifii/mystery plot involving time travel. This game is available for free download at The "Finding Martin" Homepage. It was named as a finalist in the 2005 XYZZY awards in the categories of Best Game and Best Puzzles, and some of the people who've played it told me that they found it quite addictive. The web site has a walk-through if you find yourself stuck. You can also send me e-mails to ask for hints if you want to avoid accidentally seeing spoilers in the walk-through. I like corresponding with players since it's a good way to meet people who like the same sort of games that I do.

Or, you could check out some other text-based games such as "Augmented Fourth" by Brian Uri, "Curses" by Graham Nelson, and "So Far" by Andrew Plotkin, available at Baf's Guide to the IF Archive. (IF stands for Interactive Fiction, which is what they call text based games nowadays.) All of these games are available as free downloads along with the free interpreter that you'll need to play those games. Baf's Guide also gives instructions on how to download the interpreter(s) for all of the text games in the archive.

For game reviews check out Brass Lantern, SPAG, and Reviews by Dan Shiovitz.

The latest fashion in text-based games these days seems to be for authors to write shorter games that aspire to artistic interactive fiction with dark themes. The ones that I've recommended tend to be older games that focus on fun adventures and challenging puzzles. "Augmented Fourth" has a great sense of humor and is one of my favorites. But there are games suiting a wide variety of preferences in the IF Archive, from religious to pornographic, from horror to slapstick, from deep to silly.
Edited July 15, 2006 by Gayla (see edit history)

[Gayla 0]

You might want to take a look at my game "Finding Martin", a large text-based game with a fantasy/scifii/mystery plot involving time travel. This game is available for free download at The "Finding Martin" Homepage. It was named as a finalist in the 2005 XYZZY awards in the categories of Best Game and Best Puzzles, and some of the people who've played it told me that they found it quite addictive. The web site has a walk-through if you find yourself stuck. You can also send me e-mails to ask for hints if you want to avoid accidentally seeing spoilers in the walk-through. I like corresponding with players since it's a good way to meet people who like the same sort of games that I do.
Or, you could check out some other text-based games such as "Augmented Fourth" by Brian Uri, "Curses" by Graham Nelson, and "So Far" by Andrew Plotkin, available at Baf's Guide to the IF Archive. (IF stands for Interactive Fiction, which is what they call text based games nowadays.) All of these games are available as free downloads along with the free interpreter that you'll need to play those games. Baf's Guide also gives instructions on how to download the interpreter(s) for all of the text games in the archive.

For game reviews check out Brass Lantern, SPAG, and Reviews by Dan Shiovitz.

The latest fashion in text-based games these days seems to be for authors to write shorter games that aspire to artistic interactive fiction with dark themes. The ones that I've recommended tend to be older games that focus on fun adventures and challenging puzzles. "Augmented Fourth" has a great sense of humor and is one of my favorites. But there are games suiting a wide variety of preferences in the IF Archive, from religious to pornographic, from horror to slapstick, from deep to silly.

I forgot to mention the classic text-based games by Infocom, such as "Zork." These games inspire a lot of nostalgia for those of us who played them decades ago. Activision is the company that currently owns what used to be Infocom, but they aren't selling Infocom games any more. You can buy Infocom games at collector's prices on sites such as E-Bay, but free copies can be found by those who search for such links on Usenet groups. Players of these games usually want to get PDF's of the printed manuals too; Infocom sometimes tried to discourage bootlegging by including puzzles that were difficult to solve without access to printed materials purchased with the game.

For those who aren't quite certain what a text-based game actually is, it's a game in which the player types in simple sentences that usually take the form of commands. Like the following excerpt from Zork:

>go downThe trap door crashes shut, and you hear someone barring it.

Cellar
You are in a dark and damp cellar with a narrow passageway leading north, and a crawlway to the south. On the west is the bottom of a steep metal ramp which is unclimbable.
Your sword is glowing with a faint blue glow.

>go north

The Troll Room
This is a small room with passages to the east and south and a forbidding hole leading west. Bloodstains and deep scratches (perhaps made by an axe) mar the walls.
A nasty-looking troll, brandishing a bloody axe, blocks all passages out of the room.

Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.
The troll swings his axe, but it misses.

>swing sword
Whoosh!
The troll swings, you parry, but the force of his blow knocks your sword away.

>get sword
Taken.

The troll hits you with a glancing blow, and you are momentarily stunned.

>kill troll with sword
The troll is staggered, and drops to his knees.
The troll slowly regains his feet.

Since the days when Zork was first popular, players have been able to get text games with more lush descriptions and more developed plot lines (not necessarily done in settings resembling medieval dungeons). But I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for games like Zork, and I think many others feel the same way.
Edited July 15, 2006 by Gayla (see edit history)

[Rhy1405241527 0]

My favorite and only text based game is DartMud. I wrote a bit about it which I posted in another thread but I guess I'll repost it here! Happy mudding!I was first introduced to muds in general in 2000, the first and only mud I've played since then is DartMud. Oh sure I've tried plenty of other muds but none are as realistic, complex and detail-oriented as DartMud! The world is constantly changing and almost completely player-run (as far as what goes on in social/political aspects).It does take a little while to get used to the daily life and the way things work but once you get the hang of it you will find yourself hopelessly addicted. It's great that I've been playing for 6 years and still learn new things and go new places all the time! Soon there will even be a whole new continent complete with it's own culture, languages, native foods and crops, races, etc.I feel as if I must mention the crafting system as it is incredibly complex but not aggravating (unlike muds where you sit in one spot and work on carving one piece of wood for 10 minutes just to mess it up). No, instead if you wanted to carve a piece of wood you would first need to find a woodaxe and a hand saw, then go out in the woods (minding the wild animals), find a tree and chop it down (and hope it doesn't fall on you), chop it into board, take the board to a smithy that has appropriate tools and THEN you are ready to carve the wood into whatever you want...if you have the skill. Once you get to that point that you're ready to make the wood into what you want it's instant. No sitting around waiting to see if 10 lines of "You continue carving the wood" succeeds or not. That's just one example. There are tons of crafts. My favorites are sewing and leather working.Finally, WAR. Just like in the real world people don't always get along in DartMud. We do have a number of castles and guilds that don't always agree. We also have quite a few independant people that don't always agree with the castles/guilds. It is not a constant occurrence but every now and again someone will go too far and the world will be torn apart by war. Once my character's husband, a noble of a castle as well, was murdered by another group. My character had revenge on her mind and took out some members from the rival group, and in turn some of the people she lived with lost their lives. After many peace talks and bargaining for each others members held for ransom things eventually went back to normal. To me these are the times in DartMud that are key to building friendships and history for your character. Great fun too! When you log on and your hands are shaking because you don't know if someone is hiding next to your character's bed ready to kill them...you know it's an awesome game.Over the years DartMud has made me laugh, cry and sometimes even punch things! There is no experience quite like it and I won't be happy until I've tried to convince everyone in the world to play!!

[lonebyrd 0]

I'll add my 2 cents about text based games I guess. I've been playing a game called Fantasy Film-maker since Oct. 2005. It's not an RPG, it's a movie studio simulation game. I like it because you play with people from all over the world to be the top film studio. They have a database of real actors with stats for them in different film genres. You can write plots for films, send them to a scriptwriter (takes 1-10 days to finish), cast and put into production, then release the film to cinema. After a week in cinema you can release it to video/DVD. They have assests you can buy/sell. A court where you can sue other companies.Right now the game is finishing its testing after its update. It will be open to the public again on July 29th, 2006. Great game, I recommend it highly.

[Arbitrary 0]

Well, I remember quite a while ago when I played this game called SmartMonsters. From what I recollect of the game, you role play as a character, try to earn money, skills etc. Then, based on those skills, you can chose a profession, such as a lawyer, or a politician (in order to achieve these, you'd have to learn skills in backstabbing, apparently ) or a real-estate agent, etc. The game is fun and it seems to be constantly renovating itself.

 

At first the game is a bit confusing, and I'd recommend not getting out of the Sanctuary Island until you've familiarized yourself with what to do. Usually the players there will guide you and you can always ask for help through the chat system. (Everyone's in-character and are really helpful) Meanwhile, it's also useful to look over the different commands. For instance, you want to type pick pear in order to grab a pear off a pear tree or laugh to show other players your feelings about a certain thing.

 

You gain experience points by looking around the place, so the look command is very important. Using that often will make you gain experience faster. Most players there will recommend that you don't leave Sanctuary Island until you reach level 5, but that's virtually impossible. You can't gain that much experience at Sanctuary Island. It's probably better to gather a large amount of food and then head off either north or south. Once you start moving off of Sanctuary Island, it's good to look at the maps, as things will get confusing. The maps are written by players, but can help you get out of some predicaments rather quickly.

[Gayla 0]

The latest issue of SPAG Magazine is out. SPAG stands for the Society for the Promotion of Adventure Games. It specializes in the sort of text games that can be played by individual people on their own computers, rather than by logging into a MUD and interacting with the other players who happen to be online.

 

This quarterly newsletter, edited by Jimmy Maher, is in its 45th issue. This issue includes commentary and reviews about text based games. You can read it on-line or get a free subscription via e-mail. The web site has been freshly redesigned and has a new look.

 

The following games are reviewed:

 

The Amazing Interactive Turing Machine

Deadsville (IntroComp version)

Finding Martin

Ghost Train

Glass

OMNIQuest

Swineback Ridge

There's a Snake in the Bathtub

Voices of Spoon River

[iGuest 3]

I'll add my 2 cents about text based games I guess. I've been playing a game called Fantasy Film-maker since Oct. 2005. It's not an RPG, it's a movie studio simulation game. I like it because you play with people from all over the world to be the top film studio. They have a database of real actors with stats for them in different film genres. You can write plots for films, send them to a scriptwriter (takes 1-10 days to finish), cast and put into production, then release the film to cinema. After a week in cinema you can release it to video/DVD. They have assests you can buy/sell. A court where you can sue other companies.
Right now the game is finishing its testing after its update. It will be open to the public again on July 29th, 2006. Great game, I recommend it highly.

Oh wow, sounds pretty exciting. July 29th? Oh, that is soon! Can't wait to check it out.

I'm not too fond of those games, I mean, really there are just millons of them and almost all of them are the same. And almost all of them have lousy graphics However I do play a few just because I've met a lot of great people there and we have a lot of fun arranging wars.
Usually it's all about killing. Fantasy, space, mafia world - that's the most common themes I think. It gets boring, does someone know something different than that?

[Gayla 0]

I'm not too fond of those games, I mean, really there are just millons of them and almost all of them are the same. And almost all of them have lousy graphics However I do play a few just because I've met a lot of great people there and we have a lot of fun arranging wars.Usually it's all about killing. Fantasy, space, mafia world - that's the most common themes I think. It gets boring, does someone know something different than that?

I realize that you're replying to the previous post rather than talking about the subject of this thread (ie., text games) since most text games don't have any graphics at all; they're just words. But I think there are some people who also think that many text games focus too much on fighting, and they get bored with the typical settings of high fantasy or space opera.

Personally I don't like to do a lot of fighting and killing when I play a game. I'd rather solve mysteries, which sometimes can involve danger and suspense. But everybody has his/her own preferences, and text games have something to offer for a wide variety of preferences. The only preference it can't cater to is if you don't like to read sentences or type on a keyboard! But if you like to read and can type with at least one or two fingers, you might want to check out some text games. The key is to choose a game that suits the way you like your games to be. That's why I recommend that people read reviews as a first step to deciding which game they want to play.

Mild spoilers below...

For example, "Augmented Fourth", by Brian Uri, has a quasi-medieval setting, but you won't see any elves, dwarves, and dragons there. In this game you play in the role of a musician whose only possession is a trumpet. He gets thrown into a deep pit because he played "Ode to a Duck" for the king, and it turns out that the king hates ducks. Escaping through a hole in the bottom of the pit leads to a abandoned granite mine and eventually to an isolated village built inside a dormant volcano. The musician discovers that when he plays "Ode to a Duck", a real duck appears. The village has a handful of eccentric inhabitants with equally eccentric dwellings. The musician eventually finds pieces of sheet music that he can use to solve the puzzles of the village, to get himself up out of the volcano, and to defeat the tyrannical king on the surface.

"Curses", by Graham Nelson, begins in a contemporary setting, in the attic of a very old mansion. The mansion has been in your family for many generations, but for some reason all of the members of your family are cursed, in the sense that whenever you try to complete a project, you always encounter too many obstacles and things don't quite work out for you. Curses! Foiled Again! You explore the attic, encounter the ghost of an ancestor on the roof (he died while eating chicken because he choked on a bone), go on a time travel trip to the 1920's, and find some interesting uses for tarot cards. There's more (much more), but the general idea is that you need to investigate the origin of the curse and figure out a way to break it. Graham Nelson is a highly educated academic sort of person, and I'm sure that a lot of the literary references in "Curses" zipped right over my head. But I found "Curses" to be fun as a game and his sense of humor to be down-to-earth and not at all stuffy.

"So Far", by Andrew Plotkin, has a fantastical setting totally unlike our own world. It's not traditional high fantasy or high-tech space opera, it's just an incredibly different sort of place. It might be in another dimension or on another planet. The themes of "So Far" involve jealousy, betrayal, and forgiveness. It's sort of abstract rather than plot-driven, but I really enjoyed exploring the fascinating world that Plotkin created.

And lastly I'll mention "Finding Martin", by Gayla Wennstrom. Arguably it doesn't belong with the above three games in terms of public acclaim, but I had to include it here because the author (me) really wants to get people to play it. "Finding Martin" hasn't won any awards, but it did make it into the final top five in the 2005 XYZZY awards in two categories (Best Game and Best Puzzles), out of a couple hundred eligible games that year.

This game has a contemporary setting in which you need to find and rescue Martin, an old friend from your school days who has recently disappeared. His sister, Rachel (who both annoys and intrigues you) seems to know more about you than she should, and she asks you to try to find Martin by going out to the old family home in the remote mountains of New Mexico. The house was built by Martin's uncle, a contractor who was fond of secret passages and bizarre tricks involving the fixtures of the house (such as how to fill the bathtub). Martin's father, who was an eccentric inventor monitoring signals from outer space, built an elaborate model train system that goes through the rooms of the house and can deliver room service from the kitchen. Martin's mother was a dancer/actress who now works as a choreographer in New York City. She's currently working on a musical production to be performed in Central Park entitled "The Life and Times of Ginger Rogers". Martin is half native-American on his mother's side. His paternal great-grandfather left Budapest during the 1930's and eventually worked as a physicist at Los Alamos.

During the game you'll go on some time travel trips during the past 100 years, centered on the locale of Martin's house. You'll also take some quick trips to places like New York City, a remote island near Bora Bora, and a Japanese tea garden. While playing the game you'll discover some bizarre devices that enhance each of your five senses, creating fantastical possibilities in otherwise ordinary settings. For example, you can see your surroundings through a sort of a "fiction device" (allowing the possibility that a dirt path can be a yellow brick road) and you can hear translations of languages such as Japanese, Tiwa, and Tahitian, as well as do lip-reading and understand the languages of animals.

-- Gayla
Edited August 30, 2006 by Gayla (see edit history)

[lonebyrd 0]

Oh wow, sounds pretty exciting. July 29th? Oh, that is soon! Can't wait to check it out.

The release date for Fantasy film-maker got moved up a day. The new release day will be July 30, 2006. Just thought you might like to know. I love to get people involved in the game. I am a tester for the new release, and it's looking great. They've added a new feature to help-out the newcomer get through their first movie and some other neat stuff. I hope that you do join.

[Medieval Duel 0]

I have always wondered how good text based games are, i have heard good and bad things about them and i would like to try them for my self. If anyone knows sites where there are text based games please respond to this post.

medievalduel.com

You must take the role of a bold adventurer from the Kingdom Of Valour that must now have the courage to defeat the monsters of Medieval Duel. Although only carrying just your wits, bravery and gold, you must fight to survive this hostile wilderness and maybe, one day, become the true warrior and slay the King Black Dragon.

Choose your profession, whether to be a mighty Sorceress, a worthy Barbarian, a powerful Paladin, a skillful Ranger, a dark Necromancer, a deadly Druid or a killer Assassin. Choose your armament to suit your skill and match your personality. Choose your path, and begin your journey of exploring the world of Medieval Duel.

Some features which MD has to offer:

9 Different skills to level up
4 Quests to complete for rewards
7 Different character class's to choose from
A huge map to explore and venture on
Around 250 different monsters to find and slay
Guilds and Strongholds, which leads to Guild battles!
A Duel Arena, to interact and fight with other players
Many towns and areas to explore. Either within towns, or on the battlefield
A player trading market
An in game Forum and Player Chat
Regular updates
And best of all, it's free!
Edited August 22, 2006 by Medieval Duel (see edit history)