![zork-I[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Mru9Tp8.jpg "zork-I[1].jpg")
>Text-Based adventure games
>Wow this is great
>I can interact with everything in the world
>I can actually talk to NPC's
>it sure would be nice if I could graphically see my inventory/map though
>Graphical adventure games
>Wow this is awful
>I can only interact with specific things
>The puzzles make no sense
>All I do is use item on thing til it works
Did anyone ever make a happy medium between the two?
I just want a text based game with graphics to support what you can't easily display with text.
>>3098730
>>The puzzles make no sense
That applies to both text and graphical adventure games.
>>3098743
Eh in my experience with text based it was more "Pulling that lever did something on another floor and dident tell you" instead of use screwdriver to pry open tool chest to get wrench to unscrew screw.
>>3098749
You have never played Hitchiker's Guide To Galaxy then, I recon?
>>3098790
No, I only had a disk with a few mostly no-name text games on it. I really enjoyed them but I thought they would get better as tech advanced.
>>3098730
>text-based adventures
>you see a lever
>pull lever
>can't do that
>push lever
>can't do that
>use lever
>can't do that
>fuck lever
>can't do that
there's way too much guessing which command you have to use to progress
![hqdefault[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/CL6Zw2I.jpg "hqdefault[1].jpg")
>>3098798
>Early 2d games
>You jump onto a ledge
>It was not actually a ledge, just looked like it
>Enemy comes in from an angle you can't attack
>Picking up that powerup actually makes the game unbeatable
>Stand in the corner, holding a gem and wait for tornado
That's what I mean though. Did they ever improve on it like every other medium? I would have though by now someone would have made a really good one.
Last bump, then im just going to accept that text games are the dark ages of videogames.
>>3098730
>>All I do is use item on thing til it works
Have you triedthinking?
>>3098876
If anything they got a huge revival seeing how big shit like corruption of champions got.
>>3098804
>That's what I mean though. Did they ever improve on it like every other medium? I would have though by now someone would have made a really good one.
It's called La Mulana.
>>3098891
I never understood why la mulana is praised so much as a good game when it's a homage to msx games that would be considered shit now.
>>3098730
Sounds like you're looking for Dwarf Fortress
>>3098891
>cryptic shit : the game
>an improvement
>>3098730
A newer version of Hitchhikers is like that
>you will never get to experience Zork for the first time with a big clicky keyboard on a monochrome display
Why even live?
>>3098898
The commercial release is far less obtuse.
![Ultima%206%20-%20The%20False%20Prophet_12[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/1TxqllN.png "Ultima%206%20-%20The%20False%20Prophet_12[1].png")
>>3098891
No I mean a completely text driven game, with with graphics supporting it. Like ultima 6 only move the text to the center and put the graphics where the text is.
Have typing inventory show you your inventory graphically instead of a list of stuff.
But still let you interact with the world the way text games work.
Type out what attack you do and where your aiming it instead of push A to attack.
Talk to NPC's instead of just having a list of text to choose from.
Talk into a shop and ask the shopkeeper what he has instead of seeing a bunch of items with numbers under them and just walking into them to buy.
That kind of stuff.
>>3098730
>>3099327
There were text adventures that have versions with graphics added to them but the same text interface, like Scott Adams' games.
As I recall your inventory didn't have show graphics on these particular titles. Just the environment.
>>3098798
>le you have to guess the verb in text adventures meme
Most people I hear this from haven't actually played text adventures and are speaking from their experience playing Sierra's graphical text adventure.
What are you favourite text-based adventure games?
>>3100389
hitchhikers personally
>>3099383
It's a genuine issue in any text game, unless the dev spent a year aliasing each verb with a thesaurus in their basement.
>>3098730
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o2LF51mtuE
The SS and PS versions of Zork have graphic backgrounds and sound. The Japanese is not difficult.
>>3098790
Seems like, despite OP's pic, he never played Zork either. There was some nonsensical bullshit in that too.
Give egg to thief? Why the fuck would you think the egg was a transformer that only some asshole who's harassed you all game would instantly fix?
Rub sceptre, cross river? Really?
How about the 1001 ways to make it impossible to finish the game from the first few moves? Ever kill the bird? At least Hitchhiker's had the decency to kill you if you made X-number of wrong moves in a row.
I can't think of any titles at the moment but I know that I have played primarily txt adventure games that featured a graphical map and even an inventory page. It was more menu driven but you could still type commands.
>>3100656
>That one part where you had to like open match book, take match, strike match, and light lantern in one command or you get eaten by a gru.
>>3100668
Seriously. I appreciate and have a love for text-based adventures, but they had serious problems and difficulty curves too.
If someone wanted to make a text game today with all of our modern teknowledgy what tools would they use. And can we much more easily avoid these pitfalls?
>>3100710
http://twinery.org/
>>3100710
Really not hard to make. A graphing calculator has the ability to build programs like this. So does flash and any Basic language. The choices are endless. If you want to avoid the pitfalls, play-test and QA. Larger sample sizes return better results. More people will try more dumbass things for you to fix. Other than that? Take writing classes. Poor writing killed a lot of games just by the author not understanding how to hint at something without either omitting it entirely or beating you in the face with it.
>>3100726
My personally problem is I'm a pretty good writer, (which then I see how poorly and distressingly bad TRPGs can be written) but I can't code for shit.
>>3100735
You can learn enough to code a text adventure in minutes.
>>3100737
Its one of the first things you learn to code.
>>3100737
I-I don't doubt they're the basic est of basic. I do understand how computer logic works, but I just get overwhelmed.
(My degree is in 3D animation go figure)
What got me on the kick was actually a MUCK, I wanted to like, but the scenery was so lackluster and inconsistent I just kept thinking, "I could write this better, why do the devs have their head up their assess on the matter. "
>>3100737
Specifically, if you use a dedicated text adventure programming language. Don't expect it to be easy if you use a general purpose programming language.
Check out Inform 7, which is specifically designed to be easy for non-programmer, and which can target the Z-machine, so it is on-topic.
>>3100771
Neat, and thank you
>>3100710
inform 7 is pretty good, as it tries to be an "author" tool, not a "programmer" tool.
>>3100817
fuck me for not reading all the way down. Oh well, consider it a second recommendation of inform 7.
By the way, it can not just target z-machine, but also more advanced dialects that can, to really make it on-topic, include graphics, or sounds
![index[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/aBBmaWo.png "index[1].png")
>>3100817
>as it tries to be an "author" tool, not a "programmer" tool.
Anyone know a good programmer tool for making text games?
>>3101978
C++, good luck.
That, or program the z-engine directly. Neither very appealing. I'd suggest you look into defining actions and objects in inform. The language is targeting z-engine, among others, and is almost completely bootstrapping itself. As such, if you need any new special functions, you can write them in inform. It still looks very much like english prose, by design, but the language itself is fully capable. If that is not enough (it really is), your only hope is writing your own engine and parser, hence C++. That is not a serious recommendation though, you'd be reinventing the wheel for no reason, spending months writing code and not a single piece of game.
>>3101978
There's nothing wrong with Inform 7 even if you're a programmer. It's as much a "real" programming language as any other. The "natural language" thing is a scam to trick non-programmers into programming. If you really hate it, TADS has more traditional syntax and still saves a lot of effort compared to using a general purpose language.
>>3101989
C++ is probably the worst choice possible. You don't need high performance, so pick a managed language with good string handling. Python is a reasonable choice.
I remember reading about a text adventure game and was wondering if anyone knows the game I'm talking about. You are a college student at his computer lab working on a paper. While there you stay late to work, also a snow storm occurs. Due to the snow storm you are now trapped in the computer lab for the night, while there you hear strange noises coming from the basement and go to investigate. I remember it was quite lovecraftian and horror themed.
>>3102030
The Lurking Horror
>>3102062
Thanks anon.
>Did anyone ever make a happy medium between the two?
Yes. Legend Entertainment made some sweet text based input adventure games with graphical interface. Eric The Unready, Frederik Pohl's Gateway 1&2, SpellCasting -series etc.
They're amazing. All the good (and the bad!) features of text based adventures and graphical adventures, all in one. There's also the Sierra Adventure games that also do their own thing with a text parser.
>>3098730
Although most true rouguelikes are technically text based, a rougelike game that doesn't use text graphics but only text sentences would be quite cool.
I may even program that today.
>>3102131
Already exists. "Kerkerkruip".
>>3102140
ah well, I'm gonna write my own rougelike text adventure game, with blackjack, and hookers!
In fact, forget the game!
>>3102158
>ah well, I'm gonna write my own graphical text adventure game, with blackjack, and hookers!
Is that how Leisure Suit Larry in the land of lounge lizards happened?
>>3102109
Came here to post this.
>>3100558
There are engines nowadays that do that for you by default. It's the 21st century.
>>3098749
Text adventures are notorious for their bullshit puzzles. It doesn't make them less fun, but there's a massive amount of fuckery designed just to sell their companion booklets filled with hints.
>>3100558
I disagree, I mean it depends on the game, but in a good text adventure then pull, push, and maybe use should all work on a lever.
>>3102180
I was referencing games made today, sadly.
If it's widely available, the game's producer didn't know about it.
btw, what such programs do, do that?
>>3102225
True, but after all that frustration there's something really satisfying about figuring out a maze, or assembling an object, plus you feel like a 1337 pro on a replay for remembering all that syntax.
>>3102109
Thanks anon this looks like exactly what I was looking for
![maxresdefault[4].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/qIH2ZVe.jpg "maxresdefault[4].jpg")
>>3102225
>>3102225
>Text adventures are notorious for their bullshit puzzles.
Just like early platformers were notorious for their stupidly high artificial difficulty and poorly visible platforms.
But they got better.
I was hoping text games did the same anon.
>>3100656
>Give egg to thief? Why the fuck would you think the egg was a transformer that only some asshole who's harassed you all game would instantly fix?
It's a cruel puzzle, there's no denying it, but the game actually gives you a hint. I mean, when trying to open the egg, you're told that "you have neither the tools nor the expertise", right?
>Rub sceptre, cross river? Really?
This puzzle is severely underclued, but you're given a hint about this one too. Have you tried waving it?
> wave sceptre
A dazzling display of color briefly emanates from the sceptre.
>>3103191
Exactly. The hints are often ambiguous at best and its trial and error on an incredibly large level.
As for people who were asking if there was an improvement on this in later years, I'd actually go and say that the Lucas Arts point and click adventure games were fairly closely related and did a good job making sure you had direction and options without being left twisting in the wind.
>>3103607
Lucas Arts point&click are a natural progression from text adventures, by including an image as scene description, and a smaller vocabulary to select, instead of type. The selection of verbs and objects leads to mini-phrases on the scumm interface that are technically what the player would type.
However, and here's the big deal: as much as p&c adventures follow as evolutionary step from text adventures, so do text adventures with a more capable parser, careful font formatting, the occasional image, ambient sound and so on. It's not a one way street bunch a branching tree. And it's true that some of these branches are very sparsely populated
