Text-based games!(?)

brewbellyblueberry@sopuli.xyz to RetroGaming@lemmy.world – 45 points –

Even though we got a computer in the mid to late 90's, a shitty DOS-box that no-one kind of really knew how to do anything with, I was infinitely interested in anything to do with it. I remember playing Guerrilla Wars and some dungeon crawlers on it and such, but I feel like I almost entirely missed out on text-based games. I vaguely remember playing two, but I guess I was just excited about computer graphics or something that I didn't really care for them or the ones I tried just sucked.

I'm sure there's people here that have more experience with them so I ask you to bring forth all your favorite text-based adventures, regardless of genre. What classics should I go for?

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Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy was and still is a favorite. Not easy, even if you know the source material, but fun.

If you've never tried a MUD, there are still a few out there that are alive and kickin'. Funny enough, I've been scratching that itch over the last few days and seeing whats out there. They're something like a pre-cursor to MMOs - online, text-based games. If you get really deep into stuff like PVP, you'll like wind up writing scripts that trigger actions based on what's happening since its quicker than typing out commands when things get hot and heavy.

If I had to guess, I'd say Aardwolf is probably the most populated and has the most users online at any given time. I have an old char on there that I occasionally log into and run some quests on:

Aardwolf

I just created a character in Alter Aeon and it's alright so far, but I haven't spent more than about an hour logged in:

Alter Aeon

I don't know how people generally feel about Iron Realms Entertainment. Some or all of their MUDs end up with you kind of having to spend some money if you get super engaged, but I'm pretty sure most of their games are perfectly fine without paying for casual players. They have a handful of MUDs that cover different themes (classic fantasy, vampire stuff, etc). I actually tried out Starmourn recently which is a sci-fi themed one, but I think they're no longer developing it actively - the servers remain up (for now, at least, I guess). Regardless, all of their games seem pretty polished and thoughtfully made.

Iron Realms Entertainment main site

Starmourn

The cool thing about IRE is that their games are all playable in a browser and the browser-based apps include some QoL UI stuff like maps and stuff. The others generally require a (free) MUD client like Mudlet. Aardwolf has a highly customized version of Mudlet that has frames/windows within the client that show you your characters stats, maps, a chat window, and some other stuff.

Talking of MUDs reminded me that some years back I discovered Shades (used to be on Micronet/Prestel in the 1980s) was still running. It took me quite a bit of searching to find a random comment, which said Shades is still running (a few years ago) on telnet://games.world.co.uk I just tried it and it's still there!

I lived on https://www.mudconnect.com/ for awhile back in the day, just trying out new ones. Looks like it still lists 683 of them.

Same, back when I played a lot more. There was a period of time where I felt completely unfulfilled and unappreciated at work. I was a Linux admin at the time so I spent 90% of my time in a text environment. One day, I installed TinTin++ which has a non-GUI version and I'd just keep one ssh connection opened to a VPS I pay for and would just MUD throughout the day (mainly just running quests over and over). This was years before "quiet quitting" was cool lol

Ohhh... This brings me back to my LPMud days in the '90s. Albion MUD, I think it was called.

Infocom was the king of text-based adventure games and you will not go wrong with any of them. Douglas Adams wrote two- an adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a really hard game called Bureaucracy.

I feel like early Legend Entertainment games are a perfect gateway to interactive fiction since they do have some graphics and interface while still being primarily text-driven. My personal favourite is Frederik Pohl's Gateway series (books are amazing too), but you could check out Spellcasting 101 and Eric the Unready which are available on GOG.

And if we're talking classics I'd recommend Babel for starters, it uses very modern game design without softlocks and unfair fail states, almost entirely narrative driven with simple and satisfying puzzles sprinkled in.

Otherwise I'm a huge fan of anything by Andrew Plotkin.

Not a huge fan of Zork, it's so rough to play these days without a guide. Maybe other Infocom games should be played first, like Planetfall, it's relatively not so player hostile.

Yes, text adventure games go beyond Infocom, although they won the era. There's Magnetic Scrolls, Melbourne House, Level 9, and (yes) Legend, which shares DNA with Infocom in the form of prolific alum Steve Meretzky. Back in the day, everyone was getting in on text adventures; even Electronic Arts published one.

That said, I would go with an Infocom game for your first, as the later ones especially were very well-designed and tended to be fairly forgiving. A Mind Forever Voyaging or Planetfall are good choices. Planetfall has a sequel, if that makes it more interesting to you. I would avoid Zork to start; it's a good game, but there was a lot of evolution after 1977.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of the medium's crowning achievements and you should probably wait to savor that one.

If you like roguelikes, you're in for a treat. Check out Brogue and DCSS.

And if you want to witness some TUI eyecandy without it being a game, ssh git.charm.sh.

emacs has got a built in text based adventure “Dunnet” built in

I never knew this in my time using Emacs! thanks for sharing!

Warsim: The Realm of Aslona

I played this one last year and enjoyed my time with it.

YES! Quite entertaining kingdom-sim with lots of weirdness and fun.

MUDs (Multi User Dungeons - The massive multiplayer text adventure RPGs that came before the term "MMORPG" has been invented) may be your friend. Games like unitopia.de. All you need is a telnet client (built-in in almost all operating systems).

I loved several Infocom games back in the day (the Zorks, Enchanter & Sorcerer, Hitchhikers, etc). Before that I was a Scott Adams (not the Dilbert guy) fan. I especially remember Mission Impossible Adventure.

For a different genre entirely, maybe check out Rogue (see where all the Rogue-like/lite chatter comes from) or NetHack (The Dev Team Thinks of Everything).

I recently discovered Photopia, a beautiful little text adventure. It’s not long, but it is very clever and uses narrative voice in a really interesting way.

McMurphy's Mansion

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/mcmurphy-s-mansion-271

A puzzle solving text adventure where you go around your relative's estate trying to uncover 12 gold bars. I have fond memories of playing this as a child with my Scottish grandmother.

Holy shit this is my first "Reddit Moment" on Lemmy, where I go to post something and someone else has already posted it.

So many parts of that damn game are somehow burned into my psyche.

"Arum Sub Est".