Let me clarify something: some of the first computer games were incredibly wordy.  Even more wordy than Wordy McWorderson’s Very Wordy Word Compendium (that’s a dictionary, people, look it up).  In fact they consisted purely of words; you then had to apply your own imagination to get a sense of the world and what you could do.  And what’s more, you had to use your brain, and actually type things in via a keyboard.  Scary beans eh?

Mostly, they’re puzzle-based with a good mix of logic and physical puzzles to interact with.

Admittedly, I haven’t played much of them, the only one really being The HitchHiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, from Infocom and the legendary Douglas Adams.  A hilarious romp through space with fiendishly difficult puzzles and some of the best text graphics I’ve ever seen.  OK, maybe I’m slightly biased because I’m a fan of the series and I do love humour oh so much, but I really like it.

Maybe I’m not the best person to be bigging this forgotten genre up.  I know for a fact that Mezino has played a few text games in his time, after all, he’s got about ten or so years on the rest of us and he’s been around the gaming block a few times, so here’s a few words from him:

People can’t spell these days, so I doubt they can still read. *takes off cynic cap*.  The problem is, as already pointed out, that gaming these days is all about “look at what we can do”.  It (gaming) unlike a book doesn’t allow you to imagine things.  The great thing about text adventures was you had to imagine it.  I happily sat at a blue screen with white text playing some adventure where you had to type the commands, for example: Search room, Use Batteries.  Things like that.

I think it’s just the way the world is going. Everyone demands so much and makes so little time for it. I read a book at work, and you’ve no idea how many people say “Oh I’ve not read a book for years”. Text adventures are just retro now, while point ‘n’ clicks have a good niche.  Luckily there are a few people like myself who can say Legend of Kyrandia, Curse of Enchantia and (more lately) Simon the Sorceror, all point ‘n’ click games, not text.  All those are recommended if you have the retro equipment (and it works).

Text adventures are seen as lazy, especially when we have the graphical capapbility today to produce very pretty things.  However there are still throwbacks on the DS. Try Hotel Dusk: Room213 or Lux-Pain if you can find either.  If you like wordy games.  Anyway back to the one called peespee63.

- Andrew (Mezino), 2010.

Sometimes you need to go back to look to the future.  Monkey Island has had a surge in popularity again just recently, so why not some of these text games too?  Next time you want to try something different, try a text game, it’s like an interactive novel.  They’re the precursor to the modern adventure game that we see today, it’s just that the information we’re given is now visual. We’re so much more immersed in the visuals but we can be equally, if even more, absorbed in the world of a good book and hence a good text adventure.

If you think about it, simple as they may seem, there’s a lot of cleverness that goes into one of these games.  Infocom were probably the bestest at doing them, so they had the most experience at conversation and language inputs.  They must have been sophisticated engines, dealing with an unlimited number of different possible inputs to all the situations that gamers are presented to have responses on various levels for a broad range of them.  Just something as simple as “Turn on light” could be interpreted in so many different ways: “switch on light”, “turn on lamp”, “make lightbulb go bright” or “let there be light” (if you’re in a God-sim). Even the spelling and character cases must be accounted for, not to mention the writing has to be pretty stellar, because what’s the point in these games if you’re not telling a good story?

Just something to think about.  You know, I may attempt at writing my own one, if I can find a good language to do it in (and learn the ins and outs first) and actually write something of some worth.  Who knows, it might be a world-beater.  Maybe not, but I can at least try, eh?

Thanks to Mezino for his input on this one.

Now, as a retro collector, I tend to buy quite a few games from various sources. Whilst I strive to find games that are in good condition, I’m always seeing games which have been abused or mistreated, and I think it’s wrong. From battered cases to ripped/missing instructions manuals, to permanent marker and stickers liberally used on various items, there’s a fair amount of game mistreatment that happens nowadays. Now, I’m not saying it’s just individuals that do it, a lot of it is a result of the games passing through the pre-owned section of bricks and mortar game stores.

I’ll start with the permanent marker and stickers. By using these, it takes someone about 2 seconds to ruin a perfect game. Game shops sometimes feel the need to write on everything in permanent marker with a ‘P’, as well as sticking stickers on nearly everything they can. It’s not like they just stick them on places where they’re easy to remove, that would be too sensible – they would rather they’re stuck on a game manual, cardboard box or cartridge sticker. Trying to remove these is a complete pain as you ultimately run the risk of ripping whatever the sticker is attached to. To cut costs they normally use those cheap-ass stickers that just tear during removal, leaving you with half a sticker and no way to remove it without further damage. Also, what’s with the number of stickers? You need two at most, one for the bar code and the other for the price, so why does the case, manual, disc/cart all need to have them? It’s just another pain in the ass. As for the marker, it’s just inconsiderate. In most cases there’s no way it’s ever coming off, so we all have to get used to that huge, jet-black ‘P’ whenever we play our games just because of some idiot in a shop.

Now, here’s what really gets on my nerves – why is it so hard to find complete games with manuals? What does everyone do – eat them? Use them for fuel? The number of games I see that don’t have the manual is unbelievable, I mean, come on, they really can’t be that hard to keep. We all like to read a game manual, especially if they’re funny or unique, but what’s so hard about putting them back afterwards? It takes no effort just to slip it back into the case, so there’s really no excuse for not having them. Keep your games nice and tidy, use them carefully and put them back when you’re finished. Don’t throw them around, leave things lying about or do anything else that might cause items to be damaged or lost; You’ll keep your games complete and in great condition, as well as giving the collectors of the future a much easier time.