PC Text-based games

[Megalodonix]

Text-based computer games are games that run on a terminal interface, a console, a teletype, or whatever you may call it.
I recently found out about this and I'm interested to see if others have better knowledge on this topic.
Here are some examples:

This is Rogue, a 1980 dungeon crawler. If you've ever wondered where the "rogue" part comes from in "rogue-like"/"roguelite", this is the origin
It plays as you expect. You explore randomly-generated 'dungeons', the game has perma-death, and your goal is to reach as far as possible into the dungeons.
There is also Nethack, developed in 1987, which plays very similarly to Rogue, but has very complex character classes, endings, routes, and lore (I swear this game is more advanced than most modern AAAs somehow XD)

Anyways, as I said before, does anyone else have an experience with text-based games?

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

History of Text-Adventures, by yours truly (#shamelessplug):

Gaming Trailblazers - A Comprehensive History of Text-Adventures

In a time of ever decreasing attention spans, with overpriced hardware chugging along to produce high fidelity graphics, with epilepsy inducing particle effects, and a nonexistent file compression standard, there is a certain genre, which simply says: Nay. A genre which once pioneered the...

retrogametalk.com

Some links you can look into if you are interested in Interactive Fiction:

https://ifdb.org/

https://www.ifwiki.org/Main_Page

CDDA is really fun, although you can play it with a Tileset, same with Dwarf Fortress.

Warsim is pretty good as well.

If you are interested in roguelikes, then Nethack and Stone Soup are must plays.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Was just about to link @LiberoVulpes's article, the man is already here lmao. So far though…none, the closest thing I've played is probably the one in AI app, dungeon stuff

 

[RageBurner]

I played several. Nethack, ADOM and DCSS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup) are the ones I'd primarily recommend. There is also the delightfully straightforward yet deceptively deep Doom Roguelike (which lost its IP to become a fully fledged original IP in Jupiter Hell).

 

[Bonkers225]

On the TI Calculators back in school. Not PC, but the games were very similar.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

I've started PC gaming and learned English with Leisure Suit Larry (1987) on my father's 8086 with CGA 4 colors graphics. At the time adventure games weren't point and clicks yet and had a text prompt for interactions. My uncle gave the floppy as a joke, but once I saw that pixel guy chasing a floating rubber doll and the game started to ask questions to verify if I was old enough, ten years old me was hellbent to play that game, at whatever the cost. I asked my parents for a French/English dictionary and started to slowly and painfully get all the answers and test all the possibilities, like a forbidden "Livre dont vous êtes le héros" (gamebook). That game was wild. Far better than Xenon 2. I've replayed the VGA version recently but next time I'll play the CGA version, this time with composite 16 colors.

I've also played all Tex Murphy games recently, and the first one (1989) use a more rudimentary text prompt for interrogating and collecting clues. It also mixes the gameplay of a flight simulator and the result was very interesting for me, leading to a kind of open-world experience, and as I guessed correctly some password during my playthrough, I kind of naturally skipped some gameplay where you collect additional clues. It feels like the text prompt is more open-ended and games traded that for accessibility, which is a good thing, but I'm not quick to dismiss text-based gameplay.

 

[Graw]

Nethack and CDDA are my favourites. Nethack is a ridiculously in depth game with so much stuff crammed into it. It's crazy the amount of hidden interactions that game has. CDDA is probably the most in depth, realistic zombie Apocalypse simulator I've ever played. RogueDoom's pretty fun too.

If you're interested in roguelikes you should check out roguebasin

RogueBasin

www.roguebasin.com

There's hundreds of them out there.

Also, if you're looking to learn how to make a game roguelikes are a great place to start and there's a ton of resources out there on making one. Making a roguelike can teach you some good stuff about random generation and maze algorithms.

 

[Duke_11037]

Actually I've been getting into MUD's recently. They're pretty much text based rpgs but multiplayer!! The one I primarily play is called Sindome, it's really fucking grindy and I'm not sure if I'll stick to it but we'll see.

 

[Megalodonix]

Actually I've been getting into MUD's recently. They're pretty much text based rpgs but multiplayer!! The one I primarily play is called Sindome, it's really fucking grindy and I'm not sure if I'll stick to it but we'll see.

I'm interested, can you recommend some for a beginner? Looking for something I can play with a friend if possible

 

[Asian girls loverAsian girls lover's icon]

I only know of Zork and The Oregon Trail.

 

[Gorse]

> LOOK AT MAILBOX
I'm sorry, I don't know what "LOOK AT MAILBOX" means. Type h for a list of commands, or ? for help.
> LOOK MAILBOX
I'm sorry, I don't know what "LOOK MAILBOX" means. Type h for a list of commands, or ? for help.
> LOOK MAIL
You see an old, rusted mailbox that hasn't been opened in a while. The red flag on the side is turned upwards – there must be something inside!
> OPEN MAILBOX
I'm sorry, I don't know what "OPEN MAILBOX" means. Type h for a list of commands, or ? for help.

 

[Duke_11037]

I'm interested, can you recommend some for a beginner? Looking for something I can play with a friend if possible

Well I'm still kinda a newbie so I'm not the most familiar but Top MUD and MUD Listings are pretty good resources to look at. From what I've tried and seen others say Erionmud, Alter Aeon, and Awaken Worlds ce are the best beginner ones.

 

[Mago]

Text based games are a weirdly overlooked genre of gaming. I need to finally go back and actually finish a lot of ones that I'd start but never get far in. I did beat Plundered Hearts. That was cool.

Wanna get into Nethack as well but its very overwhelming.

 

[Megalodonix]

Wanna get into Nethack as well but its very overwhelming.

This, so much this. lol
I feel like it has a very steep learning curve, especially for a newbie in text based games... I can barely go down 3 floors in Rogue, let alone comprehend barely anything in Nethack

 

[Mago]

This, so much this. lol
I feel like it has a very steep learning curve, especially for a newbie in text based games... I can barely go down 3 floors in Rogue, let alone comprehend barely anything in Nethack

I probably should play and learn rogue first tbh.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

There are a few Terminal games for linux, like moon buggy(clone of moon patrol), Ninvaders, among others.