Another Realm for Writers: The Wonder of Text Adventures

There are many avenues a writer can take in their career. Most hope to become novel writers, selling bestsellers that line the shelves in major book retailers. Some become bloggers, others become journalists, product reviewers. Writers can take to other industries, such as writing scripts for movies and tv series, or, as I will be talking about in this blog post, video games.

Let’s get into it!

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What is a text adventure game?

Text adventure games existed physically as choose-your-own-adventure books. While they weren’t to my taste, these books would direct you to a page in the book depending on the decision you would make. For example, “If you want to open the door, turn to page 283.” The reader would then page through until then to find a big monster waiting on the other side or a glittering treasure trove.

Now, these books had more choices in the plot than regular books. A reader could easily accept their life being cut short as the canonical ending and close the book, although it was encouraged that you would go back and make the ‘right’ choice and progress the story.

These choose-your-own-adventure books sold quite well in the beginning and they still exist to some degree to this day. Yet, like most novelties, the charm faded and they practically went extinct. It was easier, even far more enjoyable, to read a full story from beginning to end.

Now, that brings us to games.

Before the rise of arcade games, there were text adventures. A paragraph would appear on screen, usually after instructions on how to play, detailing what you have and what you see before you. You would then type commands, letter-for-letter, and progress the story.

You could command the game to observe your surroundings, giving you a more detailed paragraph explaining what there is and maybe how your character feels. You were limited to compass directions, or door choices when it came to moving your character. You could also pick up objects and pocket them by writing the suitable command. Your imagination supplied the visuals to accompany the descriptions.

In short, the world felt open, free, strangely isolated, but ultimately cosy. Immersion was better than that of any other novel, as you were the main character and you said what happened next with every decision you made.

The Limits

Now, I make this sound wonderful and it is, but it also has some limits that break that feeling somewhat.

Typing commands easily becomes tedious, especially when you backtracking and see the same paragraphs of text flash by as you enter the same rooms or cells you entered before. Without visuals to accompany it, it was also easy to get lost in the text and it was advised that you take a piece of paper and map out the world as you go.

Finally, the text adventure was limited in interactivity. If the game lets you do anything, it’s because what you did was essential to completing the game; from actions to the items you collect. There was more freedom than in novels, but there was also more confusion as these were in essence, puzzle games.

Puzzle games are another genre that still exists today, although coupled with visuals. Some allow you to move around, pick things up with a click rather than a command and so on. Yes, you lost the wondrous immersion that only your mind can create, but at least you got to do exactly what you wanted to in good time.

Despite these shortfalls, text adventure games still exist, far more than choose-your-own-adventures do. There is a charm in writing the commands that many still find more alluring than the simplicity of clicking a choice or picture.
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Why Talk About Text Adventures?

Recently, I was rereading an old series of stories I wrote which involved a text adventure game. These were stories that were partly inspired by the wonder I felt in programming classes when I first learned how to program a box where you typed a specific command and received a specific response.

It may sound simple, but for my younger self, it was mind-blowing. The potential for such code to create such wonderful worlds was limitless. The very spirit of imagination appeared before me and gave me an affirmative nod and thumbs-up of encouragement. Of course, there is more to it than simple if-statements, but if-statements are a big and essential part of such software.

Of course, reading these short stories again and then recalling these wonderful memories makes me nostalgic, but also it allows me to examine text adventures as a writer.

Having done so, I found that text adventures are an excellent way to improve one’s world-building and descriptions.
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How They Improve One's Writing

There are several elements of writing that text adventures demonstrate.

First and foremost, the writer of a text adventure needs to tell the story well enough that it still reads like a story, while being descriptive enough for the player to understand details and solve puzzles. By the end of each description, the reader should have an understanding of what is around them and the significance of the items they use and the characters they encounter.

The lesson: Clarity is important in any scene. You can have a mess of details or barely any details, but what matters is that you get your point across and your reader understands.

Secondly, text adventures require the writer to consider many possibilities in regards to the main character. The player may wish to do an action that makes sense, but they didn’t allow for. This means constructing a scene that dissuades such problems from arising or coming up with responses to these commands.

Every item needs to be analyzed and the possible actions that the player may attempt. A great text adventure will think ahead and allow such ideas or explain in some respects why it wouldn’t work using simple logic, so that way the reader isn’t confronted with the same, “You can’t do that.” response.

The lesson: With more conscious knowledge of what is happening in your scene, you will develop more logical plots and save yourself from possible plot holes. Of course, this doesn’t 100% save you from making such mistakes, as hindsight is 20-20, but it helps in the long run. Take your time and challenge your ideas. Are they really the best option for your story, or is there another that adds to the story in some way?

Third and finally, it’s another form of writing that one can enjoy. There are many ways a writer can take a break from writing a novel, while still working on their favourite hobby. Of course, you can be more creative and start writing short stories, poetry or tackle another project. But for a more relaxed experience, you can enjoy the work of other writers, by reading novels, surfing story blogs or trying out a text adventure.
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Conclusion

While there are some inherent benefits to any hobby that suits your career, the real reason I wanted to write about text adventures is that the sheer wonder of playing them and even creating them is incomparable to other experiences. It is interactive fiction, you have more of a say in what happens than you would in a novel. And when it comes to video games, text adventures have a greater level of immersion, as no matter the amount of details a game has, it does not beat imagination when it’s put to work.

If you are familiar with text adventures, why not talk about your favourite text adventure in the comments?

Thank you for reading and as always,

Good day, goodnight and happy writing!
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