5 ms·

This looks to be all about MUDs but when I hear "text-based gaming" I think of infocom style games like zork or even games like Hunt the Wumpus, Legend of the R

This looks to be all about MUDs but when I hear "text-based gaming" I think of infocom style games like zork or even games like Hunt the Wumpus, Legend of the Red Dragon, or the old Palm OS game Space Trader

zimpenfish 3y ago
> This looks to be all about MUDs Oh, disappointing. > I think of infocom style games like zork Yeah, that's what I was hoping for. Tsk.
- aloe_falsa 3y ago
  A good starting point for that would be http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html#adv http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html#adv - or maybe, if you're interested in the prose more than the scaffolding, https://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/books/IFTheoryBook.pdf https://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/books/IFTheoryBook.pdf There's also the recently published "50 Years of Text Games" (https://if50.textories.com/ https://if50.textories.com/)
  - a1o 3y ago
    That last book looks interesting but I would love if it was available on Amazon, or somewhere more international, usually other places don't deliver correctly on my country. :/
    - jwuphysics 3y ago
      You can read the [50 Years of Text Games](https://if50.substack.com/archive https://if50.substack.com/archive) newsletter that preceded the book. I highly recommend it!
- anthk 3y ago
  Also, Slashem/Nethack and so on, but these are characters for the simulated dungeon content plus text based for everything else.
- dekervin 3y ago
  Hello, I am making a text-based based game. Part text adventure, part something else and I am jumping at opportunity to build a community of "testers". Can I email you ?
  - low_tech_love 3y ago
    Check intfiction.org!
    - dekervin 3y ago
      Thank you !
stolenmerch 3y ago
You might be interested in this https://ganelson.github.io/inform-website/book/WI_1_1.html https://ganelson.github.io/inform-website/book/WI_1_1.html
- jstarfish 3y ago
  Inform 7 happens to double as a very useful (but very verbose) prompting metalanguage for GPT. "A creature is a living thing. All living things have a counter called HP that starts at 100. Some living things are aggressive." Etc. Then you can extend and do "A monster is a creature. The Wumpus is a monster. Baba Yaga is a monster. All monsters are always aggressive."
  - autoexec 3y ago
    AI would be good for text adventures in that it could make actions a lot more natural too. Less time hunting for the exact verb and noun you're expected to use.
    - throwanem 3y ago
      "AI Dungeon" I believe attempted this. I recall hearing it did indeed make a good parser, but the major issue was around context depth. I wonder what it'd take to use an LLM as a parser, with ground truth available from a separate game instance, and the LLM's role limited to providing descriptions and handling player input. That might be a good way to get structure and consistency while not losing the improvisational, storytelling sort of vibe.
    - jstarfish 3y ago
      Yep. AI Dungeon proved this a while ago (you can do anything you say you can), but the engine suffers from a lack of constraints. It's like a D&D game played by drunk edgelords DMed by someone on acid. You as King Arthur giving up on Excalibur and slaying a dragon with the BFG 9000 before dying on your chamberpot from dysentery is allowed to happen. That's where Inform[ish] comes in. You can implement a level of sanity to the story that the verbs have to work around. Doing something ridiculous like `ride the Rat King` is still going to kill you if he's flagged as aggressive (as opposed to working through your differences and going on a journey together, bonding with the trusty steed you just subjugated). You cannot engage in rat diplomacy. They are never to be trusted!
jstarfish 3y ago
Funny enough Pieter Spronck has made it onto HN in the past for things other than Space Trader. Guy's a real polymath. There's a version on Android that's very true to the source material: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brucelet.spacetrader https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brucelet.s... (No affililation, just a player)
- throwanem 3y ago
  You can run the original Palm version in a browser with CloudpilotEmu. Works great on my phone when I just have to scratch the itch. https://cloudpilot-emu.github.io/ https://cloudpilot-emu.github.io/

zimpenfish 3y ago

> This looks to be all about MUDs Oh, disappointing. > I think of infocom style games like zork Yeah, that's what I was hoping for. Tsk.

aloe_falsa 3y ago
A good starting point for that would be http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html#adv http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html#adv - or maybe, if you're interested in the prose more than the scaffolding, https://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/books/IFTheoryBook.pdf https://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/books/IFTheoryBook.pdf There's also the recently published "50 Years of Text Games" (https://if50.textories.com/ https://if50.textories.com/)
- a1o 3y ago
  That last book looks interesting but I would love if it was available on Amazon, or somewhere more international, usually other places don't deliver correctly on my country. :/
  - jwuphysics 3y ago
    You can read the [50 Years of Text Games](https://if50.substack.com/archive https://if50.substack.com/archive) newsletter that preceded the book. I highly recommend it!
anthk 3y ago
Also, Slashem/Nethack and so on, but these are characters for the simulated dungeon content plus text based for everything else.
dekervin 3y ago
Hello, I am making a text-based based game. Part text adventure, part something else and I am jumping at opportunity to build a community of "testers". Can I email you ?
- low_tech_love 3y ago
  Check intfiction.org!
  - dekervin 3y ago
    Thank you !

stolenmerch 3y ago

You might be interested in this https://ganelson.github.io/inform-website/book/WI_1_1.html https://ganelson.github.io/inform-website/book/WI_1_1.html

jstarfish 3y ago
Inform 7 happens to double as a very useful (but very verbose) prompting metalanguage for GPT. "A creature is a living thing. All living things have a counter called HP that starts at 100. Some living things are aggressive." Etc. Then you can extend and do "A monster is a creature. The Wumpus is a monster. Baba Yaga is a monster. All monsters are always aggressive."
- autoexec 3y ago
  AI would be good for text adventures in that it could make actions a lot more natural too. Less time hunting for the exact verb and noun you're expected to use.
  - throwanem 3y ago
    "AI Dungeon" I believe attempted this. I recall hearing it did indeed make a good parser, but the major issue was around context depth. I wonder what it'd take to use an LLM as a parser, with ground truth available from a separate game instance, and the LLM's role limited to providing descriptions and handling player input. That might be a good way to get structure and consistency while not losing the improvisational, storytelling sort of vibe.
  - jstarfish 3y ago
    Yep. AI Dungeon proved this a while ago (you can do anything you say you can), but the engine suffers from a lack of constraints. It's like a D&D game played by drunk edgelords DMed by someone on acid. You as King Arthur giving up on Excalibur and slaying a dragon with the BFG 9000 before dying on your chamberpot from dysentery is allowed to happen. That's where Inform[ish] comes in. You can implement a level of sanity to the story that the verbs have to work around. Doing something ridiculous like `ride the Rat King` is still going to kill you if he's flagged as aggressive (as opposed to working through your differences and going on a journey together, bonding with the trusty steed you just subjugated). You cannot engage in rat diplomacy. They are never to be trusted!

jstarfish 3y ago

Funny enough Pieter Spronck has made it onto HN in the past for things other than Space Trader. Guy's a real polymath. There's a version on Android that's very true to the source material: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brucelet.spacetrader https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brucelet.s... (No affililation, just a player)

throwanem 3y ago
You can run the original Palm version in a browser with CloudpilotEmu. Works great on my phone when I just have to scratch the itch. https://cloudpilot-emu.github.io/ https://cloudpilot-emu.github.io/