List of text based computer games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While many of the earliest computer games (Adventure, Zork) relied on language parsing due to the command line-driven, teletype-terminal mainframe environments in which they were developed, the phrase "text based" is taken to refer not to the user input (though generally keyboard-based) but rather to exclusive use of the fixed-width character display mode, an important distinction to maintain in light of curses games such as Rogue and their successors, which employed the characters in the text mode as map symbols rather than as parts of words. Despite enormous differences in display and user interface, the text adventure games and roguelikes both make exclusive use of the text mode, and hence are both to be considered text based.
Though punctuation and the alphanumeric symbols can be considered standard in most text modes, many of them contain additional symbols and variant attributes (colours, blinking, lines / columns per screen, etc.) that differ between operating environments: the text mode of a Commodore 64 would be substantially different from that of an IBM PC, though despite an absence of standardization in the text display (until implementation of later text mode terminal display standards such as VT100 and ANSI), they would both be considered to be text modes.
These later standards also contain numerous characters, largely blocks and lines, specifically intended to be used for fast, low-bandwidth display of crude block graphics in the text mode. Some games would "redraw" undesired characters to take on the appearance of desired specialty characters (often to indicate the accents, diacritical markings or currencies of foreign countries) otherwise unavailable; though utilising a customized sub-set of it, these games would still be considered to be text based games.
This following list is not to be considered an authoritative, comprehensive listing of all such games; rather, it is intended to represent a wide range of game styles and genres presented using the text mode display and their evolution across a long period of time.
Contents |
[edit] On Mainframe Computers
Years listed are those in which the game is believed to have originally appeared. Often these games were continually modified and played as a succession of versions for years after their initial posting.
- M denotes the game is a multi-user dungeon.
- HAMURABI (1969) by Rick Merrill
- Baseball (1971) by Don Daglow
- Oregon Trail (1971) by Don Rawitsch
- Star Trek (text game) (1971) by Mike Mayfield
- Hunt the Wumpus (1972) by Gregory Yob
- Star Trek (script game) (1972) by Don Daglow
- dnd (1975) by Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood
- Dungeon (1975) by Don Daglow
- Adventure by Will Crowther (1976)
- Mystery Mansion (1977)
- Oubliette (1977) by Jim Schwaiger M
- Zork (1977) by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling
- Acheton (1978) by Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan Partington
- Decwar (1978)
- Avatar (1979) by Bruce Maggs and Andrew Shapira M
- Battlestar (1979) by David Riggle
- Brand X (1979) (aka Philosopher's Quest) by Peter Killworth and Jonathan Mestel
- HAUNT (1979) by John Laird
- Martian Adventure (1979) by Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll
- New Adventure (1979) by Mark Niemiec
- Hezarin (1980) by Steve Tinney, Alex Shipp and Jon Thackray
- Kingdom of Hamil (1980) by Jonathan Partington
- Monsters of Murdac (1980) by Jonathan Partington
- Quondam (1980) by Rod Underwood
- Rogue (1980) by Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman (followed by many Roguelikes)
- LORD (1981) by Olli J. Paavola
- FisK (1982)
- Avon (1983), a Shakespearean game by Jonathan Partington
- Castle (1983) by Barry Wilks
- Fyleet (1986) by Jonathan Partington
- Crobe (1987) by Jonathan Partington
- MIST (1987) M
- Nidus (1987) by Adam Atkinson
- Quest of the Sangraal (1987) by Jonathan Partington
- Spysnatcher (1989) by Jonathan Partington and Jon Thackray
[edit] On Personal Computers
[edit] Play-by-email games
These are play-by-email games played online.
- Lords of the Earth (1983)
- Atlantis PbeM (1993)
[edit] BBS door games
These are BBS door games played online.
- TradeWars 2001 (1987) by Gary Martin for Martech
- Legend of the Red Dragon (1989) by Seth Able Robinson
- See also: :Category:Door games
[edit] Roguelike games
- NetHack (1987)
- Ancient Domains of Mystery (1994) by Thomas Biskup
- See also: :Category:Roguelikes
[edit] Miscellaneous games
- ZZT (1991) by Tim Sweeney of Epic MegaGames
- MegaZeux (1998) by Gregory Janson of Software Visions
- Chibot Ultra Battle (1999)
- PAEE (1999) by Enrique D. Bosch
[edit] Commercial text adventure games
These are commercial interactive fiction games played offline.
- Adventureland series, 2000) by Scott Adams of Adventure International
- Wizard's Castle (1978?) by Joseph R. Power
- Zork series) by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling
- C.I.A Adventure (1980) by Hugh Lampert of CLOAD
- Madness and the Minotaur (1981) for Spectral Associates
- The Hobbit (1982) by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of Beam Software
- Forbidden Quest (1983), Pryority Software
- Snipes (1983) by SuperSet
- The Wizard of Akyrz (1983), Brian Howarth of Mysterious Adventures and Cliff J. Ogden for Adventure International
- Beast (1984), Dan Baker, Alan Brown, Mark Hamilton and Derrick Shadel
- High Stakes (1984), Angelsoft
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984) by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky of Infocom
- Mindwheel (1984) by Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software
- Zyll (1984) by Marshal W. Linder and Scott B. Edwards for IBM
- A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985) by Steve Meretzky of Infocom
- Brimstone (1985) by James Paul for Synapse
- Essex (1985) by Bill Darrah for Synapse
- Hampstead (1985) by Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
- Breakers (1986) by Rodney R. Smith for Synapse
- Terrormolinos (1986) by Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
- Amnesia (1987) by Thomas M. Disch, the only entirely non-graphical text adventure ever published by Electronic Arts
- Braminar (1987)
- Dodgy Geezers (1987) by Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
- Jacaranda Jim (1987) by Graham Cluley
- Kingdom of Kroz (1987) by Scott Miller of Apogee Software
- Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head Or Tail Of It (1987) by Jeff O'Neill for Infocom
- Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels (1987) by Bob Bates for Infocom
- Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I. (1988) by Michael and Muffy Berlyn
- Hound of Shadow (1989) for Eldritch Games
- Humbug (1990) by Graham Cluley
- Danger! Adventurer at Work! (1991) by Simon Avery
- Spy Snatcher (1992) by Jonathan Partington and Jonathan Thackray for Topologika
[edit] Amateur text adventure games
For amateur text adventure games, see Category:Interactive fiction, Interactive Fiction Competition and XYZZY Awards.
The Interactive Fiction Archive currently contains a far more comprehensive list of text adventure games and related materials, while the Tribute to Text-Mode Games site contains a great deal of information on and downloads of games that use text for illustrative rather than descriptive purposes. The mainframe adventures page at Adventureland, while uneven in its coverage, is nonetheless preeminent in its documentation of these early games. Mobygames also maintains extensive accounts of games using 40-column and 80-column text modes.
