"50 Years of Text Games" Topic

"It was a memorable evening in the early '80s when I first encountered text-based computer games. While staying over at my friend Eric's house, his mom took us into her work place, which I think was a Motorola office, after business hours.

She left us to ourselves in an office with a computer connected to a teleprinter that printed out everything that we typed and that it outputted, which I never encountered again. Eric already knew some of the games: a Star Trek one where you controlled the Enterprise, which we played briefly, and Adventure, which really struck a chord as we were already heavily into D&D. Eric got us past a few early obstacles, like the snake, that he knew about before we got stuck. Then we went to another office where two guys were also playing Adventure, like a scene out of AMC's Halt and Catch Fire, on a computer with a monitor. They let us watch, and based on my D&D knowledge, I suggested trying to burn the troll with the lamp oil, but it didn't work…"

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Armand

I do remember playing the Star Trek game at the high school.
Back in 1978. To fire torpedoes you had to guess the angle from your ship to the D7's. Phaser fire was based on range to target. It was so cool at the time!

I loved and still love those games. Your imagination has more reign when there's no art to lean on. And the game has to deliver more game, not just FX.

But at $45 USD I'll have to await more reviews.

Thanks!

Armand

Who can forget "you are in twisty little passages that all look alike?" The most memorable game for me was the one based on "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." The game actually lied to you in one place and one place only. But you wouldn't know that once the game admitted it had been lying in your first 4 identical actions to look at a specific area. After that….

(smile)

Armand

XYZZY anyone?