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IT 140 A Mini History of Text-Based Games Text-based games were the predecessor to the reality-based video games we play today. They were “interactive fiction” where words came to life as players read text and made decisions about what to do. These text-based games simulated environments where players used text commands to control their characters and influence the gaming environment. Imagine a current action-adventure video game where, instead of using a controller or touchscreen to give your character directions, you enter text on a command line. There are no graphics on the screen, forcing you to use your imagination. Commands you enter might be “open door”, “go west”, or “fight troll”. These commands change the way the story plays out. While it may be hard to imagine a video game without any videos, these text games were very popular in the 70s and 80s. Many programmers and computer technicians played role-playing board games, like Dungeons and Dragons, with their friends. A text-based game allowed them to take their adventures to the digital realm. They could play their games on the mainframes at work, submitting commands with a teleprinter and receiving the output on paper.

T100S Teleprinter by Jens Ohlig under CC BY-SA 2.0

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Eventually, monochrome monitors allowed players to see their input and output in real time, right before their eyes. Players were able to enjoy playing Lunar Lander and Star Trek using displays like the following:

GT40 Lunar Lander by Brouhaha under CC BY-SA 3.0

Star Trek Text Game by James Gibbon under CC BY-SA 3.0

You can still find playable versions of these games online, such as Lunar Lander, Star Trek, and Zork. They will help you see how far game development has come. (Note: Links may change over time. Search for the game name and “simulator”.) In this class, you will have the opportunity to create your own version of a text-based game. You will be able to see your code come to life as it becomes interactive. Through the use of conditionals and loops, you will be able to guide adventurers through your world in the same way these early text-based games did several decades ago.

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References

McIntosh, J. (2018, July 20). A brief history of text-based games and open source. Opensource.com.

https://opensource.com/article/18/7/interactive-fiction-tools

Rileym65 (GitHub username). (n.d.). Lunar mission simulator. Lunar Mission Simulator.

https://www.lunarmissionsimulator.com/index.html

Star Trek text game (Video game). (n.d.). TV Tropes.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/StarTrekTextGame