I'd like to create text games, but I aren't they outdated?
Do people still buy text games?
How many people if so?
How likely are you to buy a text game rather than playing one for free?
How much more are graphical games valued compared to text games?
Are text games "modern"?
Finally, what do YOU think of text based games?
I'm trying to find the ones I played when I was searching for free games for the first time. Have only found this. https://writingmysoul.itch.io/fragments-of-the-past
You notice what works and what doesn't as you play. I was thinking as I was playing how certain soundtracks and even just still location images could enchance mood etc.
There was this other game I played (that I couldn't find) where I remember that it felt palpably frustrating not knowing whether the options you picked really had any effect at all. It really felt that you were just replying at every occasional prompt to fulfil the requirements of an interactive game but the story was going along on its preordained path regardless. Reminds me of that choice at the start of Wolf Among Uswhere every option you pick leads to you tackling someone out the window. Like that Prozd sketch too.
On the contrary, they're more popular than ever. My most popular tools and games are all text-based.
As for why: great for beginning game devs; light on system resources; they appeal to readers and can take many different forms. Text-based games also provide superior accessibility if made with a little care. They can also be a breath of fresh air compared to the flashing images and frantic action of modern games. A lot of people need a break from life, not more of the same.
I think you'll find that they can. Ideas become obsolete all the time (except in the very basic sense of still being valuable to historians, both professional and amateur.) You don't hear much about phlogiston theory these days, nor ptolemaic astonomy. You also don't hear much about the finer points of shoeing a horse, or (for a more professional example) positioning data on your hard disk to be read in the lowest average amount of spins. Divine right of kings is all but forgotten in western countries, even ones that have kings. (Fascism, admittedly, seems to be making a comeback, but that is the exception that proves the rule - these ideas are not supposed to become relevant again.)
It depends on what kind of game we are talking about. If you are referring to games that have only text without a visual as such (unless this games, for example, breaks the fourth wall, but visualization is also necessary for this), then I would rather skip them. After all, this is more of a book than a game, even with the choice itself. I would advise you to pay attention to visual novels. An ageless genre. And there are an incredible number of possibilities for realization and immersion in the plot now
After all, this is more of a book than a game
If it is a linear "game", yes. Same goes for kinetic visual novels.
But even regular books can feature illustrations. In the extreme variant you have a graphic novel comic book.
There is even those chose your own adventure books. Some with dice rolls and other rules https://itch.freezing.top/physical-games/tag-solo-rpg ;-)
In general, there are a lot of volunteers now - they train their skills, or help as a gesture of goodwill. You can temporarily use AI-generated thumbnails (as I did, while the artist draws the content I need). So, if it's a prototype, I don't see anything wrong with it. Or just search on itch.io - there are many artists here. That's how I found a translator for my project, and she just asked me to include her in the credits
Right here on itch.io; failing that, Open Game Art.
It's a nieche.
And it depends on what you think outdated means. VHS tape is outdated, deprecated and basically useless in current tech environment. But game genres, styles and mechanics do not become outdated. If old and superseded by more modern approaches they become "retro". Just look at pixel art. Outdated for decades, but still created.
https://itch.freezing.top/games/top-sellers/tag-text-based will give you data for comparison, since you ask about commercial success. Yes people are buying text games. But most of those are not pure text.
https://itch.freezing.top/games/top-rated/tag-text-based will give an inkling about popularity without considering payments.
Yeah exactly, I mean technologically, they're no longer at the height of performance capacity. You've got zoomy wooshy flash cound now wow! And text is probably one of the oldest technologies. But what should we infer that you want to go forward with after getting answers to this question? Will it appeal to a mass audience? IMO likely not, but there are 8 Billion people on the earth. Chances are somebody will like it if it can get to them. Depends on what your definition of success is to you. Will you be happy with your piece just connecting with the niche who would appreciate it?
Funny, as far as text goes, it still has some superiorities over other mediums despite its age.
In my opinion text adventures are ABSOLUTELY NOT outdated. Obviously, they are not the dominant genre, but there is still a relatively large and very loyal community that greatly enjoys this type of experience. In fact, there are players who are specifically looking for deep stories, meaningful decisions, and carefully crafted worlds, and that is where text games continue to shine.
The chances of someone buying one instead of playing something for free? It depends on what it offers. If the story is good, well written and promises a more polished experience than the free version, many players are willing to pay. In this type of work, the narrative is the product, and when it is solid, the value is noticeable.
I personally believe that one of the most important parts of any game is the narrative, and text-based games allow you to focus on that without distractions. They can be immersive, elegant, and emotionally powerful. For me, when a story is well written, the format not only doesn't matter... it can even enhance the experience!
Good luck with your game if you finally decide to go for it!
Text based games are not obsolete - the combination of low costs¹ and broad possibilities² make it a perennial tool in the indie developers' toolbox.
AI has really taken a bite out of Interactive Fiction³, but I recommend you look at past winners of XYZZY awards for inspiration into what is possible with text alone (my favorite is Counterfeit Monkey- a game about fighting tyranny with wordplay.) If you want to see something more mainstream (and profitable) Choice of Games makes a brisk trade in what are basically Visual Novels without the visual part.
And then you have things like Warsim (another commercial title,) which make use of textual menus (and ASCII illustrations⁴,) to run a strategy game (or RPG) without all that much actual literary text.
Dwarf Fortress, and Berlin-compliant⁵ rogue-likes are not so much text-based as ASCII-based, but the same benefits apply - the only thing you need to add a new monster to the game are the stats, and the mechanics it will use. Graphics wise, just pick a unique letter/color combination and it's in the game, no sprites/rag-dolls necessary.
P.S. finally, like redonihunter said above, you can browse this very site's thousands of text-based games for inspiration.
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(1) Text games don't need complicated art assets - illustrations and background music is as high as you ever need to go, and most of them don't even have that. The engines for text-based games are also orders of magnitude easier to both program and use.
(2) The player can use their imagination to visualize, well, anything you can imagine.
(3) A big draw of IF was that you could command the game in what looked a lot like natural language.
(4) Many of them procedurally generated for a minuscule fraction of the dev-time it would take to get 3d procedural pictures to look even passable.
(5) A copy of the 2008 Berlin Interpretation, hosted on roguebasin
I bought some really really old text games on GOG not long ago, planetfall and the Zork series (I love them) something about a classic DOS game where I'm taking notes with pen and paper and reading through a manual (which came with some cool art) to figure out commands gave me some good vibes. Graphics can even be a deal breaker for me, depending on how it feels along with the story.
Anyway, would 100% play a story based game but I think I'm part of a niche audience.
Right now, a new interactive fiction editor/authoring system is released every two days. Don't ask me why. Maybe BC of Vibe Coding. I've done a fairly advanced editor myself (Kinexus - it's free, can be found in my profile). But adding music, images, video and speech etc. is not super welcome in the very conservative interactive fiction community, which mainly consists of writers and readers. So, it is very much about reading and writing text, and not so much about designing immersive gaming experiences. But I seriously doubt there is any money in any sort of classic cyoa/interactive fiction today. So, if you want to do it, then do it for the fun of doing it. Don't expect it to grow into a somewhat decent income at all.
illl start this by saying each sentence im answering one question cause im too lazy to check if i can use bullet points or type like a normal person anyways text games arent outdated bro theyre niche. I personally dont know anyone who buys text games but yeah theres a market for it on mutiple platforms and the type of text games im talking about are interactive fiction though maybe theres other types of text game but idk anything about those. I cant know for sure how many people buy i just know that they usually sell to a few thousand like on google play or steam or even there website. id never buy a text game if its already free but if i like the story then id buy it like anything else same as a normal book. text games are a niche and well mainly text on a screen so obviously graphical games are worth more cause you can do more with those. text games are modern. I love text based games cause i like to read sometimes (and wish i could do it more often).
I like parser-based text adventures. They offer some of the best puzzles and can be very funy and/or atmospheric as well, never being limited to what they will reasonably be able to represent means the writer can fully teach the story they want, complex things can happen with every single interaction without the headache and limitation of always trying to figure out if and how it will be represented, as soon as it was written then it's there.
