A text adventure?

Published by Vlasta about 13 hours ago.

I've just published a new text adventure, the first serious one after the earlier test project. You can play it here.

This is not your typical "pick up lantern, fight troll" kind of adventure. It's a space cargo hauling and trading game built on top of a text adventure framework. I wanted to see how far I could push the engine and how well it would handle something closer to the original Elite than to a medieval dungeon crawl.

Because of that, you will probably lose. In fact, I expect most players to lose on their first few attempts. The game is built around learning: understanding the layout of the star systems, figuring out which routes are profitable, discovering where it's worth taking risks and where it's not. Only after you start seeing the bigger picture do you really stand a chance.

There are also quests scattered throughout the universe. Some can help you complete the main objective more efficiently. Others may distract you, cost you precious time, and ultimately contribute to your defeat. But even those "bad" decisions can be interesting. There are achievements to unlock, and sometimes it's worth taking on a quest simply because it feels right or because you want to see what happens, even if it means you won't win that particular run.

Right now, the balance may be on the harsher side. Winning can be difficult, and a bit of luck may be required. That's intentional to some degree, though I'll be watching how it plays out in practice and change it if it proves to be too much, but knowing today's gamers, I bet someone will beat it.

This game is supposed to be played by mouse, there are no hidden text commands to give you an advantage. Music and sound effects were created by Honzales.

For now, I'll be shifting my focus back to other parts of the website. But this isn't the end of the adventure section; more conventional text adventures are planned.

Tweet Share Vlasta's blog RSS feed Subscribe