GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary
Google Tech Talk (more below) March 7, 2011 Presented by Jason Scott. ABSTRACT Jason Scott will talk about making the documentary and we’ll be screening some portion of the film. www.getlamp.com In the early years of the microcomputer, a special kind of game was being played. With limited sound, simple graphics, and tiny amounts of computing power, the first games on home computers would hardly raise an eyebrow in the modern era of photorealism and surround sound. In a world of Quake, Half-Life and Halo, it is expected that a successful game must be loud, fast, and full of blazing life-like action. But in the early 1980s, an entire industry rose over the telling of tales, the solving of intricate puzzles and the art of writing. Like living books, these games described fantastic worlds to their readers, and then invited them to live within them. They were called “computer adventure games”, and they used the most powerful graphics processor in the world: the human mind. Rising from side projects at universities and engineering companies, adventure games would describe a place, and then ask what to do next. They presented puzzles, tricks and traps to be overcome. They were filled with suspense, humor and sadness. And they offered a unique type of joy as players discovered how to negotiate the obstacles and think their way to victory. These players have carried their memories of these text adventures to the modern day, and a whole new generation of authors have taken up the …
A-plus. I’m really happy that this vid exists. I started playing text adventures a few years after their prime but they sure captivated me for a couple of years. Getting the Adventure Game Toolkit from a shareware 5 1/2-inch diskette at the library, printing out its manual and learning how to make my own text adventures… it really takes me back.
I just want to say how much I admire this video. I’ve just recently been introduced into IF games for a class I’m in, and this video, with its intensive background information and perspective from the players, really makes me excited about them! Thanks for creating this movie, and giving people a chance to view it on here!
0:35:03. Found him. Great collection!
What second is that guy who has all the maps in folders? I can’t find him here.
@DaveyGB same here. In fact, It would be interresting to revive old platform environments (i.e., BASIC) for making of text adventure games. Retro-computing is onthe rise, and we are no longer limited by availability of hardware because of emulators, anyone can play any game for any platform on their modern PC. so, in essence, creating a game for and old peice of hardware does not even limit the number of people who play it, anybody can still play it on PC.
@OBSysteme I agree with you. I myself am learning basic so that I can write my own games. I feel like they over looked the new text game fans.
@OBSysteme would=could
On thinking about these creators complaining about the small number of people playing these games (200 of us writing games for each other)…. they have forgotten about another pool of players of text adventures…. the retro-computer hobbyists. Alors of people still play and fool around with old harware and still play the old text games, even when they don’t have the hardware they play on emulators. C64 gaming is still there for example. They would go back smaller and create new ones in BASIC.
i’ve made some of theese my self, it’s not much, but a start
im currently working on one that is completely random with random events
would help if any of you played my game (Dungeoner) and gave me a review
it is all at shittysoftware
(.tk)
There is not a single ad on the site, i am not making any money of this
im hust trying to see what appeals to people in a text adventure game
you’ll find my email in the info section
it is all written in Python
My friends back in the 90′s would sit with MUD for 24-48h straight, sometimes 3days wasn’t unheard of
Get ye flask!
I love lamp
What a change in target group. From literate smart people to a group to the underestimated console gamer.
I haven’t watched it yet, but I will tonight. I’m a maker of games myself, and I was very inspired/enthralled by text adventures when growing up. Thank you for creating this!
Those three documentary ideas sound awesome, C64 data cassette FTW! I couldnt afford a HDD lol, I was 12.
Simple – Let amazon and online book retailers support IF – both through purchases, and through their E-Readers
DO A DOC ON ROGUELIKE GAMES!
AWESOME Film, great lesson on the depth behind text adventures
This was a wonderful documentary. Both sad and hopeful. Thank you for posting this.
@textfilesdotcom do you ship to argentina (buenos aires) sir? I would like to order!