CIRCA:Text Adventure (Computer Game Genre)
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''Text adventures'' are a genre of computer game requiring the player to input descriptions of actions (e.g. 'look,' 'go north,' 'open door')on a computer command line by typing, which when entered correctly prompt the computer to return clues or descriptions of advancing events in a virtual fictional narrative. Typical features of the genre include: | ''Text adventures'' are a genre of computer game requiring the player to input descriptions of actions (e.g. 'look,' 'go north,' 'open door')on a computer command line by typing, which when entered correctly prompt the computer to return clues or descriptions of advancing events in a virtual fictional narrative. Typical features of the genre include: | ||
| - | [[Image:Screenshot_of_Zork_running_on_Frotz_through_iTerm_2_on_Mac_OSX.png|thumb|right| | + | [[Image:Screenshot_of_Zork_running_on_Frotz_through_iTerm_2_on_Mac_OSX.png|thumb|right|640px|Screenshot of classic text-adventure Zork I being played]] |
| - | *textual descriptions-- | + | *textual descriptions-- including locations and objects and the effect of actions as they are called for by commands. Early text adventures designed for computer systems not capable of displaying graphics rely solely on textual description -- later versions of text adventures often incorporate pictures as well as text. |
| - | *second person perspective -- the main actor in the narrative is referred to by the pronoun ''you'', indicating the person playing is responsible for instigating the action of the game through their input. | + | *second person narrative perspective -- the main actor in the narrative is referred to by the pronoun ''you'', indicating the person playing is responsible for instigating the action of the game through their input. |
| - | *alternate narrative branches | + | *items -- for example, keys to a door |
| - | * | + | *locations -- contexts where certain commands will work. e.g. the command 'look' typically provides a textual description of the area the player last entered, 'walk north' might |
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| + | *alternate narrative branches -- possibly including alternate endings to a story, mistakes involving death, ways of gaining or losing 'points' | ||
| + | *puzzles - | ||
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*Second-person perspective. | *Second-person perspective. | ||
Revision as of 01:06, 8 January 2013
Definition and Typical Features
Text adventures are a genre of computer game requiring the player to input descriptions of actions (e.g. 'look,' 'go north,' 'open door')on a computer command line by typing, which when entered correctly prompt the computer to return clues or descriptions of advancing events in a virtual fictional narrative. Typical features of the genre include:
- textual descriptions-- including locations and objects and the effect of actions as they are called for by commands. Early text adventures designed for computer systems not capable of displaying graphics rely solely on textual description -- later versions of text adventures often incorporate pictures as well as text.
- second person narrative perspective -- the main actor in the narrative is referred to by the pronoun you, indicating the person playing is responsible for instigating the action of the game through their input.
- items -- for example, keys to a door
- locations -- contexts where certain commands will work. e.g. the command 'look' typically provides a textual description of the area the player last entered, 'walk north' might
- alternate narrative branches -- possibly including alternate endings to a story, mistakes involving death, ways of gaining or losing 'points'
- puzzles -
- Second-person perspective.
- things
- other things
interactive fiction
The genre has also been termed interactive fiction, underscoring its position as an alternative style of fiction to longer-established literary forms such as the novel. A somewhat misleading term, because not all fictions with which one can interact are computer games, least text adventures.
Interactive fictions
improvisation, alternate choices and outcomes)
prompt the computer to update the user with a textual or graphical description of the actions those verbs stand for being performed in the context of an ongoing story .
the results of those actions in an imaginative scenario or story that progresses according to.
Context Points arguements
Will Crowther's
