Recently, I stumbled upon these videos on YouTube, focusing on text-adventure games what you can develop from scratch. These text-based games don’t rely on extreme graphics because, it relies on your imagination to process graphics. During the earlier times of gaming, text-based games are popular, and you interact with these games by typing a command at the terminal. This is common for some games that are only written in batch scripts, and C++ languages, now we can write text-based games in html, and javascript… that enable us to publish online games with our servers, This is important for some developers who wanted to monetize their games, and keep going with their development.
Since text-based games don’t rely on graphics that are so intense, you read text on your display. One major drawback is; your games like these can take lots of time to develop for your gaming community.
Apps On Most Mobile Platforms Have Text-based games Developed By Authors Around the world
I recently downloaded an app from the Google Play Store. I installed it on to my older mobile phone that is still linked with my old carrier. I thought making a game like this for the blind is the next step. However; I tried one of these apps, but a screen-reader TalkBack can read data displayed inside the app. This is important because, if you don’t have vision, and you still wanted to play games; you can use text-based game apps to play these games.
If you search “Text-Adventure games” or something similar; you can find an array of games that are text-based. They rely on text to display content. Sometimes, background images can be used to illustrate where you are actually located in a game. If you can play these games, your imagination does all of the work. Reading text is good for our mental health. If you were just developing a game without any images, but only text… your game will be as small as 1 MB in size, or 5 MB in size,–depending on how many levels you intended to compile in your game app. Not all apps are the same, each developer builds an app with his/her preference. Whether if your app uses a retro or modern look. Retro text-based game apps uses light text on a dark background to simulate a DOS screen on an old computer. If your app is like this; and you develop your own games like this; your game can fit into many mobile devices.
You can Make Your own
It’s easy to make a text-based game with your prefered programming language. If you just rely on html; you can create a website with your hosting provider, and create a domain name to host your own html-based games. If you wanted to rely on static content instead of relying on an expensive CMS system, just write these files like writing normal files on your computer. If you were using a hybrid laptop that runs Android; you can install Droid Edit. Droid Edit is a free app, and they also have a premium version available. You can create folders, and arrange your html files. If you can create multiple files link to each other; you can enable a user to jump from 1 file to the another. This is useful if you wanted to make a choice-based game. You can create your files that are based-on a choice selected by a user. Always make it easier for you to make files. If you have numeric file names like “123.html; you can make it resistant to cheaters who were trying to cheat in your game. One drawback is: difficulties finding a file to update. Most gamebooks are written in a sequence,–so a reader can play by flipping pages to a page number. If you were planning to publish your game; you may need to use Turbo Client, a free FTP app for Android. You can easily upload files to your server,–without needing to use CPanel installed on your server. This is useful if you are an amatuer developer. If you created over 100 text-based games on your website; and you have 200 people playing your games; that can take some time for you to to grow your gaming site traffic.
HTML Text-based Games
,p>If you are good at html, and you are just about to make a game, you can place your html files in a folder. If you are a skilled designer, and you are a person who always make templates; you can sell these templates for your game developers who only use html as their language. You can link each file that will drive your game. For example; your game is choice-based, and your links are commands that will enable a user to interact with your game, a user is directed to a file with updated content. However; you can get lots of files. You can break up your game by adding folders to divide your game by levels. If you were just writing large html files with lots of text, your user scrolls down, and read your game content like a book! As a user lands on a panel to make a choice; a user is directed to a page,–depending on a choice chosen by a user. This is suitable for mobile devices like tablets, phones, and other mobile devices. It’s also suitable for touch-enabled devices.
Making your own is simple, and fun! You can just start making one for your website in minutes, or even days.
C++ Text-based Games
This is a technical method of making a text-based game. C++ is a computer language used by many software developers who develop all kinds of software. You can use this language to program your text-based game for your players. It can be choice-based, command-based, or both. You can learn C++ and make your own games from scratch. This is ideal for desktop games.
Javascript
This is the another language what you can use for your text-based game. It works with html files. Your JS file can grow larger overtime when you update your game. If your game doesn’t have an external JS file, but integrated with your html page; it can grow so large with your code, causing your site to slow down. If you have 100 MB of data within your <script> tags; your browser may slow down,–causing your gamers to leave your website altogether.
JS files work externally because, they can be hosted on your own server. If your files ever grow bigger, and your files reach 1 GB in size, it can slow down your device, or your browser. Large files often take up server resources. It can take 1000 1-GB JS files to slow down your browser. If your server has enough RAM to cope with large files; it can work well.
You Can License Your Game Under A Creative Commons License
Tired of reserving all of your rights to your game? You wanted to join the free culture? Just license your work under a Creative Commons License! This is useful if you wanted anyone to reuse your work. If you chosen this route, you can enable anyone to modify your content, and reuse your work without needing to ask you first. You can still monetize your work to keep your development of your work active.
If you license your work under a Creative Commons license, and you keep making new games, your players are most likely to play your newer games.
Verdict
Text-based games are coming back, and blind people can play games too! Like reading books; you don’t need graphics to work. Only your imagination does all of its work.
