Well there are some "role playing" communities out there which are kind of a text MMORPG if you ask me. Back when we started our community (I'd say around 4-5 years ago) we had a pretty big amount of players but now most of the new players that join just go around saying "I don't get it, where's my guy?"

The people who stuck around have a serious passion for the game, but the fanbase has quickly diminished once big MMO's came out.

A simple sprite is a powerful tool. Turning a simple sprite into a really pretty dynamic skinmesh is just icing. It still serves the same purpose.

Human imagination is good enough to fill in blanks. By leaving out representation, sometimes what gets filled in is better than what could have been added to it in development. If you have a strong atmosphere, it's very possible to pull players into your world and keep them happy. It might first prove tricky to lure them to buy your game, though.

But unless your game has one of the most amazing stories or interactive worlds ever created, it will simply never be cool. Fun, but not cool.

Good point Jilia,

this is why I quit WoW, non interactive environment. I felt like the game consisted of two layers. Game world + Players and Objects. I felt like what I did had no effect on the things around me. Even the professions seems mundane when it came to environment, the material veins looked so out of place that it took out the "feel".

I really liked the feel of UO's system where you could mine out of any mountain, get logs from any tree...

I know this a bit out of context but I just wanted to elaborate on the point.

But honestly, I really think it depends on the individual... not all gamers like to read books because they lack the imagination and I think the same problem would arise from text based games.

I found Nethack to be insanely engrossing, but it only has a small, niche(?) following. So I'd say yes, they can be done, but be prepared to have like 99% of gamers say "that's retarded" and not give it a chance, regardless of how brilliant and revolutionary your gameplay is.

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Original post by WeirdoFu Ironically, dating sims from japan, that are usually released at like a dozen a week with most of them pornographic in nature, are usually 90% text. Comparably they are fairly low budget, but somehow there's just a market an a dedicated magazine that comes out biweekly reviewing them. That's alot of games if you can actually have a magazine that reviews them and advertises them. Probably the only pretty graphics in those games are the still shots, and then the rest is just text. So, in the end, you might not have a game, in western standards, but you'll definitely have a interactive novel or a graphic novel in a different sense. And in that type of medium, its the writing and story that has to carry everything through.

In those, the story is definately the primary success factor. Unless you're just there for the pretty pictures, but I won't get into that here. The good ones really make you care about the characters so much that you don't notice the lack of "modern graphics". Typical ones only have graphics needed to let you know who is on the screen and what they are doing. The really good ones incorporate a great story with subtle changes in character appearance which shows every emotion.

Since I have lots of time on my hands, I'll list some here and give a short summary of their attributes.
1. Seasons of the Sakura - Long game with a great story. Nice expressions on every important character. Upbeat and funny at most times.
2. Private Nurse - Long game with a pretty good, but sometimes confusing story. Again, good expressions. Has some funny moments but is more serious.
3. Crescendo - Semi-long game with an intense and serious story. Expressions are okay. Pretty much serious and depressing.
3. Dividead - Semi-long game with an interesting, mystery kind of story. Okay expressions. Some funny moments but mostly a dramatic mystery with supernatural elements.
4. True Love - Medium length game with an average story. Okay expressions. Ranges from funny to serious in a high school setting.
5. 3 Sisters' Story - Medium length game with a good story about revenge. Okay expressions. It starts out kind of slow but you get pulled into the story about halfway through.

I'd recommend any of these, except #4, for research into good story elements. Sure, there are a few bad or misplaced elements but they are overshadowed by the better half. And, uhh...I was never here...and I don't know anything about these types of games... ;)

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Original post by Roboguy I doubt many people would play a text-based RTS.

> zerg rush

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Original post by Jiia Human imagination is good enough to fill in blanks. By leaving out representation, sometimes what gets filled in is better than what could have been added to it in development. ---

Very true, as this is one of the main reasons that the book is (nearly) always better than the film.

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Original post by Anonymous Poster But sometimes, it is impossible to represent something without pictures. How can you have a FPS using a text prompt?

> north

You go north.

You see a SPAWN POINT in front of you.

> camp

you probably could but unless you had some graphics (like a painting inside the game), you probably wouldn't make very much money.

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Original post by Sneftel > north You go north. You see a SPAWN POINT in front of you. > camp

I literally burst out laughing (in the workplace, mind you) when I read that.