50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon

By Aaron a Reed

Since a winter morning in 1971 when a teacher wheeled a teletype into his classroom to debut a game about the Oregon Trail, people have been telling interactive stories on digital platforms. From text adventures to VR poetry, MUDS to mobile romance sims, and chatbots to roguelikes, these games without graphics have pioneered new techniques for interactive storytelling, engaged imaginations with clever engines and beautiful prose, and explored the new terrain of fiction you can play.

50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon picks one text-based game from each year between 1971 and 2020 and studies how it works, what it's about, why it's special, and its lasting legacy. From famous classics to overlooked gems, from personal stories to million-word epics, and from games printed by teletypes to games downloaded on smart watches, this is the fascinating story of interactive fiction's first half-century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CLDY72WT
• ISBN13: 9798985966114
• Release Date: March 2023
• Publisher: Changeful Tales
• Length: 642 Pages
• Weight: 2.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book on text games!

great book! at first i thought it would be kinda plain, text about text games but i learned alot of innovations and unique ideas due to the limits of the computer. Such as typing fast enough, I never consider the speed of text would matter! It inspires me to make my own text based game too! Very thick book comes in handy I think ill get the additional one too. Nice!