Text-based game
Electronic games using encoded text instead of graphics.
A text-based game is an electronic game that uses a text-based user interface, employing encodable characters such as ASCII instead of bitmap or vector graphics. These games have been documented since at least the 1960s, when teleprinters were interfaced with mainframe computers, and reached peak popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, continuing as early online games into the mid-1990s.
- field
- Electronic gaming
- known_for
- Pioneering adventure and role-playing video game genres
- peak_popularity
- 1970s and 1980s
- earliest_documented
- 1960s
Lore & Background
Text-based games trace back to the 1960s, when teleprinters were installed on early mainframe computers as an input-and-output form. Users submitted commands via the teleprinter, and output was printed on paper. Notable early mainframe games include The Sumerian Game, Lunar Lander, and Star Trek. The Oregon Trail, originally created in 1971 for the HP 2100 minicomputer, is also a landmark title. In the mid-1970s, as video terminals became cheaper, text-based games were designed in universities for mainframes, partly as experiments on artificial intelligence, many inspired by Dungeons & Dragons or J. R. R. Tolkien's works.
Reader's Guide
Text-based games are significant as the basis for instigating entire genres of video gaming, especially adventure and role-playing video games. They were early forerunners to online gaming, with home computer users connecting via dial-up modems to bulletin board systems (BBSes) from the late-1970s until the mid-1990s. Most online games on BBSes initially used ASCII, and from the late-1980s, many employed colored ANSI art. Although generally replaced by games with non-textual graphics, text-based games continue to be written by independent developers. They have been well documented since the 1960s and remain relevant through MUDs, interactive fiction, and the annual Interactive Fiction Competition established in 1995.
Did You Know?
- The ability to save games existed as early as 1969 in the game Lunar Lander and in the 1975 game 'Dungeon' (pedit5) on PLATO, predating the 1977 save feature in Don Woods' revision of Colossal Cave Adventure.
- Text-based games were early forerunners to online gaming via dial-up modems and bulletin board systems.
- The roguelike genre is named after the 1980 game Rogue.
- Most MUDs are represented entirely in text, combining elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, interactive fiction, and online chat.
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