technofeudalism:
technofeudalism:
i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i’m talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.
there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there’s no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it’s just sad that it’s a dying art form.
anyway, here’s some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you’re into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.
if you’re ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i’ve been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.
since this post blew up, i’ve been wanting to do an addition with all of the recommendations from the comments and tags. but there’s a lot of them. some people might be crazy enough to sit down and seriously put them all in one post with descriptions. those people are honestly sick in the head.
anyway, here’s all of the recommendations from the reblogs. not all of them are text-based, but it’s a great mixture of styles. also don’t forget the links in the second paragraph of the OP which will take you to FMHY where there are a bunch more games listed.
Games
Tools
- Text Game Builder - works in your browser, with just a little bit of Python (by @grumpygandalf)
- Twine - great (free!) tool for making text-based games quickly.
- Ink - scripting language for interactive fiction (also free)
- Flashpoint Archive - a community effort to preserve games and animations from the web.
- PICO-8 - fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs.
Non-Games
- Library of Babel - interactive illustration which attempts to simulate what it might be like to browse The Library of Babel.
- Superbad - technically not a game, sprawling website full of secrets.
- 17776 - serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative about football in the far-future. beautiful, creative, legendary. created by Jon Bois, a legend and one of my favorite writers of all time.
- Choice of Games - text-based, choose-your-own-adventure games (interactive fiction). some free-to-play, others can be bought like an ebook.
- The Deep Sea - scroll to the bottom of the ocean. encounter the humble squid and his friends (by neal)
- Space Elevator - like The Deep Sea, but up instead of down. you can equip your avatar with a scarf (by neal)
- Internet Artifacts - an interactive history of the early internet (by neal)
- If The Moon Were Only One Pixel - scroll through an accurately scaled model of the universe.
- r/incremental_games - reddit community for incremental games.
- r/WebGames - reddit community for web games in general.
thank you to everyone who contributed and the creators. please be sure to show them some love where possible.
(via yharnamsnewslug)
