Text Adventures

"It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." (from Zork I, by Infocom).

Believe it or not, text adventures are still around, and new ones are developed and played. There's no money in making text adventures anymore, but that doesn't seem to stop all hobbyists using any of the adventure game development tools to churn out new ones.

I can't say I'm playing text adventures anymore. When I've occasionally played such games I tend to prefer newly created games better than the old ones (e.g. from Infocom) that often suffer from the "sudden death syndrome".

See the results from the latest Interactive Fiction Competition. You can find good short games here to try out.

If you are interested in more contemporary games (and who isn't), check out Computer Games.

General

• Yahoo: Interactive Fiction
• Yahoo: Role-playing games
• Adventureland (listing most games)
• Emily Short's IF Page
• IF-Review - The Online Interactive Fiction Review Site
• Interactive Fiction Authorship Resource
• Interactive Fiction According to Fredrik (Fredrik Ramsberg)
• PDD's Adventure Page
• Scott Adams
• Scott's Interactive Fiction Page

Interactive Fiction archive

This is an extensive archive of information, and the focal point for anything relating to text adventures.

• FTP Interface
• Web Interface

Infocom related

• Imagination sold and serviced here (Infocom information)
• Infocom - Enter an exciting new realm of storytelling
• Ye Olde Infocomme Shop

Development tools

• Alan
• Inform
• HyperTADS
• Quest
• TADS
• ThinBasic Adventure Builder

Newsletters/Magazines

• The Adventure Collective - Reviews, articles, etc.
• Society for the Promotion of Adventure Games (SPAG)
• XYZZYnews (by Eileen Mullin)
• Others

On-line games

• MUD Connector

News groups

Requires that you've set up a news server in your news reader.

• rec.arts.int-fiction (Game programming aspects)
• rec.games.int-fiction (Game play aspects)