Text Adventure
Worlds built from words
Text adventures created entire worlds through prose and parser, challenging players to solve puzzles by typing commands in the days before graphics.
Overview
Text adventures described worlds in prose and responded to typed commands. “GO NORTH” moved you. “GET LAMP” picked it up. “EXAMINE MAILBOX” revealed secrets. Infocom elevated the form to literature; countless bedroom coders created their own with tools like The Quill. The genre evolved into interactive fiction when graphics arrived but the principles—exploration, puzzle-solving, narrative—endure.
Fast facts
- Interface: text descriptions, typed commands.
- Parser: interprets player input.
- Pioneer: Adventure (Colossal Cave, 1976).
- Commercial peak: Infocom (1980s).
- Modern term: interactive fiction.
The parser
How text adventures understood you:
- Verb-noun: “GET KEY”, “OPEN DOOR”.
- Complex sentences: “PUT THE BLUE KEY IN THE WOODEN BOX”.
- Disambiguation: “Which key do you mean?”.
- Vocabulary limits: only certain words recognised.
Notable creators
Text adventure innovators:
- Infocom: Zork, Hitchhiker’s Guide, commercial leader.
- Scott Adams: early commercial adventures.
- Level 9: British adventure company.
- Magnetic Scrolls: The Pawn, illustrated text.