A deep dive into text game history, from The Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon, now in book form! Click "No thanks" below to skip the subscribe box; the top story has details on how to get your own copy.
Dormant Last read · last published · next check
Read 3 days ago and current, but nothing has been published for 15 months.
Over the two years since its release, various items from the 50 Years of Text Games crowdfunding campaign have made their way back to me. Some were overstock from my initial orders, or shipped back from my fulfillment partner’s warehouse; some were returned or never claimed; some were held back because of minor cosmetic damage or against a rainy day. Eventually these odds and ends grew to fill…
What can digital games learn from analog tabletop storytelling games... and vice versa?
Hi, text adventure fans! Hope you don't mind me gently poking you every once in a while with news and updates. A couple items this fall that might of interest: The 30th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition is live until October 15th, with dozens of brand new text games to try. Anyone can be a judge if you try at least five games (and most are pretty short). Classics from the 50 Years of Text…
In this bookware text adventure from the 1980s, a young writer faced the thankless challenge of adapting a superstar's bleak story into a playable, interactive game.
The power of language to embrace contradictions and playfully conflate signs with signifiers has long been a strength of interactive fiction.
The 50 Years of Text Games bonus book is now available, featuring chapters on fan favorites like Planetfall and Anchorhead, a detailed timeline of interactive fiction history, and more!
Hi, text game fans! A couple cool announcements: There's now a 50 Years of Text Games merch store selling posters, maps, and t-shirts (with some fun new surprises)! Further Explorations (the bonus book) will be available for standalone purchase very soon (and I've got pics to prove it)! Read on for exciting details. Moichandise! So back during the book's development I had created a bunch of cool…
I'm pleased to announce that the print-on-demand edition of 50 Years of Text Games is now available for sale , and should remain so indefinitely. If you missed snagging a copy of the sold-out original print run, this is your chance to grab this acclaimed look into interactive fiction history in a physical edition. A casebound hardcover (think high school textbook; pictured above) and softcover…
Holy smokes, folks, that was fast! The inventory fire sale went live at 8:00 AM and within four minutes almost all the remaining books were sold out . At 8:08 AM the last available copy of the book anywhere was sold. Apologies to those not quick enough on the draw: I did not anticipate this level of demand! There are still (as of this writing) a few ancillary items available on the Shopify store :…
Hi text game fans-- a quick update mostly geared at those still without a physical copy of the book and looking for one, as I prepare to shut down my two fulfillment centers in the US and Europe. All orders finished shipping earlier this summer and all should now have arrived. If you ordered a book and haven't received it, this is your last and final chance to contact me about it! (See the…
