Text-based games and their appeal

[Nagozo]

Text-based games might not be the most popular genre, but there is obviously still a pretty large audience that enjoys them (myself included). When I think of my favourite games of this kind -- stuff like Fenoxo's games, Lilith's Throne, Free Cities, Degrees of Lewdity -- I can identify a few characteristics that make me want to play and keep playing them, even if I'm seeing the same content over and over again.

Interactivity and customisation
Arguably the most important parts. Interactivity is obviously a requirement in pretty much any game, but I feel like text-based games can go much beyond what is typically done in other genres, due to the freedom of writing. Customisation is also a big contributing factor to replayability. If a game offers me 200 ways to control my character and their world, I'm going to be back for more.

Premise and story
Immersion is important to me, and I feel like it's easier to get immersed in text-based games than most others. Worldbuilding and an engaging narrative play a pretty big role in my enjoyment. Text-based games often have little else going for them other than what they make players imagine, so it needs to go beyond the typically simpler premises we see in AVNs and such.

Writing
Kind of obvious, but if the entire experience is conveyed through writing, the writing needs to be good. A big part of this is how characters are portrayed. Even in games that use a plethora of generated NPCs, their interactions can be written in ways that make it satisfying to keep playing around with them.

This kind of thread pops up every so often, but I hadn't seen any recently so I figured I'd open the discussion again.
What are your thoughts? Which aspects do you most (or least) value in text-based games?

 

[Meaning Less]

When you are reading something you have a lot more creative power to fill in the gaps and imagine the scene exactly the way you want instead of relying entirely on the writer's description/depiction. This is probably big part of the appeal of text-based games.

But there is also the added ease at which you can completely edit and customize the story without having to invest hours and hours making all the possible images to go along with it.

 

[demonbra]

I would say that the most interesting aspect of text games is the absence of visuals. Yeah, I'm a genius, I know...
What I mean is that it allows Dev(s) to focus on the writing, and not to learn how to draw/render, which are both very veeeeeeery time consuming.
It's also a much better format for good writers, as you almost write the same way as in a book.
You can't do that for a VN. They requires a very strange and specific way of writing (as non descriptive as your visuals allow it).
Another direct consequence is that you can "show" things that would be very difficult or even impossible to draw/render, like fantasy or Sci-Fi worlds. When writing, even if your descriptions are not that good, it will kind of work. On the other hand, if you look at the VN Ataegina for example, which has a very action rich story and a lot of places, the renders are often not very pretty. But how could they do otherwise ? I understand the pb, but it still kills the immersion IMO (especially the roman costumes). It's the problem I have with many modern films, whose directors think that because we have magical CG they can now create movies that were impossible to do a few decades earlier. Guess again...
Directly linked to that, it allows to transform the characters. I think everybody understands the nightmare of having even a few possible clothes for the characters. So changing body shapes, colors, etc ? Brrr.

You most certainly understand that I am thinking of games like TITS or COC.
Not being a huge furry fan, not having visuals helped me to play the game as I wasn't constantly reminded how the Devs populated their game. And I'm not a big fan of DDD cups and 2 metric tons asses either. When I discorded later the art Fonexo commissioned or that were made by fans, I was quite shocked XD

But appart from the big freedom, development speed and the imagination this style offers, it can also be a pleasure to read good written stories. But as in a non sexual pleasure. I never found text-based game to be very exiting without some visuals. Even a few minimal help greatly. But that part is purely personal taste.

Edit : typo

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

Their appeal is not having to make assets for all the elf-dragon cuntboys and hermaphrodite hippo/gryphon mutants the game allows the player to customize to their exact specifications.

 

[Nagozo]

All very good points.
I kind of ignored the art aspect and you guys pretty much nailed why those games still work. Like you say, demonbra, bad visuals easily kill the immersion; I guess that's why it's easier to get immersed in text-based games.

Maybe one day we'll have convincing, non-uncanny custom visuals for our slime-mermaid dickgirl characters, but then again, maybe we don't really need them.

 

[demonbra]

All very good points.
I kind of ignored the art aspect and you guys pretty much nailed why those games still work. Like you say, demonbra, bad visuals easily kill the immersion; I guess that's why it's easier to get immersed in text-based games.

Maybe one day we'll have convincing, non-uncanny custom visuals for our slime-mermaid dickgirl characters, but then again, maybe we don't really need them.

A man can dream, a man can dream XD

(BTW, I've been wondering for a while how you can mention someone without quoting him. Could you give me a hint ? )

 

[Nagozo]

BTW, I've been wondering for a while how you can mention someone without quoting him. Could you give me a hint ?

Yeah, just write @ and then their username

 

[demonbra]

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

By text-based game, were you talking about pure text games, or HTML-like game that include pictures every few paragraphs, or both ? Or maybe something else I forgot ?

 

[Airell]

Text-based are not a homogeneous block. There is full-text and partial-text. Games with a predominance of text but with artwork/CG assets.

 

[Fuscen]

All good points. Personally, I find words are much better at portraying emotions that are very intense (visuals cross into the ham / uncanny territory more often in my experience) and/or very precise (especially if it's supposed to be a mix of conflicting emotions).

On the other hand, I will say that having visuals to fall back on gives the devs the ability to "show, don't tell" a lot of non-critical stuff, which saves a lot of reading time.

There's also the problem that the dev and artist can become out-of-sync, but that's unrelated to the appeal of text-based games.

 

[Nagozo]

Text-based are not a homogeneous block. There is full-text and partial-text. Games with a predominance of text but with artwork/CG assets.

True, I'm just talking about games that are predominantly based on reading text, even if there are some art assets. Even if games like CoC/DoL have some sprites/sparse CGs, the main appeal is in the text (at least imo)
demonbra, I guess that answers your question too

On the other hand, I will say that having visuals to fall back on gives the devs the ability to "show, don't tell" a lot of non-critical stuff, which saves a lot of reading time

Also true! Having just enough descriptive prose to set a believable scene is a mark of a well written text game, I suppose. Then again, you can just read over the details you're not interested in; pretty sure we're all guilty of that to some degree.

 

[F4C430]

When you are reading something you have a lot more creative power to fill in the gaps and imagine the scene exactly the way you want instead of relying entirely on the writer's description/depiction.

Yes! This is exactly why i hate the inclusion of real porn and scene descriptions that are too lengthy. Just tell me what i need to know and i'll fill in the rest with my imagination. I wish there were more games that catered to the imagination instead of having this need to detail every little thing. But i think that's because a lot of people are better at story-telling than they are at designing a game as well as there being a high demand for a focus on the story.

My general rule of thumb for how much description is appropriate is that there should rarely ever be more than one page of text between player interactions, and that one page should not need to be scrolled on a reasonably sized display. Otherwise it's too wordy for me.

For text-based games especially, this is what's the most important for me:

• Meaningful and high customization. The customization is more important to me than it being meaningful but i really wish more games made it meaningful as well. Trap Quest does the meaningful part really well.
• Fine-grain content filtering. Especially if it's a game where the scene/interaction has some randomness to it where it selects from a pool of possible content.
• Gameplay. Yes, i expect good gameplay in text-based games. No DoL-style encounters that take 20-30 turns to finish. As far as gameplay goes, TQ is the best i've seen in my opinion (though TQ fails the fine-grain content filtering).
• Reasonable scale. Please don't make the map unnecessarily large like LT. Please don't separate a location into smaller rooms just for the sake of it. For example if there's no game need to have a separate bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, etc... then don't separate the home into those rooms. It's just extra unnecessary clicking/moving.

 

[demonbra]

There is one thing I like in text games that I forgot to mention.
It's probably linked to the fact that the format allows Dev to be more content prolific.
But I find that the relationships are generally more developed and that the games offer more interactions with the different characters.
It's probably also because those game often are very "life-simulator" oriented. So interactions becomes naturally an important aspect.
But it's something I really enjoy.
In most VN, once you have finished the "good" old fashioned jerk->blow->vaginal->anal->BDSM pattern the characters are generally done and you have to switch to a new one.

 

[darkduck09]

My general rule of thumb for how much description is appropriate is that there should rarely ever be more than one page of text between player interactions, and that one page should not need to be scrolled on a reasonably sized display. Otherwise it's too wordy for me.

One of the games that nails this imo is Seeds of Chaos. I may not agree with their style of gameplay or the direction in which they're taking the game/story but the scenes are written fairly well (at least the scenes that I care about). They're descriptive enough to know what's happening and convey emotion but allow for a good bit of imagination in the little things. Yeah, there's usually an image to go with them but the scenes are just as enjoyable when they're released without a CG.

That being said, I also enjoy games that are image/gif heavy like Candy and Crucial Investigation. I actually tend to wish that there was far more description, as the gifs/images alone are hot but context for me is what matters more than imagery.

I think a happy medium would be a text based game that offers the choice of imagery. So like in the options you could turn imagery off and just have text if you wanted but if you wanted a bit of help imagining things images would be involved. The downside to imagery is always the fact that it's limited compared to the open-ended customization that pure text allows.

 

[ManOfDarkDesires]

As an individual who loves to write and read, my opinion could be a bit biased.
I think their major appeal is the amount of context, description and narrative you can fit in a single scene. If the game is well written and interesting, I feel like a system based heavily or entirely on text does the job exquisitely, because the writer can add so many details to help you create the scene they want you to imagine. Of course, this is just my (biased) opinion, I can understand some individuals may prefer to watch CGs or cutscenes.

 

[Ying Ko]

They allow the developer to increase the breadth and depth of content to explore and provide more opportunities for the player to customize their experience. Finding models unappealing will stop a person from playing a visual game, but text games offer some freedom when it comes to imagining the characters. Visual games often fail in providing non-visual sensory information, while text games offer it with the narration.