I like text-based games (like from ifdb), but I don’t like sitting at attention in front of my computer like I do all day at work. Any ideas for how to play these effectively without being on a computer?
-
I’ve hacked a Kindle Paperwhite & used an on-screen virtual keyboard to play these games. That worked OK, but the virtual keyboard is very imprecise and frustrating.
-
I’ve similarly hacked a Kindle 3 (the last model to include a physical keyboard). I hoped the physical keyboard would do the trick. Unfortunately, the key buttons are convex & very stiff - which hurt my fingertips after even short play sessions.
Any other ideas? Or is this a fool’s errand?
There’s not many good options. It’s a genre that was built specifically for a keyboard, after all. Everything that isn’t a laptop or desktop is gonna be a frustrating downgrade.
Maybe the answer is getting into adjacent genres of games. They aren’t the same, obviously, but there’s a lot of overlap with the adventure game genre, especially, and the visual novel genre is more distant but a lot more accessible away from a pc
Maybe I am confused why you can’t play them on a smartphone?
A smartphone’s virtual keyboard would be worse (smaller) than the Kindle’s, wouldn’t it? Maybe I should try it though. I mean, I’m pecking this message on my smartphone’s virtual keyboard so…
Smartphone software like messaging or notes is built with imprecision in mind. I don’t know about you, but I use the swype method (moving a finger continuously from key to key and lifting at the end of the word) and when writing a message I still spend like 50% of the time correcting mistakes from the virtual keyboard.
Because these are usually short messages, you’d instead likely be hunting and pecking the virtual keys, but without the tactile feedback of a real keyboard. For games that are all about text, it’s a preference thing.
Plus a phone comes with a ton of distractions that a dedicated device without notifications doesn’t. Sure, you could turn on do not disturb while playing a text game but that feels a little intense. Don’t bother me, it’s Zork time!!
And if you really think about it, your question is basically like asking why anyone would need a Nintendo Switch when mobile games have virtual controls.
I wasn’t trying to be dismissive. You bring up several good points. I asked because what seems to me the most obvious small form factor answer hadn’t been considered at all.
I don’t know if there are any existing implementations that work well enough yet for it to actually be relaxing, but it might be possible to set up a hands-free IF experience by hooking up speech-to-text and text-to-speech tools to the game.
OK, I’m a big text adventure fan too, as well as a programmer and hobbyist electronics tinkerer, and you gave me a great idea.
I want to take this cheap wireless home theater keyboard and see if I can replace the touchscreen with a tiny OLED display and power it all with a simple board running Linux for text adventure games. The biggest challenge might be getting everything to fit properly in the case, but if I can make it work I’d have a portable text “game boy”!
Whoa! That’d be sweet! If you go for it please post updates with pictures!!??
Maybe this is overly simplistic, but I’m a couch gamer, and text based games on the TV with a wireless keyboard work great. Relax on the couch and otherwise it’s just like you’re physically at the terminal.
I know few people have a PC on the living room TV, but there are ways to stream it over there – e.g. with a Steam Link.
