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Retro adventure game in the making—Point and click or text parser?

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Hello everyone,

I’ve got a question for you all. If you were to support an old school type of adventure game on Kickstarter, using graphics from the late 80’s, let’s say games like Space Quest 1 and 2, King’s quest 2, 3, or more modern games like The Last Door, very pixelated art, 16 colours, would you rather such a game to have a text parser, or a point and click interface?

Art examples:

Thanks all.

Edit, adding:

https://gofile.io/?c=2a8fTJ

https://gofile.io/?c=3XakrN

https://gofile.io/?c=TUSABb

     
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That’s enough of that.

     

“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”

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I would not be inclined to buy any retro-art game based on 80s early 90s style art.
I loved it then because that was the best there was. I hate it now because the possibilities offer so much more. So if your question is whether I would support a kickstarter campaign for a game that uses 16-bit, highly-pixelated graphics, the answer is no. And it wouldn’t matter how great the story might be. The answer would still be no.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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Thanks for the replies. I wanted to know if anyone was interested to play a new game using a text parser, but I guess the answer to that is no, haha.

     
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Text parser would certainly be a no for me, 16 bit colors pixelated, maybe Smile

     

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CaliMonk - 01 September 2019 05:19 AM

Text parser would certainly be a no for me, 16 bit colors pixelated, maybe Smile

Cool, thanks Smile

     
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While I would not be interested in backing a retro pixel game, my 2 cents on the matter is, that you’d bet better using a pint and click interface, as intelligent parser that doesn’t frustrate people is much harder to design. If you do decide to go towards parser interface, I’d recommend checking the best ones made in the 80s and 90s, Infocom and Legend games, which had parsers which blew everyone else out from the water. Sierra never was even in the proximity of the same ballpark with either of them.

     
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[...]as intelligent parser that doesn’t frustrate people is much harder to design. If you do decide to go towards parser interface, I’d recommend checking the best ones made in the 80s and 90s, Infocom and Legend games, which had parsers which blew everyone else out from the water. Sierra never was even in the proximity of the same ballpark with either of them.

Infocom?? Seriously? Thumbs Up

Whatever you decide, Owly, please don’t listen to somebody who recommends ancient parsers from the 80s and 90s. Modern text adventures have modern parsers and they are excellent. I’m no developer, just a player who still enjoys IF, but I’m sure you can find everything you need to know about parser software online.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Karlok - 01 September 2019 08:59 AM

Infocom?? Seriously? Thumbs Up

Seriously yes. While I never was a fan of their games, technically their parser was far beyond anything Sierra’s parser could ever hope to be. While it didn’t understand everything, it was more lenient than most others as well as it did allow chaining of commands into one sentence. In short, it did at least give an impression of being somewhat intelligent.

     

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tomimt - 01 September 2019 07:25 AM

While I would not be interested in backing a retro pixel game, my 2 cents on the matter is, that you’d bet better using a pint and click interface, as intelligent parser that doesn’t frustrate people is much harder to design. If you do decide to go towards parser interface, I’d recommend checking the best ones made in the 80s and 90s, Infocom and Legend games, which had parsers which blew everyone else out from the water. Sierra never was even in the proximity of the same ballpark with either of them.

I do remember the frustration with some games, that’s a point to consider.

Karlok - 01 September 2019 08:59 AM

[...]as intelligent parser that doesn’t frustrate people is much harder to design. If you do decide to go towards parser interface, I’d recommend checking the best ones made in the 80s and 90s, Infocom and Legend games, which had parsers which blew everyone else out from the water. Sierra never was even in the proximity of the same ballpark with either of them.

Infocom?? Seriously? Thumbs Up

Whatever you decide, Owly, please don’t listen to somebody who recommends ancient parsers from the 80s and 90s. Modern text adventures have modern parsers and they are excellent. I’m no developer, just a player who still enjoys IF, but I’m sure you can find everything you need to know about parser software online.

IF is text only right, no graphics? I find it so cool you still enjoy them. I will check modern IF and see how they handle the text parser. Any title in particular you recommend?

 

     
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Owly - 01 September 2019 03:22 PM

IF is text only right, no graphics? I find it so cool you still enjoy them. I will check modern IF and see how they handle the text parser. Any title in particular you recommend?

If you want to get an idea of modern text adventures and parsers, Andrew Plotkin and Emily Short have done amazing things. But personally I’d go for point-and-click.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Point and click. I actually like 16 bit retro games. Do the interface right and they are worth playing.

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I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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tomimt - 01 September 2019 09:08 AM
Karlok - 01 September 2019 08:59 AM

Infocom?? Seriously? Thumbs Up

Seriously yes. While I never was a fan of their games, technically their parser was far beyond anything Sierra’s parser could ever hope to be. While it didn’t understand everything, it was more lenient than most others as well as it did allow chaining of commands into one sentence. In short, it did at least give an impression of being somewhat intelligent.

I think that’s because graphic adventures must have an inferior parser because they rely on what you see on the screen. The graphics limit the range of the parser, while with pure text there’s much more room for exploration.

     
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Karlok - 01 September 2019 08:59 AM

[...]as intelligent parser that doesn’t frustrate people is much harder to design. If you do decide to go towards parser interface, I’d recommend checking the best ones made in the 80s and 90s, Infocom and Legend games, which had parsers which blew everyone else out from the water. Sierra never was even in the proximity of the same ballpark with either of them.

Infocom?? Seriously? Thumbs Up

Having grown up playing text adventures on the Spectrum, with 48K of memory and corresponding limits on parser vocabulary and sophistication: Yes, the Infocom parsers were amazing. I’m sure there have been even better ones since, and tools like Inform make it easier. But it all builds on the phenomenal achievements of those Infocom games.

     
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Phlebas - 03 September 2019 11:56 AM

Having grown up playing text adventures on the Spectrum, with 48K of memory and corresponding limits on parser vocabulary and sophistication: Yes, the Infocom parsers were amazing.

They were amazing *in those days*. (The early Infocom games had terrible parsers though. Remember Zork?) Legend parsers were even better. But my point was that it’s kind of weird to recommend ancient parsers to a developer in 2019.

 

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Karlok - 03 September 2019 06:07 PM

They were amazing *in those days*. (The early Infocom games had terrible parsers though. Remember Zork?) Legend parsers were even better. But my point was that it’s kind of weird to recommend ancient parsers to a developer in 2019.

I agree wholeheartedly. It’s why I question the reasoning behind “recommending” ancient graphics in 2019.

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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