Text Adventure Game on Kindle (kindlequest.com)

[Bill Lumburgh]

Originally Posted by jondelfin

I applaud your efforts, but, honestly, most people have a kindle for one thing - reading. I can think of many platforms i would use for even text games before i would use my kindle.

Personally, I tend to agree. My wife and I bought our Kindles because we like to read and that's why we bought dedicated eBook readers, instead of getting iPads, like everyone else. But I think the fact that Amazon's re-released (ie. old, albeit entertaining) "Every Word" game has been at the top of their "#100 free" list for a few days now and that EA's Scrabble app happens to be the current #1 paid "book" would suggest that people like their games.

I don't think we're going to see attempts to port Doom to the Kindle anytime soon and with a 0.5 or so fps refresh rate, that's probably a good thing. In any case, I think that choice is good. The fact that I have fond memories of Zork III may have also contribute to the fact that I rather like the idea of bringing abandonware to a new platform and a whole bunch of people who may have never heard of these games before.

[tovare]

Originally Posted by edyagi

http://www.kindlequest.com

Seeing that the Kindle has free internet, and a nifty keyboard, those old school text adventure games is perfect for the Kindle's experimental browser.

...

Give it a spin, let us know what you think and/or how we can improve it!

thanks!

http://www.kindlequest.com

Quite cool, but i think the server-roundtrip makes it a bit slow. I like the idea of a site adapted to the kindle (because scrolling in parchment is a pain).

You might consider using gnusto like parchment, because it allows offline play. http://gnusto.mozdev.org/code/felapton.html

Also, the fonts didn't look very clear on the kindle 3.

I'm looking forward to playing Suspended again (I never actually managed to complete it, but it's been a few years so i might solve it this time).

[Metapioca]

Quite cool, but i think the server-roundtrip makes it a bit slow. I like the idea of a site adapted to the kindle (because scrolling in parchment is a pain).

Parchment works quite well, and can be played offline as long as you loaded the game first* (I mean, play from the cache, since it's just javascript). I started hacking it a bit for the kindle screen, because by default it doesn't fit well, but nothing clean enough to be a contribution right now. Scrolling would still be an issue (you need to hit alt-g once in a while).

And despite what some others said in this thread, I tend to think of the kindle as the ultimate interactive fiction device: you can play from anywhere and it reads like a book (if you want to argue the keyboard is not good enough, be warned I used to play Zork on... a TI89).

* Kindle 3 browser doesn't support file:// as I heard previous versions did

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Metapioca

Parchment works quite well, and can be played offline as long as you loaded the game first* (I mean, play from the cache, since it's just javascript). I started hacking it a bit for the kindle screen, because by default it doesn't fit well, but nothing clean enough to be a contribution right now. Scrolling would still be an issue (you need to hit alt-g once in a while).

And despite what some others said in this thread, I tend to think of the kindle as the ultimate interactive fiction device: you can play from anywhere and it reads like a book (if you want to argue the keyboard is not good enough, be warned I used to play Zork on... a TI89).

* Kindle 3 browser doesn't support file:// as I heard previous versions did

I think Parchment will work okay in landscape but haven't tried it yet. But that means reading everything vertically because you need to operate the keyboard. I couldn't get it to fit in portrait. Seems kind of silly that it requires so much horizontal space, since it is just text and that can reflow quite easily.

Still, I'd prefer these to be Kindle apps, since I'm wifi only and won't always have a network connection.

I agree that the keyboard is good enough for this. Many commands require only a single letter. An app could have an autocomplete feature to help reduce typing even more.

[Metapioca]

I think Parchment will work okay in landscape but haven't tried it yet. But that means reading everything vertically because you need to operate the keyboard. I couldn't get it to fit in portrait. Seems kind of silly that it requires so much horizontal space, since it is just text and that can reflow quite easily.

That's exactly the point of the hack I mentioned ; also, using a more readable font and layout (to read just like ebooks).

Still, I'd prefer these to be Kindle apps, since I'm wifi only and won't always have a network connection.

AFAIK you can load the game in the browser while on wifi, then continue playing with wireless off as long as you want (even after sleep/wake). Not sure it still works if you quit the browser thought.

[Geppetto]

Originally Posted by gargoyle67

Mmm yes I thought that also, The Zork titles are the only ones that are in the public domain. "Activision Studios owns and maintains full copyright on all Infocom games. With the exception of the first three Zork adventures no Infocom game can be legally "downloaded for free""
I think the OP might have to trim a few titles.
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/faq.html#PIRATE

This website's last update has been made 10 years ago.

[gargoyle67]

Originally Posted by Geppetto

This website's last update has been made 10 years ago.

That still doesn't mean the other games are free though does it.

[vili]

Originally Posted by gargoyle67

That still doesn't mean the other games are free though does it.

Indeed. Copyrights to most Infocom titles are probably owned by Activision Blizzard, as Wikipedia suggests. Whether they have any interest in pursuing copyright violations is another thing, but I certainly wouldn't want their army of lawyers chasing me!

[cybmole]

if they are not legally for sale anywhere & have not been for 10 years, then, what's wrong with someone distributing for free. Infocom went out of existence 20+ years ago ???

copyright should have a use-it-or-lose-it feature.

isn't this the google books vs dog-in-the-manger publishers argument all over again ???

[gargoyle67]

Originally Posted by cybmole

if they are not legally for sale anywhere & have not been for 10 years, then, what's wrong with someone distributing for free. Infocom went out of existence 20+ years ago ???

Err because it now belongs to Activision not Edyagi, And if in the future they want to re-release them at some point it would hurt their sales if you could just get them for free.
Plus they will prob send him a cease and desist order, And if he doesn't comply he could face fines\jail time...That's why

[mdovell]

I'm not advocating copyright infrindgement but....

Sometimes with earlier games there's been so many psedo copies it would be next to impossible to sue everyone.

How many knock offs have we seen of say..Tetris and Asteroids?

If you type in "play zork zero" you'll get plenty of google responses.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by gargoyle67

Err because it now belongs to Activision not Edyagi, And if in the future they want to re-release them at some point it would hurt their sales if you could just get them for free.

the l google vs book publishers case was over the ethics of burying old copyrights in corporate cellars, for works which the "owners" had no intention of ever re-publishing , just to deprive others of access to them.

LOL - they've been free for years - just look on Google or any torrent search engine; and if Activison had any intention of selling them, they'd not have deleted them from their games catalogues.,and would not have destroyed the Infocom brand.

As it is, I bought them all once for Amiga, once again for dos/Win95 - there's no way I'd buy them a 3rd time just to play on a different device, but I heartily approve of them being put into circulation again for Kindle users.

when its reaches the point that not 1 cent of any future sales will ever reach the game creators then its time to rebel :-)

PS IIRC, all the PC game versions were DOS based & had to run in a DOS window - were I to search the attic for my WIN 95 box set & load it into my Win 7 PC, I'd probably get the the microsoft equivalent of "you must be kidding" - 'twold take considerable time & money to rework them all for today's OS.

[vkeios]

Originally Posted by cybmole

if Activison had any intention of selling them

Activision was planning on releasing a new collection back in 2006. It got canceled due to lack of interest though.

Originally Posted by cybmole

PS IIRC, all the PC game versions were DOS based & had to run in a DOS window - were I to search the attic for my WIN 95 box set & load it into my Win 7 PC, I'd probably get the the microsoft equivalent of "you must be kidding" - 'twold take considerable time & money to rework them all for today's OS.

Nope. Get a Z-Machine Interpreter like Frotz and just run the data files from your old DOS versions with it (look for .dat).

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by vkeios

Activision was planning on releasing a new collection back in 2006. It got canceled due to lack of interest though.


Nope. Get a Z-Machine Interpreter like Frotz and just run the data files from your old DOS versions with it (look for .dat).

i see how that could work - but a commercial re-release would have to be slicker.

robust management of save / load games is a must - these games were not designed to be completed at one sitting. I guess the kindlequest version must use server-side saves ?

[Gwen Morse]

Originally Posted by vkeios

Activision was planning on releasing a new collection back in 2006. It got canceled due to lack of interest though.

It's too bad. I immersed myself in the old Infocom games for WAAAAY too many hours when I was younger. I always had a blast with them.

With the recent popularity of "app" programs, which are necessarily simpler than programs that run on full-power computers, Activision could repackage the text adventure programs and sell them for a buck or two a pop, with the public-domain Zork titles as free "loss leaders".

Ebook readers are best as readers. It just feels like this is an "Ah-ha!" sort of product. Text adventure games *are* basically just "interactive books". All you do is read them and make simple typing choices.

One of the authors who posts here put up a "Choose Your Own Adventure" style ebook. I don't see the old text adventure games as being any different.

Kudos to the original programmer who set up the server-side code to process the old Infocom data files.