Text-Based Adventure Games

Start with the game ideas

Begin with the mind map that describes a text-based adventure game as a game where interaction takes place through on-screen words. It also raises constraints, including a lack of hints. Use it to get oriented before moving to the maps that explore requirements and possible designs.

Next, open Digital solutions. Its branches bring together existing games, story ideas, code constructs, algorithm constructs and criteria. You can follow one branch at a time and note how the ideas might relate to a game design.

Explore requirements and choices

Text-Based Game groups requirements, features, constraints and usability principles. Its requirements include working in a web browser and on different operating systems. Compare these branches with the criteria in Digital solutions. Consider what each map asks a designer to think about before making a game.

Another mind map brings together game ideas, code and algorithm constructs, a combat system, tools and shops, and choice influence. Use it to see how a map can organize several parts of a game idea in one place.

Follow a path through the flowchart

Adventure game flowchart offers a different way to look at choices. It starts with a choice between the jungle and the train station, then includes decisions about crossing a river and entering a treehouse. Follow a path through the chart and compare its decisions with the choice-related ideas in the mind maps.

There are no quizzes listed on this topic page, so the flowchart can be a useful starting point for tracing choices alongside the maps.

Place the topic in the unit

Text-Based Adventure Games is a section of Game Design and Development in Computing and ICT (programming, computer science, digital skills, educational technology). The maps connect game ideas with criteria, requirements and constructs within that unit. Choose a branch from a map and use it as a starting point for your own game idea.