About the Adventures
This site is dedicated to retro text adventures of the ilk that were popular on the old ZX Spectrum and its peers. No fancy graphics or sound, just places to explore and puzzles to solve — all in the theatre of the mind.
Where I am hoping my adventures differ from those of yesteryear is the quality of the text parsing! But this is not ChatGPT — simple VERB NOUN commands are the order of the day, and more help regarding the vocabulary and the text parser is available in each game.
How does the parser work?
This is not ChatGPT — simple VERB NOUN commands are the order of the day. Some adventures will accept VERB NOUN NOUN commands (i.e., a subject noun and an object noun). The parser will strip out any articles (i.e., THE and A) and prepositions (e.g., ON, TO, ABOVE, etc.), so even if you type "GIVE A COIN TO THE BEGGAR", the parser will still only see "GIVE COIN BEGGAR".
There are some standard abbreviations that can be used in all games, such as X for EXAMINE, I for INVENTORY, and the compass directions N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW for GO NORTH, GO NORTHEAST, and so on. GO UP and GO DOWN can also be abbreviated to just U and D, respectively.
Some games have special vocabulary and parsing structures so it's always worth checking the HELP in each game before playing.
Finally, you should note that the parser does not support adjectives, so if you have a GOLD KEY and a COPPER KEY in your inventory, you can still use those keys in the right places by using their shared noun (KEY) and the game will figure out if you have the right key.
Can I play on my phone?
Whilst this is possible, it is not recommended — these are text-based games that require you to enter text commands. You will find phones' small screens and the need to display a keyboard ruins your enjoyment. I'm not saying it's not possible, but you should use a device with a larger screen and an external keyboard to make the most of these adventures.
Cookies and Privacy
This site only uses session cookies — when you close your browser, this site forgets you ever existed.
Even if you sign up for an account, and even though you have to provide an email address to do so, I do not store your email or any other personal details about you — your email address stays in memory only for as long as your session exists and is not written to a cookie or a database.
Each adventure also has a mechanism by which you can save your progress and return to it without having to create an account if you do not want to.
Internet privacy is important to me, so one the principles behind all the sites I create is that there are no adverts, no intrusive cookies, and no storing of personal data.
HELP! I'm Stuck!
I have deliberately incorporated a number of tools into each game to prevent this. These options can be found by typing HELP as your command in the adventure. But if you do get irrevocably stuck in one of these adventures, you can always Contact Me for a clue or share these adventures with your friends and try to complete the adventure together.
As this site grows, I'll also consider publishing maps and walkthroughs — but no promises!
I have an idea for an adventure — are you interested?
Potentially. Coding an adventure can be a lot of work (although the more I do, the more reusable modules I am developing to make this easier), but I am open to collaborating on a project, so you can always Contact Me with an outline of your idea and we can go from there.