intfiction.org

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "better". I'd have to borrow models and textures and animations, but there are resources for that, just as I've borrowed artistic resources for my IF WIP. I'd need some advise on pathing and AI probably, just like I need advice on some game design issues in IF. I'd probably crib from someone else - just like I crib from IF extension authors. My particle effects probably wouldn't be as awesome - explosions would be cruder, or I'd have to get them sourced. But the meat of the game? Plot, level design, scripting, physics collisions, force applications from explosions? All that I can do on my own (or get the engine to do for me - same diff, right?). I'd need external beta testers for sure, but that's not different than IF either. I'd need voice actors, if I designed a plot that included voice actors, but that seems like a different category than a co-worker.

I could certainly make a better game than, say, Descent.

It would take me a long time to make a commercial length game. But I've seen what people can do with Unity, and you're dismissing it too readily. Of course, if you mean that I should build the engine from the ground up . . . that's different. (But plenty of commercial team games don't build their own engines either.)

I don't necessarily think it's *ideal* to do your own FPS, but then I don't necessarily think it's ideal to write your own large IF*. But possible? Heck, yeah.

* Not strictly true. I'm thinking of my WIP. Other people don't talk enough about their design process for me to have any clue what would be helpful for them. But I can imagine even the most literary works finding a researcher, or a widget programmer, or a scenery writer useful.

Cripes. I changed my mind. This thread was a total troll because the original poster never had any intention of trying to understand anything, and I got suckered and helped legitimise it — sorry everyone.

Paul.

But how much are you willing and able to pay? I've found that it's a lot harder than one might think to find art on the Internet that's unambiguously reusable and royalty free, especially if there's a specific something you want depicted -- clothing of a particular style or era, for instance. And if you do find it, there's the matter of reconciling the diverse styles and moods of the work. As I high school student I used to try writing things in Ren'Py, but my biggest problem was always finding images that really fit what I was saying. I have no drawing skill whatsoever, so I made do with what I could get. I wound up illustrating one project using a NASA image, an old photograph of the interior of a Japanese passenger train, a filtered webcam picture of my own hand, GIMP-made renderings of simple, abstract shapes, and, for the characters, those male-and-female icons that appear on signs for public toilets. In my head, of course, there was all this unrefined, hand-sketched nonsense with evocative textures and dramatic facial expressions, but there was no way I was going to find all that ready-made, or raise the money to commission illustrations. And the story was one of those little high school experiments, probably not worth someone else's hard effort. But I think, for this reason, IF is more accessible to the independent game maker with a story in mind.

It's true that if you have a very unusual and particular vision for your artwork and are unwilling to compromise, things are going to be significantly more difficult. Want a 90,000 vertice model of Van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding hat? Want a hand-drawn graphical novel but can't draw yourself? Yeah, you're . . . going to have some problems.

But then, in my vision, all my prose is sharp and witty and spare. So we've all got problems matching up to the vision of games in our heads.

Why Text Games?
They don't require super-power expensive machinery or the fast reflexes of a hyped up teenage male. They do require an understanding of life and of language. Two very different markets: the one is young and spendthrift and so 'good' for business; the other refuses to overspend on entertainment, 'not good' for business. That is why Computer Game Companies aim at the young by using lots of 'bling'.
I'm a pensioner that runs and plays table top RPGs and most of my companions are in their early twenties. One of the major problems I have is their lack of vocabulary, there are others. The problem has got worse over the decades.
I read books, wouldn't have a kindle as a gift, and still listen to the radio. Reason - the colour's better and so are the characters.

That's my answer, but unfortunately it requires a different set of skills to those that the target audience of the Gaming Companies. So, very few commercial games. Ain't life tough!

I read books too, and i love my Kindle.
To me the value of a book is in it's content, not the physical pages of paper.
And you can play IF on them!

I don't see what age really has to do with the appeal. I'm a huge multiplayer FPS and action-game fan, and fit squarely in that target audience and its stereotypes (late-teens, male, etc. etc.). On the other hand, I can't tolerate any adventure games but IF/text adventures. Maybe it's just the "cozy" kind of feel that it evokes (my family owned a hilariously out-of-date computer running DOS/Windows 95 up until about 2009, leaving me with few gaming options aside from our Playstation), but I think in general it's entirely up to individual tastes. I mean, I stopped listening to radio ever since I really got into underground music, but I can't ever see myself reading books on anything but regular old paper.

I have a Kindle myself and after 5 minutes of using it, I found it was perfectly natural to read on. I can adjust the font size, type and spacing - something I never could do with a normal book. In fact, the more I use my Kindle, the more I find reading a normal book a chore. Just the other day, I was flicking through a book in a bookshop and noticing how bad the typeface was. Small, not particularly easy on the eyes. Quite an eyesore in fact. Being able to change things like that and read the book the way you want to is worth the price of a Kindle in my opinion.

Fully agree, my number one concern with the kindle was eye strain, but in fact it is much easier on my eyes than a book.
Change is inevitable, i'm sure Caxton caused a bit of a stir with people lamenting the loss of handwritten texts, but it's not really a concern now.
Also, E-readers in general may be a factor in IF popularity over the next few years