Hi Dark,
To be honest I'm not too surprised about that. Paper and pen gamebooks
were fun back in the day when they were popular, and I think this
generation has forgotten that low tech games like gamebooks can be just
as entertaining as the flashiest video game on the market. I['m
rediscovering that fact myself.
Although, its not technically a gamebook per say I do remember spending
hours of time reading and rereading the Choose your Own Adventure books
that were popular in the 80's. Like a gamebook it took several times
through the book before I discovered all the possible endings, and all
the variations on the same story. I spent many hours in my bedroom with
the lamp switched on reading through those books. I think I had at least
twenty of those books on my bookcase. :D
Gamebooks were just as fun, if not more so, because as you went through
the story you could roll dice to determine something random in the game,
and then write down your progress on a sheet of paper much like a person
does in a table top roll playing game. Sure, it is very low tech, but
they were quite fun and didn'trequire an expensive computer or special
console to play. You and a friend could sit at the kitchen table playing
those gamebooks all day long taking turns reading the story and rolling
stats etc.
Lately I've been getting back into interactive fiction as well as
gamebooks in part because they are some of the games that are playable
on Linux, but I've rediscovered how fun and entertaining they are. I can
sit at my laptop on a quiet evening, fire up my web browser, read the
gamebook with my screen reader, take notes in my favorite text editer,
and roll dice with a simple dice rolling program. More importantly than
the simplicity of such games is that I feel connected to the story and
game world. Everything is describede in some detail from the large
wooden door at the end of the hall with a brass plate on it to the
burning candle or torch in the holder on the wall. Its the closest
we'll ever get to videogame graphics, and since we can't see pictures
having a detailed text description at least gives us the sensation of
sight, touch, and smell.
I think any sighted user would enjoy it to, because they can imagine in
their head what this or that might look like. Instead of looking at a
graphic of the thing it forces or allows them to use their mind to fill
in the image. ALayering extra sensations like touch and smell helps
complete the picture and makes the game more lifelike. Plus if they are
a big reader like me having a good story and being able to interact with
its outcome is a big bonus.
Cheers!
On 5/9/2012 7:18 PM, dark wrote:
Hi Tom.
I'll also add that interestingly enough, there's something of a
gamebook revival going on at the moment. All the classical original
fighting fantasy books are being reprinted, as are new editions of the
Lone wolf books with extra content, ---- though sadly I've not heard
anything of electronic versions.
On the plus side, there are various companies writing gamebook aps for
the Iphone. One of these, starbreed I know to have access problems
annoyingly, but there are several others, see the links on
www.arborell.com for details, which is one reason why I'm myself very
keen to try an iphone, sinse I'm a huge fan of that style of game, and
intend to do more serious writing of them myself as and when my phd is
finished.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
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