Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of interactive narratives or interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventures still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.
Zork is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and split the game into three titles—Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master—which were released commercially for a range of personal computers beginning in 1980. In Zork, the player explores the abandoned Great Underground Empire in search of treasure. The player moves between the game's hundreds of locations and interacts with objects by typing commands in natural language that the game interprets. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's commands. It has been described as the most famous piece of interactive fiction.
Colossal Cave Adventure is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the player explores a cave system rumored to be filled with treasure and gold. The game is composed of dozens of locations, and the player moves between these locations and interacts with objects in them by typing one- or two-word commands which are interpreted by the game's natural language input system. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's attempted actions. It is the first well-known example of interactive fiction, as well as the first well-known adventure game, for which it was also the namesake.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction video game based on the comedic science fiction series of the same name. It was designed by series creator Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky, and it was first released in 1984 for the Apple II, Macintosh, Commodore 64, CP/M, MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari 8-bit family, and Atari ST. It is Infocom's fourteenth game.
Scott Adams is an American entrepreneur, computer programmer, and video game designer. He co-founded, with ex-wife Alexis, Adventure International in 1979. The company developed and published video games for home computers. The cornerstone products of Adventure International in its early years were the Adventure series of text adventures written by Adams.
The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Dick Tracy appeared in a number of video games released as tie-ins for the motion picture:
Spinnaker Software was a software company founded in 1982 known primarily for its line of non-curriculum based educational software, which was a major seller during the 1980s. It was founded by chairman Bill Bowman and president C. David Seuss.
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon is an adventure game released on Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 in November 2003. It is the third installment in the Broken Sword series, released six years after the previous instalment, The Smoking Mirror. The Sleeping Dragon moved the series to 3D graphics, and is the only game in the series not to use a point and click interface. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American patent lawyer who flies to the Congo to write a patent for a scientist who claims to have found a source of unlimited energy.
Adventureland is the first text adventure video game for microcomputers, released by Scott Adams in 1978. The game involves searching for thirteen lost artifacts in a fantasy setting. Its success led Adams to form Adventure International, which went on to publish thirteen similar games in the Adventure series, each in different settings.
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is a point-and-click adventure video game originally released on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation in 1997. It was re-released on Microsoft Windows, OS X and iOS as a remastered edition in 2010 and on Android in 2012. It is the second installment in the Broken Sword series, and the first game in the series that does not follow the Knights Templar storyline. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, a young American who is an eyewitness to the kidnapping of his girlfriend Nicole Collard.
SoftSide is a defunct computer magazine, begun in October 1978 by Roger Robitaille and published by SoftSide Publications of Milford, New Hampshire.
Obsidian is an action-adventure computer game for the Amstrad CPC personal computer published by Artic Computing in 1986. The game is set on the titular space station located within the centre of an asteroid, which is out of control and drifting towards a black hole. The player must guide an astronaut with a jet pack around the station and re-activate its engine shields to prevent the Obsidian's destruction. This involves collecting items and using them to solve puzzles, while avoiding the Obsidian's reactivated security systems.
Rendezvous with Rama is an interactive fiction computer game with graphics published by Telarium, a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, in the year 1984. It was developed in cooperation with Arthur C. Clarke and based upon his 1973 science fiction novel Rendezvous with Rama.
Nine Princes in Amber is an interactive fiction computer game with graphics. The game was published by Telarium, a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, in 1985. The game is based upon the fantasy novels Nine Princes in Amber and The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny.
Telarium Corporation was a brand owned by Spinnaker Software. The brand was launched in 1984 and Spinnaker was sold in 1994. The headquarters were located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The President of Telarium was C. David Seuss, the founder and CEO of Spinnaker Software.
Windham Classics Corporation was a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software. The corporation was founded in 1984 and went defunct circa 1985/86 or later. The headquarters were in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? is an educational video game released by Broderbund on April 23, 1985. It is the first product in the Carmen Sandiego franchise. The game was distributed with The World Almanac and Book of Facts, published by Pharos Books. An enhanced version of the game was released in 1989, which did not have the almanac-based copy protection and instead used disk-based copy protection. A deluxe version was released in 1992, and featured additional animation and a reworked interface from the original version. Some of the bonus features included digitized photos from National Geographic, over 3200 clues, music from the Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings, 20 villains, 60 countries, and 16 maps. CD-ROM versions for DOS and Macintosh were released in 1992, and a Windows version was released in 1994.
The Trace is a 2015 dark immersive murder mystery adventure game developed by British developer Relentless Software. The whodunnit game, which sees the player assume the role of a detective out to solve a series of murder cases by examining the crime scenes, has been described as "part escape-the-room and part hidden-object, with a bit of puzzle-solving mixed in". The game was available for iOS devices
Snooper Troops is a series of two 1982 adventure/educational video games developed by Spinnaker Software and published by Computer Learning Connection. They were released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 and DOS. The first case was entitled Snooper Troops: Case #1: The Granite Point Ghost and the second case entitled Snooper Troops: Case #2 - The Case of the Disappearing Dolphin was released later that year.
