Create a text based php game

Learn more. How to create a text-based game? Asked 8 years, 6 months ago. Active 8 years, 6 months ago. Viewed 10k times. Improve this question. StarKnight27 StarKnight27 17 1 1 gold badge 1 1 silver badge 5 5 bronze badges. Plus you can extend it with Java! Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Learn to program. Long version Learn programming Writing text-based games is a good way to learn. This is the hard part. This is going to take time. When you realise you need state , look into variable assignment.

Besides avoiding arbitrary player deaths, here are a few other design goals to keep in mind: [10] X Research source Don't make important events hinge on a die roll. Provide hints for difficult puzzles, and don't put in more than two or three red herrings.

Don't make a puzzle that can't be solved on the first playthrough, such as one that requires knowledge of the next area or a trial-and-error puzzle that kills you if you don't guess correctly.

It's fine to permanently close off an area partway through the game, but the player should be given fair warning before this happens. If a choice makes the game unwinnable, this should be obvious in advance, and it should end the game instead of letting the player keep trying with no hope of winning. Write the endings. Spend some time to make every ending interesting. If the player loses, he should still get to read a sizable chunk of text that describes specifically what happened, and encourages him to try again.

If a player wins, give her a long, triumphant ending, and consider allowing her to spend a couple additional actions savoring the victory in a special end-game room. Find more advice and inspiration. There are dozens if not hundreds of articles available at Brass Lantern , Interactive Fiction Database , and IFWiki , where you can home in on specialized topics like how to write convincing characters, or how to program objects with complex interactions.

Perhaps even more important is the large collection of text-based games at IF Archive , where you can discover what you enjoy firsthand, by playing the games yourself.

Here are a few excellent resources to start with: The IF Gems collection of quotes. Beta test. Once your game seems complete, play through it yourself several times. Try to cover all the possible paths through the game, including doing things in a "weird" sequence that you didn't intend. Once you've corrected any errors that come up, rope in a few friends, family members, or online interactive fiction players to beta test your game the same way.

Encourage them to give feedback on what parts were frustrating or not fun, and consider their suggestions for changes or additional options. Save often or use the "undo" command, if available, so you can try different paths without starting from the beginning each time. Some text-based game creation software also comes with an online platform where you can upload the game. Share links to your game on social media and on interactive fiction forums for more exposure.

The vast majority of text-based games are offered for free. You can charge money for it, but if this is your first project and you don't have an existing fan base, don't expect many buyers. Theoretically, you could but seeing as it's a text based game it doesn't need visuals. Not Helpful 3 Helpful Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

One good way to get your game noticed is to enter it in one of the many IF contests out there. Most are free to enter, and you're likely to get at least a few people to play your game. If it's good, the word will get around. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Blind and visually impaired people can easily write interactive fiction. Since most of the IF creation systems are built on a plain text format, there is no reason not to try it.

You can use any text editor to write the code, while using your preferred screen reader software. You can also create html files linked from one file to the another. This is useful if you prefer to allow users to choose a command from the list.

Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Avoid mentioning objects that do not exist. If an item is mentioned in a room description, make sure the player can at least examine the item.

When a player gets too many responses such as "You see nothing like that here," the game quickly loses credibility. In other words, make sure your fictional world matches the underlying coded world at all times. You want, just as in regular fiction, to suspend disbelief. Careful world building makes that easier. Players pick up on lazy coding every time.

Helpful 8 Not Helpful 0. Try to avoid constructing your story around amnesia, flashbacks, mundane settings an apartment or office , or ordinary people who get transported to heroic fantasy settings. You Might Also Like How to. How to. More References 3. Co-authors: Updated: December 8, Categories: Video Game Creation. Article Summary X To make a text based game, start by picking free software, like Inform 7. In other languages Italiano: Creare un'Avventura Testuale. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times.

I am going to try out Inform 7 to test it. If successful, I might try porting the resulting game to one of the others mentioned here to compare. More reader stories Hide reader stories. Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy.

About This Article. Roger Greenlaw Jul 3, The game we're going to make will allow a person to navigate around a simple world and read the description of the places there. Once this is in place, you should be able to easily add the ability to pick up items, and let the player them in a selection of ways. Get over pages of hands-on PHP learning today! If this was helpful, please take a moment to tell others about Hacking with PHP by tweeting about it!

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