50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon

List based on Aaron A. Reed's 50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon. Originally starting as a series of blog posts on his Substack, it eventually grew into a full book that was funded through Kickstarter. To quote the back matter:

"50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon picks one text-based game from each year between 1971 and 2020 and studies how it works, what it’s about, why it’s special, and its lasting legacy. From famous classics to overlooked gems, from personal stories to million-word epics, and from games printed by teletypes to games downloaded on smartwatches, this is the fascinating story of interactive fiction’s first half-century."

Along with the main book, Reed also wrote additional posts on the topic, some of which were included in a companion guide that came with the deluxe hardcover edition of the book. I'd highly recommend checking out Reed's work, it's well-researched and covers a wide swathe of gaming history.

https://if50.substack.com/

The list will include as many of the games covered by Reed as possible. First are the 50 games included in the main book, followed by content covered in the companion volume, titled "50 Years of Text Games: Further Explorations." After that are any games mentioned in follow-up articles and those mentioned by Reed at the end of his blog series that he'd considered covering.

Games covered in the main book not currently on Backloggd:
Uncle Roger (1986) / P.R.E.S.T.A.V.B.A. aka PERESTROIKA, or RECONSTRUCTION (1988) / Monster Island (1989) / LambdaMOO (1990) / Silverwolf (1992) / The Playground (1994) / Screen (2002) / El museo de las consciencias [aka The Museum of Consciences] & Lieux communs (2007) / Versu: A Family Supper (2013) / Choices: The Freshman (2016)

Games covered in Further Explorations (by Category):

Genre Explorations: Wordplay
1991 T-Zero (Dennis Cunningham)
2000 Letters From Home (Roger Firth)
2004 Goose, Egg, Badger (Brian Rapp)
2012 Shuffling Around (Andrew Schultz)
2013 Threediopolis (Andrew Schultz)
2016 Spellbound (Adap Perry; unfinished)
2017 Hexteria Skaxis Qiameth (Gabriel Floriano)

Genre Explorations: One-Room Games
1983 One Room Adventure (Jorge Mir, BASIC)
1998 Enlightenment (Taro Ogawa) †
2003 shadows on the mirror (Chrysoula Tzavelas, TADS 3)
2006 Final Selection (Sam Gordon) †
2007 Marika the Offering (revgiblet, ADRIFT)
2007 Lord Bellwater’s Secret (Sam Gordon) ‡
2009 69,106 Keys (David Welbourn) †
2010 ’Mid the Sagebrush and the Cactus (Victor Gijsbers) ‡
2010 Hoosegow (Ben Collins-Sussman and Jack Welch) ‡
2021 Closure (Sarah Willson) ‡

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims
1984 System 15000 (Craig Communications, C64)
1985 MicroLink (Soft 2000, ZX Spectrum)
1986 SuperCom (Atlantis Software, ZX Spectrum)
2000 Hacker (Unreal Visions, Win)

Games covered in follow-up articles:
1955 HUTSPIEL: A Theater War Game
1964 The Carnegie Tech Management Game [and other early “business wargames]
1985 The Antagonists

Games cut during the research process:
The Great Guano Gap, Atom 20, Stuga, Sceptre of Goth, Reality Ends, First Screening: Computer Poems, Shades of Gray, Marble Springs, Delirium, Sun and Moon, Cathy’s Book, Buried In Shoes, Barbetween

Further Explorations

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

2014

Unrated

Genre Explorations: One-Room Games

Unrated

Further Explorations

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Wordplay

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Wordplay

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

2006

Unrated

2009

Unrated

2000 & Genre Explorations: One-Room Games

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

2012

Unrated

1999

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: One-Room Games

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

1995

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

1998

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

1996

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

1971

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: One-Room Games

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

[aka TradeWars, TW2002] 1991

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

[aka Dungeon, Zork] 1977

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Wordplay

Unrated

2019

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

[Adventure, ADVENT] 1976

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

1993

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: One-Room Games

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Wordplay

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Wordplay

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

1973

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

2015

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

[aka ROCKET, APOLLO] 1972

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Hacking Sims

Unrated

Additional Research
Series

Unrated

[aka MUD, MUD1, Essex MUD, British Legends] 1980

Unrated

2011

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Wordplay

Unrated

Genre Explorations: One-Room Games

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Wordplay

Unrated

[aka Pirate Cove, Adventure #2] 1978

Unrated

Further Explorations

Unrated

1987

Unrated

2020

Unrated

Genre Explorations: One-Room Games

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Genre Explorations: Visual Novels

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

Additional Research

Unrated

[aka TTR1, Super Star Trek] 1974

Comments




Last updated: