Cheers for the suggestion regarding Twine - been using it for the last couple of days and so far its not only been easy to use, but has ironed out a few early creases regarding concepts for other bits n bobs to go in game.

I once considered writing an engine that would allow me to make an adventure game and export it to EPUB.

I don't know what kind of platform you are targeting, but I still wonder if a game of that kind would be fun in an e-reader or e-reader-like platform. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can it be as enjoyable as the real books?

I've tried a couple on android tablets and they're okay like that. E-readers... maybe, but then it would be more a classic choose your own adventure I'd guess (rather than "interactive fiction").

* * * * *

...this is actually related to a question that was brought up as well - is it possible to make such a game compatible with screen reading software etc for the visually impaired?
We could maybe have the whole thing narrated - but the cost may become prohibitive - and it would veer from the format we want. On the other hand we dont want to leave out a whole bunch of people that may otherwise enjoy the game / adventure.

Oh, I'm sorry. I got the impression that you intended the more "booky" kind of adventure game.
However, now that I think about it, you could use links for the verbs and nouns. So a more Interactive Fiction game could be made... I'll keep this idea in mind for future projects.

I have played briefly with a text-to-speech system (espeak, free software).
I'd say it is very doable. Just don't expect a stellar performance. I'd expect that it would only be used by those who need it, as opposed to a real narration.
But don't forget that you will need to adjust your entire interface for people with disabilities. But go for it! That is a market that is ignored too often, unfortunately.

cheers.

yeah it was brought up when I remembered a friend of mine (highly visually impaired, also partially deaf) who complained about some common software that has utterly no inbuilt functionality for those with sensory issues, so figured it was worth thinking on.

I suppose the other option would be to convert everything to interactive pdf format - but then that kinda removes the point in making a "game" for pc in the first place.

Might sit on it until we have some kind of working mockup and get him to test both - if we at least allow adjustable font sizes, then those under the "legally blind" spectrum might be able to use it, and we can consider maybe a pure audio version later on. There are quite a few ways around it I suppose.

* * * * *

Good news - I can fill you all in a little more about the game now as we've done enough early background concepts / development etc to give some idea of whats going on.

So the basic idea is the exploration of a disused / mothballed cold war facility (though with the timeline we've made it does in fact predate WW2 in some ways) that has been repurposed for varying things over the years regarding shifts in international / political / military affairs, yet has not strayed immensly far from its initial goals. We intend to add an amount of dystopic / conspiracy to the lore / content / "plot" - but not quite going as far as the weird corners of youtube do - we want it to be a fairly believeable thing.

Obviously, as I've already stated, it will be an illustrated text / "choose your own" adventure. There wont be any RPG elements (at the time of writing this). Emphasis will be placed on atmosphere and "sci-feasible" as far as the content goes (you have no idea of how much stuff I've had to research thus far regarding cold war experimental research paths, weapons, bunker planning, M.A.D. protocols etc etc etc - thankfully I'm well situated for that kind of thing).
We plan to make the final product easily affordable (pretty much the budget end of gaming) and (of course) DRM FREE. We'll probably do a beta release for testing etc, but I doubt we'll go the early access route.

One feature we hope to add is a map system (semi-randomised) that will serve to facilitate the gameplay and help provide a feeling of freshness for additional playthroughs.

Hopefully that will give you some idea of where we're going, and I havent been too garbled (still under NDA of course, so can only say so much - feel free to ask any questions though and I'll answer as I can).

Sounds fun!

Have some fun building it. And let us know when it's ready for release!

Thanks for the update Sachys.

GOGbears eating my posts again - not good after a lengthy reply to both of you.

So, the short version:

TA!

Neglected to mention a few things - including:

100s of randomised documents (already written 60 in the last week, so by that rate and cutting out the crap, there will be quite a lot in a few months time) you can potentially find / read / maybe make use of in certain situations. We want the majority of these to be randomised, with a few "plot-centric" ones you can always find.

A basic inventory system. Have an item that might help you - get additional options. Don't have it? - take the long way around the problem. trying to avoid the "player punishment" there, while also rewarding some clue hunters.

Voice acted, professionally produced audio logs etc that you can also find.

Player death / bad endings will be somewhat optional - still figuring this ine out, but I figure an easy mode with a "go back two pages" kinda thing and a hard mode with a full on permadeath type scenario may balance things a bit.

Still need a programmer though - but Failbetter games (Sunless Sea / Fallen London) posted an interesting link earlier regarding some kind of convention / meetup in London for interactive fiction. Can't make it myself, but will attempt to send a spy! ;D

What's the latest?

I think Zeogold would be interested in this.

Both of these sound, excuse me, potentially extremely annoying.

1. If I can find 100s of documents, but only a few of them have any impact on the story or puzzles, and I have no way to distinguish between the two kinds of documents, I'll quickly stop playing. It would necessitate meticulously reading and remembering everything in case it was important, and lead to tons of wild goose chases following "clues" from documents that actually have nothing worthwile to contribute.

2. Sounds like a punishment for OCD players who want to see all the content. For any given puzzle solution, how can you know if there was another solution? You'd have to play through the game oodles of times, trying a bazillion different things.

I started writing a fairly long post about advice, but it seems like you guys have already got a decent handle on things. I dunno why you call it a "text adventure" because what you're describing ain't it. At the point where it has voice acting and illustration, I say it qualifies as an actual adventure game. As much as I wish I could've joined your team, seems a bit late for me. If you don't mind letting me in on some of the finer points, you can PM me in order to make sure nobody else gets your valuable secrets and I can give you quite a few tips.

I have to agree heavily with this guy. A lot of content is nice, but for adventure games, this isn't always the case. Most adventure gamers (like myself) like to be able to enjoy every little detail that the developer put in. Having "100s of randomized documents" sounds like a fairly bad idea, as we'd spend half the time irritatedly trying to hunt down every single document just to get the full content.
This was the issue I had with Botanicula. While the entire game was nigh-perfect, two major issues were dragging it down:
- The lack of level select
I mean, come on, it's such a beautiful game, I want to be able to go back to any point and enjoy it over again. There's fairly clear-defined "stages" in the game (or, rather, points that, if reached, ensure that you cannot go backwards), so why not make it available to choose to go to them after the game's beaten? You're telling me that if I didn't save, I can't do it again? This wouldn't be so bad, except for:
- The creature cards
While a fun feature, and a clever little mechanic encouraging you to explore everything the developers hid and enjoy the world of the game more, it was fairly irritating to get all those cards and only realize at the end that I missed some of them. This wouldn't be so bad were I able to go back to the level where I missed it and search again, but nope, not possible. You don't get to even see where the level/area the card is missing from, nor do you know what's missing. I basically had to play the game a second time to get all the cards, which wasn't bad, but just a little irritating.

On the subject of your game, my guess is that most people will do one of three things:
A. Don't bother looking for all the documents
B. Begrudgingly hunt down every single documents
C. Look up a guide online where somebody listed out/took screenshots of all the documents

People who did A will enjoy the game more than people who did C, and people who did B will likely be kind of angry. The people in A will be equally angry if the documents explain any of the story or even add to the backstory of the characters in any way, even if only a small amount. Even if the rest of the game was excellent, that might drag down their overall opinion. People are finicky, and if they have a smooth ride the entire time but encounter a few bumps at the end, all that will stick out in their mind is those bumps. Personally, I'm encountered a few games like this, and I'm in the C category.
My advice to you is you do one of the following:
A. Not have so many documents
B. Make them really generic
C. Make all of them accessible in some bonus features/extras section, or at least all of them that the player has encountered