Hi Tom.
I agree on the online game, but i don't think it's so illogical that people
won't pay for a game offline that uses text.
A stand alone text game promises no upgrades to the game, and no interaction
with other players. Much as I dislike it myself, pvp and co op play are very
popular and are the reason many people play brouser based games and muds.
On the matter of upgrades though, I myself would probably think the same,
sinse a game like alterean or sryth always promises expantion and something
new to do or somwehre new to explore (why I like alterean myself), where as
a stand alone game is just that, stand alone.
then again, gamebooks are always! stand alone, and electronic versions of
those are now becoming popular and being sold commercially on the iphone, so
this miight not apply as much anymore.
the html vs stand alone debate is an interesting one.
As I've said, i began with brouser games like ashes of angels and legend of
the greend ragon quite a long while before I tried interactive fiction or
audio games. As someone only just getting used to computers myself at that
stage, they suted me well sinse they were very quick and immediate to play
and just required webpage naviigation.
Also these days, people can play such things on iphones, or from anywhere
they happen to be.
On the other hand, a server based game does have the advantage of a unique
interface and being able to add sounds far more easily as well as having
hotkeys and probably being easier in terms of the command interface.
Then again, i don't know how easy it would be to update such a game with new
areas. muds like alterean and materiamagica do this well, but I'm less csure
of a custome game, where as obviously with an html game it's just a matter
of writing new pages and hooking in the php for monsters and stat tracking.
I must confess, creating an html rpg was always something I wanted to do,
and in fact I have a very complete system in mind in my brain which i'd love
to program at some point.
Btw, as an interesting idea though, not all games have accounts and log in
info, though obviously you'd need that if you wanted people to pay for the
game.
Age of fable on http://www.apolitical.info/webgame/index.php?mode=0 has no
account info at all, and in fact plays far more like a gamebook than the
usual rpg (it even has a distinct plot and ending though it keeps getting
expanded too).
you can play as many different types of character, there are stats to roll,
and though there is no combat as such, there are items and quests etc,
despite the fact that the interface, and I presume the coding is fairly
syple.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
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