Agreed tom, though judging from what is happening with current publications
I don't think it's the case that people are forgetting about actual paper
books.
it's actually slightly annoying from an access perspective, sinse currently
all of the lone wolf books with extra content are being republished, as are
the original fighting fantasy series, however the companies involved aren't
making electronic (or accessible), versions available, and those are really
the land mark series.
On the Iphone however, a lot of newer gamebook authors are starting up
series as applications, not associated with the originals. Hopefully in the
future this might lead flying buffalow or mongoose publishing to the idea of
electronic versions of the classic books, but possibly not (not with the way
the current publishing industry is desperate to keep publishing off the
internet).
Either way though, it's extremely good gamebooks are coming back in, and I
fully intend to explore options when i get an Iphone.
In the mean time of course, there are still the extremely good stuff on the
net such as chronicles of arborell, the ff project and project aon.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 12:27 AM
Subject: [Audyssey] Gamebooks was Inspector Cindy mystery games.
Hi Dark,
To be honest I'm not too surprised about that. Paper and pen gamebooks
were fun back in the day when they were popular, and I think this
generation has forgotten that low tech games like gamebooks can be just as
entertaining as the flashiest video game on the market. I['m rediscovering
that fact myself.
Although, its not technically a gamebook per say I do remember spending
hours of time reading and rereading the Choose your Own Adventure books
that were popular in the 80's. Like a gamebook it took several times
through the book before I discovered all the possible endings, and all the
variations on the same story. I spent many hours in my bedroom with the
lamp switched on reading through those books. I think I had at least
twenty of those books on my bookcase. :D
Gamebooks were just as fun, if not more so, because as you went through
the story you could roll dice to determine something random in the game,
and then write down your progress on a sheet of paper much like a person
does in a table top roll playing game. Sure, it is very low tech, but they
were quite fun and didn'trequire an expensive computer or special console
to play. You and a friend could sit at the kitchen table playing those
gamebooks all day long taking turns reading the story and rolling stats
etc.
Lately I've been getting back into interactive fiction as well as
gamebooks in part because they are some of the games that are playable on
Linux, but I've rediscovered how fun and entertaining they are. I can sit
at my laptop on a quiet evening, fire up my web browser, read the gamebook
with my screen reader, take notes in my favorite text editer, and roll
dice with a simple dice rolling program. More importantly than the
simplicity of such games is that I feel connected to the story and game
world. Everything is describede in some detail from the large wooden door
at the end of the hall with a brass plate on it to the burning candle or
torch in the holder on the wall. Its the closest we'll ever get to
videogame graphics, and since we can't see pictures having a detailed text
description at least gives us the sensation of sight, touch, and smell.
I think any sighted user would enjoy it to, because they can imagine in
their head what this or that might look like. Instead of looking at a
graphic of the thing it forces or allows them to use their mind to fill in
the image. ALayering extra sensations like touch and smell helps complete
the picture and makes the game more lifelike. Plus if they are a big
reader like me having a good story and being able to interact with its
outcome is a big bonus.
Cheers!
On 5/9/2012 7:18 PM, dark wrote:
Hi Tom.
I'll also add that interestingly enough, there's something of a gamebook
revival going on at the moment. All the classical original fighting
fantasy books are being reprinted, as are new editions of the Lone wolf
books with extra content, ---- though sadly I've not heard anything of
electronic versions.
On the plus side, there are various companies writing gamebook aps for
the Iphone. One of these, starbreed I know to have access problems
annoyingly, but there are several others, see the links on
www.arborell.com for details, which is one reason why I'm myself very
keen to try an iphone, sinse I'm a huge fan of that style of game, and
intend to do more serious writing of them myself as and when my phd is
finished.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
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