A while ago I created a Mastodon bot that posts random text adventure scenarios and allows people to interact with them by replying to the posts:

=> https://mastodon.sandwich.net/@xyzzy

I've always wanted to develop the concept further. After playing some of the interactive maze/dungeon games on Gemini, like Mouse Maze and Maze of Murders, I've started putting together a little proof of concept to tinker with. Semi-roguelike, with some combat but mainly focusing on interaction and discovery. This'll probably take a long time before being ready, but I thought I'd mention it.

=> Posted in: s/smolgaming | ☯️ dragfyre

2024-12-15 · 7 weeks ago · 👍 lanterm, Grubdog, mitgedanken

5 Comments ↓

=> ✈️ Grubdog · Dec 16 at 01:38:

Good luck with that! Where would we play this when finished, if I may ask?

=> ☯️ dragfyre [OP] · Dec 16 at 02:58:

@Grubdog No clue yet! I might host it on my main capsule (gemini://gem.bahai.fyi/) but I was hoping to find a different place for it.

=> ☯️ dragfyre [OP] · Dec 19 at 14:19:

The following are now implemented: dungeon/maze generation, minimap, objects, furniture, NPCs. You can interact with these, e.g. sit on furniture, pick up/drop/throw objects, talk to NPCs, eat food, quaff beverages. Other commands so far include movement, reading and writing, listening, searching for hidden passages, and of course looking at things. I figured out how to handle noun phrases too, woohoo! This is fun.

=> ☯️ dragfyre [OP] · Dec 24 at 11:02:

Oh boy, this is getting big haha. What does the game look like now? We have all of the aforementioned, along with dungeon maps, randomized newspapers and magazines, putting things on/in/under other things, sitting and sleeping, NPC inventory, and better and more useful conversations with NPCs. We also have NPC "feelings" - that is, you can do things to make NPCs like you or hate you. If they like you they'll give you hints and help you, and if they hate you they'll snub you. And this is all before making it ready for CGI...

=> — /u/dragfyre/image/371.png

=> ☯️ dragfyre [OP] · Jan 01 at 12:47:

OK, so I went a little nuts and wrote up a whole document's worth of lore, as a way of outlining for myself what needs to be done. We got legendary relics, we got creatures, we got stats and incapacitation and death and so on. We've even got an outline of different kinds of runs that are possible. I suspect I'm having delusions of grandeur here, but time will tell I suppose.

As for what's new since the last comment: I refactored the object and npc catalog; fixed up the minimap and made it show only visited rooms (hat-tip to Maze of Murders); improved room generation so that containers spawn with objects in them (ex. a fridge has food in it); and added secret passageways within the maze, nicknames and NPC names, breakable items, an encyclopedia to identify items, a bulletin board, and mysterious potions.

=> — /u/dragfyre/image/377.png