[games_access] Are there already interactive novels/books?

[Barrie Ellis]

Great answer, John. 

Some of the fledgling accessibility switch work I did in the mid 90's was based around interactive "Fighting Fantasy" books (see a bit here: http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/1/gamebooks.htm).

I wrote a switch accessible dice programme, and Yes/No selection system to enable some physically and learning disabled adults I worked for to take part in interactive stories I read out loud. Sometimes we themed these in our sensory room, with appropriate lighting, music and sound effects. Great fun.

I know Ian Livingstone has just written a new Fighting Fantasy book for the 30th anniversary of his first co-written book, Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982. There's some interesting stuff on 1970's text adventures, and MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) - the first ever multi-player on-line RPG - which was started in Essex University (my home county): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD  

Yes, I'm a massive geek!

Barrie
 

--------------------------------------------------
From: "John Porter" <jrporter at uw.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 5:11 PM
To: "'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'" <games_access at igda.org>
Subject: Re: [games_access] Are there already interactive novels/books?


> Choose Your Own Adventure books, or "gamebooks," have been around for

> decades, though admittedly they fell out of popularity in the 1990s. These

> were second- or third-person branching narratives where the reader was faced

> with decisions at key points. Depending on the choices they make, they would

> turn to the appropriate page to read the outcome. I'm not sure how

> successful the attempts have been, but I know several publishers have been

> trying to reignite interest in the genre within the last couple years by

> releasing CYOAs as iOS apps.

> 

> Also, in many ways, the text adventure can be thought of as the spiritual

> successor of these books. The medium is obviously very different (a computer

> program instead of a paper book) and there is a much higher degree of

> interactivity (i.e. free-form wayfinding, item management, environment

> interaction etc.) than just making "A or B" decisions. That said, the

> fundamental nature of the experience is very much in line with what the

> early CYOAs were going for.

> 

> -John

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: games_access-bounces at igda.org [mailto:games_access-bounces at igda.org]

> On Behalf Of Sandra Uhling

> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 8:54 AM

> To: 'IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List'

> Subject: [games_access] Are there already interactive novels/books?

> 

> Hello,

> 

> are there already interactive novels/books?

> For example interactive audio drama?

> 

> Best regards,

> Sandra

> 

> _______________________________________________

> games_access mailing list

> games_access at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access

> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org

> 

> _______________________________________________

> games_access mailing list

> games_access at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access

> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/games_access/attachments/20120307/047ee3c4/attachment.htm>