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Can games today be done without graphics?

Started by August 15, 2005 10:55 PM
28 comments, last by Kest 19 years, 5 months ago
Quote:
Original post by kmccusker
I don't see why not.

When I first started programming, I created an all text game of hangman. At the time I was volunteering at an elementary school, tutoring kids K-5. Hangman was a favorite, the kids loved it, and it was a great way to introduce them to computers and games. Not one of them ever mentioned graphics.
It was not a great way to introduce children, notably in kindergarden, to the computer and games...not to mention, their "love" was and is not true love in such an instance. Hanging another human-being and a very putrid and atrocious act.
Would you play rape-and-murder-man ? I hope not.

While I think text for muds and descriptions is fine, I think using ascii as sprites is dead. Truly, there is no reason you can't use an 16*16 16 color sprite instead (only 128 bytes each w/o compression), and you could have a hundred times more expression using such than using one of 256 8*16 pre-defined characters. I don't mind low-tech graphics, but truly I find a "@" much less expressive than a sprite of a green blob with eyes for an orc.
"Walk not the trodden path, for it has borne it's burden." -John, Flying Monk
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Quote:
Original post by verdad
Quote:
Original post by kmccusker
I don't see why not.

When I first started programming, I created an all text game of hangman. At the time I was volunteering at an elementary school, tutoring kids K-5. Hangman was a favorite, the kids loved it, and it was a great way to introduce them to computers and games. Not one of them ever mentioned graphics.
It was not a great way to introduce children, notably in kindergarden, to the computer and games...not to mention, their "love" was and is not true love in such an instance. Hanging another human-being and a very putrid and atrocious act.
Would you play rape-and-murder-man ? I hope not.


i can't stop laughing. but seriously, haven't you ever played hangman on the chalkboard at school before?
Quote:
Original post by Anonymous PosterBut sometimes, it is impossible to represent something without pictures. How can you have a FPS using a text prompt?
Two ways:

http://loonyboi.com/if/quake/screenshots.htm
http://webpages.mr.net/bobz/ttyquake/ss/TTYQuakeStart.html

I guess the first one is a bit mor valid since you specifically wrote "text *prompt*."


Back on topic. I'd say it's hard to 'sell' a game without graphics unless it's completely audio based. Still, an enticing logo of some sort would be needed, and text layouts are rarely as strong as graphical ones.

Our ears are 'faster' at detecting a sound change than our eyes are at detecting a visual change. Hearing also follows many seperate sounds simultaneously (though not fully recognizing all of it.) We convey most of our information in games through graphics, however, using audio for entertainment, filler, realism, and finally for information that we can't convey through graphics. The only genre I can think of that uses audio for information on a regular basis and above other purposes are First Person Shooters. Hmm, maybe Racing as well, but it's not a genre I ever got into.
If you create it for free of charge, then yes. I've seen many text-based web MMORPG's with 1000+ users on them, most of them who are HS students who can't get past the school's web filter, so they play the only games that aren't blocked, the ones that don't stand out to Network Admins ;)
---------------------------------The Shadow Sun - Want Your Writing Exposed?
I was talking about using graphics, so using text as graphics is cheating. :P
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Screenshots of my upcoming online text game:

http://www.epicpermana.com/affects.PNG
http://www.epicpermana.com/combat.PNG
http://www.epicpermana.com/combat2.PNG
http://www.epicpermana.com/minimap.PNG
http://www.epicpermana.com/lumberjack.png
Quote:
Original post by Daniel Miller
I was talking about using graphics, so using text as graphics is cheating. :P

It looks like this is your first post in this thread. Where were you talking about it?

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