Forgotten Island (TALP)

Forgotten Island - a text adventure

Text Adventure games are a genre of video games in which the player interacts with the simulated game world using textual commands.  The game usually describes a location or situation, the player tells the game how they wish to interact with the world, and the story then continues.

 This game was created as an entry for the TALP 2022 Jam.  

Text Adventure Literacy Project (TALP)

The TALP project aims to make it easy to teach the next generation how to play these games. Absolute beginners are guided along with lessons delivered in-game, as they play.  A major goal is to help improve literacy via interactive fiction.  Simple verb/noun pairs, such as "pet wolf" or "take money",  are used to make games accessible, yet TALP  games can be enjoyed by all ages.

A Physical Keyboard is Recommended

Typing is required.   Unfortunately, if you dismiss the virtual keyboard on various touchscreen devices it can sometimes be very hard to get it back.  Sometimes re-opening the game helps.  For this reason a physical keyboard is recommended.

How to Play

Here are some common commands:

• NORTH / EAST / SOUTH / WEST / UP / DOWN  - Moves you to a new location.
  
• LOOK OBJECT - Closely examine an object (e.g. wolf, flower, etc) for additional information or clues.
• GET OBJECT - Pick up an object for later
• INVENTORY or I - See a list of everything in your inventory.
• ACHIEVE - See special in game achievements 
  
• TALK OBJECT - Talk to various people or creatures inside the game
• LOAD / SAVE - Load or save the current game.
• QUIT - Restart the game from the beginning.
• HELP - View a list of the basic commands.

If you've never played a text adventure before please do say YES to the in-game tutorial.  It takes perhaps 5 minutes and will introduce you to all the basic commands as you play the game. (ie,  you're not just setting there reading a boring manual) 

Credits and Much Thanks To

• This game was created with the Adventuron game engine.  Thanks Chris!
• Very special thanks to those who play-tested the game along the way and provided feedback: Rhiannon, the Messick Family, Dee Cooke, Tristin Grizel Dean, and Chris Ainsley.
• The music is all thanks to Shane Iver of Silverman Sound Studios. 
  • Songs used include: Fantasy Overture, Helena's Lament, Janus Turning, Underglow, Zen Garden, and I Domino.
• The cover graphic is thanks to Unsplash.

Game Design

The game design and story are by Josh Goebel, an independent programmer/consultant with an interest in micro-fiction and retro gaming (amongst many other things).

• GitHub
• Instagram
• short works of fiction
• e-mail me