i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.
there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.
anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.
A Better World - create an alternate history timeline
Alter Ego - abandonware birth-to-death life simulator game
Seedship - text-based game about colonizing a new planet
Sandboxels or ThisIsSand - free-falling sand physics games
Little Alchemy 2 - combine various elements to make new ones
Infinite Craft - kind of the same as Little Alchemy
Written Realms - more text adventure games with a user interface
The Cafe & Diner - mystery game
The New Campaign Trail - US presidential campaign game
Money Simulator - simulate financial decisions
Genesis - text-based adventure/fantasy game
Level 13 - text-based science fiction adventure game
Miniconomy - player driven economy game
Checkbox Olympics - games involving clicking checkboxes
BrantSteele.net - game show and Hunger Games simulators
Murder Games - fight to the death simulator by Orteil
Cookie Clicker - different but felt weird not including it. by Orteil.
if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.
since this post blew up, i've been wanting to do an addition with all of the recommendations from the comments and tags. but there's a lot of them. some people might be crazy enough to sit down and seriously put them all in one post with descriptions. those people are honestly sick in the head.
anyway, here's all of the recommendations from the reblogs. not all of them are text-based, but it's a great mixture of styles. also don't forget the links in the second paragraph of the OP which will take you to FMHY where there are a bunch more games listed.
Games
A Dark Room - text-based science fiction role-playing game.
corru.observer - science fiction adventure web game.
Improbable Island - old-school text adventure game.
Candy Box 2 - incremental clicker game that evolves into RPG.
Arcanum - open source wizard clicker game.
sandspiel, Powder Game, Powder Game 2, The Powder Toy - more sand physics games.
Orb.Farm - fishtank simulator.
Façade - experimental game with a real-time interactive narrative where you try to fix a failing marriage.
The Catacombs of Solaris - trippy art game.
Yume Nikki Online - online version of the surreal classic plus fangames.
The Barncle Goose Experiment - combine element/alchemy game based on antique theories of abiogenesis.
Fallen London - free-to-play text-based open world RPG.
Nested - very unique text-based universe expanding game. described as possibly @orteil42's favorite thing he's ever made.
The Process of Elimination - interactive web novel (by @hypertextdog)
Discworld MUD - multiplayer, text-based, online game (a MUD, or text MMORPG) based on the Discworld books.
Horse Master - surreal text game about training a horse.
EYEZMAZE - flash (RIP) or HTML5-based puzzle games.
You Are Jeff Bezos - text game. spend Jeff Bezos' fortune.
The Password Game - challenging puzzle game where you have to meet password requirements (by neal)
Universal Paperclips - incremental paperclip making game.
Half-Earth - planetary disaster planning game where you try to save the world using socialism.
ChooseYourStory - community-driven website centered on CYOA style story games.
PhD Simulator - random event based text game. make your choice each month and see if you can graduate on time.
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup - open source roguelike.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - turn-based survival roguelike set in the modern day.
Nethack - open source roguelike originally released in 1987.
Kingdom of Loathing - browser-based community MMORPG.
PokeRogue - browser-based Pokemon roguelike
Tools
Text Game Builder - works in your browser, with just a little bit of Python (by @grumpygandalf)
Twine - great (free!) tool for making text-based games quickly.
Ink - scripting language for interactive fiction (also free)
Flashpoint Archive - a community effort to preserve games and animations from the web.
PICO-8 - fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs.
Non-Games
Library of Babel - interactive illustration which attempts to simulate what it might be like to browse The Library of Babel.
Superbad - technically not a game, sprawling website full of secrets.
17776 - serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative about football in the far-future. beautiful, creative, legendary. created by Jon Bois, a legend and one of my favorite writers of all time.
Choice of Games - text-based, choose-your-own-adventure games (interactive fiction). some free-to-play, others can be bought like an ebook.
The Deep Sea - scroll to the bottom of the ocean. encounter the humble squid and his friends (by neal)
Space Elevator - like The Deep Sea, but up instead of down. you can equip your avatar with a scarf (by neal)
Internet Artifacts - an interactive history of the early internet (by neal)
If The Moon Were Only One Pixel - scroll through an accurately scaled model of the universe.
r/incremental_games - reddit community for incremental games.
r/WebGames - reddit community for web games in general.
thank you to everyone who contributed and the creators. please be sure to show them some love where possible.
January 13 ● Full Moon in Cancer (Wolf Moon)
January 29 ● New Moon in Aquarius
February 2 ● Imbolc
February 12 ● Full Moon in Leo (Snow Moon)
February 27 ● New Moon in Pisces
March 14 ● Full Moon in Virgo (Worm Moon)
March 15-April 7 ● Mercury Retrograde
March 20 ● Ostara
March 29 ● New Moon in Aries
April 12 ● Full Moon in Libra (Pink Moon)
April 27 ● New Moon in Taurus
May 1 ● Beltane
May 12 ● Full Moon in Scorpio (Flower Moon)
May 26 ● New Moon in Gemini
June 11 ● Full Moon in Sagittarius (Strawberry Moon)
June 20 ● Litha
June 25 ● New Moon in Cancer
July 10 ● Full Moon in Capricorn (Buck Moon)
July 18-August 11 ● Mercury Retrograde
July 24 ● New Moon in Leo
August 1 ● Lammas
August 9 ● Full Moon in Aquarius (Corn Moon)
August 23 ● New Moon in Leo
September 7 ● Full Moon in Pisces (Harvest Moon)
September 21 ● New Moon in Virgo
September 22 ● Mabon
October 6 ● Full Moon in Aries (Hunter's Moon)
October 21 ● New Moon in Libra
October 31 ● Samhain
November 5 ● Full Moon in Taurus (Beaver Moon)
November 9-November 29 ● Mercury in Retrograde
November 20 ● New Moon in Scorpio
December 4 ● Full Moon in Gemini (Cold Moon)
December 19 ● New Moon in Sagittarius
December 21 ● Yule
I believe in free education, one that’s available to everyone; no matter their race, gender, age, wealth, etc… This masterpost was created for every knowledge hungry individual out there. I hope it will serve you well. Enjoy!
FREE ONLINE COURSES (here are listed websites that provide huge variety of courses)
Alison
Coursera
FutureLearn
open2study
Khan Academy
edX
P2P U
Academic Earth
iversity
Stanford Online
MIT Open Courseware
Open Yale Courses
BBC Learning
OpenLearn
Carnegie Mellon University OLI
University of Reddit
Saylor
IDEAS, INSPIRATION & NEWS (websites which deliver educational content meant to entertain you and stimulate your brain)
TED
FORA
Big Think
99u
BBC Future
Seriously Amazing
How Stuff Works
Discovery News
National Geographic
Science News
Popular Science
IFLScience
YouTube Edu
NewScientist
DIY & HOW-TO’S (Don’t know how to do that? Want to learn how to do it yourself? Here are some great websites.)
wikiHow
Wonder How To
instructables
eHow
Howcast
MAKE
Do it yourself
FREE TEXTBOOKS & E-BOOKS
OpenStax CNX
Open Textbooks
Bookboon
Textbook Revolution
E-books Directory
FullBooks
Books Should Be Free
Classic Reader
Read Print
Project Gutenberg
AudioBooks For Free
LibriVox
Poem Hunter
Bartleby
MIT Classics
Many Books
Open Textbooks BCcampus
Open Textbook Library
WikiBooks
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES & JOURNALS
Directory of Open Access Journals
Scitable
PLOS
Wiley Open Access
Springer Open
Oxford Open
Elsevier Open Access
ArXiv
Open Access Library
LEARN:
1. LANGUAGES
Duolingo
BBC Languages
Learn A Language
101languages
Memrise
Livemocha
Foreign Services Institute
My Languages
Surface Languages
Lingualia
OmniGlot
OpenCulture’s Language links
2. COMPUTER SCIENCE & PROGRAMMING
Codecademy
Programmr
GA Dash
CodeHS
w3schools
Code Avengers
Codelearn
The Code Player
Code School
Code.org
Programming Motherf*?$%#
Bento
Bucky’s room
WiBit
Learn Code the Hard Way
Mozilla Developer Network
Microsoft Virtual Academy
3. YOGA & MEDITATION
Learning Yoga
Learn Meditation
Yome
Free Meditation
Online Meditation
Do Yoga With Me
Yoga Learning Center
4. PHOTOGRAPHY & FILMMAKING
Exposure Guide
The Bastards Book of Photography
Cambridge in Color
Best Photo Lessons
Photography Course
Production Now
nyvs
Learn About Film
Film School Online
5. DRAWING & PAINTING
Enliighten
Ctrl+Paint
ArtGraphica
Google Cultural Institute
Drawspace
DragoArt
WetCanvas
6. INSTRUMENTS & MUSIC THEORY
Music Theory
Teoria
Music Theory Videos
Furmanczyk Academy of Music
Dave Conservatoire
Petrucci Music Library
Justin Guitar
Guitar Lessons
Piano Lessons
Zebra Keys
Play Bass Now
7. OTHER UNCATEGORIZED SKILLS
Investopedia
The Chess Website
Chesscademy
Chess.com
Spreeder
ReadSpeeder
First Aid for Free
First Aid Web
NHS Choices
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Please feel free to add more learning focused websites.
*There are a lot more learning websites out there, but I picked the ones that are, as far as I’m aware, completely free and in my opinion the best/ most useful.
I would normally never do this and I normally avoid all political posting, but the FDA has had to stop a lot of food testing due to staff cuts currently planned at least until September 30th.
This is very dangerous for certain foods and if you live in the United States, I highly recommend that you keep track of this list: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-modernization-act-fsma/food-traceability-list
That is a (not fully comprehensive but useful) list of the high-risk foods for contamination and sickness that could result in serious harm or death. The broad strokes are cheeses, but especially soft cheeses, raw/fresh vegetables, pre-sliced fruit packages, ready to eat salads, chicken eggs, milk (bird flu), anything fermented like melons, and pet food, among others.
This is likely not a comprehensive list, so be sure to look things up yourself as well.
If you buy vegetables and plan to eat them, it is best to cook them to a safe temperature and wash their outsides well with water and light scrubbing instead of eating them raw. Treat it like chicken in that regard.
Make sure that the individual foods that you buy often are safe to eat or at risk, and adjust accordingly. This is a fundamental necessity that everyone here will need to follow. Testing is reduced or gone, and reporting on outbreaks will also likely be reduced or banned outright as well.
All you can do is stay safe, use your masks in public again, and make sure that you are clean as well as your food.
Attached below are more tips for vegetables, meat safety should be the same, just be more vigilant.
I love you all and don't want any of you hurt. Let's all support each other, thank you.
Hopefully surprising utterly no one, these are pretty much the exact fucking food handling rules we abide by in professional cooking. My room temperature for three days lard eating Aunt is immune because she ate that shit as a child during WWII. We ain't built the same nor is the food supply chain.
I’m sure everyone has seen these 100 Challenge thingies on the Interwebs before. I’ve decided to do a Dragon Age-themed one, and thought I’d share the prompts I’m using.
If anyone wants to do this, the instructions are pretty simple: Just draw a picture or write a one-shot, poem, short story, etc. for each prompt, interpreting it however you wish. They don’t have to be in order and the drawings can be as sketchy or finished as you like.
I’m sure that these prompts could be applied to other fandoms as well (only a couple are really Dragon Age-specific).
Something like this would be so colossally helpful. I'm sick and tired of trying to research specific clothing from any given culture and being met with either racist stereotypical costumes worn by yt people or ai generated garbage nonsense, and trying to be hyper specific with searches yields fuck all. Like I generally just cannot trust the legitimacy of most search results at this point. It's extremely frustrating. If there are good resources for this then they're buried deep under all the other bullshit, and idk where to start looking.
another addition as far as physical media goes there is the encyclopedia of national dress (that i still need to buy myself bc this kind of thing is super important to my sort of fantasy designing) but yes i do agree i wish there was EVEN MORE documentation on this
i finished playing Veilguard and started a new character.
Mourn Watch Rook's backstory is kinda metal. 'Discovered by undead in a necropolis as an infant and raised by a bunch of necromancers'. She's gonna be such a weird person, I love her already.
a thousand iterations of this joke have already been made but i dont think ill ever get over the fact that varric inexplicably includes the awkward bioware sexy cutscenes in his story
“da2 is a story being told by varric” yea ok but why is it also erotic fanfiction about his friends. like at this point hes gotta owe hawke royalties, right ??
re: hurricane helene
hey, y'all.
so... immense survivor's guilt, subsequent depression and an overall helpless malaise has made my presence on tumblr here weaker during this horrific time.
but there's nothing like some good ol appalachian rage to light a fire under the proverbial ass so i'm back to push back on some of the bullshit i keep seeing get spread about what's happening in the aftermath of hurricane helene, and in western north carolina especially.
appalachia has always been low hanging fruit for the rest of the nation, and now that disaster has struck and we are even more vulnerable than we have been in a long, long time, bad actors are using us as a way to further their political bullshit and conspiracies.
please use some of the cited-information below the cut to push back on and educate any family members, friends or otherwise when you see them spreading misinformation. now is your chance to help appalachia, no matter where you are in the united states.
myths, rumors and other flavors of horseshit regarding hurricane helene debunked under the cut. please reblog.
Let me just get my heart out of the way before we get into the nitty gritty, cause I got things to say.
#1: "Why should we help these people? They get these storms there all the time. They didn't move away or do anything to prepare for this, and now it's our responsibility?"
These storms are not at all commonplace. For much of this area, especially WNC, this level of flooding and damage--spanning an area the size of Belgium between NC and TN--is largely unprecedented.
Growing up, we get told our mountains protect us, that they shield us from the really bad, and that's because historically, they have. Hurricanes blow through, and they bring with them hella wind and rain, but nothing like this.
We do not have the infrastructure for this, physical or otherwise. So many of our homes, businesses and everything in between have been standing for more than a century, unkept and brittle. Dams are breaking or near breaking because they are not meant to hold this kind of water. Our roads tend to follow creeks and rivers and thereby have been completely washed out.
Keep in mind that in the individual hollers, and in most of these small mountain towns, we only got one road. You go up holler one way, and you don't come out the other side of it; you leave the way you came because it's the only path to take.
We are not built for this. We were not ready for this. We could not have prepared for this.
And even if by some miracle we all received some premonition about this disaster, telling us to "just move" is NEVER the answer to vulnerable people living in volatile environments, especially ones as impoverished as Appalachia.
Fuck you.
#2 "Appalachians are lazy and just want handouts, anyway."
First off--which one is it? Are we poor, pitiful fodder for concern trolls who deserve more than we're getting, or are we lazy, needy, greedy people who deserve to rot? Can't have both.
Second off--we been hearing that about us since the dawn of time. Wasn't true then, ain't true now.
Appalachia has been verifiably exploited as long as there have been people to exploit, but that is a topic long since discussed here.
We don't WANT anything. We NEED it.
Alongside the aid coming in through donations, official search and rescue and organized volunteer services, much of the boots on the ground are Appalachians themselves!! We take care of our own, and it's always been that way.
They got people on foot hiking up into the hollers to bring supplies to cut-off communities. They got pack mules passing otherwise impassable roads where no car nor other vehicle can tread to get lifesaving necessities to the hollers. Look around, and you'll find countless stories.
Just in my personal circle alone, I got a sister bringing supplies up by foot, and her hiking group is moving through so much toxic mud that the soles of their fucking boots are melting. I got a brother in law taking chainsaws to downed trees to clear the path for supply deliveries. I got another sister meeting friends of mine at the state line to collect donations and distribute them by hand to counties all over WNC.
We can do this, but we can't do it alone.
#3 "It's a conspiracy/It's not that widespread outside of Asheville because we don't see pictures of anywhere else."
It's happening. It's fucking happening.
You don't see pictures because many of us don't have reliable cell service right now, let alone wifi. Hell, even in perfect weather there's a joke that you better have a friend with a cell phone from each provider when you go out because only one of you is getting service at any given time in any given place.
There is no way to document this from the inside for many folks at this point in time, and there is NO WAY IN from the outside.
As I mentioned--you got one road leading up the holler. That road is now gone. No one is making it up the mountain to take pictures of these horrific scenes, y'all. If they're going up the mountain its to care for their neighbors, to bring supplies to individuals and entire communities so isolated by the devastation that the only way they can be reached is on foot (or hoof!).
Which also brings me to my next counterargument: "Nothing is being done to help."
#4 "Volunteers are being turned away/Donations are being confiscated."
Volunteers are being DISCOURAGED from coming in out of state, but they're not being told to leave with a malicious intent. And they are not even being forcibly denied. They can still come, but it's really not a good idea.
As I mentioned, these roads wasn't meant to take this kind of damage. They are falling apart, and all this extra traffic coming in on these streets barely hanging on is making them worse and making it harder for organized relief and rescue operations to actually get in there.
People are getting stuck and taking away time and resources that could be going to survivors. Outsiders with good intentions are eating up the scarce gas and using up even scarcer water.
Some of these places, like Black Mountain, physically do not have enough hands to manage and distribute the amount of donations being brought in in, so they're getting rerouted. Donations are not fucking being confiscated.
#5 "They aren't letting people be rescued/They're closing the airspace off."
The airspace is OPEN, with some temporary restrictions in place by the FAA for civilians and volunteers.
Civilians can still access airspace in coordination with officials and emergency responders.
What they ain't allowing is people just flying in willy nilly. What they ain't letting in is unauthorized air traffic that is clogging up airspace which otherwise needs to be used by official aircraft to bring in donations/S&R groups.
Airspace is still accessible in the area, but it's not safe to just have everyone with a big heart trying to search and rescue, especially with no training, organization or proper skills.
What they ain't letting happen is people trying to take trucks up obliterated roads that can't be traveled, no matter how confident you are in your vehicle.
Christ, y'all. The point isn't to add more bodies to the count!
#6 "National Guardsmen are being told not to go."
The National Guard HAS been deployed.
And in numbers, too.
What you're hearing is rumor of people asking to be deployed and being told no, because that's not how it works. That's not how any of this works. People can't just rush in unorganized. There is a system. There has always been a system.
#7 "But I saw TikToks of people coming to help and locals shouting them out of town!"
Oh, honey.
No, what you saw was people doing what they LOVE to do in Appalachia: take poverty tours. Record how we live. Post their poverty (and now disaster) porn with thoughts and prayers and oh those poor creatures to get likes. That's been happening to us since before TikTok. Before the internet.
During FDR's administration, photographers from the Farm Security Administration went down to collect poverty porn and turn it into Hollow Folk, a collection of photographs which was then used by eugenicists and corporations alike to dehumanize us further so we could be exploited and relocated with the favor of the nation behind them.
We're done with it. We been done with it. And now, in this time of crisis where people are DEAD, you're clogging up our roads, taking up our gas, AND shoving cameras in our face.
Y'all ain't from here and now more than ever y'all kinds need to get the FUCK out.
✨ FEMA ✨
FEMA deserves its own section, because holy shit. I'm mad that I'm about to defend the man in any capacity but it needs to be done.
So, I'm gonna preface this by saying, largely, fuck FEMA. There are many valid complaints against FEMA and their inefficiency, but right now is not the time to use them as a tool of misinformation against Appalachia.
We got enough problems without pouring the salt of government conspiracies into these raw, gaping wounds that barely even have bandaids applied to them right now.
SO. Let's get into it.
#8 "This is all planned and by design/Don't evacuate, because FEMA is just gonna take your land and mineral rights!"
If they wanted the fucking lithium or anything else for that matter, they would just enact Eminent Domain. They don't need elaborate schemes and """weather control""" to take it.
They can just literally... do it. Did we all fail civics in middle school?
(And this is purely anecdotal so I have no proof of this, but a friend of mine told me a few days ago people were actually being told NOT to evacuate in Lake Lure because they didn't anticipate the flooding to be this bad.)
What y'all SHOULD be worried about are these companies and their "disaster investors" who swoop in like fucking vultures and try to get people to sell their land before FEMA has a chance to assist them. These companies prey on the vulnerable, offering them quick cash for their land and for far less than they'd get if they held out for FEMA's relief instead.
#9. "But... but FEMA is only giving out a piddly $750 in relief!"
Yes, they are giving out $750. INITIALLY.
This $750 is initial relief money for immediate needs. Medicine, food, supplies. It is NOT all that's being allocated to folks. From FEMA's website:
This is a type of assistance that you may be approved for soon after you apply, called Serious Needs Assistance. It is an upfront, flexible payment to help cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies. There are other forms of assistance that you may qualify for to receive and Serious Needs Assistance is an initial payment you may receive while FEMA assesses your eligibility for additional funds. As your application continues to be reviewed, you may still receive additional forms of assistance for other needs such as support for temporary housing, personal property and home repair costs.
A service being offered in the meantime, for example, is for temporary housing and you can still currently apply for it!
Long-term disaster relief funds are not being released immediately. That does not mean they do not exist.
Here is what FEMA has already allocated for North Carolina alone.
Please note I said "allocated" but not "paid out." Which brings me to my next point.
#10 "FEMA is giving their relief money to undocumented immigrants!"
This is false, and you can verify this for yourself. Cash payouts to undocumented immigrants isn't even a thing, dude. They haven't even paid out to citizens in their entirety yet.
From the FEMA page "Questions and Answers for Undocumented Immigrants Regarding FEMA Assistance:"
This is in regards to STATE, LOCAL AND VOLUNTEER AGENCIES. Not through FEMA or any other federal programs. This is probably what people are hearing about, and not even bothering to look into it before running off to tell lies.
And in this, as you can see--undocumented immigrants who CAN receive assistance are not receiving cash. They are not just getting money handed over to them to spend on whatever your racist, xenophobic uncle thinks they are.
FEMA is required by law to report on the use of their funds each month by the 5th day. Historically, it looks like it takes about a week for them to be posted. Keep an eye on this page to see for yourself in coming days that FEMA is not giving out money from their funds to immigrants.
#11 "But FEMA has appointees from Biden!!! How can we trust that this is the truth?!"
Please use critical thinking skills. Please, we beg.
Yes, there are appointed FEMA officials from this administration, but there are also appointed officials from Trump's time in office.
What sense does it make that during Trump's administration, FEMA employees were Good And Pure, and suddenly, just because they are active under Biden's administration, they are suddenly Evil And Corrupt?
This is clear bias and has no solid footing.
Besides, the President doesn't even have any sway over FEMA funding like this. That is ALL congress.
H.R. 9747 "Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025," which provides relief funding (among other things) for the 2025 fiscal year, was ACTIVELY VOTED AGAINST by Republicans, including Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene--two people spreading the bullshit the loudest.
UGH. Okay.
In exasperated conclusion: Please, please, PLEASE leave Appalachia alone and let us get back on our feet without having to constantly dodge dumbass conspiracy theories.
We are heartbroken and grieving and would really appreciate a brief reprieve from being the nation's fucking punching bag.
Help us, don't hurt us.
If you could instantly be granted fluency in 5 languages—not taking away your existing language proficiency in any way, solely a gain—what 5 would you choose?