mirage of a blue sea

to love and be loved is to rest.

[mulligans-tavern]

"60-70,000 geese" is the new "i found 100,000 dollars"

[technofeudalism]

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

ZenGM - simulate sports

Tamajoji - browser-based tamagotchi

IFDB - interactive fiction database (text adventure games)

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.

[technofeudalism]

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.

FarmRPG - simple, mobile-friendly, text-based farming RPG.

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.

[sabertoothwalrus]

I literally don't know what possessed me to make an 11 page comic over these sad old men! bon appetit <3

[ello0u0]

minette team: then + now 🤍

[daozhnag]

SCREEEEEEEEEEEE

[violetearuby]

Shirosaki takes Momose's hand without hesitation🥺❤️

My New Boss is Goofy - Episode 6

[naritakyouji]

Later on, the hot topic at the office was how Manager had proposed to me that morning.

(Atarashii Joushi wa Do Tennen, ep. 3)

[kumapillow]

[ENG] Atarashii Joushi wa Dotennen (My New Boss is Goofy) Vol. 2 SP3: Kinjou-kun’s Insta

As a change of pace from posting GakuBaby stuff (and also me putting in some practice on using GIMP lol), here’s a special chapter from volume 2 of Atarashii Joushi wa Dotennen.

In this chapter, Kinjou talks about his Insta posts, and looks back on the workplace abuse he experienced from his former boss.

Read after the cut, or get it here.

I hope you enjoy, even if it’s different from my usual posts. Thank you ☺️

——————

Haijima’s in the gray, so I guess there’s still hope for him to change for the better. Kurono’s (Momose’s ex-boss) personality is already pitch black, so I guess he’s irredeemable 😅

(And yes the characters’ names all have colors in them 😆)

[babblingblueberry]

Boiling rock leap of faith to arm grab, if you even care

[babblingblueberry]

[babblingblueberry]

and also

[apandaarts]

[frostleni]

[silversoulstardust]

thinking about kazuki taking rei and miri to visit yuzuko’s grave during hydrangeas season after kazurei got together. rei bows with respect as he holds kazuki’s hand and tells yuzuko he’ll try his best to take care of kazuki and miri grabs his other hand and does the same and it reduces kazuki to tears because he feels so loved. they sit down in front of her grave as kazuki told her stories about rei’s toasts and miri’s drawings.

every year from there on it becomes a family trip to visit yuzuko in the countryside so kazuki doesn’t have to do it alone anymore

[hubbydaddies]

Don’t mind me. I’m just SOBBING.

[mustbemyexit-deactivated2024061]

had some thoughts after the final episode

[id in alt] first pic inspired by this

[applecinnamonade]

havent stopped thinking about them for days

[mimimar]

compilation of a bunch of doodles i did over the weeks buddy daddies was airing. i love this show and this family a normal amount!!

[babblingblueberry]

--- Had to take a break from drawing zukka to draw zukka

[/Image ID: A drawing of Zuko and Sokka from avatar the last airbender from the hips up. They are adults. Zuko is dressed in his firelord robes. His robes have a firelily pattern. Sokka's it wearing a braid with his wolftail, and his hair is long. His robes have a swirl/water pattern. He is wearing his traditional necklace and earrings. They look like they are talking while slow-dancing. Sokka looks at Zuko adoringly. /END ID]

[so-aguarela]