Rediscovering Text Adventures with the Ink Console
A new handheld gaming system, Ink Console, aims to bring back the magic of '80s text adventures. Developed by Daniel “Dana” Puchau from Shanghai, this device features a 7.5-inch e-ink screen capable of displaying an 800 x 480 black & white resolution.
Specifications:*
- Microprocessor: ESP32-D0WDQ6 (dual-core 32-bit)
- Flash Memory: 4MB
- PSRAM: 8 MB
- SRAM: 520 KB
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 4
- Built-in SD card reader for additional games
Three initial titles are in development:
- Toto Umbrella
- The Visit
- Breath
With the potential to develop more through its SDK in future. The developer says they intend to release the SDK and open-source the project upon completion of crowd-funding campaign.
Puchau remarks:
The idea for Ink Console came from a desire to bring the magic of text adventures, like the 1980s classic Zork I, to a new audience unfamiliar with these games. We also were very inspired by the beloved Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. Our hope is that this interactive format makes reading feel like an adventure and helps instill a love for books in young readers.
There’s a link in the original article to the Crowdsupply campaign.
What are your favourite text adventure memories?
Sadly, I doubt it will get much traction, a portable device for text adventures, without a keyboard?
Ok, you can use suggestions, but that can spoil the gameplay…
I could live without the “guess which commands even work right now”, aspect of the original gameplay.
I don’t have the game patience I had back then.
@stoy @ktec i love the idea, but you can do the same with an android eink tablet.