Garry Francis
I love text adventures, which are also called parser-based interactive fiction. From here on, I'll just call them 'adventures'.
The past
My first adventure was Scott Adams' Adventureland bought on cassette for the Atari 800 in 1981. It took about 15-20 minutes to load, so I didn't turn the computer off until I finished the game several days later. This convinced me to buy a 5.25" floppy disk drive, but also led to a passion for adventures that has stayed with me for over 40 years.
I started a computer users' group in 1981, edited its journal, created an adventure special interest group within that users' group and wrote an adventure column for Page 6 in the UK. Over the years, I ported many adventures from various dialects of BASIC and translated foreign-language adventures to English, especially type-ins from books and computer magazines. None of these were ever published.
After a long hiatus, I discovered Inform 6 and rewrote one of my early Atari 8-bit adventures. I keep dabbling with it periodically, but still haven't finished it.
The present
In 2019, I discovered itch.io and started entering game jams and competitions to share my adventures. My first five games were written in Adventuron. These are all family-friendly games, some with graphics. From then on, my games were written with Inform 6, first using the standard library, then using the PunyInform library. These are more like Infocom games, but without the cruelty that was prevalent in those games.
Dr Dooriddle games
In 2024, I collaborated with John H Doolittle to adapt his old BASIC adventures for a modern audience. You can find these at DrDooriddle.
The BDB Project
In August 2024, I joined forces with Gianluca Girelli to form The BDB Project. The purpose of this project is to adapt the old Italian games of Bonaventura Di Bello (with his support) for a modern, English-speaking audience. As there are 69 games to write, this is an ongoing project that will take some years to complete.
So, there you have it. That's a very brief intro to me and my interest in adventures. If you have fond memories of the games from the golden era of adventures, then I'm sure you'll enjoy my games. If you've never been exposed to adventures and you have no idea what I'm talking about, then try a few of these games. Just read the instructions, be patient and be prepared to use your brain. If you like interesting stories and challenging puzzles, then once you get the hang of it, I'm sure you'll enjoy these games. They're not necessarily easy, but they're a lot of fun.
The future
I have a huge backlog of unfinished games. If you'd like to be informed of new releases, just follow me on itch.io.
Contact
If you need help with a game, just leave a comment on the game page and I'll give you a hint as soon as I can. However, try to avoid leaving spoilers that will spoil it for others.
If you want maps and solutions, then you can visit the Classic Adventures Solution Archive (CASA) or my GitHub page.
If you need to contact me for anything else, such as collaborations, interviews or just to chat, you can send a personal message to @warrigal at intfiction.org or @garry0602 on Discord, but both require registration.