Twitter seems like the perfect place for text adventures. Unfortunately, due to constraints like being unable to post the same text twice in a row, there are limitations. Seattle-based Project Manager Andrew Vestal decided to roll with the restrictions. He started …
Twitter seems like the perfect place for text adventures. Unfortunately, due to constraints like being unable to post the same text twice in a row, there are limitations.
Seattle-based Project Manager Andrew Vestal decided to roll with the restrictions. He started out trying to recreate games like Zork and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in their entirety. When he hit that aforementioned wall, he took a different approach.
@YouAreCarrying is a Twitter bot designed simply to spit out a random inventory you might find in only the most bizarre text-based game. To participate, all you have to do is type “inventory” or the letter “I” to the account, and you’ll receive your randomized bag of goodies.
This isn’t the first time text adventure-inspired content has cropped up on Twitter. a Few months ago Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors, created his own adventure called Quest Attack.
Ward’s game technically has more in common with tabletop RPGs than video games, as his variation is scripted and illustrated by him – a real, thinking person – and only adjusts to player actions. It also seems to have petered out in last few weeks, but you can read what there is so far on Storify.
You Are Carrying is different because it’s entirely automated; the inventories are randomly selected from more than a thousand items pulled from Infocom games.
As with most art, it’s up to the audience to complete the circuit. You can write your own reasoning for why you might be carrying 3D glasses and a rusty bucket, or what they might be used for. This latest entry in the minimalist gaming trend leaves it all up to you.
Or you could just laugh at how silly the whole thing is. It’s your choice.
[via Kill Screen]
