Are graphics neccessary?

tnelsond on 2011/09/07 00:38

I like games with graphics, but I also like interactive fiction and such things where there is no graphics. Out of curiosity, do the games for pyweek need to have graphics? Or can they be text based and run from the command line?

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skaro on 2011/09/07 00:47:

As I recall, there was an interactive fiction entry a few years ago. I think I remember a few pycurses based games too. It's always worth grabbing the catalog from pyweeks past for some inspiration and code perusal.

Cosmologicon on 2011/09/07 02:07:

Offhand I know of two Pyweek entries with no graphics whatsoever. PrintStar's Pyweek 6 entry was a standard text adventure game, and milker's Pyweek 9 entry was a text-based puzzle game. There might be more, I don't know.

I think if you want to go this route, that's great! However, I would not expect to get a very high rating, even if your game is pretty good. I think it's hard to impress people with a text-based game these days. If nothing else, when you're judging games on Production, the website specifically tells you to look for graphics and sound. Some people will decide not to judge this way for a text-based game, but it would be extremely difficult to get a high Production score with a graphics-free, sound-free game.

But if you're willing to accept a score that maybe doesn't reflect the work you put into it, I say go for it!

malcolmt on 2011/09/07 04:13:

You should get bonus points for graphics in a text-only game. My mind has a much higher resolution than this screen in front of me and using available resources most efficiently is a plus point! If you can't imagine the sound of water outside in the ravine slowly filling up Flood Control Dam #3, you need to practise more.

The rules say you have to consider graphics and sound: it doesn't say you should award more points if somebody relies on graphics and sound, however. Assuming perfect vision and hearing and lack of imagination sounds limiting to me. :-)

All that being said (and only partly in jest), it's time-consuming to evaluate an IF game. I used to regularly play the IF competition submissions and it would take a while, even the short ones — and I *like* the medium.

saluk on 2011/09/07 05:52:

I would be sad to see people rating down a game just because it doesn't have graphics. A game can be innovative, fun, and have high production values, without any graphics or sound whatsoever. Although I don't think that the windows command prompt, for example, is the best interface for a game, even if you do go the text only route. If your writing and gameplay really work I will probably look past the fact that it's only running from the command line, but you will probably have a better chance with a more interesting interface with perhaps some minimal graphics, even if the game is largely text based. So far it is looking like this is the direction my game is heading.

mauve on 2011/09/07 07:08:

Yeah, it's the tenties - we have the web now. Text-based adventures can at least be wrapped in a web UI.

tnelsond on 2011/09/07 18:03:

Yeah, windows command line is pretty pathetic, maybe if I went the SDL route I could make my own text interface maybe with some fancy colored text.

Truth be told though, I'm actually a lot better at doing graphics in games than text, it's just that I wanted to get some practice doing text only stuff which is fairly harder.

Maybe I'll do something like I did for Ludum dare and make a graphical "typing-like" game. Only this time instead of typing words perhaps just pressing asdf in rapid succession or something.

wisty on 2011/09/08 09:23:

IMO, production doesn't just include graphics and sound. It could include story depth, dialogue quality, etc.