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Post by Zipp on Apr 13, 2005 16:26:04 GMT
I thought it would be interesting to have a historical post on the site. I, for one, am interested in how gamebooks got their start. So just add what you know of the history to this topic. It can be on anything gamebook related, any interesting tale, or a timeline, anything you got. Though I guess it would be helpful if someone could start us off with the first gamebook. Anyone know what it was?
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Post by Relenoir on Apr 14, 2005 2:33:59 GMT
Well, my guess on that one would be Choose Your Own Adventure #1, The Cave of Time by Edward Packard. I believe CYOA's were the first to come out.
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Post by Doomy on Apr 14, 2005 8:57:44 GMT
The TutorText series, first published in 1958 with The Arithmetic of Computers, would seem to be the origin of the gamebook format. Essentially flowcharted textbooks, each passage would end in a multiple-choice question. A wrong answer would take you to a section designed to reinforce that topic while answering correctly would lead to a new subject. More info: www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=457 |
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Post by outspaced on Apr 14, 2005 9:33:06 GMT
Essentially any form of interpreted (rather than compiled) computer code is a "gamebook".
10 INPUT x
20 IF (x=1) THEN GOTO 40
30 GOTO 10
40 END
We did something similar to gamebooks in science at school. Erm . . . if memory serves they were called "Key"s, I think? We studied them to try to teach us the scientific method of observation. They were laid out like BASIC code.
1: Heat the Solution.
Does it turn green -- Go to 2
Does it stay purple -- Go to 3
Etc., etc.
As for the modern concept of gamebooks, I think Rel is probably right with Packard's The Cave of Time, though this actually predated the CYOA series, originally being released in hardback. Actually, now I come to think about it, didn't Packard release a book before TCoT called something like The Adventures of You on your Sugarcane Island? I think that might have been the first actual literary gamebook as opposed to a scientific or technical one.
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Post by Zipp on Apr 14, 2005 18:37:33 GMT
Indeed you are correct! It seems that the ifrst published "Gamebook" was the Adventures of Sugar Cane Island, later to join the CYO series with stylistic revision.
I remember the Caves of Time. Sitting on my shelf, it is. Weren't ever my favorite, though. I think the title of favorite would have to go to the Trilogy "You are a Ninja!" written later in the CYO saga.
As for best written, I think the Mystery of Chimney Rock was near the top.
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Post by outspaced on Apr 14, 2005 21:56:21 GMT
Of ythe CYOA books, I really enjoyed Sabotage, set during the Second World War. A surprisingly enjoyable gamebook, that one.
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Post by Zipp on Apr 15, 2005 1:17:57 GMT
Is this the one with Hitler's Castle?
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Post by Relenoir on Apr 15, 2005 5:54:01 GMT
I loved Chimney Rock too, that was fairly scary for me at the time! Sugar Cane Island, that rings a bell. Was that the one where you're stuck on an island after being shipwrecked on your way to the Galapagos Islands, and there are white tigers without stripes? I think I had that at one point, decent book!
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Post by outspaced on Apr 15, 2005 9:02:31 GMT
Is this the one with Hitler's Castle? It is set in a castle in the Alps during the War, yeah; rather reminiscent of Where Eagles Dare, but still a fun adventure in its own right. |
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Post by Zipp on May 1, 2005 4:28:11 GMT
So, what do people think the future of gamebooks is, or do you even think they have one?
Zipp
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Post by outspaced on May 1, 2005 8:57:06 GMT
I have seen the future, and it is Project Aon!
Seriously, I don't think published gamebooks are ever going to be more than a niche market these days. Keeping the torch burning is more about amateur gamebooks and generous gestures like Joe Dever's. Gamebooks these days are more a curiosity; in "my" day, they were everything!
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Post by Relenoir on May 1, 2005 23:24:02 GMT
An interesting thing to look at to try to get an idea of what the future of gamebooks is would be how the Fighting Fantasy revival is doing. Have they been selling fairly successfully with the re-release?
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Post by outspaced on May 2, 2005 8:27:56 GMT
Depends on who you believe, Rel. I'd imagine they're selling fairly well, but not as well as the publishers claim.
Additionally, since any new books will be aimed towards the newer market rather than classic fans, they're going to listen to the younger fans who are clamouring for 'harder, tougher adventures', rather than older fans who want better writing, more interesting plots, etc. Stupidly hard gamebooks, despite being what fans claim they want, are guaranteed to be less popular, and these days, I would say they'd probably kill a new series dead once word gets around the playground about how impossible the book is. A good gamebook writer will read between the lines and write a good gamebook even if it seems not to be what people are asking for.
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Post by gothmog on May 2, 2005 16:22:55 GMT
People want Fighting Fantasy to be harder? So, passages like: "Oh, sorry, you made a wrong decision at the start of the book and now you're dead." are just much too easy for these hardcore gamers?  |
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Post by outspaced on May 2, 2005 16:33:08 GMT
So, passages like: "Oh, sorry, you made a wrong decision at the start of the book and now you're dead." are just much too easy for these hardcore gamers? Oh no, Gothmog, you've missed the point of these "geniuses". They make really clever remarks such as "Deathtrap Dungeon is too easy. I completed it my first attempt"--lie--"and I didn't cheat and give myself 12/24/12"--lie--"any anyone can complete it their first go too,"--lie. They say that they want more difficult adventures in some bizarre gamebook-reader urinating competition, but when a writer genuinely writes a fiendish "one-true-path" gamebook they complain that it's "boring" (meaning "too hard"). See any/all of Paul Mason's contributions to the FF series. He was responding to fans writing into Warlock magazine saying the books were too easy, so he wrote some real humdingers. And people complained they were "boring". Even the author himself considers his books too hard. What these "fans" are actually asking for is not "You went East, you are dead." No, they're looking more for "50 sections ago you drank some water from a well, and because of that you didn't find the Green Gem of Superciliousness meaning that despite being 2 sections from victory, you're dead. Go back and re-read the entire adventure, remembering to do seemingly inconsequential stuff differently for no actual tangible reason." And then they'll either cheat, or complain the book is unfair.  Thus, Dever and Project Aon wins.  |
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