I’m looking for any Interactive Fiction game, past or current, for either (1) Commodore-64 or Commodore-128, (2) 64-Bit Windows 7 Home Premium, or (3) Android, that feature a child as the protagonist or as one of the major characters.
Shorter is preferred over long, easy is preferred over hard, and light-hearted is preferred over sinister. However, I’m interested to consider even “non-preferred” games.
Any information about any such games would be MUCH appreciated.
The Impossible Bottle.
You can turn it into disk images for C64 or C128 at Ozmoo Online . It should run okay on a C64, but will benefit from the extra memory and speed that the C128 provides.
Thank you for your reply!
What game system does “The Impossible Bottle” use (Inform, TADS, Adrift, etc.), and can you furnish a synopsis so that I can have some idea of what the story is about?
Your information is appreciated! Thank you!
The game is on IFDB, where it has a synopsis and many reviews. Some of them are spoilery, so you’ll have to choose how much you want to read.
It’s written in Dialog. Dialog can produce output in Z-machine fomat or Å-machine format. On IFDB you’ll find the Z-machine file, which can be used with Ozmoo.
Here are some:
All of these are playable on Windows with one of the recommended interpreters for their respective systems: Recommended interpreters - IFWiki
There’s also a tag “child protagonist”: Search for Games
Do you have a preference for parser, choice, or both? There are a lot in both categories! Just to start with a couple easy ones (in addition to Impossible Bottle, which is a great choice):
Six, where you play hide and seek at your birthday party (you’re turning six, thus the title).
Grooverland, which has you exploring an off-beat amusement park (based on the works of Chandler Groover if you’re familiar with him).
The Mrs. Wobbles series (link goes to the first one, though I’ve personally only played later games in the series) are choice-based games focusing on a group of kids living in a magic foster home.
My own game/memoir Sting has an opening sequence where you play as a three year old, but it’s relatively brief and the rest of the game isn’t exactly light-hearted so probably not a good fit.
All these are easy to play in a browser or with a standard interpreter - that should sort you for Windows and Android; not sure about C64/128 though.
Well, Oceans “Neverending Story” was a text parser IF with a child/teen protagonist for the Commodore 64.
And it had that wonderful adaption of the OST by Martin Galway…
One of my favorites is Child’s Play by Stephen Granade, where you’re a toddler in an intense competition with a mean redheaded toddler over your favorite toy:
Not quite what you asked for (the author is a child instead of the protagonist) but I very much liked Daddy’s Birthday. It’s very short and light-hearted and I don’t now another game that conveys so much the perspective of a child.
As you specifically mention Commodore 64 games, it may be you don’t mind old school parsers like Quill (instant responses but two-word parser). In that case I recommend the light hearted “I’m Innocent” by Damian Steele: :: CASA :: I’m Innocent (solutionarchive.com)
Do you have a preference in Language?
Because last Edition of the French EctoComp had 2 entries with children as protagonists:
A Colder Light by Jon Ingold features a child protagonist and is relatively short. It is a hyperlink-based parser game, so you click commands to advance the story instead of typing commands at a prompt (if that matters).
How young a “child”? There was an almost endless stream of 80s and 90s text adventures featuring teenagers as the protagonist; although a lot less for the C64, as that wasn’t really a key platform for text adventures over here. Is there a particular purpose you want them for? Do you actually want good games?
Young (not “small”) child to younger teen; say, 6-13, or a “tween” would be even better (say, 10-12), and preferably (but not necessarily) a boy.
I don’t think I’d much care for games featuring mid- to older teens; by the time a kid gets to be 14 or so, he’s far more adult than child, and even when he isn’t, he most certainly thinks of himself that way.
Game quality is not so important, as long as the game itself isn’t more than slightly buggy, and isn’t “terrible” in a literary sense.
Hope this helps…
I know but one language, and one only, and I’m writing in it. It’s called “English.”
I do know the usual random smattering of various words in other lsnguages, but that’s about it. “Le Petite Mort” (“The Little Death”?) sounds downright ominous…!
What is “OST”?
„Original Soundtrack“, meaning the movie soundtrack.
Here’s a few Adventuron games with young protagonists, all parser-based and playable in a browser:
Andrew’s Adventure by Andrew Robert James
The Missing Witch by Dawn Mary Mac
Mushroom Hunt by Ben Jones
Sandcastle Master by Chris Hay
A couple of my games have protagonists aged 14 and 16, but that’s outside your age range.