What do multiplayer text games actually look like in 2026? 🤔
This updated guide highlights 10 long-running Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) you can still play today, along with 3 additional games that opened more recently.
It also covers #accessibility features, web clients, and a beginner-friendly walkthrough for anyone curious about getting started.
Update!! My feed may have been quiet, but a lot of work has been happening behind the scenes. 🚧
Over the past several weeks, I've been overhauling Writing Games to improve accessibility, UX, and performance. One big change is that the site moved from .com to https://writing-games.org.
Please update any links or bookmarks! 🙏 And if anything appears broken or weird, do let me know. There's always a chance I missed something.
More to come soon...
Who Remembers MUDs?
Before modern graphics and MMORPGs, thousands of players like me would connect via telnet to MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) to play text-based multiplayer games. We would begin by creating a character in a fantasy world to explore vast realms, fight monsters, and hoard riches—all while meeting new people we would never have otherwise known, making friends, building communities, and creating stories through pure imagination.
I bought it in the end.
It is a fascinating dive into all sorts of text games from the 50s up until the last couple of years. Proper deep dive: interviews, reviews, maps, how things were programmed and why.
Currently reading about “A Mind Forever Voyaging” by Steve Meretzky published by Infocom in 1985 for the delightful price of $44.95
#IF #adventuregames #interactivefiction #textgames #retrogaming #gamedev
What’s the No. 1 lesson Niymiae of Lumen et Umbra wants future text game creators to know? Hint: it’s not about code. 👀
<<Killing Me Softly>>
Librarian Fobazi M. Ettarh released her game: Killing Me Softly: A game demonstrating how it feels to suffer microaggressions and acculturative stress day after day.
#BlackFedi
#BlackMastodon
#TextGames
#LGBTQ
http://fobettarh.github.io/Killing-Me-Softly/
Dark Wizardry is his playground. MudVault is his vision.
Asmodeus is reimagining how we find and play multi-user dungeon games - one tool and one idea at a time:
What if you could build your own multiplayer virtual world? 🤔
GoMud is a free, open-source engine for making text-based online games using the Go programming language.
I talked with the creator, Volte6, about the project & how it works. He shared a playtest where things went hilariously wrong (in the best way):
Can Large Language Models Play Text Games Well?
https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02868
#HackerNews #LargeLanguageModels #TextGames #AIResearch #NLP
What if you could build an entire written world from a PNG file made with MS Paint? 😲
That’s exactly what Hades_Kane and Grieffels did. Their new system turns image files into playable maps for text-based games known as MUDs - complete with in-game editing tools and screen reader support.
Check it out 👉 https://writing-games.org/worldmap-project/
🖥️💾 Introducing: Miner OS
A gritty retro terminal mining sim set in the neon-lit world of the 1980s.
Type. Mine. Upgrade. Survive the digital gold rush.
🎮 Now on itch.io!
🛠️ By BusyBee Games
✍️ Written by Benga Kai
itch.io : https://benga-kai.itch.io/miner-os
#gaming #retrogames #indiedev #indiegame #textgames
Ink Console is a handheld game console with an E Ink display and a focus on interactive stories (Crowdfunding)
Most modern handheld gaming devices are designed to let you play PC, mobile, or console games on the go. But the Ink Console is something different. It’s positioned as a cross between a game console and an eBook reader, developer Dana Puch plans to launch a Crowd Supply crowdfunding campaign for the device on March 1.
While most modern game systems have full-color displays and powerful […]
#danaPuch #eInk #greenBoyGames #handheldGameConsole #inkConsole #interactiveNovel #interactiveStory #textAdventure #textGames
ALSO: Happy Anniversary to Alter Aeon and AwakeMUD CE, two great text-based games!
You can read a little bit about them, and other long-running MU* games, here:
(If you have no idea what a MU* is, don't worry -- the article covers that, too. 😂)
Happy 2025 to all my fellow text-based game enthusiasts! 🎉 💜
The Events Calendar has been updated for those date-changing "third Flurbsday in Flurbtember" type holidays. You can check it out here:
https://writing-games.org/calendar/
Suggestions for missing holidays and game anniversaries welcome! There's a "Submit an event" button on the page, even. :)
Open Play Test
I have been working on this game on and off for over 20 years. Its now time to open it up and let some players break thinks for me. I am looking for the bugs I cannot find. If you find one send me an email, address is in game.
eldhamud3.quest :8000
Thanks.
Happy Anniversary, Evennia!! 🥳🎂
Evennia is a modern text-based game engine that helps you create your own #MUD games for free.
Learn more in this interview with Griatch, one of the main developers behind the project:
https://writing-games.org/evennia-mu-creation-system/
Happy Anniversary to AresMUSH! 🎂🎉
AresMUSH is a modern platform for creating and running multiplayer, collaborative writing games. It's free and open-source, too.
Learn more in this interview with Faraday, the developer behind AresMUSH:
https://writing-games.org/aresmush-next-gen-server/
One of the things I like most about Faraday's story is that she persevered despite some early naysayers of the project. Glad she did!
Firing up #Inform7 on my #Mac to write another #interactiveFiction #game. Getting stuck into the prologue. This will be a much bigger game than I've written before, including 7 main sections in the #code. It is going to take some time. So best get on with it sooner rather than later! Excited to be back #coding. There's something magical about using this #declarative / #naturalLanguage / #objectOriented #programming language and IDE. #GameDev #IndieGame #TextGames #Parser #TextAdventure #Inform
Huh, I was wrong. #Harlowe does support custom macros now. This is going to make my life so much easier.
