Text Fiction - Play Zork!

Onyxbits

About this game

SYNOPSIS: TextFiction - An interpreter for interactive fiction stories (aka: terp, z-machine, text adventure engine, interactive book reader)



DESCRIPTION:

West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded
front door. There is a small mailbox here. A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to
Zork!' lies by the door.

What next? >_


With interactive fiction novels you're more than just a passive book reader, following the adventures of the hero. Instead, you become the hero! Explore the world, make decissions and ultimately decide on the outcome. IF stories are fun for hours, immersive as hell and play at your own pace, making them the ideal pass time for a long road trip and short work breaks alike.

TextFiction is definitely the best adaptation of the genre available for Android. You control the protagonist through a novel SMS like interface which replaces the need for typing commands with intuitive touch controls. Users of chat apps will instantly feel at home! The barrier-free design also makes this app the perfect choice for users with disabilities.

Hundreds of free RPG stories from dozens of literature genres (sci-fi, fantasy, mystery,... ) are available for download, ensuring entertainment for months to come. You can't get more offline games for free in one single app!



FEATURES:
* Supports z3, z5 and z8 z-machine games (may be wrapped in zblorb), no glulx
* Unique, instant messanger like user interface
* Configurable action keys to cut down on typing (long press to modify).
* Tap words in the story to copy them into the commandline. Double tap to clear.
* Nightmode and classic Terp mode ("Lucy", "Mina" and "Jason" colorscheme)
* Optionally uses the Text To Spech engine to read stories out loud (long touch a bubble to start/stop narration).
* Touch sensitive borders/corners for moving in the designated cardinal direction (may be fiddly on small screens).
* Saving/restoring progress (including autosave when navigating away from the app)
* A real battery saver due to low power consumption and no ads (TextFiction is one of the few games that don't need wifi).



FAQ (please don't abuse the reviews as a support forum!):
Q: I'm new. What's an interactive story?
A: Have you ever read a novel and longed for taking part in the plot yourself? Interactive stories allow you to do exactly that. Textfiction is like a fanfiction reader (a library app for free books) that only describes to you the setting, but allows you to choose your own actions, often resolving in alternative endings.

Q: Are the games free?
A: Textfiction itself free to play. Most of the interactive novels are in the public domain and may be downloaded free of charge to your library.

Q: How do I save/restore a game?
A: Press the "Plus" button to bring up the menu. Save/restore commands won't work.

Q: Do I loose my progress when going back to the libary app?
A: No! Whenever you leave the story screen, the game performs an auto save. It does not, however, perform an autorestore when you return (leaving the game is suppose to be a reset).

Q: Why is the story output erased when I restore a game?
A: When you restore a game, you move to another part of the story. The current chat history no longer applies and gets discarded to avoid confusion.

Q: Can I change the action buttons?
A: Yes! just write something in the commandline, then long press a button to modify it.

Q: Can I write my own fanfiction stories?
A: Yes! The authoring tool of choice can be found here: http://inform7.com

Q: Why does my bluetooth keyboard repeat the enter key?
A: Text Fiction comes free of charge. Unfortunately, this means no budget for buying troublesome hardware in order to check the problem out.

Q: Will a 1* rating convince you to change the app according to my whims?
A: Go kiss a Grue

Ratings and reviews

I got around the Download folder issue by moving the games to the app's 'games' folder. The app no longer complains about the DL folder. But now there's a new error. When I put the game in verbose mode, I get this: [**Programming error: tried to print (string) on something not a string**] Since the game continues, I might be inclined to ignore it, but I can't be sure this isn't something that won't bug up the game later.

Amazing app, just wish there were more classic games to choose from, some of the sci-fi infocom games for instance. The classic text adventures are still better than almost anything they've got on the mobile game market coming out nowadays. Notes: little glitchy with data corruption (save often), couldn't figure out how to clean up my old save data, and a classic looking interface option would be nice.

This app doesn't come with the text adventure games, you download them separately and then you import them into the app. It's not too hard to do and is mostly built into the app. It's been working great for me, kinda sad to see that the last update so long ago (my phone is getting old and I hope the app works on the next one). Anyway playing though zork for the first time, currently mapping out the maze and having a blast.

What's new

Full changelog: http://www.onyxbits.de/content/release-notes-text-fiction-v26

This is a bugfix release.