Rediscovering Text Adventures with the Ink Console
A new handheld gaming system, Ink Console, aims to bring back the magic of '80s text adventures. Developed by Daniel “Dana” Puchau from Shanghai, this device features a 7.5-inch e-ink screen capable of displaying an 800 x 480 black & white resolution.
Specifications:*
- Microprocessor: ESP32-D0WDQ6 (dual-core 32-bit)
- Flash Memory: 4MB
- PSRAM: 8 MB
- SRAM: 520 KB
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 4
- Built-in SD card reader for additional games
Three initial titles are in development:
- Toto Umbrella
- The Visit
- Breath
With the potential to develop more through its SDK in future. The developer says they intend to release the SDK and open-source the project upon completion of crowd-funding campaign.
Puchau remarks:
The idea for Ink Console came from a desire to bring the magic of text adventures, like the 1980s classic Zork I, to a new audience unfamiliar with these games. We also were very inspired by the beloved Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. Our hope is that this interactive format makes reading feel like an adventure and helps instill a love for books in young readers.
There’s a link in the original article to the Crowdsupply campaign.
What are your favourite text adventure memories?
Couldn’t you just develop these games on phones/tablets, with full color and a keyboard?
Yes, but there’s definitely some appeal to playing text based games on an e-ink screen. As for colour, sometimes less is more - the Playdate is also B&W and has built a terrific community.
Sure. I prefer reading books on an e-ink screen as well. But that’s for books, not a game genre that peaked 45 years ago.
I just can’t see a product like this having enough demand. Hopefully they find a way to make it work, because I totally get wanting to own a specialized object like this.
Just like the rabbit r1, this could have been an
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