Yep. Check out the interactive fiction crowd. The games can take input like:

"Drop the red book, then go west and pick up the blue one. Open the door, and enter the room. Put the book on the desk."

Provided that the objects actually exist, the engine can parse the input into a series of actions and follow them. They understand words like ''it'' and ''all''. It''s impressive.

However it''s also rather useless in most games. Most objects have only a single function (the ubiquitous ''use foo'' or ''use foo with bar''). In those cases it''s simply easier to use a point-n-click method, or a drop-n-drag method.

Another problem with text input is covering user spelling mistakes as well as worrying about the sheer volume of words that a player might use.

Here''s a link to the (H)TADS system that I''ve been playing around with:

http://www.tela.bc.ca/tela/tads/

My original interest was in putting together things that looked like sentences from component pieces for a conversation engine. The text adventure games did not provide much help there, but they did lead me to start thinking about the use of text as output (hence this thread).

It seems that it may be useful to redefine writing as it applies to games. The problem here is that it seems to imply words on paper only, which is quite limiting for today''s games. The first thing we can do to expnd it is make it aural as well as text. But, still there is still a lot that deserves to be included under the category of "writing".

How about this: Game writing is the production of the underlying story of a game and it''s surface implications.

This way so much more is included. Now graphics, sound, (etc. ?) can be included here.

"When i was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse, out of
the corner of my mind. I turned to look, but it was
gone, I cannot put my finger on it now. The child has
grown, the dream has gone." -Pink Floyd

Of course game writing is far larger than the simple use of text. A lot of that discussion is takng place in the other threads. For this thread I wanted to focus in the use of prose (large chunks of text) as opposed to graphics or sound to present data to the users.

I think that prose can be used to enhance the effect of the game, but should be used sparingly. Games aren''t novels and as such they can define their atmosphere and environment in more visual ways

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche
          

quote:
Writing has all but disappeared from games, replaced by graphics and sound. there''s no need to say ''you see a sword'' when you can just show the player a sword. Likewise, there''s no need to say ''a chill wind blows'' when you can cause the same effect with a decent wav file.

Granted for the sword, but I don''t know about the chill wind part. A good wav might get you to realize it''s wind, but I''d still like to see it referred to as a ''chill'' wind, rather than just hearing a generic wind.