Text-based Game Resources
Resources for playing and creating text-based games, including multi-user (MU*) codebases, clients, guides, and references for players and developers alike.
What’s here
Section titled “What’s here”Available from the left-side nav menu:
- Playing MU*s:
- Getting Started: Beginner’s guides and links to helpful communities
- Finding a Game: Game directories and stats pages
- MU* Clients: Downloadable, browser, and mobile phone clients
- Developing MU*s:
- Accessibility: Tips for accessible games and tools
- Codebases: Game engines, both modern and classic
- Protocols & Tools: Protocols and standards, plus dev tools
- Newly Discovered: Recently found and added repos
- Hosting Services: Ideas for where to host your project
- Building & Marketing:
- World Building: Resources for building text worlds
- Marketing & Retention: Tips for attracting and retaining players
- Recommended Reading: Community picks
- MU* Archives: Books, magazines, videos, and essays from and about MUD history
Also here
Section titled “Also here”Resources for related families of IF and BBS-style text games:
- Interactive Fiction: Resources for single-player text games, such as parser and hypertext IF
- BBS Door Games: Resources for the multiplayer text games that ran on bulletin board systems
How to contribute
Section titled “How to contribute”Additions and corrections from the community are welcome! Feel free to use the Submit a Resource form on Writing Games, or if it’s easier, submit an issue or PR on GitHub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Section titled “Frequently Asked Questions”What is this site?
Section titled “What is this site?”A free collection of resources for playing and creating text-based games. It began with multi-user dungeons (MUDs) and has grown to cover related text-game traditions too, including Interactive Fiction and BBS Door Games, for those who might be interested.
Who maintains it?
Section titled “Who maintains it?”It’s maintained by Andruid as part of Writing Games, with additions and corrections from the community.
How is the site organized?
Section titled “How is the site organized?”Resources are grouped by what you’re trying to do: Playing (getting started, finding a game, clients), Developing (accessibility, codebases, protocols, newly discovered finds, hosting), and Building & Marketing (world building, marketing, reading). Separate pages cover Archives, Interactive Fiction, and BBS Door Games. If you’re new, Getting Started is the place to begin.
How do I suggest a resource or report a problem?
Section titled “How do I suggest a resource or report a problem?”Use the Submit a Resource form on Writing Games, or open an issue on GitHub. To fix a specific page directly, the “Edit page” link at the bottom of each page opens it for editing on GitHub and submits your change as a pull request.
I own a listed project. Can I have it removed?
Section titled “I own a listed project. Can I have it removed?”Yes. Everything here points to publicly available sources (public repos, directories, and the like), so nothing private is ever listed, but I’m happy to honor requests. Use the Submit a Resource form or open an issue on GitHub, and I’ll take it down.
Is everything here current?
Section titled “Is everything here current?”Links can occasionally break or point somewhere unexpected when a site moves or becomes unavailable. If you spot a dead or broken link, please let me know.
How does this relate to Writing Games?
Section titled “How does this relate to Writing Games?”This site is the resource directory companion to Writing Games.