Chatventures

It's so simple but so good. I drew my own map so I could remember where everything was and how to get stuff. I only wish the commands got shorter to type early on. Some of these names are weird!

I grew up playing MUDs, so it isn't the format that I didn't like. It was just...minor frustrations. The text sort of...wiggles and jiggles around. There is probably a way to turn it off, but I didn't bother. In MUDs, whenever you went to a new area the description would be right there. In this game, there often IS no description....but to even find out you have to type look. Every single time. I struggled to even figure out basics. It'll just be...well, one example was the shop. You type go to shop, and you are in. The "scene" just says you can see smalltown out the window and there is bella the merchant (or whatever her name was). Want to buy something? I sure wanted a weapon or armor or SOMETHING. But for the life of my I couldn't figure out what she even sold. buy weapon from bella. buy item from bella. buy anything from bella. ask bella weapons. ask bella items. Nothing. Nada. And "pick up" item instead of get item kept throwing me off. I swear get would be easier than pick up. I don't know...maybe I'm just old and grumpy. I kept getting frustrated that nothing worked like the old days, but there was no explanations on what was going wrong like the "new days". Is equipment even a thing in this game? I keep getting things that I assume are crafting materials. No idea how to craft anything though. I found a cave with "a mushy rock" in it. look at mushy rock? nope. pick up mushy rock. nope. Check mushy rock. Nope. No idea why nothing works. Bah. I really wanted to like this, because it looks like a cute MUD. But for some reason, nothing is clicking for me.

Upon seeing this game I was immediately drawn to it for nostalgic reasons. I used to created small text-based games when I was a kid and there is something about them that just hooks me. I haven't been playing Chatventures for too long, but so far it fills a gap in my gaming that I didn't even know I was missing. The graphics are so adorable, the music and SFX suit the game well, and the interaction with the world and NPCs are so fun! As an avid D&D player, there is something really satisfying about interacting with a world through description and text.