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London based Axe Software has just released it’s rather old fashioned Quest 4.0, an impressively powerful (mind you, I’ve only tried the demo version) text-adventure/interactive-fiction creation tool, that surprisingly lets you create … err… text-adventures and even get all weird with them, by adding graphics and sounds. Online multiplayer gaming and mouse support have also been added to the mix, as, according to Axe Software, this is obviously the best way to create games, learn the basic principles of programming, live in a modern high-tech age, be a master storyteller and cure herpes. Have a look, oh reader, simply by following this innocent little .
If, on the other hand, you prefer giving it some more thought before going out and clicking on stuff, I do suggest you try playing Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -an exquisite example of the genre- for free, reading a bit on text-adventure history and visiting a lovely Infocom archive. As for freeware game creators you could do worse than having a look at TADS, the Text Adventure Development System.
