THE VIDEO SHELF · text adventure history
GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary
Jason Scott discusses making his documentary GET LAMP at a Google Tech Talk and screens part of the film. It covers the history of text adventures and interactive fiction, with interviews of Infocom developers and others.
Why HN readers recommended it
HN recommends it to anyone interested in text adventures, Infocom, MUDs and early computer gaming history.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- Google TechTalks
- Topic
- text adventure history
- Format
- documentary
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 5
- HN mentions in dataset
- 8
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2014–2026
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
Many Infocom employees are present in the documentary Get Lamp: [VIDEO] Recommended if text games are of interest to you.
grimgrin on Hacker News · 2014-12
In First Infocom Z-machine implemented in hardwareIf you like text adventure games, check out Jason Scott's documentary GET LAMP about the history of text adventure games, including interviews with some Infocom developers: [VIDEO] [LINK]
cpeterso on Hacker News · 2018-12
In Great Adventure-Game PuzzlesOh the MUDs! Props to Forest’s edge and TempusMUD. Text is the ultimate medium because it directly connects with our imagination. I remember jumping out of my chair after reading a line of text on my screen. Recommend watching “Get lamp” documentary to fans of …
freediver on Hacker News · 2019-03
In Iconoclast: a Gothic/Cyberpunk MUD RPG, Online Since 1996
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.