An interview with Text Zedventure creator Matthew Reynolds

After enjoying a trip back to simpler times with the unique Text Zedventure, I tracked down its creator Matthew Reynolds to talk about his game. After the break, Matthew tells us why he chose Save The Rhino as the charity which some of the sales proceeds are going to, how he has absolutely no coding skills and still has a videogame under his belt, and what the name Text Zedventure is really all about…

Text Zedventure // XBL Indie Games

I get the feeling that Text Zedventure was developed for me. Or at least the special subset of people who held choose-your-own-adventure books very dear to their hearts. As a young boy, I used to love ‘playing’ the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks; a whole series of paperbacks from the pens of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, who later went on to found Games Workshop. Played with a pair of dice and a pencil to make notes and fight battles, the gamebooks allowed the reader to forge his own path through the adventure, making key decisions along the way. Although Text Zedventure lacks the dice, and the combat, of these fondly-remembered works, I can’t help but feel that a love for the choose-your-own-adventure paperbacks beats at its austere heart.