Ink Console is intended to be a new open-source system for text-based games. While the modern era has seen some innovative hardware designed with the aim of playing retro and retro-style games, but we don’t recall seeing any hardware dedicated solely to text-based games before. However, that’s about to change when the Crowd Supply crowdfunding campaign for Ink Console launches on March 1st. Ink Console is designed to be a hybrid of an e-reader and a games console that aims to offer interactive adventure inspired by classic computer text adventures and choose-your-own-adventure books. With Ink Console, users won’t just be able to read and play adventures, as the console also comes with an easy-to-use development kit, meaning anyone can write and program their own adventures.
Ink Console’s OS also features a “comprehensive inventory system where you can view and manage items collected during your journey, ready to be used as challenges arise. For adventure and role-playing stories, players can turn to a health status system, adding an extra layer of strategy.”
Ink Console’s creator Dana Puch explains that “The idea for Ink Console came from a desire to bring the magic of text adventures, like the 1980s classic Zork I, to a new audience unfamiliar with these games, adding that “[he] also was very inspired by the beloved Choose Your Own Adventure series of books”. Dana is currently developing a diverse range of concept gamebooks for Ink Console, covering everything from thrilling expeditions and deep-sea adventures to immersive sci-fi narratives and fantasy epics in fantastical realms. New gamebooks can be added to this system with the built-in SD card reader.
Ink Console’s “You Create” Development Kit is designed to empower creators of all stripes —writers, artists, game designers, and anyone with a passion for storytelling— who can bring their gamebook to life. This toolkit will give you everything needed to build immersive, interactive stories for the Ink Console without coding being required.
Ink Console’s specs will include a dual-core ESP32 microprocessor with 4MB flash memory, 8MB PSRAM, and 520KB SRAM, Wi-Fi 4 (802.11 b/g/n), and Bluetooth 4.2. Storage will be expandable via an SD card slot. The display will be a 7.5-inch e-ink screen with an 800 x 480 resolution for a paper-like reading experience. Ink Console creator Dana Puch has previously created homebrew games for Game Boy under the the name Greenboy Games. So, could having a dedicated device for playing and making text-based games “re-kindle” your love of the genre? (Do you see what we did there?!)
