> You could use Z-machine or TADS (and provide the file for downloading). I know some things would have to be changed a bit. Certainly the game would be harder than AGL if it is text-adventure game, which is not a problem. One thing I don't like about AGL is that everything that you can do is written on the screen, and also that you have to use the mouse to click on which one you want, and a few other things also. Real text-adventure game is better than AGL, in my opinion.

The concern was that it would have to be changed a lot to be fit into the classical Z-machine or TADS structure. (If you wanted to, you could write an AGL implementation in Z-code; we've seen Tetris running in a Z-machine, so why not multiple-choice stuff? Actually, something similar may already have been done...)

The thing with AGL games is that the range of options available is made clear to you. Too many interactive fiction games had puzzles that had varied and awkward solutions that in many cases you wouldn't just hit upon by chance.

One of the most irritating puzzles to me was in the game Dungeon Quest, a nicely illustrated, but mostly text adventure (with locations having ambient sound effects too).

The final location boasts a laboratory with a shiny glittering obelisk. It isn't mentioned (AFAIK) in the description that there is a person in the room, although the legs of said person are visible under a table.

'TALK MAN' gives you "There is no man here."

It's not until you try 'TALK PERSON' or even 'TALK NERD' that it does anything.

Or, worse, before that there is a dragon to fight. Now, at this point you may have discovered the shield to protect you (if not, you're already dead). You may even have collected the razor-sharp sword but that doesn't work... This of course assumes you've been out to the garden at the far end of the castle to find the torch. (Said torch never tells you whether it has been lit or not, and 'LIGHT TORCH' doesn't actually help)

Oh wait, let's look behind the king's throne (twice) to find a random sack of DragonNip which isn't visible in the picture either. Then we THROW DRAGONNIP (into the abyss in front of the dragon). See, that's *obviously* simple.

/rant. I love text adventures, I really do (I have hundreds which I've completed), but sometimes when the solution to a puzzle is obscured by its complexity, maybe it's not necessarily the right type of puzzle for a text adventure.

In conclusion, it would be possible, however not necessarily viable without reworking and probably rewriting from scratch.

For some other quality text adventure games, the IF-archive (ifarchive.org) and the annual IF competition (ifcomp.org) should be of interest...