2015 4th International Conference on Interactive Digital Media (ICIDM)
Desember 1-5, 2015 Bandung - Indonesia
Reinforcing Youth Reading Habits
Through Text-Based Games
Ariston Harianto#1, Eko Nugroho*2, Rio Fredericco^3
#
Binus University
* Statistics Department, Padjadjaran University, Bandung
^ Kummara Studio
1ariston.harianto@gmail.com
2enugroho@gmail.com
3riofredericco@gmail.com
Abstract— A text-based game is a type of video games that
primarily uses writing and text characters to engage players with
minimal to no graphics. With the availability of smartphones and
tablets, text-based games have been seeing a resurgence in
popularity. At the same time, most youths nowadays prefer using
their smartphones rather than reading books. In this paper we
will discuss the possibility of using text-based games to motivate
and/or develop a reading habit for youths.
Keywords— Reading habit, youths, text-based games, game
design, interactive fiction, choice in game
I. INTRODUCTION
A. A Brief History of Text-Based Games
Text-based games are very popular in the 1970s and 1980s
because they require small processing power and are
inexpensive to produce. One of the most popular games of this
type is Zork. In Zork, the player assumes the role of “a
dauntless treasure-hunter, who are venturing into this
dangerous land in search of wealth and adventure.”[1] To play
the game, the player has to input commands such as “Go left”,
“Take treasure”, etc.
The term Interactive Fiction is also used to describe text-
based games and any other games in which the primary
interaction of players and the game are through text. This also
includes gamebooks: a form of books in which they are not
meant to be read in a linear fashion. Instead, players choose
and decide the outcome of the stories and jump forward or
backward through the pages. The most famous example of
gamebook is the Choose Your Own Adventure series.[2]
Quite recently, text-based games have been increasing in
popularity in smartphones and tablets. Some of the examples
include 80 Days - which won the award of TIME Magazine’s
Best Game of the Year in 2014 - and Lifeline, which reached
the #1 Top Paid App in USA a few days after its release.
B. Smartphones and Reading Habit
In 2011, 6 ASEAN countries (Thailand, Singapore, the
Philippines, Laos, Indonesia and Vietnam) held a conference
on reading in Bangkok, Thailand, to address an urgent issue of
promoting reading habits among ASEAN communities.[3]
978-1-5090-1669-3/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
They concluded that:
“...tight global competition in all domains of life
requires basic literacy and that reading was essential
to national development...shared similar concerns
over the urgency of access to books and
commitment to promoting reading to all walks of
life, so that ASEAN could become a learning society
poised to compete with more developed neighbours
such as Japan, China and South Korea.”
There are several challenges associated with creating a
reading habit in Indonesia: a lack of enthusiasm in reading,
scarce access to high-quality libraries and books and a great
disparity in the quality of education between rural and urban
areas. This paper will primarily discuss a new approach to
motivate higher reading enthusiasm especially for youths.
The rise of smartphones and tablets ownership in youths in
Indonesia means that most of them are connected to the
Internet every moment. Indonesia has close to 20 million
active Twitter users and is Facebook’s fourth most active
country [4]. The multi-functionality of smartphones (camera,
social media, MP3 player, etc) makes it a very interesting tool
as compared to a physical paper book. This is exacerbated by
Indonesian culture being very oral-oriented. [5]
However, as stated above, text-based games have gained a
sizable followers in smartphones and tablets. This opens up a
new avenue for experimentation. Playing a text-based game
can be considered a form of reading. It can also encourage
player to explore and read more about a certain topic. As an
example, a player may be curious and interested to read the
novel Around the World in 80 Days after playing the game 80
Days.
Their popularity means that we have to define a ‘reading
habit’ in a broader perspective. Reading habits nowadays
should not only include a habit of reading physical paper
books; we have to consider reading in a digital age, whether it
is reading newspaper articles, blogs, or even reading in text-
based games. However, this “digital reading habit” seems to
provide less exploration and some people argue that browsing
the Internet reduces literacy and decreases attention span, thus
achieving less understanding.
The exploration possibility is also one of the issues. When
we read a physical book - we are forced to explore the whole
sentence on the page, the chapter, or even the whole book to In Lifeline, the player directly interacts with the character.
find information that we need. The digital medium provides a The character, Taylor, is an astronaut who is stranded on a
shortcut from it, we can easily find the information that we moon after a spaceship crash. Throughout the game, the
need. This exploration challenge on digital reading habit is player will converse with Taylor, giving advice and choices
perhaps the key to motivate higher level of reading that Taylor will make. Some of the wrong choices will even
enthusiasm. In the rest of the paper, we will provide a cause Taylor to die while a ‘correct’ choice will ensure
concept/approach of using a text-based game to provide the Taylor’s survival. This type of interaction causes a strong
necessary exploration challenge that we believe is one of the emotional bond between Taylor and the player and we find
keys to reinforce reading habits for youths. that it is quite an amazing feat to be able to create such a bond
using just snippets of text.
II. BASIC CONCEPT For our game, we also want to have a local Indonesia
We are very interested in finding out whether we can setting. We feel that Indonesia’s history is very rich and it is
design a text-based game in such a way that it can motivate an untapped potential. If our experiment is successful, it can
and encourage the player to read more and develop a reading also be an alternative way of teaching History lessons in
habit. Throughout the game, the player will have to read school and the interactive nature will no doubt interest more
carefully and even find external information in order to win. students.
Our hypothesis is that this experiment is successful if the B. Design
majority of players manage to reach the end of the game.
We work together with Rio Fredericco - a game designer
A. Development Phase from Kummara, a game developer company in Bandung - to
There are several core elements that we want to have in the provide the story and dialogue for the game. The story is
game: based on the legend of Garuda: the main character is on a
quest to find Tirta Amrta - a mythological item believed to
1) Options: We want the player to directly influence and cure all diseases - to save his dying brother. The storyline
affect the game. As such, the player will be given various that we have developed can be seen below:
choices at multiple points in the story as to how to proceed
forward. This has a very similar structure to gamebooks.
2) Puzzles: We want to create puzzles in the game in
which the correct answer has to be done by research outside of
the game (for example, looking up Wikipedia, searching in
Google, etc). In Lifeline, the player was asked to find out
whether sleeping with a radiation of 150 rad overnight will
kill the main character. This incentivizes the player to read
about radiation in order to save the character.
3) Multiple Endings: Sid Meier, a famous game designer
very notable for the Civilization series, once said that “A
game is a series of interesting choices.” Related to the point
about options, we want to make the players feel that each
choice they make is meaningful and has a real impact in the
story. The multiple endings element will reflect that.
The game will be released for Android smartphones as it is
our primary target users. To measure the players’ progress,
which is a parameter of their reading intention, we will record
each choice players has made in the game, for example: which
path they choose to go, which ending they get, etc. It will be
sent to our server when the players are online. Our main
inpsirations is 80 Days and Lifeline. 80 Days is a re-
interpretation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days
in which the player must guide the characters of the game to
journey around the world in less than 80 days to win a wager. We will also experiment with different text
The player is free to choose on whatever route and in each city presentations to determine which layout is more interesting
there is a storyline in which the player can decide the for the players. There are 3 layouts:
outcome. Additionally, there is a game element of Health and 1. Full-page text.
Money so the player must balance between taking a fast route In this layout, the whole text will appear on the
(expensive) and dangerous route (decrease Health). We find screen without any input needed from the player.
these 2 variables add to the player’s consideration in 2. Sentence-by-sentence.
determining choice and are a great addition to the game. In this layout, the game will present only one
 sentence in each screen.
3. Hybrid
In this layout, the game will present only one
sentence and then with player’s input, the next
sentence will appear directly below the previous
one.
In terms of gameplay, we imitate Lifeline's structure in
which the player will interact directly with the character.
Based on our survey, not many youths have heard or played
Lifeline and thus we are confident that this type of direct
interaction will be unique and interesting for the players.
We will use Unity3D engine and Fungus add-on to create
the game. It will be released on Android smartphones as a
downloadable APK. We will also record the choices the
player makes throughout the game and analyze the data as to
which choice is more interesting to the players.

Fig. 3 Screenshot of “Introduction”

Fig. 1 Creating a Flowchart using Fungus inside Unity 3D

Fig. 2 Early testing of the game.

C. Development Process
Currently we have finished mapping the choices and paths
for the game. We are currently working on detailing the story
and the dialogue as well as perfecting the User Interface for
the game. Some of the screenshots of the game:

Fig. 4 Screenshot of “First Split Path”

Fig. 5 Screenshot of “Solving Puzzles using Internet” Fig. 7 Screenshot of “Gameover/Restart Screen”

Fig. 6 Screenshot of“Death Screen”

Fig. 8 Screenshot of “Multiple Ending Choice”

Fig. 9 Screenshot of “Ending 1 ”
Fig. 10 Screenshot of “Ending 2”
We have also prepared the web server for hosting the game.
III. . Early Findings and Summary
Based on our early test, we believe that this game has the
potential to achieve our objective. Out of 10 people, 8 of them
managed to reach the ending. This shows that the players are
interested in the story and explore outside of the game to find
the correct path.
We have also observed several points of importance:
1. Character must be relatable and the story must be
interesting enough for the player to be immersed in the
game and thus, wanting to explore and find out more.
2. Our design of having multiple endings is very
important for re-playability value. A player who has
completed a certain path can now try a different path in the
game and experience a different story and choices.
3. Since the game mechanic is built upon 2 options
(right/wrong answers), players may get the right answer
solely by guessing and replaying the game if the first
answer was wrong. To tackle this problem we design some
of the puzzles to have a sequence of questions to increase
the difficulty. Another option is to create checkpoints with
appropriate distance from each other, so the players will
have to go through the conversation all over again before
they reach a certain puzzle.
4. Since the story is in Bahasa Indonesia, it is
important to write the story and dialogue with the
appropriate language style that is commonly used with our
target audience so that the game can connect emotionally
and resonate with the players. Consider that the word ‘I’
has 3 different translations in Bahasa Indonesia, depending
on the formality and relationship between speakers. This
creates a unique and significant challenge.
A text-based game is relatively easy to develop. By
focusing on the story, interesting options, and multiple
endings, we can optimize the text-based game as a medium to
motivate reading habit for youths. This will open up a new
opportunity in integrating game as a learning media and
provide a new and interactive way of learning. As an example,
studying History lessons in schools can be made more
interactive and engaging by immersing the students directly
into a particular era. We hope that text-based games can
provide a meaningful impact as a learning media and directly
improve reading habits among youths.
REFERENCES
[1] Dave Lebling and Marc Blank (1984), Zork Trilogy Instruction Manual.
(PDF), Infocom
[2] Soultanis, Greg. Mullin, Eileen, ed. XYZZY News - The Magazine for
Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts. Issue #4. July/August 1995. Archived
September 28, 2004 at the Wayback Machine
[3] S. Sugiharto. (2011) Reading habit a challenge for ASEAN. [Online].
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habit-a-challenge-asean.html
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