Hi all,

I've been playing around with the embedded Java database system known as Derby and it struck me that it might be a good way to store the structural information for a text based adventure (ie a database table containing room data, item data etc etc).  It needn't be just text as Derby can handle images too.  I was considering writing a nice GUI using Swing that could access the information within the database and present it to the user in ana attractive way.

I can see many advantages to using a database to store this type of information particularly as Derby has a small footprint and can be embedded in the final Java application (ie nice easy deployment).

I just wondered what people thought of this idea and whether anyone had tried something like this using Derby.  More importantly I'd be interested to hear your opinions on whether people would still play such a game in this age of 3D graphics.  I certainly think a text based adventure could still prove popular on mobile platforms.

What do you think?

Practically all MUD's - and hence these days all new text adventures - use databases, so yes it is a good idea.