SUDOS — Text Adventure Engine & World Builder

SUDOS is a free desktop engine, player and visual World Builder for creating text adventures. I originally made it to help people turn their story ideas into playable worlds without having to write adventure-specific code.

Adventures can be entirely text-based or use illustrations, music and sound. Areas and locations are arranged on a visual map, while dedicated editors handle scenery, objects, containers, characters, expanding conversations, shops, creatures, encounters, spells, puzzles, crafting and persistent story events.

Authors can use internal flags to remember discoveries, decisions, relationships and story progress. These can reveal new conversation topics, change descriptions, open routes, summon or dismiss characters, begin encounters and affect events elsewhere in the world. Locations and conversations can therefore develop as the player explores and learns more.

The builder also provides validation, location-based playtesting, command interpretation checks and vocabulary auditing. Finished work can be shared as an editable project, a protected player package or a standalone game.

The player supports natural typed commands and clickable controls, persistent saves, inventory, equipment, multiple currencies, shops, crafting, spells, journals, authored encounters and changing world state. Everything works offline.

The download includes the complete text-only edition of The Orb Cycle as a playable demonstration of the engine. It is a 280-location adventure across six realms, with conversations, interconnected puzzles, authored encounters, lasting decisions and four distinct endings. An optional illustrated edition is available separately from the SUDOS website.

SUDOS is a passion project rather than a commercial product. The engine, World Builder and included adventure are free, with no advertisements, subscriptions, accounts, payment prompts or time limits.

A free 42-lesson video course is available for anyone interested in building and sharing an adventure of their own. SUDOS is available for Windows, Linux and macOS.