An e-reader will soon come as a console with old technology-and I would buy it immediately

Text adventures on the e-reader? Yes please, absolutely!

Pssst, I’ll tell you a secret: We authors prefer to write books instead of reading them themselves. However, the INK Console could make me a bookworm and yes, it is exactly what the promising name promises.

The INK Console is a mixture of e-reader and console and especially intended for interactive text adventures. The focus is on Choose-Your-Rum Adventure Games and I find the idea wonderful to take the reins into your own hands with stories.

Writing has always been part of his professional life: Starting with travel tenders in his training as a travel merchant via TV listings as a program editor (you already know, these barren columns in the daily and weekly newspapers) to the technical editor in an IT company, he has banned almost everything. The tech affinity was only added with the editor’s post in a technology magazine that has now been set, even though the console ranges have already been born in the cradle. His parents jumped on turtles early on with ex-plunges. In his free time, Maxe primarily follows his hobby, writing. As Milian Ventus, he publishes books that you can buy in any book trade. He also made further training as a lecturer. If he does not have the keyboard under his fingers, then anime, mangas and books in front of the eyes that he likes to ‘read and read’ in his podcast.

This is Ink Console

When the press release reached me, I was immediately fascinated for various reasons. Not only looks the e-reader with the haptic buttons like a game boy fell from time. He totally appeals to me with his straightforward design – externally and graphically. Like a handy computer that an author of a Scifi series came up with from the 1970s.

Technically speaking, the console is naturally outdated – And for me that is exactly what makes the charm. An e-reader does not need any top modern specs, certainly not for text adventures, but the brave step towards understatement fits the entire product wonderfully. There are several choose-you-down Adventure games on Steam, but I find the archaic presentation much more charming.

Stuck in the Ink Console:

• Display: 7.5-inch e-link screen
• resolution: 800×480 Pixel
• processor: Dual-core ESP32
• memory: 8 MB PSRAM and 520 KB SRAM
• Internal memory: 4 MB flash memory (expandable)
• Connections: WLAN, Bluetooth
• Power: 5,000 mAh, charging via micro-USB
• Audio: Mono, 3.5mm jack connection

The e-reader console is operated via two buttons: A button and a sliding pad. The games should be on SD cards, which you then put in the shaft of the console (as with the Game Boy). A handful of entries are already on www.inkconsole.com. It is not yet known whether it will be digital.

The games will even have an inventory system. This can still be done as the classic Choose-YOUR-YOUR-YOUR-ONDUTURE Books of our childhood, where you often only had the choice between two or three options. The company behind the device promises interactive reading and the use of an inventory system really makes me believe that.

But it gets even better.

Stories as a joint project

The software for the console is said to be open sourcethat means: Anyone who wants to write an interactive book can do so. On the website you even want to provide authors with the DEV KIT.

To quote the press release at this point:

I find the thought wonderful! In many of us, a story slumbering that wants to be told. Writing books requires a lot of self -discipline and very long breath; You don’t even develop games quickly during lunch break.

The makers behind the Ink Console give many potential storytellers the opportunity to bring their vision to people. Even more: You reach people like me who don’t like to read but still want to experience stories.

There is a company behind the Ink Reader name singular 9 ltd. Seated in Hong Kong. According to the city’s directory, the company was only founded in early January 2025, namely by Dana Puch. The developer has developed seven games in the past and three successful Kickstarter campaigns on the notch.

And now the big catch is coming.

Ink Console braucht Crowdfunding

Attentive readers may have noticed that I wrote in the subjunctive all the time. There is a reason.

As wonderful as the console sounds, it does not yet exist. So far, there are just two (admittedly: promising) prototypes on the website.

The company relies on crowdfunding via Crowd Supply to make the INK Console come true. The campaign will start on March 1, 2025. From then on you can support the project if you want.

After all, there is a roadmap on the website that also includes the next year.

• The INK Console is scheduled to go into production this year and are delivered to supporters of the campaign.
• The Dev Kit for creating the games will be developed this year.
• An online store is also being built.

Next year, the game library is to be expanded from six to twenty titles. The company also plans to publish the DEV KIT and the online store.

I have already registered with the newsletter And will support the project from March (my first time, by the way). For me, there are so many factors that inspire me and who are worth getting support.

• Reading and playing combined
• Modern retro consoles just address me.
• Open source allows everyone to write their own stories.
• Text adventures and Choose-YOUR-down adventure stories absolutely need a comeback.

I imagine how I lie in bed in the evening and follow an exciting scifi story. Chiptune music sounds from the headphones and I decide whether I really want to follow the foreign signal from space. Well told stories are priceless and when I actually have what happens, I am much more involved. This is an priceless experience.

Books for playing are nothing new per se. My colleague Steffi rediscovered her love, but luckily I need neither pen nor block in bed.

If I had only had the Ink Console as a child, because when my mother said “you are already hanging in front of your game boy?” I could have returned: “No, mom, I read”.

How does the Ink Console affect you? Don’t you also want to take the reins directly for an adventure story?