IWGH is a site about exploration, mystery and travel.
Although on the surface it looks like a small and silly project, those who like to dig deeper soon find out that appearances are deceptive.
Still, I have a hard time explaining what IWGH is like. Some may think of it as a game, it can also be thought of as an interactive book or a puzzle or a maze in the web. I guess its all of these things and a little bit more.
Obviously, this project will not appeal to everyone. Experience has shown that while some people instantly click into the site and its workings, others dislike the concept or simply do not feel any interest towards that kind of thing. But at least those that do get it, usually find the experience magnetic and this is what keeps me working on the project.
Of course, someone might say that the silliness of the first appearance is what scares many people off. Perhaps. But somehow I could not take it out and make the site speak boldly about what it really is. It just doesn't work that way. There's really no other road - it has to be worked out by the visitor. It's like with a book which has its own pace and if you don't get through the first chapter - you don't get the book.
IWGHo homepage
IWGHi homepage
A little bit of history
I WANNA GO HOME/HIKING Club is a project which started off as my first personal project and which for months has provided me with the joy of creative silliness and funny ideas. Several of my friends had a good time exploring my creations as well and it was literally a way to get away from the boredom of office work and ctrl-c ctrl-v kinda tasks you often get as a web developer.
At that time it was no more than a small site, but after a while it started to grow into something bigger and something more epic.
But then other things kicked in and the development of IWGH came to a halt. At the beginning of 2009 the project went offline - the hosting on which it was put up ended and at that point I was too busy with Disc Shelf and plenty of other things to care.
The change came when I found the site on my local machine a year later and thought that I really miss working on that project and having it online. Some things did not work anymore so I had to fix 'em and put the site back together. I also found all the archives with further ideas on IWGH which I had back then.
During about a year I have significantly developed the game framework for the site, introducing complicated behavior, inventory, magical items, locks, creatures, friends and many quests.
Currently the project is not being developed, but what is already there could be a nice little adventure.
I am offering two older sandboxes of IWGH, for historical purposes.
First is the old IWGH Club site, latest version as it was seen online, fully operational.
Another site, which was written by Olech Kazcanowski, is called IWGH Promotion Group and is a beautiful piece of work. He made it during the same time I started doing my IWGH Club. The sandbox is to be found here: