Not so much a tutorial on the genre, but I built a mini text adventure as a step in the process, documented here.

Well, I've been wanting to make one for years, but...

I've actually been wanting to make one for years, but I've also had that pic waiting for years... Perfect timing! I get to use that pic and this thread might just spur me on to make a text adventure game! Now I just need a story. But that's a topic for another thread in another forum...

As a side note, although completely relevant, the forum software alerts you when you are about to post in a thread older than 60 days:

I disagree. They lost favor with the introduction of interactive computer graphics, but the lack of graphics makes the developer focus on the story; Something that I think has been lost. The lack of graphics has one other advantage and that is that you must actually think to win. Depending on the amount of time spent developing the story and world, they can be even more challenging than CGI-based games. You easily forget where you are in the world, what direction to go, what inventory you have. It's like playing Skyrim blindfolded. You have to use your imagination and memory. You need both of those less with visuals.