[Video, 8m] "The Making of Infocom Text Adventure Games in 1985".

Old BBC short about Infocom and interactive fiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXAubRZ-qjw

#VideoGames #VideoGameHistory #Infocom #Zork

'The site is dedicated to (1) archiving historical Infocom-related artifacts -- InvisiClues, of course, but also magazine articles, marketing material, packaging, artwork, literature, and the games themselves -- and (2) making the archives available in an enjoyable format.'

https://www.invisiclues.org/

@zarfeblong The Visible Zork is a work of pure genius!

What an incredible way to learn ZIL! This is why I need to retire, because I would love to shut myself off in a room for a few days, play the entire game through a time or two, and practice writing ZIL in aother buffer :P

https://eblong.com/infocom/visi-zork1/

Zork I was released for home computers in 1981 and it soared to the top of sales charts, where it remained for more than three years! It was Infocom's top-selling product ever, selling more than 400,000 copies (a huge number for the era) and was the "killer app" of its day.
#Infocom #Zork #RetroGaming

https://www.invisiclues.org/zork-i

I propose a toast.

Okay, a few false starts (some user error), but my MNT Pocket Reform is now up and working.

First test. It does indeed run Zork.

The keyboard is excellent, and loud.

#Playing ZORK on End of The Line BBS:
https://endofthelinebbs.com/

You can play a lot of Infocom games there, & save your progression.

I'm taking a lot of notes. Playing in a dark place only lightened by some diode lights. The cat sleeps in a cardboard box nearby with all 4 irons in the air. What a scene! :0)

#zork #infocom #adventure #text #games #gaming #retrogaming #retrocomputing
#BBS #BBSing #ssh #EndOfTheLineBBS #bulletinboards #textmode #ANSI #ASCII #terminal #retrocomputing #oldschool

Having a break from other "rabbit holes" to return to #CPM, and I'm away from my hardware, so it's emulation only.

Got #runCPM up my laptop and had to get #Zork running. Found the eblong Infocom archive and the #Z80 the Z Interpretator source (+ Zork Z3 file).

Fixed some issues and it assembled with #z80asm but when I ran it the text display was not right. I recognised escape code issues. Dug into the Z80 code and found the problem. Hours later I found the reason.

Wyse codes, not VT100/ANSI

New project!

The Visible Zorker: a toy which lets you explore Zork 1 *and* the source code that makes it go. An exercise in making software transparent.

https://eblong.com/infocom/visi-zork1/

A post about how and why I did this:

https://blog.zarfhome.com/2025/01/the-visible-zorker

Enjoy!

So here's a deep dive into the implementation of Zork I, released in 1981 by INFOCOM

#retrogaming #zork #functionalprogramming
https://medium.com/swlh/zork-the-great-inner-workings-b68012952bdc

growing up, we played Zork. We brought some habits from the great underground empire to our daily lives - like checking inventory.

So, before we'd leave the house on some quest or other my Dad would make sure I'd "done an I-return"

Nuevas pruebas 3D de #lacapi #zork #lacapitv #blender #b2d

In possibly a perfect storm of geekiness I was watching and episode of Deep Space 9 on Legend or Pick or whatever channel. I was trying to work out from where I knew the actor playing a Bajoren religious leader.

Turns out it was the Grand Inquisitor from Zork: Grand Inquisitor and also, completing the perfect Venn diagram, the Pakistani Ambassador in The West Wing.

I pulled out my old box of Infocom transcript printouts. Here’s Zork 2, which I believe is the oldest game file in the box.

I don’t know which release this is, but it’s definitely earlier than zork2-r15-s820308. The spacing (no blank lines before prompts) means that it’s Z-machine v2, I *think*.

I finally broke down and got Zork Anthology on Steam Six games for four dollars? Hard to resist, even when money is tight.

Was thinking about playing the original #Zork, looking at the original manual and stuff, and wow it has this whole tongue in cheek educational book style history of the world to establish the setting, complete with suggested activities for further learning!

@kurasiu you might appreciate this. This was, when first printed in 1993, the Prima Games guide to RTZ. The author valued his work enough to retain or possibly reclaim the rights and republished it in 2015 (as the 20th anniversary edition, even though that math doesn't line up).

I was hoping it would be a documentary but, turns out, just a gameplay guidebook.

Did a thing ^.^

21 x 19.5 cm.

Reduced to £25 GBP, includes worldwide shipping - DM me if you want it!