®
“All the Gnus
Weather: State of the atmosphere
That Fit, We Print”
The New Zork Times
- VOL. IV....No. 4
- —FALL 1985—
- INTERFLUVIAL EDITION
SPELLBREAKER IS HERE!
The Exciting Conclusion to the Enchanter Trilogy
- In
- a
- world founded on magic, guildmaster has been turned into an
sorcerers rule the land, creating the amphibian! All, that is, but yourspells needed to do everything from self... and a shadowy cloaked figure making bread to taming wild who slips quietly out the door. animals. Your position as a leader of
Thus begins Spellbreaker, the
the Circle of Enchanters has earned riveting conclusion to Infocom's you respect from all others in the Enchanter series (including En- kingdom.
chanter and Sorcerer™) and the final
But now a crisis has fallen. Magic chapter in the story of a magician's itself seems to be failing. Spells go rise from novice to mage. strangely awry or cease to work
Spellbreaker was written by Dave
altogether. The populace is becom- Lebling, co-author of the Zork® ing restive, and rumblings are heard concerning Enchanters. A great conclave is held, con-
A Frobozz Magic Magic Equipment Catalog, an Enchanter’s Guild pin, and six Enchanter trading cards are included in every Spellbreaker package.
vening all the guildmasters in the trilogy and Enchanter and author of land. One by one, they step forward, Starcross® and Suspect™. According describing the devastating effects of to Lebling, "You don't have to have the diminished magic. Beer tastes played the other games in our fantasy like grue bathwater, pastries are thick series in order to enjoy this one, and greasy, huntsmen are unable to although that makes it more fun. such as allowing you to add some will find their skills tested by the words to the already large vocabu- most challenging puzzles ever lary.
Although Spellbreaker is an
concocted by Infocom.
Each Spellbreaker package
- control wild beasts.
- People who have played Enchanter
- Suddenly, in the midst of
- a
- and Sorcerer will find familiar
- expert-level game, it's very non- includes
- a
- copy of the Frobozz
discourse on the difficulty of writing moments, and lots of things you poetry without magical help on the found in the Zork series are in here." linear, giving you plenty of geogra- Magic Magic Equipment Catalog phy and paraphernalia to enjoy (Special Crisis Edition), a mystical without having to actually solve all Enchanter's Guild pin, and a set of the puzzles. Less-experienced Enchanter trading cards. It will retail players can still have fun exploring for $49.95 for most systems. the environment, while crackerjacks
- rhymes, the Guildmaster of the Poets
- There are more characters than in
undergoes a bizarre transformation. Enchanter and Sorcerer, each with a Looking in shock around the room, distinct personality. Spellbreaker you find that each and every also contains technical innovations,
greedy wizard Malifestro. The book children." (Don't panic yet ... is vaguely interactive in the sense Infocom has a smaller following than that the reader is given options which Jim Jones, the Hari Krishnas, or will affect the outcome of the Reverend Moon! O.K., scratch
Zork Banned!
As we sit in Steve's office planning off the phone in a huff. I understand. story — it's a "pick-a-path" book. As Reverend Moon, but definitely the fate of Europe for the next few We have decisions to make. Wars to with Zork I, the reader (player?) runs smaller than either of the other two.)
- years, Steve and I have little concern fight. Countries to conquer. the risk of having his or her throat
- When asked to comment on the
- about developments in the New Diplomacy® is
- a
- time-consuming cut with a stiletto. What Ms. Leary proposed ban, Meretzky said that at
World, especially not about business. It was a good thing it missed is that just like the games, least Leary, who calls herself a grumblings in a small town on a wasn't my boss on the phone. I have you can restart the book and come up "kamikaze for Jesus," is not so
- skimpy piece of land on something no business in Meretzky's office!
- with a better decision on your second fanatical about removing Darwin
- When the May 16th issue of The pass. from the schools. Leary, in
- called "The Cape." Just as I convince
- Steve to not invade Belgium in Register (a small newspaper serving
- In the words of The Register, "She kamikaze-like fashion, said, "I will
exchange for some foggy city in a few towns on Cape Cop) landed on sees the relationship between fight this book with my dying England, the phone rings. Steve my desk, I learned who the disgrun- violence in the book and violence breath." Meretzky is quick to deny answers the phone. Some disgruntled tled customer was. Jan Leary was, in coming from kids as fact, not just a the rumor that upon uttering these person is calling from the New fact, not a customer at all. She was a possibility." Her son had purchased words, Leary was enveloped in a World, the Cape specifically (a town parent who was very concerned the book at a school fair; Leary has cloud of sinister black fog... Leary, called South Dennis), and temporar- about the subject matter of a book by since approached the school to ban however, mysteriously couldn't be ily ensnares Steve in an argument. I Steve called Zork: The Malifestro the book from its library and future reached for comment. (She probably note that Steve seems disturbed by Quest. The book, loosely based on fairs, purporting that "such reading has since discovered Zork I and is
- what sounds like
- a
- complaining the Zork empire, has two heroes promotes demonic worship and having trouble getting into the
customer wasting his time. He gets trying to save the empire from the glorifies violence for school house!)
- PAGE
- 2
- THE NEW ZORK TIMES
- FALL 1985
socket.
>ASK MONICA ABOUT LOVE "That's between Mother and me."
Call the Exterminator
Floyd was so eager to please that he would get the shiny fromitz board for you over and over and over....
- Even with our intensive testing, water jug filled. As long as you have
- If you thought you had escaped the Infidel
some bugs manage to slip through some water in it, you can refill it to mutants and pressed the elevator our Quality Control Department. In the brim by saying TAKE WATER, button at the bottom of the shaft, you past issues of the NZT we listed no matter where you are. That's a were probably surprised when the some of those bugs for the Zork pretty neat variation on the decanter elevator door closed just as the
Remember the famous container
bug from Zork I? Well, it's in Infidel.
Try putting the knapsack in the silver chalice and vice-versa. They both disappear. This bug will not be in any future Infocom games (or so our testing department promises). If you put the beam in the niches and then go back to the barge and say GET BEAM, you fall into a pit series, Starcross, Deadline®, of endless water.
Sorcerer, Infidel®, and Planetfall®.
mutants were about to reach it. (Mutants are almost as ubiquitous as
- grues ... or bugs.)
- We received a tremendous response Sorcerer
from our NZT readers, who reported
For you magicians, if you want to bugs that they had found. Here are
some more embarrassing (and sometimes hilarious) bugs from our releases, as reported by our outside bug hunters. finish the game with all the points, don't open the chest with the rezrov spell. You won't get the 15 points
The Witness®
For those of you who like to drink, of rats (oops). Those pesty rat pits you should get if you had opened it you can GET A DRINK anywhere, seem to be everywhere.
- the mundane way.
- including outside the house.
- For the mathematically inclined,
Note of warning: if you haven't
finished one of the games below, you might not want to read the associated paragraphs.
- In earlier versions, gaspar didn't
- An old bug that was fixed were try calculating the weight of the
work properly in the Coal Mine. places and objects you could get into beam assuming a density equal to Also, you could re-create any scroll but could not get back out of. If you that of water. (See the end of the by typing TAKE THE AIMFIZ got into the shower or the broken article for the answer, Hercules.) SCROLL (for example). These bugs window and then tried to get out, the have been fixed. program just told you that you would question: WHERE'S THE BEEF? If For those careless few who got do better to stand up (thinking you you're lucky, you'll get the response
For Wendy's fans, you can ask the
Enchanter
If you send the turtle into the
- temple, the game acts as if you had their spell books wet (a definite were in the wooden chair).
- "It's right here!" Take that, competi-
gone in instead, and you end up no-no with gnusto-sensitive paper), dying. The ASPCA must have did you notice that the scrolls that responses: slipped that one in the game to give got wet weren't ruined? If we can
Here's an interesting series of tors!
Here's an embarrassing contradictory description. With the water in the silver chalice type: FILL SILVER CHALICE WITH WATER. The response is "The silver chalice is filled with water; the silver chalice is now empty." A little like tea and no tea.
- some protection to turtles.
- track down the formula for that batch
>MAKE LOVE TO MONICA
If you guncho the magic rope that of scroll paper, we could make a protects the jewelled box, the rope fortune in the spell book market. disappears and the box opens.
(Sorry, but English is my second language. Please rephrase that.)
However, the box is empty, and if Planetfall
>ASK MONICA TO MAKE LOVE
you LOOK, you can still see the box
Most of the reported bugs have coiled by the rope. How's that for an been fixed in the latest version.
(Your request was incomplete. Next time, say what you want Monica to make the love from.)
Stay tuned for more bugs in future NZTs. If you find any bugs, remember to call the exterminator.
[Answer to the weight of beam problem: A beam 10 feet long and 12 inches in diameter is about 500 pounds.] optical illusion?
Here's a sample of some of the
If you move the lighted portrait in bugs for those of you with earlier the gallery, then LOOK, the portrait releases.
>MAKE LOVE FROM MONICA
has disappeared in the blink of an
If you got the fused bedistor and eye.
"Eat, drink, and make merry, for tomorrow we shall die!"
then dropped it anywhere, you would have trouble getting it again because
The last Enchanter bug we'll mention has to do with keeping your it thought it was still fused to its
®
Spellbreaker Marathon:
The New Zork Times
Wellesley Wins the First Annual Marathon of the Minds
Writers Gary Brennan, Michael Dornbrook,
Jennifer Fine, Stuart Galley, Paul Gross, Elizabeth Langosy, Steven Meretzky, Jeff O’Neill, Jonathan Palace
The Boston Museum of Science, teams were allowed three hints each along with Infocom, sponsored the in order to be able to finish the First Annual Marathon of the Mind expert-level game before having to at ComputerPlace (part of the Boston return to classes on Monday. Museum of Science). This event, Winners of the contest were Sherene organized by Sue Kur of Computer- Aram and Robbin Evans of the Place and Spencer Steere of Wellesley #1 team, the only team to Infocom, was a race between college finish. Only one other team came
Production Cynthia Curtis, Jonathan Palace,
Michelle Simpson
teams to finish Spellbreaker
- —
- close to finishing, but they made a
Special thanks to Alice, Barry, Brian, Dan, Donna, Ellen,
Jen, Joanne, Ken, Lori, Nancy, Paula, Phil, and Tom
Infocom's latest interactive fiction — fatal mistake near the end and had to before it finished them. Included drop out. At the very end, all the were teams from Wellesley, Boston other teams quit playing to watch the University, University of Massachu- winning team solve the climactic setts at Boston, MIT, Boston final scene. The winners received a College, and Harvard. The contest free Infocom game of their choice started at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, and a free party to be thrown at September 14th, and lasted 20 hours, ComputerPlace.
© 1985 Infocom, Inc., 125 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140
Zork, Enchanter, Deadline, The Witness, Starcross, Suspended, Planetfall, Infidel, and Seastalker are registered trademarks of Infocom, Inc. Wishbringer, Sorcerer, Spellbreaker, Suspect, A Mind Forever
Voyaging, Cutthroats, Fooblitzky, Cornerstone, Tales of Adventure, Interactive Fiction Plus, and Invisi-
Clues are trademarks of Infocom, Inc. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is
- a
- trademark of
Douglas Adams. Diplomacy is a registered trademark of Avalon Hill, copyright 1976.
straight throughout the night. The
- FALL 1985
- THE NEW ZORK TIMES
- PAGE
- 3
Mail Bag
Dear Zork Control (if there is So with the Wizard am more than
even.
any),
- At first, Zork brought our family
- Maze and puzzle room did not
hinder, together for many happy hours of
brainstorming. However, Zork II and Zork III proved addictive and led to excessive indulgence. My children fled to college to escape incessant demands for solutions from a gameplaying mom. My husband went lonely to bed night after night... But at least when he "worked late" he knew where I was...
Einstein and Oppenheimer were as kinder [German pronunciation], I crossed the lake and got the key, I've a score of seven from dear Zork III, But try as I might in every year, The crown jewels still have naught to fear. Twice I've been down to the Dungeon Master,
- After everyone left,
- I
- took to
And sent back, not wiser, even faster. The carousel room only took a minute, But the jewel cage STILL has everything in it! accosting different types of strange men in lonely bars hoping to find another Zork addict. Unfortunately or alas! I now know all the true addicts are home playing Suspended®
or Enchanter!
The following is a sigh of frustration written during enforced with-
drawal from Zork to tackle Sorcerer:
So after 2½ years of being a purist, I'm now writing to your new supplier of hint books. Thank you for staying in touch so that I know where to send for them.
I found the Cyclops, I solved the dragon, I robbed the bank with little flaggin'. I climbed the falls and found the treasure.
Mrs. J.A. Lordi
Ocala, FL
I floated the balloon with greatest pleasure. I gathered the spheres and summoned the demon,
Please send letters to: NZT, 125 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140
Top fashion model Robert McCarron in a rare candid shot, sporting the babel fish T-shirt. McCarron’s only comment: “This is a small? ”
programs, resulting in longer, more complicated stories and more sophisticated user interfaces. The first story developed in Interactive Fiction Plus:
They Said It...
Take Off Your Shirt
The Boston Phoenix, published in Steve Meretzky's A Mind Forever
neighboring Beantown, featured Voyaging™, in which you journey Infocom in its September 24 High into the future in the role of the Tech section. Said the Phoenix, world's first sentient computer.
And put on an Infocom “I GOT THE with the same bright lettering as the BABEL FISH” T-shirt! Over 600 front of your Hitchhiker’s game
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy™ package. There’s a size to fit every-
fans are already sporting these one (S, M, L, or XL), and they’re distinctive shirts! If you’re the only only $7.95. So what are you waiting bloke on the block without one, for? Just send in the order form don’t panic. Babel fish T-shirts are below or call our toll-free number
- "These games do strange things to
- Another key to Infocom's success
your perception. When you turn off is our network of dedicated fans, your computer and go out into the which extends around the globe! street, it's difficult to remember that We've got an especially large you're no longer traversing an imagi- number of them in England, and nary world. This kind of obsession, that's why the British Broadcasting which can afflict you even if you've Corporation came to Cambridge to never touched a computer before, is do a special program on Infocom. to key to the astounding success of The BBC spent a day wandering the the Cambridge-based firm Infocom halls, speaking with a variety of and its long line of interactive fiction Infopeople, and even sitting in on an software." But we don't have to tell Implementors' Lunch (a legendary
- still available.
- (800-262-6868) and an Infocom
They’re made of 100% cotton, in babel fish T-shirt will be yours! fashionable go-with-anything black,
"
Please send me ______ T-shirts(s). Enclosed is a check or money order (no cash please!) for $7.95 per T-shirt.
you that.
weekly event garnering all the
Another key to Infocom's success Infocom game writers). The resulting is the advanced technology used to program, which will air in
- _____ S
- _____ M
- _____ L
- _____ XL
- create our interactive novels.
- A
- November, profiles the company,
Name: __________________________________________________
recent article in Publisher's Weekly focusing on the development of focused on Interactive Fiction Plus™, Spellbreaker.
Address: ______________________________________________
______________________________________________
_
__
- the latest addition to our unique
- Last but not least, this quote from
_
development system. Interactive Analog Computing: "Achieving Fiction Plus allows Infocom game the impossible is an Infocom exdesigners to double the size of their clusive."
Send to: T-Shirts, Infocom, 125 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge,
MA 02140.
- PAGE
- 4
- THE NEW ZORK TIMES
- FALL 1985
Infocom Beats Spinnaker in Softball Championship
Infocom adds yet another trophy to players pumped keyboards for days, its case: the "Floppy Cup" of the and went on to defeat Spinnaker in Software Softball Eastern Division. the next 2 games, 18 to 8 and 14 to 8. Spinnaker defeated Infocom 12 to 5 Coach Dave "Hollywood" Anderson
- in the first of the best-of-3 series. was last seen celebrating in
- a
(Infocom hoped for a rally in the Chinese restaurant, wearing a grass ninth, but the game was suspended skirt and giving mouth-to-mouth by police action.) But Infocom resuscitation to a tiki bowl.