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Jay Simon 3/18/2002 STS 145 Case Study Zork: a Study of Early
Jay Simon 3/18/2002 STS 145 Case Study Zork: A Study of Early Interactive Fiction I: Introduction If you are a fan of interactive fiction, or have any interest in text-based games from the early 1980’s, then you are no doubt familiar with a fascinating series known as Zork. For the other 97 percent of the population, the original Zork games are text-based adventures in which the player is given a setting, and types in a command in standard English. The command is processed, and sometimes changes the state of the game. This results in a new situation that is then communicated to the user, restarting the cycle. This type of adventure game is classified as belonging to a genre called “interactive fiction”. Zork is exceptional in that the early Zork games are by far the most popular early interactive fiction titles ever released. It is interesting to examine why these games sold so well, while most other interactive fiction games could not sell for free in the 1980’s. As we will see, this is a result of many different technological and stylistic aspects of Zork that separate it from the rest of the genre. Zork is a unique artifact in gaming history. II: MIT and Infocom – The Prehistory of Zork Zork was not a modern project developed under a strict timeline by a designated team of programmers, but credit is given to two MIT phenoms named Marc Blank and Dave Lebling. Its history can be traced all the way back to the invention of a medium-sized machine called the PDP-10, in the 1960’s. -
Beyondzork-Regcard.Pdf
Fantastic savings on Brian Moriarty's Wishbringer® ! Now that you're proving your cunning and valor in Wishbringer is the perfect choice for both novices Beyond Zork,® you'll want to take on the fabulous crea and seasoned interactive fiction players. Although the tures and explore the fantastic landscape in another magic wishes you're granted will help you solve the captivating lnfocom story. And we've got just the one puzzles, experienced players can challenge them for you. Wishbringer, Brian Moriarty's first work of selves by using logic alone. interactive fiction, is now available for only $14.95. To prepare you for your adventure, the In this award-winning story, you're an ordinary Wishbringer package includes a postal map of your mail clerk in an ordinary little town. But there's some home town, a mysterious sealed envelope, a copy of thing quite extraordinary in today's mail. It's a ransom note for a The Legend of Wishbringer, and an enchanted glow-in-the-dark kidnapped cat, and it will lead you through amazing adventures Wishbringer stone. to Wishbringer, a stone possessing undreamt-of powers. For You can order Wishbringer by simply filling out the form on although the note is addressed to someone in your ordinary little the reverse side. Then you're on your way to having your most town, it's postmarked for Special Delivery to Parts Unknown. And fabulous wishes come true. its true destination is somewhere beyond your wildest dreams .. .. G-IZB-01 We'll Help You Out! There's a solution to every puzzle in Beyond Zork, and a way out story. -
The Status Line
Meet Mike’s Important Dream Date Reader Poll See page 7 The Status Line See page 6 Volume VI Number 1 Formerly The New Zork Times Winter/Spring 1987 Douglas Adams' Bureaucracy Not very long ago, Douglas Adams It's a sad story, one that's replayed (who is, as everyone knows, the best- every day for millions of people selling author of that zany interactive worldwide. Of course, it's not always story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the a bank at fault. Sometimes it's the Galaxy™) moved from one apartment postal service, or the telephone com- in London to another. He dutifully pany, or an airline, or the govern- notified everyone of his new address, ment. All of us, at one time or including his bank. In fact, he person- another, feel persecuted by a bureauc- ally went to the bank and filled out a racy. What can be done? change-of-address form. Only Douglas Adams would exact Soon after, Douglas found that he such sweet revenge. He retaliated by was unable to use his credit card. He writing Bureaucracy™, a hilarious discovered that the card had been interactive journey through masses of invalidated by the bank. Apparently, red tape. the bank had sent a new card to his You begin Bureaucracy in your old address. spiffy new apartment. You're going to For weeks, Douglas tried to get the Paris this very afternoon for a combi- bank to acknowledge his change-of- nation training seminar and vacation, address form. He talked to bank offi- so you'll need to leave as soon as you cials, and filled out new forms, and get the money order your boss has applied for another credit card, but mailed you. -
The Status Line
The Status Line Volume VII Number 1 Formerly The New Zork Times Winter/Spring 1988 Sherlock Holmes - Immortal Legend “You are standing in the spill of a gas The Crown Jewels have been stolen; com’s new “Immortal Legends” series. streetlight outside 221 B Baker Street. The games feature enhanced interaction You have come in response to an urgent You’re the only one who can find them with legendary characters of the past in summons from your old landlady, Mrs. the settings in which they became fa- Hudson. As the fog swirls around you, exposed and the With Holmes by mous. Developed by Bob Bates and you huddle into your coat and shiver in government will fall your side, you use Challenge, Inc., the series combines the predawn chill.” into international your wits, intuition, humor and puzzle-solving into satisfy- Thus begins Sherlock: The Riddle of disgrace. and a myriad of ing adventures that will stay with you the Crown Jewels, which catapults you Only 48 hours clues to solve the long after you turn away from the com- into the fog-bound streets of Victorian remain to solve the riddles and piece puter. The game Sherlock itself is a London. All week long, the city has crime. With Scot- together the mys- comic mystery, and its cast of charac- been bustling with preparations for Her land Yard baffled, tery. From Trafalgar ters includes the Baker Street Irregu- Majesty's Golden Jubilee. Crowds of the Prime Minister Square to Madame lars, Mycroft Holmes, and the always- sightseers and souvenir vendors fill the calls on Sherlock Tussaud’s, from incompetent Inspector Lestrade, about streets. -
Spellbreaker™ Is Here!
11 All the Gnus Weather: State of the That Fit, We Print" atmosphere VOL. IV. .. No. 4 - FALL 1985 - INTERFLUVIAL EDITION SPELLBREAKER™ IS HERE! The Exciting Conclusion to the Enchanter® Trilogy In a world founded on magic, master has been turned into an sorcerers rule the land, creating amphibian! All, that is, but the spells needed to do everything yourself . and a shadowy cloak from making bread to taming ed figure who slips quietly out wild animals. Your position as a the door. leader of the Circle of Enchanters Thus begins Spellbreaker,. ·the has earned you respect from all riveting conclusion to lnfocom's others :in the kingdom. Enchanter series (including En But now a crisis has fallen. chanter and Sorcerer'") and the Magic itself seems to be failing. final chapter in the story of a Spells go strangely awry or cease magician's rise from novice to to work altogether. The populace mage. is becoming restive, and rum Spellbreaker was written by blings are heard concerning Dave Lebling, co-author of the Enchanters. A great conclave is held, con Marathon: p. 2 vening all the guildmasters in the land. One by one, they step for Zork® trilogy and Enchanter and A Froboz.z. Magic Magic Equipment Catalog, an Enchanter's Guild pin, and six ward, describing the devastating author of StGicrosSE' and Suspect'!' Enchanter trading cards are included in eveiy Spellbreaker package. effects of the diminished magic. According to Lebling, "You don't Beer tastes like grue bathwater, have to have played the other breaker also contains technical while crackerjacks will find their pastries are thick and greasy, games in our fantasy series in innovations, such as allowing skills tested by the most huntsmen are unable to control order to enjoy this one, although you to add some words to the challenging puzzles ever con wild beasts. -
The Status Line Vol,1Mp VII Nljll'ber 2 Formwly the New Zork Times Summer 1988 Change Is New Mail Order Firm-Really! Inevitable
The Status Line Vol,1mP VII NLJll'ber 2 Formwly The New Zork Times Summer 1988 Change is New mail order firm-really! inevitable. We are pleased to introduce Triton Products Company as the new author Don't panic! ized Infocom direct marketing center. Veterans in the field of phone and mail We've been asking what you'd orders and fulfillment, Triton, in the like to see in our software. And words of Vice President Terry Miller, you've responded. You've sent in "hopes to be the best darn direct mar your Status Line polls, and an keting company you've ever seen." swered our warranty card ques Triton was recently acquired by Ac tions, phone surveys, and in tivision to become the company's package questionnaires. The re direct marketing specialists. sults? You want on-screen maps. You' II notice lots of changes in this You want character development issue of The Status Line, and most of with bar charts. You want color. those are through the expertise and the You want animation. In short, you good graces ofTriton, our new corpo want graphics. rate cousins. Just open to the center of Graphics? From Infocom? Tue the newsletter, and you'll see some of company that advertised itself as the changes immediately: a postage "sticking our graphics where the paid envelope, special coupons and sun don't shine"? We know that offers, clear concise ordering instruc the very idea is anathema to a tions, and who knows what else. number of very loyal Infocom But the more you deal with Triton, fans. -
As the Moon's Population and Economic Development Grows, Self
As the Moon’s population and economic development grows, self-rule will come! ! INDEX MMM THEMES: Governance, Economy, and Legal Issues MMM #2 M is for Market; M is for Metropolis MMM #32 The Import/Export Equation; Diversification vs. Subsidies MMM #39 Moon Mining and Common Eco-Sense; Moon Mining & Engineering Realities MMM #47 Native Born MMM #52 Xititech MMM #102 The Grand Archives of Earth and Humanity MMM #109 Luna City Streets MMM #128 Defining Home Rule for Settlers MMM #129 The HomeRule Question: A Pre-Settlement Charter for the Moon; Efciency Goals & Tests: Balance of Trade Questions MMM #130 A Bill of Rights for Space Frontier Constitutions; A Century on Antarctica: what have we got? MMM #131 A Right of Repatriation?; Settlement as Intentional Community; Luna City: The Developer’s Role MMM #134 Political Independence for Settlements; An Ardent Rebuttal MMM #170 Harbor & Town MMM #176 National Parks on the Moon MMM #224 An International Lunar Research Park MMM #249 Lunar Materials to Grow Earth Economy MMM #254 Antarctica as a model for International Moon and Mars Outposts MMM #255 In Focus: Advocates of Moon and Mars Settlements should work to amend the Antarctic Treaty; Antarctic Activities can Blaze the Trail for Pioneers on Moon and Mars; Working within the Strictures of the Current Antarctic Treaty MMM #256 Antarctic Cottage Industries based on “Found” Objects and Materials THEME THREAD INDEX: LEGAL ISSUES Standards for Home Rule - Autonomy - Lunar Independence MMM #32 The Import/Export Equation; Diversification vs. Subsidies -
Activision-Couponbook
.' Redemptionlnsbuctions Customer Information (please print) 1. Buy both Hacker and Hacker II and get a $5.00 rebate. 2. Collect the following items: NAME • The UPC Bar Codes as proof-of-purchase from Hacker. and Hacker II packages. • The original sales receipts with the product prices ADDRESS circled (photocopies cannot be accepted). • This coupon, with all information fully completed. CITY STATE ZIP 3. Mail all of these items to: Activision, Inc. HARDWARE SYSTEM P.O. Box 7287 Mountain View, CA 94039 4. Must be postmarked on or before August 31, 1987. STORE WHERE SOFIWARE WAS PURCHASED 5. Allow 4-6 weeks for receipt of your rebate. CITY STATE Redemption of this coupon Is subject to all the terms and conditions listed above. Void where prohibited by law. Not to be used in conjunction with any other specla.l offer. Redemption Instructions 4. Must be postmarked on or before August 31, 1987. 5. Allow 4-6 weeks for n;ceipt of your demo disks. 1. Buy any Activision Entertainment Software title and get three free demonstration disks: Shanghai, Infocom and Personal Choice. Please check which computer system. Customer Information (please prin.t) Shanghai: 0 ffiM PC, PCjr, Thndy 1000 0 Apple ne, nc 0 Macintosh 0 C64/ l28 0 Amiga 0 Atari ST Infocom: 0 ffiM PC and MS-DOS compatible NAME 0 Apple IT series 0 Macintosh 0 C64/l28 0 Amiga 0 Atari ST 0 Atari XE/XL Personal Choice: 0 ffiM PC, PCjr, Thndy 1000 ADDRESS 0 Apple ne, nc 0 C64/ l28 2. Collect the following items: CITY STATE ZIP • The UPC Bar Code as proof-of-purchase from the Activision Entertainment software package. -
The Inform Designer's Manual
Cited Works of Interactive Fiction The following bibliography includes only those works cited in the text of this book: it makes no claim to completeness or even balance. An index entry is followed by designer's name, publisher or organisation (if any) and date of first substantial version. The following denote formats: ZM for Z-Machine, L9 for Level 9's A-code, AGT for the Adventure Game Toolkit run-time, TADS for TADS run-time and SA for Scott Adams's format. Games in each of these formats can be played on most modern computers. Scott Adams, ``Quill''-written and Cambridge University games can all be mechanically translated to Inform and then recompiled as ZM. The symbol marks that the game can be downloaded from ftp.gmd.de, though for early games} sometimes only in source code format. Sa1 and Sa2 indicate that a playable demonstration can be found on Infocom's first or second sampler game, each of which is . Most Infocom games are widely available in remarkably inexpensive packages} marketed by Activision. The `Zork' trilogy has often been freely downloadable from Activision web sites to promote the ``Infocom'' brand, as has `Zork: The Undiscovered Underground'. `Abenteuer', 264. German translation of `Advent' by Toni Arnold (1998). ZM } `Acheton', 3, 113 ex8, 348, 353, 399. David Seal, Jonathan Thackray with Jonathan Partington, Cambridge University and later Acornsoft, Topologika (1978--9). `Advent', 2, 47, 48, 62, 75, 86, 95, 99, 102, 105, 113 ex8, 114, 121, 124, 126, 142, 146, 147, 151, 159, 159, 179, 220, 221, 243, 264, 312 ex125, 344, 370, 377, 385, 386, 390, 393, 394, 396, 398, 403, 404, 509 an125. -
Infocom-Passport
r. r• oo oo oo o oVis~ oo c o o o ,.. ~ " "' r r " £nr'.;C;,/£n~ 0 0 0 0 0 v..n,,..n,A.(.;;,,.+i " " .. .F11fiftS/~1J.h'tts ~ ~ : ~ r r, 0 11'W ·1:.~ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 •J"'o· 15 n=il~ "es 0 r rr Oo o o o o O o 0 co c r rr. oo o o o o o oo 0 c .. rr r e co o O oo o o o oo ""PASSPORT NUMBER The Secreti of State NUMERO DU PASSEPORT of the United Pro ucts oflnfocom hereby requests I whom it may concern to permit the intraspatial citizm named ·n to pass FOR YOUR PROTECTION PLEASE FILL IN THE NAMES ND ADDRESSES BELOW. without delay or hi ance through the mysteries, the sci-fi's, the ventures, the fantasies BEARER'S ADDRESS IN REALITY- ADRESSE DU TITULAIRE EN REALITE ...__ ________ and the business Ids of lnfocom, NAME-NOM ______-+-- ___ SEX-SEXE ___ and in of need, BIRTHPLACE-LIEU DE NAISSANCE---1--------- to give all lawful a· and protection. SIGNATURE OF BEARER- IN CASE OF INTERACTIVE DEATH ACCIDENT OR DISAPPEARANCE NOTIFY THE NEAREST INFOCOM IPLOMATIC OR CONSULAR OFFICE NAMED BELOW: EN CAS DE DECES INTERACTIF, D' AC IDENT OU DE DISPARITION, PRIERE YOU HOLD IN YOUR HANDS he official lnfocom document D' AVISER LE SERVICE DIPLOMATIQ E OU CONSULAIRE D'INFOCOM LE that certifies the identity, if not he destination, of all lnfocom PLUS PROCHE, NOMMEE Cl-DESSO products, in particular, interact' e fiction. Just what is interac NAME- tive fiction? It's a whole new un verse. -
The New Zork Times Puzzle — P
“All the Grues ® The History of Zork — p. 6 That Fit, We Print” InfoNews Roundup — p. 9 The New Zork Times Puzzle — p. 12 VOL. 4. .No. 1 WINTER 1985 INTER-ATOMIC EDITION Cornerstone: “The Hottest New Business Product of 1985” On November 1st, at a press confer- games. ence in New York City, Infocom Cornerstone also simplifies data announced Cornerstone™, the first in entry. Whenever you've entered a new line of interactive business sufficient characters for Cornerstone software. to know what you want, it will Cornerstone is a full-featured complete the rest. Cornerstone will relational database management also check that your input meets system. Data management programs specified constraints (such as have traditionally fallen into two minimum or maximum values). And distinct camps: simple-to-use at any point, you can press the programs with very limited capabili- OPTIONS key to see a list of all ties, and full-featured programs that allowable data values. (A lexicogra- require the user to have program- pher in a cage?) ming skills (or to hire a consultant who does). Cornerstone was Why Business Products? designed to put all the power of this See page 6 second group into the hands of non- programmers. The other mainstay of Cornerstone With Cornerstone you can design, is flexibility. You're never locked build, and use sophisticated data into one way of doing things. If you management applications without need to look at your information in a writing a single line of code. These new way, you can create a new applications could be almost report in seconds (with no limit to anything — a personnel system, a the number of reports). -
The Status Line
The Status Line Volume VII Number 3 Formerly The New Zork Times Fall 1988 BattleTech: Lots of Meching around He cursed himself for what felt like scanned the status report of his the 15th time in the last hour. The 'Mech’s condition. His concentration inside of his neuro-helmet was slick was broken by alarm bells sounding with sweat, making matters even and the warning, “Critical shot to the worse now that there was poor con- head! Man eject!” blaring into his tact with the helmet's electrodes. He ears. Numb, Jason triggered the eject remembered the message that his button, blasting the canopy off the top instructors drilled into his head again of the 'Mech and causing him to drop and again: “Controlling a 'Mech re- the 35 feet to the ground, safely quires patience and above all strate- cocooned within the seat's webbing. gic allocation of resources.” Funny Dejectedly, Jason detached himself how it was never as easy when the from the now useless seat and trudged trainer 'Mechs were firing back. back to the Citadel's training “I cannot let father down,” Jason grounds, realizing that he now had mumbled to himself as he aligned the another failure he would have to try Chameleon's twin medium lasers on to live down with the mechanics. the approaching Locust's torso. “They already hate me because of “Cannot let the computer keep fight- their station in life,” said Jason, real- ing for me, especially after last time,” izing that tomorrow's training session Jason thought, ruefully remembering would be just as brutal as today's.