The Status Line Volume VIII Number 1 Formerly The New Zork Times Spring 1989 James Clavell's Shogun comes alive First, there's the sick, mutinous survive a dangerous journey crew to deal with. Then there's through uncharted seas. At last your own exhaustion and illness. on the unknown shores of The Plus the stormy sea and the Japans, you face a barbarian's treacherous reef to navigate. But welcome of torture and impris­ all that pales in comparison to onment. To keep your life, you the challenge of surviving your must identify who can hurt you abrupt entrance into a culture and who can help you. At first, totally foreign to you. Yourtrain­ you know very little about the ing has prepared you for every­ world in which you find your­ thing ... everything but this. self. Exploring, asking, learn­ Dave Lebling has taken the ing, testing are all crucial to your adventure, intrigue, and excite­ survival. Death is always the ment of James Clavell 's classic merest whisper away. novel, Shogun, one step further In James Clavell's Shogun, in a masterful new work of inter­ you will meet Toranaga and active fiction. The seven million Ishida, vicious enemies who take HOGON Shogun fans who enjoyed James the lives of thousands of men in Clavell 's book and the tens of their struggle for the coveted title The beauty of color graphics combine with millions who watched its televi­ of Shogun. You also meet and the richness of Infocom's storytelling to sion adaptation can now explore fall in love with Mariko, your bring you unforgettable entertainment. the world of feudal Japan, with translator and initiator into un­ its labyrinthine palaces, rank dreamt-of mysteries. jails, serene teahouses, and The key to success in the in­ equally fascinating and compli­ teractive Shogun is the ability to cated inhabitants. act as the British pilot-major The adventure begins on the Blackthorne would. Handsome, Journey: Enter a new Erasmus, the only ship of five to Continued on page 3 realm of storytelling Introducing Arthur: A great evil has acter judge while fallen over the pursuing the de­ land. Your town, feat of the evil The Quest for Excalibur sujferingfromfive which has in­ years of blighted fested the land. Imagine sitting in in the stone that will crops, sickness The party sets your London flat, make you King of and contaminated out from your sharing a Sunday England. You meet water, begins to home town of meal with your up with Merlin, the lose all hope. It is Lendros. You family, when ... most famed of ma­ then that a small leave your town poof! ... you turn gicians, who give group sets forth in for the very first yourself into an you insight into both search of help ... time and are as­ eel. Your Aunt the world of nat4re These words send you on your tonished by the legendary won­ Rose faints dead and the nature of Journey. Subtitled The Quest ders you encounter in your ad­ away into her man. But equally as Begins, this classic narrative, in venture. Your quest leads over mashed potatoes precious a gift is the the exciting tradition of J.R.R. mountains, through underground as your mischie­ power to tum your­ Tolkein, plunges you into an un­ caves, across the plains and over vous little brother runs to cap­ self into several different ani­ charted world of dwarves, elves, the sea. Clashes with the forces ture you in a mayonnaise jar for nymphs and wizards. of evil are fought with unex­ mals. This allows you, as eel or Journey-the first in our new pected allies, and you must de­ hideous biological experiments. owl or salamander, to get into Role-Play Chronicles series­ cide who are friends and who are Although it seems like little more places and pe1form heroic deeds takes you through a world ruled messengers of the Dread Lord. than a neat party trick, you 'II impossible for a mere human. by magic and inhabited by mythi­ Journey breaks into an excit­ take this special power seriously The legend of young Arthur cal creatures you may befriend ing new genre of computer games in Arthur: The Quest for Excali­ comes alive as never before or battle. And, because you that draws from the best features bur. through the graces of lnfocom' s control the actions of the party, of interactive fiction, role play­ Infocom 's newest Graphic newest-generation parser (see you must be physician, magi­ ing games and traditional fiction Interactive Fiction story casts page 2). Communicating with cian, combat strategist, and char- to create a game with rich prose, you as the youthful Arthur on a the story is now easier than ever, Continued on page 2 quest for the lengendary sword Continued on page 3 Spring 1989 The Status Line Page 2 The Status Line The first Role-Play Chronicle Mike Dornbrook Continued from page 1 Rumored to be challenging puzzles, and a di­ Publisher verse group of characters. Over 100 beautifully rendered graphic Stuart Kirsch images add tone and depth to the Resigned as tale. Editor-in-Chief Journey departs from other games in its format as well. You Gayle Syska interact with the story through Denies any connection menus which provide individual and group options. That means you spend more time enjoying Hollywood the story and less time trying to Dave Anderson figure out where you can go and Could not be found what you can (or can't) do. With to comment the new menu interface you don 't need to be a typist to play. Sim­ The following claim ply hit the first letter of the op­ absolutely no editorial tion you desire or use the arrow responsibility: keys, and voilti , you're on your Marjorie Gove way. Or, should you prefer, you Journey combines the challenge of interactive fiction, the adventure of Elizabeth Langosy can just use a mouse or a joys­ role-playing, and the enchantment of an epic chronicle. Steve Meretzky tick. This simplicity lets you get Jon Palace into the story quickly. If you ' re a of interactive fiction. Marc co­ intrigue. Debbie Reilly seasoned player, you' 11 love how authored the original mainframe Journey is now available on fast you can make progress on version of Zork and the personal the Macintosh and Amiga, and is Allegedly at the scene of your trek. computer versions of Zork I, II, scheduled for release on the production: Journey , itself a new explo­ and III, and Enchanter. Also to Apple II, IBM and 100% Com­ ration in the field of computer hi s credit are Deadline, the first Bonnie Pettengill patibles in May. All versions storytelling, was written by Marc interactive mystery, and Border of Journey will retail for $49.95. © 1989 Infocom Blank, a pioneer in the creation Zone, lnfocom's first story of 125 CambridgePark Drive Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140 byStuGalley The Status Line is said PARSER ?? to be published four times a What is a parser anyway, and I'm like the recording engineer and so it grew more clever, but year by Infocom. Address why should it matter to you? for your favorite rock album, also harder to fi x and improve. changes and subscriptions Almost any dictionary can an­ because my job is to make sure Eventually we decided to build a should be sent to swer the first question, and I'm that the artists' talent comes new parser from scratch, using The Status Line, lnfocom, here to tell you about the second through to you as clearly as pos­ the theory of computational lin­ 125 CambridgePark Drive, one. sible. If the guitarist wants more guistics. (Technically speaking, Cambridge, MA 02140, As the dictionary states, a reverb ... I mean ifthe implemen­ we used an ATN algorithm with Attn: Subscription parser is something that takes tor wants adverbs to work in his a LALR grammar and one-token Manager. The Status Line apart a sentence, word by word, story, then I provide it. The bet­ look-ahead.) is an independent journal, and determines what the words ter I do my job, the less you So what does this mean to not affiliated with the mean, and then what the sen­ notice it! you? It means that you can con­ New York Times and tence means. If you ever dia­ Almost anyone can write a verse with our interactive fiction vice versa. grammed a sentence for an simple parsi ng program, just as more simply than ever, and we English class, then you were almost anyone can make simple can easily add features that you've parsing. But it's a lot easier for recordings on their boom box. A never seen before. For example, Cuuhroa1s, Oc:1tllinc. End1:u11cr. ln fic..lc l. Leather you to parse English than it is for Zork Zero notices if you seem to Goddcssc' of Phobos. Pl :mctf:tll. Sca.. talkcr, Stan:ross. simple parser could parse any Suspect, Slhpcndcd. The StatU )> Line. The Wimcss. a machine, because you've had a two-word sentence, by calling be having trouble with the parser, Trini1y. Wishbringcrand Zork :m.• rcgistcn.'tl m1dcmark:o. of lnfocom. lot more practice at it, and you the first word a verb and the and it offers helpful suggestions, started life with a certain natural such as sample commands. And A Mind Forever Voyaging. 1\ rl hur: TI1c Quc ~ t for second one a noun. If it didn't Excalibur. B:1llyhoo. Border Zone. Burcaucr.u:y. Classic ability to do it.