4 ms·

You can play a lot of the old Infocom text adventures here: http://pot.home.xs4all.nl/infocom/ http://pot.home.xs4all.nl/infocom/ I highly recommend Planetfal

You can play a lot of the old Infocom text adventures here: http://pot.home.xs4all.nl/infocom/ http://pot.home.xs4all.nl/infocom/ I highly recommend Planetfall. (warning: Requires a somewhat-sketchy-seeming-but-harmless-i-think Java applet. Chrome gives you a hard time about it, but if you create an exception for the site in the java control panel (on OS X: settings->Java->security), then you can play it in Safari)

ghaff 11y ago
It's also not that hard to get your hands on the Z-Code files of Infocom games and run them in a Z-Code interpreter. (Note, however, that they are still under copyright. Also, for some games, you'll also need a copy of the original docs or other material from the packaging as Infocom sometimes used info in the docs, decoder wheels, etc. as a low-grade anti-piracy technique.) Agree that Planetfall is one of the better ones. Steve Meretzky also wrote A Mind Forever Voyaging which I really enjoyed although it's somewhat atypical of Infocom games in a few ways.
- rlx0x 11y ago
  and you'll find z-code interpreters for pretty much any device you can think of. I like in particular Gargoyle [1][2] which stands out as the only one with great font rendering/typography. One of the coolest/ridiculous things about infocom games were the feelies [3] (a term they coined) There is a great collection [4] of photographs of all the packages and extras, some of which were including necessary clues to solve the games. [1] http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/ http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/ [2] https://github.com/garglk/garglk https://github.com/garglk/garglk [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feelie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feelie [4] http://gallery.guetech.org/ http://gallery.guetech.org/
- ecliptik 11y ago
  I grabbed a copy of ztools and put them in github here, surprisingly they compile on a modern day Debian system without any change, https://github.com/ecliptik/ztools https://github.com/ecliptik/ztools Here's a short blog post I wrote on de-compiling interactive fiction using them, http://www.ecliptik.com/Decompiling-Interactive-Fiction/ http://www.ecliptik.com/Decompiling-Interactive-Fiction/
- zyxley 11y ago
  There are any number of free text adventure games built using Z-Code or Glulx systems (or newer alternatives, like Twine) that you can play online: http://ifdb.tads.org http://ifdb.tads.org
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  Much of the relevant copy protection information has been merged with information from the Encyclopedia Frobozzica (included as a printed feelie with Return to Zork) and replicated to various sites in wiki form. For instance, the infotater from Sorcerer had a color code mapped to various creatures that was required to progress past the intro area of the game. The copy-protection sewer map for Leather Goddesses of Phobos is the most annoying thing ever. There are also deprotection patches available. As I bought most of the original games the first time around, and the two Lost Treasures of Infocom CD compilations, and never resold them, I don't have any qualms about downloading the game data files, with the exceptions of BattleTech Crescent Hawk 1&2 and Leather Goddesses 2. But now you can get Lost Treasures of Infocom as a free iOS app. So downloading the app is granting license for the included games, at least for that device.
  - ghaff 11y ago
    >But now you can get Lost Treasures of Infocom as a free iOS app. That apparently just includes Zork but you can buy the rest of the Z-Code games (except for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--I assume for rights reasons related to Douglas Adam's estate) for just $9.99 which is still quite a deal. I'd have to try it out and see how playable it is without a keyboard though.
    - logfromblammo 11y ago
      iOS devices that are jailbroken may have the means to access additional app content without paying the normal in-app purchase price. I am not recommending this for the LToI app unless you, like myself, have already purchased legitimately licensed copies of those games at least once already.
- david-given 11y ago
  ...and if you're interested in doing more than playing games, there's assorted abusive things you can do with the Z-Machine. Here's an ANS Forth: https://code.google.com/p/zmforth/ https://code.google.com/p/zmforth/ Here's Andrew Plotkin's infamous Lisp tutorial (complete with Lisp implementation for the Z-machine): http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zweb/lists/ http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zweb/lists/ I ported a C compiler to it, poorly, and made it play chess: http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler/ http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler/ And, of course, you can design processors to run it on real hardware: https://github.com/charcole/Z3 https://github.com/charcole/Z3
  - sehugg 11y ago
    And Graham Nelson's Inform 7 compiles to two different editions of the Z-machine: http://inform7.com/ http://inform7.com/
greggman 11y ago
You can play some of these on the archive (no Java required) https://archive.org/details/msdos_Planetfall_1983 https://archive.org/details/msdos_Planetfall_1983 https://archive.org/details/msdos_Leather_Goddesses_of_Phobos_2_1992 https://archive.org/details/msdos_Leather_Goddesses_of_Phobo...

ghaff 11y ago

It's also not that hard to get your hands on the Z-Code files of Infocom games and run them in a Z-Code interpreter. (Note, however, that they are still under copyright. Also, for some games, you'll also need a copy of the original docs or other material from the packaging as Infocom sometimes used info in the docs, decoder wheels, etc. as a low-grade anti-piracy technique.) Agree that Planetfall is one of the better ones. Steve Meretzky also wrote A Mind Forever Voyaging which I really enjoyed although it's somewhat atypical of Infocom games in a few ways.

rlx0x 11y ago
and you'll find z-code interpreters for pretty much any device you can think of. I like in particular Gargoyle [1][2] which stands out as the only one with great font rendering/typography. One of the coolest/ridiculous things about infocom games were the feelies [3] (a term they coined) There is a great collection [4] of photographs of all the packages and extras, some of which were including necessary clues to solve the games. [1] http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/ http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/ [2] https://github.com/garglk/garglk https://github.com/garglk/garglk [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feelie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feelie [4] http://gallery.guetech.org/ http://gallery.guetech.org/
ecliptik 11y ago
I grabbed a copy of ztools and put them in github here, surprisingly they compile on a modern day Debian system without any change, https://github.com/ecliptik/ztools https://github.com/ecliptik/ztools Here's a short blog post I wrote on de-compiling interactive fiction using them, http://www.ecliptik.com/Decompiling-Interactive-Fiction/ http://www.ecliptik.com/Decompiling-Interactive-Fiction/
zyxley 11y ago
There are any number of free text adventure games built using Z-Code or Glulx systems (or newer alternatives, like Twine) that you can play online: http://ifdb.tads.org http://ifdb.tads.org
logfromblammo 11y ago
Much of the relevant copy protection information has been merged with information from the Encyclopedia Frobozzica (included as a printed feelie with Return to Zork) and replicated to various sites in wiki form. For instance, the infotater from Sorcerer had a color code mapped to various creatures that was required to progress past the intro area of the game. The copy-protection sewer map for Leather Goddesses of Phobos is the most annoying thing ever. There are also deprotection patches available. As I bought most of the original games the first time around, and the two Lost Treasures of Infocom CD compilations, and never resold them, I don't have any qualms about downloading the game data files, with the exceptions of BattleTech Crescent Hawk 1&2 and Leather Goddesses 2. But now you can get Lost Treasures of Infocom as a free iOS app. So downloading the app is granting license for the included games, at least for that device.
- ghaff 11y ago
  >But now you can get Lost Treasures of Infocom as a free iOS app. That apparently just includes Zork but you can buy the rest of the Z-Code games (except for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--I assume for rights reasons related to Douglas Adam's estate) for just $9.99 which is still quite a deal. I'd have to try it out and see how playable it is without a keyboard though.
  - logfromblammo 11y ago
    iOS devices that are jailbroken may have the means to access additional app content without paying the normal in-app purchase price. I am not recommending this for the LToI app unless you, like myself, have already purchased legitimately licensed copies of those games at least once already.
david-given 11y ago
...and if you're interested in doing more than playing games, there's assorted abusive things you can do with the Z-Machine. Here's an ANS Forth: https://code.google.com/p/zmforth/ https://code.google.com/p/zmforth/ Here's Andrew Plotkin's infamous Lisp tutorial (complete with Lisp implementation for the Z-machine): http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zweb/lists/ http://www.eblong.com/zarf/zweb/lists/ I ported a C compiler to it, poorly, and made it play chess: http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler/ http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler/ And, of course, you can design processors to run it on real hardware: https://github.com/charcole/Z3 https://github.com/charcole/Z3
- sehugg 11y ago
  And Graham Nelson's Inform 7 compiles to two different editions of the Z-machine: http://inform7.com/ http://inform7.com/

greggman 11y ago

You can play some of these on the archive (no Java required) https://archive.org/details/msdos_Planetfall_1983 https://archive.org/details/msdos_Planetfall_1983 https://archive.org/details/msdos_Leather_Goddesses_of_Phobos_2_1992 https://archive.org/details/msdos_Leather_Goddesses_of_Phobo...