5 ms·

Beyond Zork

80 points by jsnell 11y ago

TerryADavis 11y ago
#!/bin/bash #This prints a hundred random words. echo "$(shuf -n 100 /usr/share/dict/words --random-source=/dev/urandom | tr '\n' ' ')"
douche 11y ago
Funny, I've been working on a little fun side project to embed a Z-Machine inside a Skype For Business chat bot. Limited as interactive fiction is as a medium, its really impressive how immersive an experience can be created with technology as simple as plain ASCII text. You don't need photorealistic, PBR graphics to make a fun, engaging game. The Z-Machine itself is a pretty remarkable piece of technology, especially given the very limited capabilities of the PCs it was implemented for. Reading the spec[1] has been very interesting. [1] http://inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point1/index.html http://inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point1/index....
- hga 11y ago
  Oh, yes, very immersive. I was lucky to play the original Zork, and after a necessarily late night session upon returning to the "real world" I would want to e.g. throw file at printer ^_^.
- protomyth 11y ago
  In the late 80's there was a company selling a database with a front end that reminded me quite a bit of an Infocom game. I think the database was named something really generic (Q&A).
  - pgrote 11y ago
    Cornerstone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_(software) was the database Infocom released. Is that what you're thinking of? It could also have been the first versions of Progress. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Software
    - protomyth 11y ago
      It was 't from Infocom (thanks for that link). I just remember it weirded me out and it had a really generic name.
- david-given 11y ago
  Way back when I ported a C compiler for the Z-machine: http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler It was hacky as hell, and unfortunately I used a compiler frontend with a non-free license which makes it nigh undistributable, but actually worked. I didn't quite get floating point working. I think the Z-machine internal architecture can best be described as 'interestingly insane'. Some of the hacks needed to make large games work are very educational. For my purposes, the non-memory-mapped stack was particularly... exciting (and very annoying). Another description is, alas, 'almost impossible to find a non-buggy assembler for'. Highly recommended if you have the kind of twisted mind that likes to do impossible things with 8-bit microcomputers.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
nevster 11y ago
+1 for any link from HN to an article that mentions Wizardry!
binarycrusader 11y ago
If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting the author on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DigitalAntiquarian?ty=h https://www.patreon.com/DigitalAntiquarian?ty=h Jimmy has done a non-trivial amount of work in bringing high-quality articles about past gaming history and shared them for free with everyone.
- sohkamyung 11y ago
  Agreed. I'm currently supporting him on Patreon because I enjoy the articles he writes. My preference on Patreon is to support people producing valuable articles for free, enriching everybody. Locking them up in Patreon exclusive subscriptions is not my preference.

80 points by jsnell 11y ago

#!/bin/bash #This prints a hundred random words. echo "$(shuf -n 100 /usr/share/dict/words --random-source=/dev/urandom | tr '\n' ' ')"

douche 11y ago

Funny, I've been working on a little fun side project to embed a Z-Machine inside a Skype For Business chat bot. Limited as interactive fiction is as a medium, its really impressive how immersive an experience can be created with technology as simple as plain ASCII text. You don't need photorealistic, PBR graphics to make a fun, engaging game. The Z-Machine itself is a pretty remarkable piece of technology, especially given the very limited capabilities of the PCs it was implemented for. Reading the spec[1] has been very interesting. [1] http://inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point1/index.html http://inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point1/index....

hga 11y ago
Oh, yes, very immersive. I was lucky to play the original Zork, and after a necessarily late night session upon returning to the "real world" I would want to e.g. throw file at printer ^_^.
protomyth 11y ago
In the late 80's there was a company selling a database with a front end that reminded me quite a bit of an Infocom game. I think the database was named something really generic (Q&A).
- pgrote 11y ago
  Cornerstone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_(software) was the database Infocom released. Is that what you're thinking of? It could also have been the first versions of Progress. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Software
  - protomyth 11y ago
    It was 't from Infocom (thanks for that link). I just remember it weirded me out and it had a really generic name.
david-given 11y ago
Way back when I ported a C compiler for the Z-machine: http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler http://cowlark.com/vbcc-z-compiler It was hacky as hell, and unfortunately I used a compiler frontend with a non-free license which makes it nigh undistributable, but actually worked. I didn't quite get floating point working. I think the Z-machine internal architecture can best be described as 'interestingly insane'. Some of the hacks needed to make large games work are very educational. For my purposes, the non-memory-mapped stack was particularly... exciting (and very annoying). Another description is, alas, 'almost impossible to find a non-buggy assembler for'. Highly recommended if you have the kind of twisted mind that likes to do impossible things with 8-bit microcomputers.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

nevster 11y ago

+1 for any link from HN to an article that mentions Wizardry!

binarycrusader 11y ago

If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting the author on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DigitalAntiquarian?ty=h https://www.patreon.com/DigitalAntiquarian?ty=h Jimmy has done a non-trivial amount of work in bringing high-quality articles about past gaming history and shared them for free with everyone.

sohkamyung 11y ago
Agreed. I'm currently supporting him on Patreon because I enjoy the articles he writes. My preference on Patreon is to support people producing valuable articles for free, enriching everybody. Locking them up in Patreon exclusive subscriptions is not my preference.