6 ms·

The Obsessively Complete Infocom Catalog

126 points by exvi 1y ago

WantonQuantum 1y ago
This is amazing! I remember playing some of these in the 90s. Fond memories. BTW, this site is likely not set up to handle a HN hug of death of downloads so consider throttling your downloads if you can.
- LexiMax 1y ago
  A Mind Forever Voyaging was the first time I ever realized that video games could aspire to more than just being a fun pastime or distraction.
  - ghaff 1y ago
    I really liked AMFV, probably because I was never great at the puzzles. I don't think it was a super-popular game because a lot of the fam base probably largely played the games for the puzzles. But one of my favorites and actually completed it without help.
    - jhbadger 1y ago
      In many ways it was a forerunner of the sort of adventure game today that is called (originally as an insult, but the genre has later embraced the term) "walking simulators", in which the player simply explores an environment without solving puzzles or fighting monsters (or at least not very often).
glimshe 1y ago
Very few companies in gaming have Infocom's enduring power. I wonder if it will still be remembered 100 years from now.
- mmcgaha 1y ago
  I just wish someone would make a first person version of AMFV. It would need to be a really different game to stay true to AMFV but I think it could revolve around not getting shut down by the bureaucrats.
ilaksh 1y ago
LLMs have an obvious application of removing the command limitations. https://github.com/UlfarErl/lampgpt https://github.com/UlfarErl/lampgpt "FYI, it is now possible to play all of the Infocom games with a phenomenal parser using LampGPT, with just ./lampgpt.py -O gamename."
- vunderba 1y ago
  I do see a lot of potential application for LLMs around having a natural dialogue with an NPC in future games. Also LLMs to well-defined structured parser instructions might finally enable Strongbad to "get ye flask".
- mikepurvis 1y ago
  Ugh, I'm so glad this exists; I tried some text adventures a few years ago and struggled to get into them due in part to having to cooperate with a rather baroque user interface. I feel like this could really open them up to a new generation.
- jhbadger 1y ago
  I guess I never had a problem with the Infocom parser -- it seemed already so much more advanced than other adventure games that generally only understood two word commands like "GET KEY". In Infocom games you could say things like "get the key and put it in the bag".
Eric_WVGG 1y ago
Hm. I have to challenge a list that doesn’t include George Alec Effinger’s Circuit’s Edge. I get that it was written after the hayday of Infocom, but it was completely within the spirit and craft.
- decremental 1y ago
  [dead]
- thristian 1y ago
  It isn't really related to the Infocom that released the Zork games, except in a legal sense. Infocom was sold to Activision in 1986, and shut down as a studio in 1989. Circuit's Edge was published in 1990, labelled "Infocom" but just because that's the brand Activision chose to market it under.
  - Eric_WVGG 1y ago
    Legally, no. But it was written in the spirit of Infocom games — all the gameplay is designed around text narrative, with the classic text parser to drive the action — and Effinger had connections with the actual Infocom team (he wrote their Zork paperback adaptations). And Michael E. Moore from Infocom was the associate producer, they'd phone him for game direction and advice. I think it's spiritually an Infocom game. If the company had persisted and there were any future in adventure games, Circuit’s Edge is exactly what they would have produced.
caminanteblanco 1y ago
This is without a doubt the best podcast for all things infocom: https://monsterfeet.com/grue/ https://monsterfeet.com/grue/
wood_spirit 1y ago
Next weekend is the next Ludum Dare https://ldjam.com https://ldjam.com game making contest. Perhaps we need more text adventures? These days you can probably vibe code an engine using SpaCy for commands and some kind of word salad LLM or something to make the output more flowery
- jank199x 1y ago
  There's quite a lot of pure interactive fiction comps, and a lot of viable authoring systems: https://www.ifwiki.org https://www.ifwiki.org
kqr 1y ago
Advice fror people trying to get into text adventures: do not start with infocom games. Start with something like Glowgrass, Violet, The Dreamhold, Plundered Hearts*, or Lost Pig. They'pe friendlier to the player. I get that the interface is a little fiddly at first, but it is highly conventional. Once you have spent a few minutes learning it, you unlock all other text adventures, of which there are many amazing ones. I see many suggestions for using LLMs to improve the experience. I have tried that myself[2] and played others' attempts[3], and LLMs' world modeling abilities are currently insufficient for that[4]. They invent details that don't exist, they assume things have effects they don't, etc. They add more frustration than they remove. Text adventures are often puzzle-paced, meaning they tell their story in drips separated by puzzles. These puzzles can be difficult. Best is to play with a friend -- you might get ideas from each other. If you have no interested friend, don't feel shame over looking at hints, or outright looking the solution up. But do let the puzzle simmer for a day first to make sure you've tried everything you can think of. [1]: An Infocom game but rather different from the others. [2]: https://entropicthoughts.com/evaluating-llms-playing-text-adventures https://entropicthoughts.com/evaluating-llms-playing-text-ad... [3]: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6nn0ihhejq2hrvh2&review=86904 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6nn0ihhejq2hrvh2&review=86904 [4]: More systematic paper on arXiv I've lost the link to but will post when I find it.
- lyu07282 1y ago
  > do not start with infocom games Generally yes, however Hitchhiker is the one huge exception to that. Its very accessible, well written and the BBC released a version for the web: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-game-30th-anniversary-edition https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN...
  - kqr 1y ago
    This must be a different version than the original, then. The original was exceedingly cruel, as Douglas Adams wanted to play practical jokes riffing on genre conventions.
    - 1y ago
qmr 1y ago
I would love to see pictures and unboxing of the feelies. Those were before my time. I played many of these as part of the "Comedy Collection", "Sci Fi Collection" etc re-releases when I was 9-10 or so. Later searching for free "games" for my Palm VIIx, I found a Z machine interpreter and played a few of them on my PDA. Comment from a few days ago pasted below. --- First time (only time?) a game made me cry, Floyd's death. 13-15 or so, Up way too late, hiding under my blanket to muffle the noise from the folding Stowaway keyboard, playing on a glowing green 160x160 LCD display on a Palm VIIx running a Z machine interpreter. Apparently the author still gets emails now and then to this day about how Floyd’s death affected players. He used to have a personal site but I can’t find it now. A lot of players have written about this moment. I think the other one I beat was Bureaucracy, by Douglas Adams. Got somewhat deep in Beyond Zork and HHGTTG, but don’t think I completed them. I remember my father getting excited when he saw those Infocom compilations on Walmart store shelves. I’ve also considered introducing those to my son. He’s 5 now. Lately having him play Mario RPG, Zelda, and Final Fantasy to practice reading. —- “Perhaps the most amazing thing about the creation of Floyd was how easy it was. The entire code and text for the character, if printed out, would perhaps run to ten pages. What’s amazing is not that I was able to create a computer game character that touched people so deeply, but how infrequently the same thing has been accomplished in the intervening two decades.” Steve Meretzky
qmr 1y ago
It is Pitch Black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE
palad1n 1y ago
IF: yeah I’m a fan and once started to teach myself Inform 6, way back when. My greatest accomplishment was translating a random haiku generator in Inform 6. I sort of lost interest as Inform 7 was coming on the scene.
greesil 1y ago
No BattleTech? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech:_The_Crescent_Hawk%27s_Inception https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech:_The_Crescent_Haw...
M95D 1y ago
How do I play/run these games?

126 points by exvi 1y ago

This is amazing! I remember playing some of these in the 90s. Fond memories. BTW, this site is likely not set up to handle a HN hug of death of downloads so consider throttling your downloads if you can.

LexiMax 1y ago
A Mind Forever Voyaging was the first time I ever realized that video games could aspire to more than just being a fun pastime or distraction.
- ghaff 1y ago
  I really liked AMFV, probably because I was never great at the puzzles. I don't think it was a super-popular game because a lot of the fam base probably largely played the games for the puzzles. But one of my favorites and actually completed it without help.
  - jhbadger 1y ago
    In many ways it was a forerunner of the sort of adventure game today that is called (originally as an insult, but the genre has later embraced the term) "walking simulators", in which the player simply explores an environment without solving puzzles or fighting monsters (or at least not very often).

glimshe 1y ago

Very few companies in gaming have Infocom's enduring power. I wonder if it will still be remembered 100 years from now.

mmcgaha 1y ago
I just wish someone would make a first person version of AMFV. It would need to be a really different game to stay true to AMFV but I think it could revolve around not getting shut down by the bureaucrats.

ilaksh 1y ago

LLMs have an obvious application of removing the command limitations. https://github.com/UlfarErl/lampgpt https://github.com/UlfarErl/lampgpt "FYI, it is now possible to play all of the Infocom games with a phenomenal parser using LampGPT, with just ./lampgpt.py -O gamename."

vunderba 1y ago
I do see a lot of potential application for LLMs around having a natural dialogue with an NPC in future games. Also LLMs to well-defined structured parser instructions might finally enable Strongbad to "get ye flask".
mikepurvis 1y ago
Ugh, I'm so glad this exists; I tried some text adventures a few years ago and struggled to get into them due in part to having to cooperate with a rather baroque user interface. I feel like this could really open them up to a new generation.
jhbadger 1y ago
I guess I never had a problem with the Infocom parser -- it seemed already so much more advanced than other adventure games that generally only understood two word commands like "GET KEY". In Infocom games you could say things like "get the key and put it in the bag".

Eric_WVGG 1y ago

Hm. I have to challenge a list that doesn’t include George Alec Effinger’s Circuit’s Edge. I get that it was written after the hayday of Infocom, but it was completely within the spirit and craft.

decremental 1y ago
[dead]
thristian 1y ago
It isn't really related to the Infocom that released the Zork games, except in a legal sense. Infocom was sold to Activision in 1986, and shut down as a studio in 1989. Circuit's Edge was published in 1990, labelled "Infocom" but just because that's the brand Activision chose to market it under.
- Eric_WVGG 1y ago
  Legally, no. But it was written in the spirit of Infocom games — all the gameplay is designed around text narrative, with the classic text parser to drive the action — and Effinger had connections with the actual Infocom team (he wrote their Zork paperback adaptations). And Michael E. Moore from Infocom was the associate producer, they'd phone him for game direction and advice. I think it's spiritually an Infocom game. If the company had persisted and there were any future in adventure games, Circuit’s Edge is exactly what they would have produced.

caminanteblanco 1y ago

This is without a doubt the best podcast for all things infocom: https://monsterfeet.com/grue/ https://monsterfeet.com/grue/

wood_spirit 1y ago

Next weekend is the next Ludum Dare https://ldjam.com https://ldjam.com game making contest. Perhaps we need more text adventures? These days you can probably vibe code an engine using SpaCy for commands and some kind of word salad LLM or something to make the output more flowery

jank199x 1y ago
There's quite a lot of pure interactive fiction comps, and a lot of viable authoring systems: https://www.ifwiki.org https://www.ifwiki.org

kqr 1y ago

Advice fror people trying to get into text adventures: do not start with infocom games. Start with something like Glowgrass, Violet, The Dreamhold, Plundered Hearts*, or Lost Pig. They'pe friendlier to the player. I get that the interface is a little fiddly at first, but it is highly conventional. Once you have spent a few minutes learning it, you unlock all other text adventures, of which there are many amazing ones. I see many suggestions for using LLMs to improve the experience. I have tried that myself[2] and played others' attempts[3], and LLMs' world modeling abilities are currently insufficient for that[4]. They invent details that don't exist, they assume things have effects they don't, etc. They add more frustration than they remove. Text adventures are often puzzle-paced, meaning they tell their story in drips separated by puzzles. These puzzles can be difficult. Best is to play with a friend -- you might get ideas from each other. If you have no interested friend, don't feel shame over looking at hints, or outright looking the solution up. But do let the puzzle simmer for a day first to make sure you've tried everything you can think of. [1]: An Infocom game but rather different from the others. [2]: https://entropicthoughts.com/evaluating-llms-playing-text-adventures https://entropicthoughts.com/evaluating-llms-playing-text-ad... [3]: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6nn0ihhejq2hrvh2&review=86904 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6nn0ihhejq2hrvh2&review=86904 [4]: More systematic paper on arXiv I've lost the link to but will post when I find it.

lyu07282 1y ago
> do not start with infocom games Generally yes, however Hitchhiker is the one huge exception to that. Its very accessible, well written and the BBC released a version for the web: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-game-30th-anniversary-edition https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN...
- kqr 1y ago
  This must be a different version than the original, then. The original was exceedingly cruel, as Douglas Adams wanted to play practical jokes riffing on genre conventions.
  - 1y ago

qmr 1y ago

I would love to see pictures and unboxing of the feelies. Those were before my time. I played many of these as part of the "Comedy Collection", "Sci Fi Collection" etc re-releases when I was 9-10 or so. Later searching for free "games" for my Palm VIIx, I found a Z machine interpreter and played a few of them on my PDA. Comment from a few days ago pasted below. --- First time (only time?) a game made me cry, Floyd's death. 13-15 or so, Up way too late, hiding under my blanket to muffle the noise from the folding Stowaway keyboard, playing on a glowing green 160x160 LCD display on a Palm VIIx running a Z machine interpreter. Apparently the author still gets emails now and then to this day about how Floyd’s death affected players. He used to have a personal site but I can’t find it now. A lot of players have written about this moment. I think the other one I beat was Bureaucracy, by Douglas Adams. Got somewhat deep in Beyond Zork and HHGTTG, but don’t think I completed them. I remember my father getting excited when he saw those Infocom compilations on Walmart store shelves. I’ve also considered introducing those to my son. He’s 5 now. Lately having him play Mario RPG, Zelda, and Final Fantasy to practice reading. —- “Perhaps the most amazing thing about the creation of Floyd was how easy it was. The entire code and text for the character, if printed out, would perhaps run to ten pages. What’s amazing is not that I was able to create a computer game character that touched people so deeply, but how infrequently the same thing has been accomplished in the intervening two decades.” Steve Meretzky

qmr 1y ago

It is Pitch Black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE

palad1n 1y ago

IF: yeah I’m a fan and once started to teach myself Inform 6, way back when. My greatest accomplishment was translating a random haiku generator in Inform 6. I sort of lost interest as Inform 7 was coming on the scene.

greesil 1y ago

No BattleTech? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech:_The_Crescent_Hawk%27s_Inception https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech:_The_Crescent_Haw...

M95D 1y ago

How do I play/run these games?