Infocom
Type	Private (defunct)
Founded	MIT (1979)
Headquarters	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Key people	Dave Lebling Marc Blank Albert Vezza Joel Berez
Industry	Entertainment/Business software
Products	Zork series Planetfall series Leather Goddesses of Phobos series Z-machine Cornerstone See products listing.
Revenue	N/A
Employees	N/A
Slogan	This space intentionally left blank.
Website	None

Infocom was an American software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone. Infocom was founded on June 22, 1979 by MIT staff and students led by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Albert Vezza, and Joel Berez and lasted as an independent company until 1986 when it was bought by Activision. Activision finally shut down the Infocom division in 1989, although they released some titles in the 1990s under the Infocom Zork brand. The term software company could be applied to; a) a company that produces software or b) a company that distributes software from a third party or c) a company that provides services for software. ...   Settled: 1630 â€“ Incorporated: 1636 Zip Code(s): 02138, 02139, 02140, 02141, 02142 â€“ Area Code(s): 617 / 857 Official website: http://www. ... Zork, an early work of interactive fiction, running on a modern interpreter Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. ... A relational database is a database that conforms to the relational model, and refers to a databases data and schema (the databases structure of how that data is arranged). ... Cornerstone is a relational database for the PC released by Infocom in 1985. ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song). ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT has five schools and one college, containing 32 academic departments,[2] with a strong emphasis on theoretical, applied, and interdisciplinary scientific and technological research. ... Dave Lebling, ca 1985 Dave Lebling (born 1949) was an interactive fiction game designer, or implementor, at Infocom. ... Marc Blank is an American computer game designer and game programmer. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Activision, Inc. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar...

Overview

Infocom was well-known among game-players for the parser used in its witty, ambitious text adventures, which allowed the user to type complex instructions to the game. Unlike earlier works of interactive fiction, which only understood commands of the form 'verb noun' (e.g. "get apple"), Infocom's parser could understand commands like "get all apples except the green apple from the barrel." Infocom games were written using a programming language called ZIL (Zork Implementation Language or Zork Interactive Language--it was referred to as both) that ran on a standardized virtual machine called the Z-machine. As the games were text based and used variants of the same Z-machine interpreter, Infocom was able to release most of their games for most popular home computers of the day simultaneously—the Apple II family, Atari 800, IBM PC compatibles, Amstrad CPC/PCW (one disc worked on both machines), Commodore 64, Commodore 128^[1], Kaypro CP/M, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, the Mac, Atari ST, and the Commodore Amiga. The company was also known for shipping creative props, or "feelies" (and even "smellies"), with its games. A parser is a computer program or a component of a program that analyses the grammatical structure of an input, with respect to a given formal grammar, a process known as parsing. ... In general terms, a virtual machine in computer science is software that creates a virtualized environment between the computer platform and the end user in which the end user can operate software. ... The Z machine at Sandia National Laboratory. ... TRS-80 Color Computer II The home computer is a consumer-friendly word for the second generation of microcomputers (the technical term that was previously used), entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s. ... The 1977 Apple II, complete with integrated keyboard, color graphics, sound, a plastic case and eight expansion slots. ... An Atari 800XL, one of the most popular machines in the series. ... The Columbia MPC was one of the many IBM PC compatibles that flooded the US market. ... The Amstrad CPC was a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad during the 1980s and early 1990s. ... The Amstrad PCW series (Personal Computer Word processor) was British company Amstrads versatile line of home/personal microcomputers pitched as a complete, integrated home/office solution. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... The Commodore 128 (C128, CBM 128, C=128) home/personal computer was Commodore Business Machines (CBM)s last commercially released 8-bit machine. ... The Kaypro Corporation Logo, circa 1982. ... CP/M is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. ... 1979 TI-99/4 with RF modulator, optional Speech Synthesizer, keyboard overlays, and a cartridge. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... The Atari 520ST Atari 1040STF with SC1224 color monitor The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with Commodore 1080 monitor The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced home entertainment and productivity machine. ... Infocom used the term feelies to refer to the extra content included with the boxed versions of their interactive fiction computer games. ...

History

The beginning

Inspired by Colossal Cave, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling created what was to become the first Infocom game, Zork, in 1977 at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science. Despite the development of a revolutionary virtual memory system that allowed games to be much larger than the average personal computer's normal capacity, the enormous mainframe-developed game had to be split into three roughly equal parts. Zork I was released originally for the TRS-80 in 1980 and eventually sold more than a million copies across several platforms. It is notable that although Microsoft released a cheap version of Adventure with its initial version of MS-DOS 1.0 for IBM PCs, Zork I was still a popular seller for the PC, thanks to the superior quality of its writing and packaging. Colossal Cave Adventure (also known as ADVENT, Colossal Cave, or Adventure) (Crowther & Woods, 1976) was the first computer adventure game. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT has five schools and one college, containing 32 academic departments,[2] with a strong emphasis on theoretical, applied, and interdisciplinary scientific and technological research. ... Project MAC, later the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS), was a research laboratory at MIT. Project MAC would become famous for groundbreaking research in operating systems, artificial intelligence, and the theory of computation. ... TRS-80 Model I. TRS-80 was Tandy Corporations desktop microcomputer model line, and sold through Tandys RadioShack stores, in the late-1970s and 1980s. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ...

Lebling and Blank each authored several more games and additional game writers (or "implementors") were hired, notably including Steve Meretzky. Other popular and inventive titles included the rest of the Zork series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and A Mind Forever Voyaging. Steve Meretzky Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) is an American computer game designer, with dozens of titles to his credit. ... The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction computer game based on the seminal comic science fiction series of the same name. ... Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was a British author, comic radio dramatist, and amateur musician. ... A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV) is an interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1985. ...

In its first few years of operation, text adventures proved to be a huge revenue stream for the company. Whereas most computer games of the era would achieve initial success and then suffer a significant drop-off in sales, Infocom titles continued to sell for years and years. One key employee said of their situation, "It was phenomenal—we had a basement that just printed money."

Standing out from the competition

Three components proved key to Infocom's success: marketing strategy, rich storytelling and feelies. Whereas most game developers sold their games mainly in software stores, Infocom also distributed their games via bookstores. Since their games were text-based, patrons of bookstores were drawn to the Infocom games as they were already interested in reading.

Next, Infocom titles featured strong storytelling and rich descriptions, eschewing the day's primitive graphic capabilities, allowing users to use their own imaginations for the lavish and exotic locations the games described. Infocom's puzzles were unique in that they were usually tightly integrated into the storyline, and rarely did gamers feel like they were being made to jump through one arbitrary hoop after another, as was the case in many of the competitors' games. The puzzles were logical but also required close attention to the clues and hints given in the story, causing most gamers to keep copious notes as they went along.

Sometimes, though, Infocom threw in puzzles just for the humor of it—if the user never ran into these, they could still finish the game just fine. But discovering these early forms of Easter Eggs was satisfying for some fans of the games. For example, one popular example was in the Enchanter game, which involved collecting magic spells to use in accomplishing the quest. One of these was a summoning spell, which the player needed to use to summon certain characters at different parts of the game. However, at some point the game mentions the "Implementers" who were responsible for creating the land of Zork. If the player tried to "summon Implementers", the game would suddenly produce a vision of Dave Lebling and Marc Blank working at their computers and being surprised at this "bug" in the game and working feverishly to fix it. The first easter egg For the decorated eggs given out to celebrate the Easter holiday, see Easter egg. ... For other uses of the words enchantment, enchanter, or enchantress, see enchantment (disambiguation). ... Dave Lebling, ca 1985 Dave Lebling (born 1949) was an interactive fiction game designer, or implementor, at Infocom. ... Marc Blank is an American computer game designer and game programmer. ...

Third, the inclusion of "feelies"—imaginative props and extras tied to the game's theme—provided some copy protection against pirating. Some games were unsolvable without the extra content provided with the boxed game. And because of the cleverness and uniqueness of the feelies, users rarely felt like they were an intrusion or inconvenience, as was the case with most of the other copy-protection schemes of the time. Infocom used the term feelies to refer to the extra content included with the boxed versions of their interactive fiction computer games. ... The copyright infringement of software is often called software piracy by those seeking to reduce its incidence. ... Infocom used the term feelies to refer to the extra content included with the boxed versions of their interactive fiction computer games. ...

Although Infocom started out with Zork, and although the Zork world was the centerpiece of their product line throughout the Zork and Enchanter series, the company quickly branched out into a wide variety of story lines: fantasy, science-fiction, mystery, horror, historical adventure, children's stories, and others that defied categories. In an attempt to reach out to females, Infocom also produced "Plundered Hearts," which required the gamer to take the part of a heroine in a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, and which required the heroine to use more feminine tactics to win the game, since hacking-and-slashing was not a very lady-like way to behave. And to compete with the Leisure Suit Larry style games that were also appearing, Infocom also came out with Leather Goddesses of Phobos in 1986, which featured both "tame" and "lewd" playing modes, and that was notable for introducing "scratch-and-sniff" game cards. Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail! Leisure Suit Larry is the title character of a series of adult adventure games written by Al Lowe and published by Sierra On-Line from the 1980s to the present. ... Cover of the Lane Mastodon comic—the instruction manual for the game Leather Goddesses of Phobos is an interactive fiction game published and developed by Infocom in 1986 for the DOS, Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST and Commodore 64 computers. ...

Many of the games' puzzles proved too difficult for some players. Since only a few computer users at the time had access to online communities such as CompuServe and the The Source, Infocom was regularly flooded with phone calls from customers pleading for hints to solving game puzzles. Due to this, Mike Dornbrook created the Zork User's Group (ZUG) to handle a typewritten "pay-per-hint" service. He also started Infocom's customer newsletter called The New Zork Times to discuss game hints and preview and showcase new products. (After the threat of a lawsuit by the New York Times, the newsletter's name was later changed to The Status Line, a reference to an informational feature provided the player in every Infocom game.) CompuServe, (in full, CompuServe Information Services, or CIS), was the first major commercial online service in the United States, dominating the field during the 1980s and remaining a major player through the mid-1990s when it was sidelined by the rise of information services, such as AOL, who adopted pricing... The Source was the name of an early on-line service. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

The pay-per-hint service eventually led to the development of InvisiClues: books with hints, maps, clues and solutions for puzzles in the games. The answers to the puzzles were printed in invisible ink that only became visible with a special marker that was provided with each book. Usually, two or more answers were given for each question that a gamer might have. The first answer would provide a subtle hint, the second a less subtle hint, and so forth until the last one gave an explicit answer. Gamers could thus reveal only the hints that they absolutely needed to have to play the game. After playing the game, a typical player might then uncover the rest of the hints because they were frequently humorous. InvisiClues were clue and hint booklets that were a marketing adjunct that became available to help people get through some of challenging puzzles of Infocom text adventure computer games. ...

For example, the original hint book for Enchanter had the following questions:

Question:

Is Enchanter really Zork IV?

Answers:

1. Is the sky green?
2. Does a bear build laser weapons in the woods?
3. No.

Question:

Will there be a sequel to Enchanter?

Answers:

1. Certainly.
2. Zork V. (which turned out to be Sorcerer)

Because of the clever use of hidden clues and Infocom's trademarked humor, the sale of InvisiClues proved incredibly lucrative—even players who didn't need the hints would buy the books for post-game enjoyment. The books' sales consistently filled computer book best seller lists until the list developers were forced to combine all InvisiClues sales into one number, which simply assured that it would almost always occupy the topmost position.

Infocom also released a small number of "interactive fiction paperbacks," which were based on the games and featured the ability to choose a different path through the story. Every couple of pages the book would give you the chance to make a choice, such as which direction you wanted to go or how you wanted to respond to another character. You would then choose one of the given answers and turn to the appropriate page. These books, however, never did sell particularly well, and quickly disappeared from the bookshelves.

Serious mistakes...

In 1984 Infocom started putting resources into a new division to produce business products. In 1985 they released a database product, Cornerstone, aimed at capturing the then booming database market for small business. Though this application was hailed upon its release for ease of use, it sold only 10,000 copies; not enough to cover the development expenses. The program failed because, although it was packaged in a slick hard plastic carrying case and was a very good database for personal and home use, it was originally priced at $495 per copy and used copy-protected disks. Another serious miscalculation was that the program did not include any kind of scripting language, so it was not promoted by any of the database consultants that small businesses typically hired to create and maintain their DB applications. Reviewers were also consistently disappointed that Infocom—noted for the natural language syntax of their games—did not include a natural language query ability, which was the most expected feature for this database. And a final disappointment was that Cornerstone was available only for IBM PCs and not any of the other platforms that Infocom supported for their games; while Cornerstone had been programmed with its own virtual machine for maximum portability, that feature had become essentially irrelevant. This article is about the year 1984. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A relational database is a database that conforms to the relational model, and refers to a databases data and schema (the databases structure of how that data is arranged). ... Cornerstone is a relational database for the PC released by Infocom in 1985. ... IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ...

Whereas Infocom's games had benefited significantly from the portability offered by running on top of a virtual machine, this strategy did not prove to be a significant advantage for Cornerstone; in fact, the virtual machine significantly slowed the database's execution speed. Most businesses were moving to the IBM PC platform by that time, so portability was no longer a significant differentiator. Infocom had sunk much of the money from games sales into Cornerstone; this, in addition to a slump in computer game sales, left the company in a very precarious financial position. By the time Infocom removed the copy-protection and reduced the price to less than $100, it was too late, and the market had moved on to other database solutions.

And finally, the game market itself was shifting into graphic games. The 1990s, though, were a turbulent time for graphics development, as the computer industry was collapsing, with long-time computer makers such as Tandy/Radio Shack, Atari, and Commodore/Amiga disappearing, and the PC and Macintosh markets were fighting for dominance. Development of graphics technology was very aggressive during this time, which made it very expensive and risky to create cutting-edge, high-performance graphics, and many companies came and went in this period. Many people were buying new, more powerful computers expressly for games, and the days were long-gone when people would be satisfied with simple vectored line drawings, such as those that made the Wizardry games famous, or with the blocky graphics that were used in Sierra Entertainment's King's Quest games. Gamers in particular were most unforgiving when the graphics did not live up to their expectations. In this climate, Infocom's history of text-based adventures and story-centered gaming did not help much in making the transition to graphics. Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... Tandy Corporation is the former name of the parent company of RadioShack Corporation, a Fort Worth, Texas-based company best known for its RadioShack electronics stores. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore International, was an American electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which was a vital player in the home/personal computer field in the 1980s. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with Commodore 1080 monitor The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced home entertainment and productivity machine. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... Wizardry is a series of computer role-playing games, developed by Sir-Tech, that were popular in the 1980s. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Kings Quest IV screenshot Kings Quest is an adventure game series made by the American computer game company Sierra On-Line (currently known as Sierra Entertainment). ...

...and the Activision takeover

A surprising lack of offers for such a successful company led to a reverse triangular merger with Activision on 13 June 1986. This turned out to be the beginning of the end for Infocom. While relations were cordial between the two companies at first, the departure of James Levy from Activision left Bruce Davis in charge. Davis believed that his company had paid too much for Infocom and initiated a lawsuit against them to recoup some of the cost. Furthermore, he made a string of poor, heavy-handed decisions that made Infocom unprofitable. For example: Activision, Inc. ...

• Davis demanded they use Activision's packaging plant instead of their own in-house one, raising the cost of each package from $0.45 to over $0.90. In addition, the Activision plant made numerous mistakes in packaging where the Infocom one almost never did.
• Infocom had a successful marketing approach that kept all their games in store inventories for years. Because of this, older titles' sales often kept pace with sales of newer games. For example, because Zork was available for years after its initial release in 1980, it continued to top charts in sales well into the mid-1980s. Activision preferred to market Infocom's games the way they marketed their other titles: replacing older titles with newer ones. While this made sense for the graphically intensive games that made up the rest of Activision's catalog, since Infocom games were text based, it didn't make sense - the newer games didn't have improved text. This marketing approach cut off potential revenue for numerous Infocom titles that had consistently brought in money for several years.
• Davis demanded the struggling developer must produce eight titles a year. Infocom had traditionally produced about four games per year with more staff than they currently had.
• Davis pushed Infocom to release more graphical games, but the one they did release bombed. This was, in part, due to Infocom's long-standing rule of maximum portability; a game that could display graphics on a number of different systems couldn't take advantage of the strengths of any of them.
• The cost of acquisition was amortized by deducting it from Infocom's operating revenue during the next several years. Of course this accounting made it difficult for Infocom to show a profit.

1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

The end

Rising costs and falling profits due to these changes and other botched ventures caused Activision to finally pull the plug on Infocom in 1989. For a few years, Activision continued to market Infocom's classic games in collections (usually by genre, such as the Science Fiction collection); in 1991, they published The Lost Treasures of Infocom, followed in 1992 by The Lost Treasures of Infocom II. These two compilations featured nearly every game produced by Infocom before 1988. (Leather Goddesses of Phobos was not included in either bundle, but could be ordered via a coupon included with Lost Treasures II.) In 1996, these were followed by Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom, a single CD-ROM which contained the works of both collections combined. 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Lost Treasures of Infocom is a collection of 20 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, released in 1991. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The Lost Treasures of Infocom is a collection of 20 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, released in 1991. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cover of the Lane Mastodon comic—the instruction manual for the game Leather Goddesses of Phobos is an interactive fiction game published and developed by Infocom in 1986 for the DOS, Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST and Commodore 64 computers. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom is a collection of 33 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, and the top 6 winners of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition, released in 1996. ...

Titles and authors

Interactive Fiction

• The Zork series:
  • The original Zork Trilogy (Marc Blank & Dave Lebling):
    • Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1980)
    • Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz (1981)
    • Zork III: The Dungeon Master (1982)
  • The Enchanter Trilogy:
    • Enchanter (1983, Marc Blank)
    • Sorcerer (1984, Steve Meretzky)
    • Spellbreaker (1985, Dave Lebling)
  • Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor (1987, Brian Moriarty)
  • Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz (1988, Steve Meretzky)
  • Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (1997, Michael Berlyn and Marc Blank)
• Deadline (1982, Marc Blank)
• Starcross (1982, Dave Lebling)
• Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare (1983, Michael Berlyn)
• Infidel (1983, Michael Berlyn)
• Planetfall (1983, Steve Meretzky)
• The Witness (1983, Stu Galley)
• Cutthroats (1984, Michael Berlyn & Jerry Wolper)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984, Steve Meretzky & Douglas Adams)
• Seastalker (1984, Stu Galley & Jim Lawrence)
• Suspect (1984, Dave Lebling)
• A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985, Steve Meretzky)
• Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams (1985, Brian Moriarty)
• Ballyhoo (1986, Jeff O'Neill)
• Hollywood Hijinx (1986, "Hollywood" Dave Anderson)
• Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986, Steve Meretzky)
• Moonmist (1986, Stu Galley)
• Trinity (1986, Brian Moriarty)
• Border Zone (1987, Marc Blank)
• Bureaucracy (1987, Infocom & Douglas Adams)
• The Lurking Horror (1987, Dave Lebling)
• Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It (1987, Jeff O'Neill)
• Plundered Hearts (1987, Amy Briggs)
• Stationfall (1987, Steve Meretzky)
• Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels (1988, Bob Bates)
• Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur (1989, Bob Bates)
• James Clavell's Shogun (1989, Dave Lebling)
• Journey (1989, Marc Blank)

Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... Zork I: The Great Underground Empire is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and published by Infocom in 1980. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz is an... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zork III: The Dungeon Master is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and published by Infocom in 1982. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Enchanter is a 1983 interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling and published by Infocom. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision This article is about the computer game. ... This article is about the year 1984. ... Steve Meretzky Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) is an American computer game designer, with dozens of titles to his credit. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Brian Moriarty (born 1956) is an American game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, Wishbringer (1985), Trinity (1986) and Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor (1987). ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Michael Berlyn is an American computer game designer and writer. ... Deadline is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1982. ... Starcross is a 1982 interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom. ... Suspended is an interactive fiction game published by Infocom in 1983. ... Infidel is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1983. ... Planetfall is a 1983 science fiction text adventure by Steve Meretzky of Infocom. ... The Witness is an interactive fiction computer game written by Stu Galley and published by Infocom in 1983. ... Stu Galley is an American game developer who wrote three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, The Witness (1983), Seastalker (with Jim Lawrence, 1984) and Moonmist (with Jim Lawrence, 1986). ... Cutthroats is an interactive fiction computer game written by Michael Berlyn and Jerry Wolper and was published by Infocom in 1984. ... The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction computer game based on the seminal comic science fiction series of the same name. ... Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was a British author, comic radio dramatist, and amateur musician. ... Seastalker is an interactive fiction computer game designed by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom in 1984. ... Suspect is an interactive fiction computer game designed by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1984. ... A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV) is an interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1985. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams is an... Ballyhoo is an interactive fiction computer game designed by Jeff ONeill and published by Infocom in 1986. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jeff ONeill (b. ... Hollywood Hijinx is an interactive fiction computer game written by Hollywood Dave Anderson and published by Infocom in 1986. ... Cover of the Lane Mastodon comic—the instruction manual for the game Leather Goddesses of Phobos is an interactive fiction game published and developed by Infocom in 1986 for the DOS, Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST and Commodore 64 computers. ... Moonmist is an interactive fiction computer game implemented by Stu Galley and published by Infocom in 1986. ... Trinity is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and published in 1986 by Infocom. ... Border Zone is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank and published by Infocom in 1987. ... Bureaucracy is a text-based computer game released by Infocom in 1987, scripted by popular comic science fiction author Douglas Adams. ... The Lurking Horror is an interactive fiction computer game released by Infocom in 1987. ... Nord and Bert Couldnt Make Head or Tail of it is an interactive fiction computer game written by Jeff ONeill and published by Infocom in 1987. ... Plundered Hearts is an interactive fiction computer game created by Amy Briggs and published by Infocom in 1987. ... Plundered Hearts is an interactive fiction computer game created by Amy Briggs and published by Infocom in 1987. ... Stationfall is an interactive fiction computer game written by Steve Meretzky and released by Infocom in 1987. ... Bob Bates is an American computer games designer. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... James Clavells Shōgun is an interactive fiction computer game written by Dave Lebling and released by Infocom in 1989. ... Journey: The Quest Begins is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank and released by Infocom in 1989. ...

Other titles

• Graphic Adventures
  • Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X! (1992, Steve Meretzky)
  • Return to Zork (1993)
  • Zork: Nemesis (1996)
  • Zork Grand Inquisitor (1997)
• BattleTech Games
  • BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (1988, developed by Westwood Studios)
  • BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1991, developed by Westwood Studios)
• Other Games
  • Fooblitzky (1985, Marc Blank, Mike Berlyn, Poh Lim & Paula Maxwell)
  • Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth (1988, Scott Schmitz, Ken Updike & Amy Briggs)
  • Mines of Titan (1988, Louis Castle & Brett Sperry)
  • Tombs & Treasure (1989, developed by Nihon Falcom)
  • Circuit's Edge (1989, developed by Westwood Studios)
• Infocomics
  • Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen (1988, Steve Meretzky)
  • Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams (1988, Amy Briggs)
  • ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle (1988, Elizabeth Langosy)
  • ZorkQuest II: The Crystal of Doom (1988, Elizabeth Langosy)

1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Return to Zork is a 1993 adventure game in the Zork series for the PC and Apple Macintosh. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Zork: Nemesis is a 1996 graphical adventure game developed by Activision. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... 20 Year Anniversary of BattleTech logo. ... Westwood Studios (1985-2003) was a computer and video game developer, founded in 1985 as Westwood Associates by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle and based in Las Vegas, Nevada. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Fooblitzky is an board game-style computer game published by Infocom in 1985 and designed by a team including interactive fiction authors Marc Blank and Mike Berlyn. ... Louis Castle co-founded Westwood Studios (the creator of the popular Command & Conquer real-time strategy video games) with Brett Sperry in 1985. ... Brett Sperry has been credited with the roles of design, production, support and box and content. ... Tombs & Treasure is an adventure game created by Nihon Falcom in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System that takes place in the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza on the Yucatán peninsula. ... One of Japans oldest game companies, Nihon Falcom has produced dozens of titles for a wide range of home console systems, as well as PC. Some of the companys famous series include Ys, Dragon Slayer, Lord Monarch, and Vantage Master. ... Circuits Edge is a computer game developed by Westwood Studios and released by Infocom in 1989. ... Westwood Studios (1985-2003) was a computer and video game developer, founded in 1985 as Westwood Associates by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle and based in Las Vegas, Nevada. ...

Collections

• The Zork Trilogy (1986; contained Zork I, Zork II & Zork III)
• The Enchanter Trilogy (1986; contained Enchanter, Sorcerer & Spellbreaker)
• The Lost Treasures of Infocom (1991; contained 20 of Infocom's interactive fiction games)
• The Lost Treasures of Infocom II (1992; contained 11 interactive fiction games)
• The Zork Anthology (1994; contained Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork & Zork Zero)
• The Masterpieces of Infocom (1996; contained 33 Infocom games plus six winners of the SPAG Interactive Fiction Contest not affiliated with Infocom)
• Zork Special Edition (1997; contained Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero, Return to Zork, Zork: Nemesis, and Planetfall)
• Zork Classics: Interactive Fiction (2000)

The Lost Treasures of Infocom is a collection of 20 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, released in 1991. ... The Lost Treasures of Infocom is a collection of 20 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, released in 1991. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Legacy

With the exception of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Shogun, the copyrights to the Infocom games are believed to be still held by Activision. Many Infocom titles can be downloaded via the Internet, legally in the case of the Zork trilogy and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but in violation of the copyright in most other cases. They are available as Z-machine story files and require a Z-machine interpreter to play. Interpreters are available for most computer platforms, the most widely used being the Frotz, Zip and Nitfol interpreters. The Z machine at Sandia National Laboratory. ... An interpreter is a computer program that executes other programs. ... Windows Frotz, playing Zork This article discusses the adventure game engine named Frotz. ... Nitfol, along with frotz, is one of the most popular z-machine interpreters and debuggers for infocom and inform interactive fiction games. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Infocom was actually one of the very few companies (if not the only one) to release game software for the C128's native mode, contrary to most software houses' practice of only catering for the combined C64/128 market (as the C128 was compatible with the C64)

The Commodore 128 (C128, CBM 128, C=128) home/personal computer was Commodore Business Machines (CBM)s last commercially released 8-bit machine. ...

See also

• 69,105, a number commonly found as an in-joke in many Infocom titles.

The number 69,105 was used as an In-joke at American computer game manufacturer Infocom. ...

External links

• Infocom company profile from MobyGames
• Infocom Documentation Project - Group working with Activision's permission to recreate manuals for Infocom games in PDF and text formats.
• "Interactive Text In An Animated Age: Infocom Faces The Challenge" article, an interview with Joel Berez and Marc Blank from Compute! magazine in January 1988.
• Infocom-IF.org, Infocom history, authors, etc; often updated with any news from Activision
• Infocom Fact-sheet - Contains extensive information on various releases including different versions and packaging. Also includes a timeline of Infocom.
• INFOCOM Homepage by Peter Scheyen—An enthusiast's home page, containing, among many other resources, a timeline of Infocom's founding, releases and eventual dissolution.
• Down From the Top of Its Game: The Story of Infocom, Inc.—A report from MIT which offers a very detailed examination of Infocom's creative successes and marketing failures.
• The Infocom Gallery with photos of all game boxes, feelies, instruction manuals and extra game contents
• Covers of the Infocom boxes
• GUE-Network, contains an extensive image gallery of packaging, maps, and screenshots from the games
• Online java version of various Infocom games

MobyGames is a website devoted to cataloging computer and video games, both past and present. ... Compute! was a classic computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT has five schools and one college, containing 32 academic departments,[2] with a strong emphasis on theoretical, applied, and interdisciplinary scientific and technological research. ...

Newsgroups

• rec.arts.int-fiction with discussion of IF design
• rec.games.int-fiction with discussion of IF reading/playing