
A Cabinet of Infocom Curiosities - bane
http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4834
======
jordanpg
Earlier this year, when I realized that all of the old Infocom games were in
the public domain, I spent some time playing Zork I, Border Zone, and HHGTTG
-- the ones I played most often when I was younger.

There was some sentimental fun to be had, but these games take a tremendous
amount of time to play and are difficult in a way that modern games are not.
Their puzzles are almost unsolvable in some cases, or can only be solved by
combining every permutation of every verb with every noun in every place to
get the right answer.

Relative to what's available in the modern gaming realm as well as
conventional fiction, I've also been pretty underwhelmed by what the
Interactive Fiction community is putting out, especially the games that are
purely web-based. There are some authors, Andrew Plotkin comes to mind, that
have picked up the Infocom torch, but the feeling that you are using 0.1% of
what your computer can do at about 5% of the rate your mind can work is
difficult to shake for me in our modern era.

~~~
CaptSpify
> There was some sentimental fun to be had, but these games take a tremendous
> amount of time to play and are difficult in a way that modern games are not.
> Their puzzles are almost unsolvable in some cases, or can only be solved by
> combining every permutation of every verb with every noun in every place to
> get the right answer.

It's interesting how intolerable these games would be considered today. I have
a choice of thousands of games on steam (not to mention other platforms), many
for less than $5. I would give these games such a bad rating, not for "lack of
graphics" or anything technological, but for lack of smooth gameplay. But I
loved them, and they are considered foundationial to current games.

It's also interesting to me how much time I spent _patiently_ trying different
solutions. Nowadays, if I don't get a puzzle in ~30 min, I'm off to google the
answer.

I think we're way better off now, but I think there was some
dedication/patience/pure-effort that we've lost with our vast number of
choices, and access to information.

~~~
sanoli
> if I don't get a puzzle in ~30 min, I'm off to google the answer.

The only loss here is that the reward in googling the answer will never come
close to the high of figuring a puzzle out after 2 days.

~~~
mgkimsal
We always had the option of the "invisiclues" but... you had to order those
and wait (time and money) or drive to a local computer store and buy (money).
Both put a damper on the urge to "cheat".

~~~
ghaff
In so many ways, Invisiclues are a fascinating relic. That they existed (and
were extremely popular) speaks to a number of different aspects to technology
between then and now. (And, as I recall, Invisiclues were also available as
some sort of 900 number service at one point.)

~~~
mgkimsal
I don't remember any sort of phone in number. Possibly would have gone broke
had I known of it.

I did find this...

[http://www.resonant.org/games/infocom/Infocom_Homepage/Invis...](http://www.resonant.org/games/infocom/Infocom_Homepage/Invisiclues/)

:)

~~~
ghaff
Actually it apparently started as a pay-per-hint system.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InvisiClues](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InvisiClues)

(Although I know the various people involved I don't remember all the
details.)

------
jacquesm
If you've never experienced what text adventures were like, this would be a
fun place to start:

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml)

(requires flash)

HN thread about it:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8960933](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8960933)

~~~
mrob
HHGTG is notoriously difficult. If you've never played a text adventure before
you're more likely to find it frustrating than fun.

Instead, I recommend playing something more modern. There's a community of
people making these games who hold an annual competition, and the winner is
usually very good:
[http://ifwiki.org/index.php/The_Annual_IF_Competition](http://ifwiki.org/index.php/The_Annual_IF_Competition)

I particularly recommend the 2007 winner, "Lost Pig". You can play it in a
Javascript interpreter here:
[http://iplayif.com/?story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifarchive.org%2Fi...](http://iplayif.com/?story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifarchive.org%2Fif-
archive%2Fgames%2Fzcode%2FLostPig.z8)

~~~
jerf
If you want to start with an Infocom game, I found "Nord and Bert Couldn't
Make Head or Tail of It" to be a fun little _amuse-bouche_. It's a wordplay
game instead of a lengthy story full of old-style adventure logic, so you
really can't get "stuck", and is also an interesting example of a game that
fundamentally could never be anything but a text adventure.

(This may depend on your wordplay ability. A quick check on Wikipedia says fan
consensus on the difficulty ranges from "Standard" to "Expert". Oh well. It's
2015. You're only about 30 seconds away from a walkthrough. Given the nature
of the game, it won't ruin anything if you have to consult a walkthrough once
or twice. In the meantime, it's the only Infocom I've ever beaten without a
walkthrough at all. My brain seems to _really, really_ not jive with text-
adventure game logic.)

Granted, it's very different than a text "adventure", but I think if you've
never played a pure text-based game, it's a very gentle and genuinely
entertaining experience.

~~~
hardmath123
I've been looking for a copy of that game for a while now. Is there an online
version or a z(5,8) version I can run with frotz or something? Is it even in
the public domain?

~~~
jerf
Crap, I thought GOG.com had the Infocom collection digitally available, but I
seem to be mistaken, they just have a couple of things. Nobody seems to. I
bought it a _long_ time ago, when digitally downloading things was a novelty.

Well, if the copyright gods will forgive me, it should be in this collection,
which I can find no particularly legal way to purchase in a way that gives
money to any rightsholders: [http://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-lost-
treasures-of-info...](http://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-lost-treasures-of-
infocom-ii-3dp) I don't know, but it is likely the core z5 files can be found
in there with a bit of hunting.

The _first_ Lost Treasures of Infocom is legally available for the iPhone:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lost-treasures-of-
infocom/id...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lost-treasures-of-
infocom/id577626745?mt=8) Though, bizarrely, not for Android.

~~~
hardmath123
Wow, amazing, thank you so much for that link. That just took up my entire
afternoon. I wish they made games like that these days… \ _sigh\_

Is it still possible to buy hard copies of games from Infocom? Or are they all
lost relics now?

------
andrewstuart
Awesome. Could some rich entrepreneur please take this to the next level and
fund a few million to completely scan in high quality every magazine in Steve
Meretzy's collection?

~~~
radnor
That would be fantastic, especially the Computer Games Strategy Plus
magazines.

Many, if not all, of the Computer Gaming World magazines can be found here:
[http://www.cgwmuseum.org](http://www.cgwmuseum.org)

------
Tepix
Wow, this collection turns out to be beyond the wildest dreams of all Infocom
lovers.

It's also pure gold for game designers.

------
adenylyl
If you’re interested in Infocom stuff, I’d also recommend Jimmy Maher’s
ongoing series on the history of Infocom:
[http://www.filfre.net/tag/infocom/](http://www.filfre.net/tag/infocom/)

------
TuringTest
The Get Lamp documentary looks awesome. It's CC licensed so you can watch it
for free, but they also have some physical DVD copies left with all the
extras.

~~~
VLM
It is awesome. As is his BBS documentary. Speaking of monetizing physical
media, my wife went to some effort and expense to get me a personally signed
copy of the BBS documentary for Fathers Day a long time ago, that was really
cool.

As a disclaimer, I'm a financial backer of the upcoming 6502 documentary,
looking forward to it.

~~~
rsync
Run, don't walk, to see the BBS documentary. It is fantastic in every way.
Especially the segments with the fidonet guy.

~~~
ghaff
It's more a series of interviews than a true documentary but, that quibble
aside, it's a great window into a world that really hasn't been well
documented otherwise because it happened outside of the main thread of the
Internet's evolution. I see one (self-published) book on Amazon about BBSs but
there really isn't much out there.

~~~
textfiles
Ah yes, let's get into THAT debate. That's not a quibble - it's barely an
opinion.

~~~
ghaff
Come on Jason. With a bigger budget you would probably have done things a bit
differently. But as I said, it's a well done (and appreciated) look into a
neglected area of computing history. And frankly the interviews are probably
the most important thing. I'm not being critical.

------
Bud
About 57391 neurons which have not fired in this particular way since 1989 or
so have just fired.

Wow. I remember rushing to the store to buy Infocom games. Which were
incredibly expensive on a student budget, by the way. Kids these days are so
spoiled by how cheap games are.

~~~
mcguire
Infocom games were the last computer games I played seriously. (I really don't
have the eye-hand coordination for anything more recent. Or the competitive
urge.)

I have the strangest feeling of pressure in my chest right now.

------
CamperBob2
There's some interesting creative subtext in Steve Meretzky's collection of
documents from _Sorcerer_. ("Agency" refers to Giardini/Russell Inc., the
advertising agency Infocom used to create collateral and 'feelies' for the
game packages.)

    
    
       Client/Agency met to discuss Agency's recommendation 
       that Enchanter II should be called Spellbreaker (rahter 
       than Sorcerer), and that Enchanter III should not be    
       called Spellcrafter.  After discussion, Client/Agency 
       agreed to proceed with Client's preferred name for 
       Enchanter II, Sorcerer. Name for Enchanter III will be
       discussed at a later date.
    

I can't wrap my head around the idea that the _ad agency_ is in charge of
coming up with the game's title. That certainly isn't how things would have
been done at any other game company I'm familiar with. I've always had a ton
of respect for the quality and literacy of Infocom's collateral, so it was
fascinating to learn how much of that was outsourced to a generic agency that
would have sandwiched their work between full-page ads for furniture sales and
TV commercials for used car dealers.

It seems that not everybody at Infocom was 100% on board with G&R's work:
[http://i.imgur.com/WNBUY1w.png](http://i.imgur.com/WNBUY1w.png)

Overall, these documents offer a really interesting peek inside the sausage
factory. Thanks to Steve M. for making them available and to Jason for doing
the legwork!

~~~
chipotle_coyote
I suspect it's giving G/R somewhat short shrift to describe their
contributions so dismissively -- those "feelies" were part and parcel of
Infocom's charm and reputation. The agency was, AFAICT, a huge part of
Infocom's marketing, and titles are absolutely within a marketing department's
purvey. (And I suspect they were not working on anything resembling full-page
ads for furniture sales and TV commercial for used car dealers; that's not the
sort of thing that ad agencies at that level do!)

~~~
CamperBob2
_I suspect it 's giving G/R somewhat short shrift to describe their
contributions so dismissively_

Sorry, that wasn't my intent -- I'm saying how impressed I was! That doesn't
change the fact that they were knocking some _really_ lame titles around.

~~~
textfiles
_Much heavy lifting in design, layout, and verbiage for Infocom was done by a
firm called Giardini /Russell, Inc. out of Watertown, Massachusetts. In fact,
let’s just make it clear – a lot of what people think of as “Infocom” is in
fact Giardini/Russell. For example: The Zork logo, the names Infidel and
Deadline, and, of course, the verbiage of the advertisements I previously
discussed. They wrote manual copy (some of which was then re-written by the
implementors) and a pile of other stuff. The story of Infocom’s success, for
all its considerable talents, is incomplete unless you realize this firm that
contributed so much._

That's me a few years back, in
[http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/2172](http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/2172)

I knew putting these up would show some rough feelings. I've done my best to
keep that to a minimum - I hope that'll be the case. But be clear - G/R is
EASILY one of the most important contributors to Infocom's success.

------
ddingus
Awesome. I love these games and played a lot of them as a kid. Managed to
solve a few too.

In the early 00's, I ended up with one of those little HP Palmtops running
Windows CE. Could not figure out what to do with it, until I found it would
run Frotz.

So I packaged up a few of the good ones, not too tough, and put in in the car
for the kids. They actually played 'em. One would run the palmtop, reading it,
and everyone would suggest options. They got through a few long trips doing
that. Today, a phone would work much better than that old Palmtop did.

Somebody should make the voice input for these dead simple.

~~~
DerekL
I installed Zork on my Fossil Wrist PDA, though I never actually played it
much. I mainly played Sudoku.

------
hoodoof
Is there an official mirror policy to ensure multiple copies remain alive?

~~~
sp332
Archive.org keeps at least two copies, Jason Scott probably kept one
somewhere, but nothing official. You should grab it too - and join
#internetarchive.bak on efnet if you want to help backup more collections :)

Also [https://archive.org/donate/](https://archive.org/donate/)

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chris_wot
Has the rift between textfiles.com and Wikipedia ever healed?

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fapjacks
Jason Scott is a hero. And also, of course, Steve Meretzky.

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CIPHERSTONE
Awesome!

