221–230 of 241 posts
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Just another reminder that the Zork trilogy started as a single PDP game, I guess :) It's remarkable how they were able to cut it up almost without breaking a sweat.
I wonder how much work it would be to glue the games back together?
I wrote some comments on the Wikipedia Zork talk page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AZork#Link_to_the_origin... Link to the original Zork source code in MDL I suggest linking to the original Zork source code in MDL which is available here: http://retro.co.za/adventure/zork-mdl/ Is it OK to link to that source code from Wikipedia? I don't know who officially owns it, though. It was never a commercial product, a…
http://simh.trailing-edge.com/games/zork-mdl.zip
I'd like to think this is officially blessed somehow.
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I've seen EQUAL? in some of the code snippets. I can believe that inspired Scheme predicates.
Yes. But I think that's relatively minor. From 'The Evolution of Lisp' Steele/Gabriel: > MDL also introduced through example the use of a final ? in a name to connote a predicate ... Lisp Machine Lisp would pick up the lambda lists and the locatives, and would adapt the evaluation and splicing markers in backquote, though the evolution of the concept passes through Conniver where it is refined into a form very simila…
MDL doesn't have quasiquoting, but it has "segments" that expanded while evaluating a structure (prefix a form with "!", and the result is spliced into the structure), and reader macros expanded while parsing source code (prefix a form with "%" and the result is inserted, or "%%" and it's discarded).
> In general, Infocom games were created by taking previous Infocom source code, copying the directory, and making changes until the game worked the way the current Implementor needed. Structure, therefore, tended to follow from game to game and may or may not accurately reflect the actual function of the code. Some things never change... EDIT: this is how I do most of my personal projects!
I think this has to do with the authors being more literary than tech savvy.
I love interactive fiction (as these types of games are now denoted) then and now. In principle. There are possibilities with the text-only canvas that are not even conceivable in other media. But really, does anyone have time for these games anymore? Playing these Infocom games is a multi-month project, with a significant amount of note-taking, manual mapping, and patience (read: replay) required. To call the "parse…
Have you tried any of the modern games other than the two you linked ? A lot of the games being made right now are shorter and punchier than the classic infocom games. Suveh nux ( https://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=xkai23ry99qdxce3 ) is a great example of a modern game that is short, interesting and uses the medium in an interesting manner.
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Here's a ZIL version of the game where "xyzzy" and "plugh" first appeared: https://bitbucket.org/jmcgrew/zilf/src/tip/Examples/advent/a...
I have the oldest available Crowther version running using a DEC Fortran compiler. YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING . AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND DOWN A GULLY.
https://jerz.setonhill.edu/intfic/colossal-cave-adventure-so...
Do you have older ones?
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It was kind of the point. His other Infocom game was called Bureacrary, so you can see the theme developing... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy_(video_game)
An infamous scene in Bureaucracy was when you had to order some food in a diner, and you'd spend 10 minutes on that (How do you want the burger, rare, medium, or well done? With fries or onion rings? Small, medium, or large? Coke or Fanta? Regular or light? etc. etc., really drawn out), and then the waiter comes back and explains that the computer crashed and you had to go through the whole tedious process again... C…
Hitchhikers Guide was one of the first PC games I ever got. I had no idea it was a “text adventure.” Nor did I understand it was based on a book. My dad got it for me used from The Computer Club in downtown Lake Oswego, Oregon. I picked it out largely due to the green guy on the front of the box. I remember being delighted by all the weird stuff it came with, including a small packet of fuzz, and other artifacts from…
Okay, I’m going to be all hipster on everyone here but seriously has no-one ever heard the original radio series? The original and better than a) the books b) the TV series and c) the movie. They’ve all got their moments (except the TV series, that’s kind of a waste of time).