Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

infocom.tambo.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 63 posts

Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#1

Post by alecf »

I grew up on the Infocom games and when microsoft actually open-sourced Zork 1/2/3 I really wanted to figure out how to use LLMs to let you type whatever you want, I always found the amount language that the games "understood" to be so limiting - even if it was pretty state of the art at the time.

So I figured out how to wrap it with Tambo.. (and run the game engine in the browser) basically whatever you type gets "translated" into zork-speak and passed to the game - and then the LLM takes the game's output and optionally adds flavor. (the little ">_" button at the top exposes the actual game input)

What was a big surprise to me is multi-turn instructions - you can ask it to "Explore all the rooms in the house until you can't find any more" and it will plug away at the game for 10+ "turns" at a time... like Claude Code for Zork or something

Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM
infocom.tambo.co

Re: Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#2

Post by grouchy »

I'm not from the era of these games, but I remember trying them and finding them frustrating for the same reason.

But when I tried this, I literally couldn't stop. I could just write some random action.

It's actually amazing to me how many situations they were able to consider in the game, but having the LLM translate my language into the right action made the game feel way more natural.

I'd be interested in seeing how people can dress up these games with images, or more complex interactions. It could be a whole sub-genre.

Re: Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#3

Post by nielsbot »

grouchy wrote: post #2

I'm not from the era of these games, but I remember trying them and finding them frustrating for the same reason. But when I tried this, I literally couldn't stop. I could just write some random action. It's actually amazing to me how many situations they were able to consider in the game, but having the LLM translate my language into the right action made the game feel way more natural. I'd be interested in seeing h…

Or even make new games with the LLM translating what you write into a restricted set of in-game commands.

One thing I noticed about the linked page: I said something like "what's in the mailbox?" and the answer was "That mailbox is closed." I think the next level would be able to string together multiple commands like "open mailbox" + "look in mailbox"

Re: Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#4

Post by jmcmichael »

nielsbot wrote: post #3
grouchy wrote: post #2

I'm not from the era of these games, but I remember trying them and finding them frustrating for the same reason. But when I tried this, I literally couldn't stop. I could just write some random action. It's actually amazing to me how many situations they were able to consider in the game, but having the LLM translate my language into the right action made the game feel way more natural. I'd be interested in seeing h…

Or even make new games with the LLM translating what you write into a restricted set of in-game commands. One thing I noticed about the linked page: I said something like "what's in the mailbox?" and the answer was "That mailbox is closed." I think the next level would be able to string together multiple commands like "open mailbox" + "look in mailbox"

You can, my first prompt in Zork 3 was “pick up the latern, light it, and walk down the dark path”, and it did all that.

Re: Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#7

Post by cjauvin »

Very interesting project! I cannot resist mentioning an old project of mine that was made in a very similar spirit, but way before any LLM: wrapping a classic Lone Wolf gamebook around a very crude text parser: https://projectaon.org/staff/christian/gamebook.js

I had written an entire "framework" for it, in JS (so in theory more books could be supported), but it never went anywhere: https://github.com/cjauvin/gamebook.js

Re: Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#8

Post by DonHopkins »

jmcmichael wrote: post #4
nielsbot wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or even make new games with the LLM translating what you write into a restricted set of in-game commands. One thing I noticed about the linked page: I said something like "what's in the mailbox?" and the answer was "That mailbox is closed." I think the next level would be able to string together multiple commands like "open mailbox" + "look in mailbox"

You can, my first prompt in Zork 3 was “pick up the latern, light it, and walk down the dark path”, and it did all that.

In MOOLLM Adventures, you can have NPC characters with entire game mechanics, rules, and playing piece prototypes embedded in them, that can run cooperatively in parallel in the same game!

The Grue — The Darkness That IS The Game:

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/tree/main/examples/adven...

Hint: GET LAMP

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/blob/main/examples/adven...

MC Frontalot - It Is Pitch Dark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE

Snorax the Patient — The Wumpus Who IS The Game

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/tree/main/examples/adven...

Bottomless Pit:

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/blob/main/examples/adven...

Superbats:

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/blob/main/examples/adven...

Hunt the Wumpus BASIC source code from 1973 to resolve any rule ambiguities:

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/blob/main/examples/adven...

With a classic Zork mailbox integrated with the postal system, including junk mail, stamp collecting, chain mail, and offers you can't refuse:

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/blob/main/examples/adven...

Postal System:

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/tree/main/skills/postal

Not to be confused with the Postel System:

https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/tree/main/skills/postel

Re: Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#9

Post by alecf »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #5

Makes for a fascinating principal/agent problem: which role is the LLM playing? If I just tell it "Try different things until you solve the game", it tries to do just that until it reaches 15 tool calls.

Yeah made me wonder if you could speedrun the game by giving it a lot of complex instructions and then just let it run...

Re: Show HN: I wrapped the Zorks with an LLM

#10

Post by grouchy »

cjauvin wrote: post #7

Very interesting project! I cannot resist mentioning an old project of mine that was made in a very similar spirit, but way before any LLM: wrapping a classic Lone Wolf gamebook around a very crude text parser: https://projectaon.org/staff/christian/gamebook.js I had written an entire "framework" for it, in JS (so in theory more books could be supported), but it never went anywhere: https://github.com/cjauvin/gameboo…

This is cool. I wonder what it would like today with LLMs?
Post reply on HN