https://github.com/historicalsource/zork1 Direct link to the repository
Is it just me or is GitHub having errors again? I keep getting 500s.
I got hit as well. It was dark. I was likely to be eaten by a grue.
Microsoft makes Zork open-source
91–100 of 256 posts
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#92When I was 14 or so, in the early 1980s, a friend and I who had been playing Zork thought it would be fun to design a game ourselves. We actually wrote to Infocom with a proposal that we write a new game for them and they let us use ZIL and the Z-machine to implement it. Surprisingly, they actually wrote back to us and politely declined our offer. In hindsight, while we knew how to program in BASIC and assembly langu…
My goodness, I could have written this word-for-word. Similar age, same Apple II BASIC and 6502 upbringing (roll sleeves and call -151 ) and also wrote to Infocom. We were in the UK so even more surprised to get a reply similar to yours several weeks later. Sadly my letter is also lost to various house moves. Or eaten by a grue.
Ha! They probably assigned an intern to reply to all the kids wanting to help them write the “next one.” Too funny! They had class, Infocom did.
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#93I've seen a few things called 'Zork source code' in various places over the years (even on a CD that came with a game programming book of some sort), and copies like this: https://github.com/MITDDC/zork What's the lineage here?
Zork was originally written at MIT for PDP-10s in an obscure Lisp dialect (MDL). The authors then later formed a company to sell the game on micro-computers. To do it, they built a virtual machine optimized for this purpose, a new Lisp dialect (ZIL) that could compile to the virtual machine, and the ported the game over to that new dialect. Even so, they had to split the game into three parts to fit. The source you'r…
This is about the fourth article I've read that mentions Lisp today on here.
Okay, I get it. Lisp is great.
Where should I start? It wasn't like I was planning on doing anything else at work next week...
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Infocom was bought by Activision, ActivisionBlizzard was bought by Microsoft.
whoa til microsoft owns blizzard.
And Sierra. It would be amazing if MS released the source code to some of Sierra classic Hi-Res/AGI/SCI games, or the engines themselves.
IIRC, Al Lowe had retained copies of source code from the early Sierra days, and was planning to release some of it publicly a few years ago, but Activision shut him down. Maybe MS would be willing to reconsider that now that they're pursuing historical preservation.
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#95This is great, but I'd rather they make Windows 11 open-source instead.
Funnily enough you can easily find the Windows XP source code on GitHub. Not endorsed by Microsoft of course, but they've ignored it sitting on their own service for years, along with ignoring all the modern Windows and Office piracy tools which are also on GitHub. Microsoft works in mysterious ways.
> along with ignoring all the modern Windows and Office piracy tools which are also on GitHub
You weren't going to buy it anyway. No-one cares about you. Pirate it if you like. Take your warezed copy of Office Home Edition and be blessed, no-one is going to miss your 120 bucks.
An organisation with maybe 100,000 users each paying a per-seat licence? Yeah, that's the sale they want. Not your one-off copy.
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funnily enough you can easily find the Windows XP source code on GitHub. Not endorsed by Microsoft of course, but they've ignored it sitting on their own service for years, along with ignoring all the modern Windows and Office piracy tools which are also on GitHub. Microsoft works in mysterious ways.
If AGI ever comes close to fruition I can't wait to just dump this code into some AI, tell it to fix all security bugs and make it work on M Series processors. Would finally achieve a computing environment that would be perfect for me. Until then, I will continue to dream.
Why not just try and compile it yourself, see what happens?
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Zork was originally written at MIT for PDP-10s in an obscure Lisp dialect (MDL). The authors then later formed a company to sell the game on micro-computers. To do it, they built a virtual machine optimized for this purpose, a new Lisp dialect (ZIL) that could compile to the virtual machine, and the ported the game over to that new dialect. Even so, they had to split the game into three parts to fit. The source you'r…
This is about the fourth article I've read that mentions Lisp today on here. Okay, I get it. Lisp is great. Where should I start? It wasn't like I was planning on doing anything else at work next week...
With lisp? Honestly I'd start by installing emacs and messing with elisp. It comes with a beginners guide to elisp with the docs iirc
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#98Make AoE open source please. I am sure Microsoft Empire won't crumble.
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
MDL, actually, which was derived from LISP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDL_(programming_language)
I’m curious why they chose MDL rather than Lisp for it. Sure, it would have been ancient MACLISP or whatever, but why not leverage what was already in wide use at MIT at the time?
maybe they just made a mini-lisp and called it MDL?
Re: Microsoft makes Zork open-source
#100Great, I remember a page which stated that it was sad to have free as in freedom ZMachine languages and interpreters (Inform6, Frotz/Fizmo...) but there were very few text adventures under a libre license. So far, the most known ones: - Spiritwrak - All Things Devour - Calypso - Tristam Island
Perhaps few classic games were released under FOSS licenses, but there are tons of more recent ones on IFDB.