Classics

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Some users of this forum are really young, so I thought I could point out a game from around 35 years ago, with a little help from wikipedia.

The original version of Zork I was published by Personal Software in 1980 for the TRS-08 and was simply called Zork, but Infocom later handled the distribution of that game and their subsequent games. The Personal Software version was distributed in clear plastic bags containing only the game disk and a 36-page booklet.

The game takes place in the Zork calendar year 948 GUE (although the passage of time is not notable in gameplay). The player steps into the deliberately vague role of an "adventurer". The game begins near a white house in a small, self-contained area. Although the player is given little instruction, the house provides an obvious point of interest.
When the player enters the house, it yields a number of intriguing objects, including an ancient brass lantern, an empty trophy case and an intricately engraved sword. Beneath the rug a trap door leads down into a dark cellar, which is revealed to be one of several entrances to a vast subterranean land known as the Great Underground Empire. The player soon encounters dangerous creatures, including deadly grues, an axe-wielding troll, a giant cyclops and a nimble-fingered thief who makes mapping the maze difficult by removing any items that the player might drop to leave a trail.
The ultimate goal of Zorh I is to collect the Twenty Treasures of Zork and install them in the trophy case. Finding the treasures requires solving a variety of puzzles such as the navigation of two complex mazes and some intricate manipulations at Flood Control Dam #3.

In late 1977 a hacker obtained a copy of the Zork source code, which was subsequently spread.

Zork I was the best-selling game of 1982, with 32,000 copies sold by the first half of that year. Its sales surprised Infocom by rising, not falling, over time; many dealers sold the game as an essential accessory to those purchasing new computers. The company sold almost 100,000 copies in 1983, more than 150,000 copies in 1984, comprising more than 20% of Infocom's sales that year, and a total of 378,987 copies by 1986.

BYTE declared in 1981 that "No single advance in the science of Adventure has been as bold and exciting" as Zork. The magazine praised the sophisticated parser and quality of writing, stating, "That the program is entertaining, eloquent, witty, and precisely written is almost beside the point ... Zork can be felt and touched—experienced, if you will—through the care and attention to detail the authors have rendered." It concluded, "Somebody, please, let me know when [the sequel is] done."

It was available on these platforms: PDP-10, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, Commodore 128, CP/M, TRS-80, IBM PC, Apple II, Apple IIe, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, DOS, TRS-80, NEC PC-9801, MSX, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A.

How was a text adventure as Zork? transcript and walkthrough

Hope you liked some retro memories... and easter egg :)
The classics should be always known. Did you ever play one of these adventures of old?

8 years ago*

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If it's not on steam, I'm a potato

39 Comments

Sisyphus

I couldn't get into text-based video games. I was too young to have that kind of patience, let alone reading ability. In 1982, I was only 2.

8 years ago