WEST-OF-HOUSE “West of House”
January 14, 2025 9:24 AM   Subscribe

The Visible Zorker – Play Zork in one pane and follow the original ZIL source code and state of the virtual machine in adjacent panes as you play. (Or just read Andrew Plotkin's article about making this visualization.)
posted by Wolfdog (13 comments total) 27 users marked this as a favorite
 
I was very close to doing a FPP about the Zork source code based on this. But then I got to…
Another interesting find is the inclusion of the RAPE command. Yes, you’re reading that correctly, it’s not a typo. The command didn’t really do anything and was most likely put there by the authors for comedic effect, but it’s certainly something that wouldn’t be found in today's games.
… and I was too depressed to continue.
posted by Lemkin at 9:55 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]


This really cool and maybe I'll finally play through Zork for the novelty (I started gaming when Zork was already somewhat old and never devoted more than tens of minutes actually play any version).

I'll say that have a reasonable response (which to my eye isn't meant to be comedic) in the code to an offensive command ("What a (ahem!) strange idea" in this case) instead a generic "sorry I don't know what means" or "sorry I don't know to the space ship" seems not a joke but rather a protection mechanism. And I'd be shocked if basically all games that have any sort of textual input don't still do something similar. I've had to write and handle many slurs/swears/insults/offensive terms in my time as a programmer and in some content settings.
posted by skynxnex at 2:06 PM on January 14 [5 favorites]


( ( NOT (LIT? .RM)) (TELL
"It is pitch black.
You are likely to be eaten by a grue."
)(RETURN ()))
posted by roue at 2:21 PM on January 14


This is a terrific find! Andrew Plotkin is one of the most interesting writers in games today.
posted by JHarris at 2:30 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]


It's an interesting project. To help read the ZIL files, here's a manual on them.

I remember playing Zork games back in the day, but they were never compelling enough to spend more than a few hours on. I never knew that Zork I through III were all done at once based on an earlier game.

As for the "rape" verb: It's 5 lines out of 11,000. Saying it does nothing but it counts as a turn, so the only point is to lightly punish the player for saying it.
posted by netowl at 9:28 PM on January 14 [2 favorites]


Now do Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! *mumbles* I never did get past that goddamn fish vending machine*
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 7:14 AM on January 15


in the chromed browser. straight up "zorkin it". and by "it", haha, well. lets just say my lamtern
posted by mhum at 10:14 AM on January 15 [3 favorites]


JustSayNoDawg, the Babel Fish machine is mostly self-explanatory, the catch is every time you press the button, the fish gets taken away in a manner where you can use your inventory to prevent it the next time you press the button, but doing it that way the machine has one less fish in it than clues you need to solve the puzzle. So the real solution is to save the game, then get all the clues and write them down, then reload and use the clues you recorded to set the room up perfectly ahead of time, then press the button.

If that doesn't sound fair, you're right, but that's just the way they did those kinds of puzzles back then. It's one reason the Lucasarts adventure game style, where you can't block yourself from progress, was such a revolution.
posted by JHarris at 11:05 AM on January 15 [3 favorites]


The Babel Fish wasn't too bad since most everything was in one location, but the microscopic space fleet was brutal. You had to feed the dog with your leftover sandwich in the first few minutes of the play, otherwise near the end of the game the hungry dog will eat the fleet and you lose. There is no way to recover other than restarting.
posted by autopilot at 12:25 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]


My memory is that you can still feed the dog in Ford Prefect's version of that scene, which you can get to at any time. But it's been ages since I played it, so I can't say with 100% certainty.

No, my vote for the cruelist puzzle in Hitchhiker's is the fact that at the very end of the game, Marvin asks you for a tool, one of the twelve (?) tools scattered around the entire game, none of which have any other purpose. And if you do not have ALL of them in your inventory when he asks, he will ask you for one you do not have, and you lose.
posted by rifflesby at 1:23 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]


My memory is also hazy after a few decades. I must not have ever found the way to feed the dog later... And I had forgotten about Marvin and the tools. Yes that was just rude.

If you want a modern language for writing interactive fiction, Inform7 is a very literate upgrade to ZIL that also compiles to z3. It's supposed to be self commenting although I've found it challenging to read some more complicated chapters.
posted by autopilot at 2:13 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]


I recall being able to feed the dog in Ford's scene too. Never did solve the whole game, even with a walkthrough. But I got the Babel Fish without hints and then got the "I Got The Babel Fish" shirt.
posted by egypturnash at 2:13 PM on January 15


That is indeed the case with the microscopic space fleet rifflesby, as revealed by the built-in hint system in later releases of Hitchhiker's. The solution to Marvin's end-game puzzle, alas, is also as you represent it, and if anything is worse than the space fleet because multiple items you need are only available at the very start of the game, in Arthur's bedroom. That toothbrush? Need it!

And what's more, you can only carry one item into the access hatch to give to Marvin! Even if you have all the items, you have to do a particular series of events to grow a plant that bears a fruit that gives you a vision of the future, specifically so you'll know which item Marvin will ask for.

And yet, the writing in Hitchhiker's Guide sparkles as much as the novels, and in keeping with the HHGTTG series lineage, there are several very good bits that are only in that version of the tale.

About Inform 7, I've wrestled with it before. It is much harder to use than it seems at first, for while source code can indeed be very readable and help you understand what's going on, writing it is much more exacting and precise than you'd think. In a way it's kind of like COBOL: easy to read, but frustrating to write. By way of contrast, the tutorial netowl linked is rather easy to understand. Remember, Infocom hired actual writers to construct some of its games, so they had to have had a way to get non-programmers on board with using their tools, and that guide seems to have played a role in that.
posted by JHarris at 2:21 PM on January 15 [2 favorites]


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