Zork I
Encyclopedia
Zork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I, later known as Zork I, is an interactive fiction
computer game written by Marc Blank
, Dave Lebling
, Bruce Daniels
and Tim Anderson
and published by Infocom
in 1980
. It was the first game in the popular Zork
trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems, followed by Zork II
and Zork III
. It was Infocom
's first game, and sold more than 400,000 copies.
When the player enters the house, it yields a number of intriguing objects: an ancient brass lantern, an empty trophy case, an intricately engraved sword, etc. Beneath the rug a trap door leads down into a dark cellar. But what initially appears to be a cellar is actually one of several entrances to a vast subterranean land—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.
The ultimate goal of Zork 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 brutal mazes and some intricate manipulations at Flood Control Dam #3.
Placing all of the treasures into the trophy case scores the player 350 points and grants the rank of "Master Adventurer." An ancient map with further instructions then magically appears in the trophy case. These instructions provide access to a stone barrow. The entrance to the barrow is the end of Zork I and the beginning of Zork II
.
It is possible to score all 350 points in 223 moves (and win the game completely in 228 moves) by exploiting a bug.
release Deadline
. Later re-releases of the game, however, were packaged with:
Although the back of the Zork I "Grey box" depicted a zorkmid coin included with the other feelies, production difficulties led to the coins' omission from the packages. Zorkmid coins were not included as feelies until the release of the Zork Trilogy boxed set.
Zork I was one of five Infocom games that were released in Solid Gold format with in-game hints.
There is also an abridged version, called Mini-Zork I, dated November 24, 1987. Mini-Zork was released free of charge as a promotion.
A German language
version was developed, but never released. An unfinished version of this story file, dated January 13, 1988, has made its way into public circulation. The German is evidently non-native, containing many spelling and grammar errors. It is known that Jeff O'Neill worked on this version.
A Japanese version was released by Activision for the Sega Saturn
and PlayStation
in 1996. This Japanese version includes graphics, sound effects, auto-mapping, and music by Yuzo Koshiro
. This version was never released outside Japan.
The game is playable in Call of Duty: Black Ops
with the code "ZORK".
To do this, Mason (the main character) needs to get up from the chair. PS3 and XBOX360 users need to pull R2 and L2 rapidly. PC players need to press the space bar rapidly and wii players must shake the controls (wiimote + nunchuck control scheme). After Mason gets up from his chair, you will need to walk to the left and use the old computer, which is behind the chair. To play Zork, type "zork" into the command prompt. An achievement is also awarded for putting in the code.
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
computer game written by Marc Blank
Marc Blank
Marc Blank is an American game developer and software engineer. He is best known as part of the team that created one of the first hit text adventure computer games, Zork....
, Dave Lebling
Dave Lebling
P. David Lebling is an interactive fiction game designer and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid....
, Bruce Daniels
Bruce Daniels
Dr. Bruce Daniels is an American computer programmer and business executive who has worked for Hewlett Packard, Apple Computer, Oracle, Borland, Sun Microsystems and his own start-up Singular Software, which created Mac database management software...
and Tim Anderson
Tim Anderson (Zork)
Tim Anderson is a computer programmer who helped create the adventure game Zork, one of the first works of interactive fiction and an early descendant of ADVENT . The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 in the MDL programming language on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Anderson, Marc Blank,...
and published by Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
in 1980
1980 in video gaming
-Notable releases:* May 22, Namco releases Pac-Man, which is their biggest selling game of all time* December, Nintendo releases the Radar Scope arcade game...
. It was the first game in the popular Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems, followed by Zork II
Zork II
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1981. It was written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson. It was the second game in the popular Zork trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems. It begins where...
and Zork III
Zork III
Zork III: The Dungeon Master is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and published by Infocom in 1982. It was the third game in the popular Zork trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems...
. It was Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
's first game, and sold more than 400,000 copies.
Plot
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: an ancient brass lantern, an empty trophy case, an intricately engraved sword, etc. Beneath the rug a trap door leads down into a dark cellar. But what initially appears to be a cellar is actually one of several entrances to a vast subterranean land—the Great Underground Empire. The player soon encounters dangerous creatures, including deadly grues
Grue (monster)
A grue is a fictional predator that dwells in the dark. The word was first used in modern times as a fictional predator in Jack Vance's Dying Earthuniverse ....
, an axe-wielding troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
, a giant cyclops
Cyclops
A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...
and a nimble-fingered thief.
The ultimate goal of Zork 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 brutal mazes and some intricate manipulations at Flood Control Dam #3.
Placing all of the treasures into the trophy case scores the player 350 points and grants the rank of "Master Adventurer." An ancient map with further instructions then magically appears in the trophy case. These instructions provide access to a stone barrow. The entrance to the barrow is the end of Zork I and the beginning of Zork II
Zork II
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1981. It was written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson. It was the second game in the popular Zork trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems. It begins where...
.
It is possible to score all 350 points in 223 moves (and win the game completely in 228 moves) by exploiting a bug.
Feelies
Infocom did not begin their tradition of including feelies, or extra items related to a game, until the 19821982 in video gaming
-Events:* December 27 - Starcade, a video game television game show, debuts on TBS in the United States.-Notable releases:*October 13 - Mystique releases the Custer's Revenge adult video game for the Atari 2600 home console....
release Deadline
Deadline (computer game)
Deadline is an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1982. Written by Marc Blank, it was one of the first murder mystery interactive fiction games. Like most Infocom titles, Deadline was created using ZIL, which allowed the easy porting of the game to popular computer platforms...
. Later re-releases of the game, however, were packaged with:
- The booklet The Great Underground Empire: A History, by "Froboz Mumbar"
- A map roughly corresponding to a portion of the game's area
Although the back of the Zork I "Grey box" depicted a zorkmid coin included with the other feelies, production difficulties led to the coins' omission from the packages. Zorkmid coins were not included as feelies until the release of the Zork Trilogy boxed set.
Releases
The original version of Zork I was published by Personal Software and simply called Zork. It was distributed in clear plastic bags containing only the game disk and a 36-page booklet. Infocom's first "self-published" version of Zork I was in the so-called "Folio" format which included a single piece of paper describing how to run the game. The feelies noted above were only introduced when Zork I was re-released in the "Grey box" format.Zork I was one of five Infocom games that were released in Solid Gold format with in-game hints.
There is also an abridged version, called Mini-Zork I, dated November 24, 1987. Mini-Zork was released free of charge as a promotion.
A German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
version was developed, but never released. An unfinished version of this story file, dated January 13, 1988, has made its way into public circulation. The German is evidently non-native, containing many spelling and grammar errors. It is known that Jeff O'Neill worked on this version.
A Japanese version was released by Activision for the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
and PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
in 1996. This Japanese version includes graphics, sound effects, auto-mapping, and music by Yuzo Koshiro
Yuzo Koshiro
is a Japanese video game music composer and audio programmer. He is regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune music and video game sound design...
. This version was never released outside Japan.
The game is playable in Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch, published by Activision and released worldwide on November 9, for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii consoles, with a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. Announced on April 30, 2010,...
with the code "ZORK".
To do this, Mason (the main character) needs to get up from the chair. PS3 and XBOX360 users need to pull R2 and L2 rapidly. PC players need to press the space bar rapidly and wii players must shake the controls (wiimote + nunchuck control scheme). After Mason gets up from his chair, you will need to walk to the left and use the old computer, which is behind the chair. To play Zork, type "zork" into the command prompt. An achievement is also awarded for putting in the code.
Quotes
Zork is a source for many notable quotes. These are sometimes used in other interactive fiction games, or as a knowing identification between fans.- [upon entering a dark place, initially the attic or basement] "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." - The idea of dark places being dangerous because of a grueGrue (monster)A grue is a fictional predator that dwells in the dark. The word was first used in modern times as a fictional predator in Jack Vance's Dying Earthuniverse ....
is well known in interactive fiction. Wil WheatonWil WheatonRichard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
used this line as a form of recognition in the opening of his keynote address at the Penny Arcade ExpoPenny Arcade ExpoThe Penny Arcade Expo is a semi-annual gamer festival held in Seattle and Boston. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop...
. - [message on an inside wall of the house] "This space intentionally left blank." - A reference to early computer reference manuals from IBM and DEC, which would have pages with the sole text "This page intentionally left blankIntentionally blank pageAn intentionally blank page is a page that is devoid of content, and may be unexpected. Such pages may serve purposes ranging from place-holding to space-filling and content separation...
" between chapters. Could also be a play on the last name of author Marc Blank. - [when entering the command "plugh" or "xyzzyXyzzyXyzzy is a magic word from the Colossal Cave Adventure computer game.In computing, the word is sometimes used as a metasyntactic variable or as a video game cheat code, the canonical "magic word"...
", magic words from Colossal Cave AdventureColossal Cave AdventureColossal Cave Adventure gave its name to the computer adventure game genre . It was originally designed by Will Crowther, a programmer and caving enthusiast who based the layout on part of the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky...
] "A hollow voice says 'Fool.'" - [wandering a maze in the basement] "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike." — This phrase, also from Colossal Cave Adventure, has inspired a number of references, including inspiring the title of Nick Montfort's scholarly work on interactive fiction, Twisty Little Passages. That the rooms are all alike and thus difficult to map is a common problem, one discussed by Graham Nelson. The phrase is also found in DunnetDunnet (game)Dunnet is a text adventure written by Ron Schnell in 1983. The game enjoys certain popularity because since 1992 it is part of the default packages in many of the Emacs versions. The word Dunnet is derived from the first three letters of dungeon and the last three letters of Arpanet...
, the built-in text adventure game for EmacsEmacsEmacs is a class of text editors, usually characterized by their extensibility. GNU Emacs has over 1,000 commands. It also allows the user to combine these commands into macros to automate work.Development began in the mid-1970s and continues actively...
. Dunnet was written by Ron Schnell in 1983, and offers subtle variations on the "Twisty Little Passages" theme for humor and gameplay. The same phrase is used in a later Infocom game, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (computer game)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction computer game based on the comedic science fiction series of the same name. It was designed by series creator Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky, and was first released in 1984 for the Apple II, Macintosh, Commodore 64, DOS,...
, when the player becomes lost in their own brain.
External links
- View Zork 1 packaging and Play Zork 1 online at the Gallery of Zork.
- Play Zork I: The Great Underground Empire online at iFiction.org
- Infocom-if.org's entry for Zork I
- Zork I Technical Info and Screenshot
- Zork I information and overview
- The Infocom Bugs List entry for Zork I
- Zork 1 Walkthroughs