Infocom was an American
software company
A software company is a company whose primary products are various forms of software, software technology, distribution, and software product development. They make up the software industry.
Types
There are a number of different types of softw ...
based in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, that produced numerous works of
interactive fiction
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is 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, either in the ...
. They also produced a business application, a
relational database
A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relatio ...
called ''
Cornerstone
The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.
Over time ...
''.
[
Infocom was founded on June 22, 1979, by staff and students of ]Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, and lasted as an independent company until 1986, when it was bought by Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
. Activision shut down the Infocom division in 1989, although they released some titles in the 1990s under the Infocom ''Zork
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...
'' brand. Activision abandoned the Infocom trademark in 2002.
Overview
Infocom games are text adventure
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is 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, either in the ...
s where users direct the action by entering short strings of words to give commands when prompted. Generally the program will respond by describing the results of the action, often the contents of a room if the player has moved within the virtual world. The user reads this information, decides what to do, and enters another short series of words. Examples include "go west" or "take flashlight".
Infocom games were written using a programming language called ZIL (Zork Implementation Language)
ZIL or Zil may refer to:
* ZiL (''Zavod imeni Likhachova''), a former car and truck factory in Moscow, Russia
** ZiL lanes, dedicated traffic lanes for Soviet officials
* ZIL (Moscow Central Circle), a Moscow Metro railway station
* Zil, Iran, ...
, itself derived directly from MDL (programming language)
MDL (Model Development Language, or colloquially also referred to as More Datatypes than Lisp
or MIT Design Language) is a programming language, a descendant of the language Lisp. Its initial purpose was to provide high level language support for ...
, that compiled into a bytecode
Bytecode (also called portable code or p-code) is a form of instruction set designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter. Unlike human-readable source code, bytecodes are compact numeric codes, constants, and references (norma ...
able to run on a standardized virtual machine
In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized hardw ...
called the Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions (called story files or Z-code ...
. As the games were text based and used variants of the same Z-machine interpreter, the interpreter had to be ported to new computer architecture
In computer engineering, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, t ...
s only once per architecture, rather than once per game. Each game file included a sophisticated parser
Parsing, syntax analysis, or syntactic analysis is the process of analyzing a string of symbols, either in natural language, computer languages or data structures, conforming to the rules of a formal grammar. The term ''parsing'' comes from Lati ...
which allowed the user to type complex instructions to the game. Unlike earlier works of interactive fiction which only understood commands of the form 'verb noun', Infocom's parser could understand a wider variety of sentences. For instance one might type "open the large door, then go west", or "go to festeron".
With the Z-machine, Infocom was able to release most of their games for most popular home computers simultaneously: Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
, Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...
, IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...
s, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...
/ PCW (one disc worked on both machines), Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
, Commodore Plus/4
The Commodore Plus/4 is a home computer released by Commodore International in 1984. The "Plus/4" name refers to the four-application ROM resident office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, database, and graphing); it was billed as "the produc ...
, Commodore 128
The Commodore 128, also known as the C128, C-128, C= 128,The "C=" represents the graphical part of the logo. is the last 8-bit home computer that was commercially released by Commodore Business Machines (CBM). Introduced in January 1985 at the ...
, Kaypro
Kaypro Corporation was an American home and personal computer manufacturer based out of San Diego in the 1980s. The company was founded by Non-Linear Systems (NLS) to compete with the popular Osborne 1 portable microcomputer. Kaypro produced a ...
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
, TI-99/4A
The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. ...
, Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
, Atari ST
The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...
, Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
, TRS-80
The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...
, and TRS-80 Color Computer
The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and sometimes nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Co ...
.
History
Foundation and Zork
Infocom began as a collaboration between Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) faculty and alumni, some of whom had previously worked a text-based adventure game called ''Zork
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...
''. Development of ''Zork'' began in 1977 at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is a research institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) formed by the 2003 merger of the Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) and the Artificial Intelligence Lab ...
, with an initial team including Tim Anderson, 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 commercially successful text adventure computer games, ''Zork''.
Career
Blank first encountered Don Woods and Will ...
, and Dave Lebling
Peter David Lebling (born October 30, 1949) is an interactive fiction game designer ( implementor) and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid.
Life and career
He was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Mar ...
, as well as Bruce Daniels
Bruce Daniels is an American hydroclimatologist, business executive and computer programmer. He is known in Silicon Valley as one of the pioneers of the personal computer and user-friendly interfaces.
Daniels earned his Ph.D. from the Universi ...
. Inspired by ''Colossal Cave Adventure
''Colossal Cave Adventure'' (also known as ''Adventure'' or ''ADVENT'') is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the pl ...
'', the developers aspired to improve on the formula with a more robust text parser
{{Refimprove, date=August 2007
In adventure games, a text parser takes typed input (a command) from the player and simplifies it to something the game can understand. Usually, words with the same meaning are turned into the same word (e.g. "take" a ...
and more logical puzzles. They did not announce their game while it was in development, but a lack of security on the MIT systems meant that anyone who could access the PDP-10 computer over the ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
could see what programs were being run. As a result, a small community of people discovered the new "Zork" adventure game and spread word of it under that name. This community interacted with the developers as they created the game, playtesting additions and submitting bug reports.
Infocom was officially founded as a software company
A software company is a company whose primary products are various forms of software, software technology, distribution, and software product development. They make up the software industry.
Types
There are a number of different types of softw ...
on June 22, 1979, with founding members Tim Anderson, Joel Berez, Marc Blank, Mike Broos, Scott Cutler, Stu Galley, Dave Lebling, J. C. R. Licklider
Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider (; March 11, 1915 – June 26, 1990), known simply as J. C. R. or "Lick", was an American psychologistMiller, G. A. (1991), "J. C. R. Licklider, psychologist", ''Journal of the Acoustical Society of Am ...
, Chris Reeve, and Al Vezza
Albert Vezza was a computer science professor and a founder of video game company Infocom.
Career
Vezza was the assistant director of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) and in charge of LCS's Dynamic Modeling (DM) group in the late 1970s ...
. By the end of the year, the core ''Zork'' game was complete, and Berez was elected the company's president. The studio began seeking a professional publisher with store and distributor connections. After Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
passed on the project due to competition with their own ''Microsoft Adventure
''Microsoft Adventure'' is a 1979 interactive fiction game from Microsoft, based on the PDP-10 mainframe game ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', and released for the TRS-80, Apple II, and later for the IBM PC. It was programmed for the company by G ...
'' (1979), Infocom negotiated a publishing agreement with Personal Software
VisiCorp was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products were Microchess, Visi On and VisiCalc.
It was founded in 1976 by Dan Fylstra and Peter R. Jennings as Personal Software, and first published Jennings' Microches ...
, one of the first professional software publishing companies. However, Infocom grew wary of the publisher's lack of advertising for ''Zork I'', and lack of enthusiasm for additional episodes and games. The developer decided to self-publish their games from that moment forward, buying out Personal Software's remaining inventory of ''Zork'' games.
Following its 1980 release, ''Zork I'' became a bestseller
A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...
from 1983 through 1985. By 1986, the game had sold 380,000 copies, with 680,000 sales for the trilogy overall, comprising one-third of Infocom's two million game sales. Reviewers hailed ''Zork'' as the best adventure game to date, with later critics regarding it as one of the greatest games of all time. Historians noted the game as a foundation for the adventure game genre, as well as influencing the MUD
A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
and massively multiplayer online role-playing game
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
genres.
Expansion
Lebling and Blank each authored several more games, and additional game writers (or "Implementers") were hired, notably including Steve Meretzky
Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957)
''Infocom''. Retrieved July 11, 2011. is an American . Other popular and inventive titles included a number of sequels and spinoff games in the ''Zork'' series, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
'' by Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
, and ''A Mind Forever Voyaging
''A Mind Forever Voyaging'' (''AMFV'') is a 1985 interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom. It is Infocom's seventeenth game. The game was intended as a Polemic, polemical critique of Ronald Reag ...
''.
In its first few years of operation, text adventures proved to be a huge revenue stream for the company. Whereas most computer games of the era would achieve initial success and then suffer a significant drop-off in sales, Infocom titles continued to sell for years and years. Employee Tim Anderson said of their situation, "It was phenomenal – we had a basement that just printed money."[ By 1983 Infocom was perhaps the dominant computer-game company; for example, all ten of its games were on the ''Softsel'' top 40 list of best-selling computer games for the week of December 12, 1983, with ''Zork'' in first place and two others in the top ten. In late 1984, management declined an offer by publisher ]Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
to acquire Infocom for $28 million, far more than the board of directors's valuation of $10–12 million. In 1993, ''Computer Gaming World'' described this era as the "Cambridge Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...
, where the Great Underground Empire was formed".
As an in-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...
, the number 69,105 made a number of appearances in Infocom games.
Reception
Infocom games were popular, ''InfoWorld
''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...
'' said, in part because "in offices all over America (more than anyone realizes) executives and managers are playing games on their computers". An estimated 25% had a computer game "hidden somewhere in their drawers", '' Inc.'' reported, and they preferred Infocom adventures to arcade games. The company stated that year that 75% of players were over 25 years old and that 80% were men; more women played its games than other companies', especially the mysteries. Most players enjoyed reading books; in 1987 president Joel Berez
Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone''.
Infocom was founded o ...
stated, " nfocom'saudience tends to be composed of heavy readers. We sell to the minority that does read".
A 1996 article in ''Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' said Infocom's "games were noted for having more depth than any other adventure games, before or since." Three components proved key to Infocom's success: marketing strategy, rich storytelling and feelies. Whereas most game developers sold their games mainly in software stores, Infocom also distributed their games via bookstores.[ Infocom's products appealed more to those with expensive computers, such as the ]Apple Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
, IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
, and Commodore Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
. Berez stated that "there is no noticeable correlation between graphics machines and our penetration. There is a high correlation between the price of the machine and our sales ... people who are putting more money into their machines tend to buy more of our software". Since their games were text-based, patrons of bookstores were drawn to the Infocom games as they were already interested in reading. Unlike most computer software, Infocom titles were distributed under a no-returns policy, which allowed them to make money from a single game for a longer period of time.
Next, Infocom titles featured strong storytelling and rich descriptions, eschewing the inherent restrictions of graphic displays and allowing users to use their own imaginations for the lavish and exotic locations the games described. Infocom's puzzles were unique in that they were usually tightly integrated into the storyline, and rarely did gamers feel like they were being made to jump through one arbitrary hoop after another, as was the case in many of the competitors' games. The puzzles were generally logical but also required close attention to the clues and hints given in the story, causing many gamers to keep copious notes as they went along.
Sometimes, though, Infocom threw in puzzles just for the humor of it—if the user never ran into these, they could still finish the game. But discovering these early Easter Eggs
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...
was satisfying for some fans of the games. For example, one popular Easter egg was in the '' Enchanter'' game, which involves collecting magic spells to use in accomplishing the quest. One of these is a summoning spell, which the player needs to use to summon certain characters at different parts of the game. At one point the game mentions the " Implementers" who were responsible for creating the land of Zork. If the player tries to summon the Implementers, the game produces a vision of Dave Lebling
Peter David Lebling (born October 30, 1949) is an interactive fiction game designer ( implementor) and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid.
Life and career
He was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Mar ...
and 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 commercially successful text adventure computer games, ''Zork''.
Career
Blank first encountered Don Woods and Will ...
at their computers, surprised at this "bug" in the game and working feverishly to fix it.
Third, the inclusion of "feelies"—imaginative props and extras tied to the game's theme—provided copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media.
Copy protection is most commonly found on ...
against copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
. Some games were unsolvable without the extra content provided with the boxed game. And because of the cleverness and uniqueness of the feelies, users rarely felt like they were an intrusion or inconvenience, as was the case with most of the other copy-protection schemes of the time.
Although Infocom started out with ''Zork'', and although the ''Zork'' world was the centerpiece of their product line throughout the ''Zork'' and ''Enchanter'' series, the company quickly branched out into a wide variety of story lines: fantasy, science-fiction, mystery, horror, historical adventure, children's stories, and others that defied easy categorization. In an attempt to reach out to female customers, Infocom also produced ''Plundered Hearts
''Plundered Hearts'' is an interactive fiction video game created by Amy Briggs and published by Infocom in 1987. Infocom's only game in the romance novel, romance genre, it was released simultaneously for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, Ata ...
'', which cast the gamer in the role of the heroine of a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, and which required the heroine to use more feminine tactics to win the game, since hacking-and-slashing was not a very ladylike way to behave. And to compete with the ''Leisure Suit Larry
''Leisure Suit Larry'' is an adult-themed sexual video game series created by Al Lowe. It was published by Sierra from 1987 to 2009, then by Codemasters starting in 2009. The first six ''Leisure Suit Larry'' titles, along with ''Magna Cum Lau ...
'' style games that were also appearing, Infocom also came out with ''Leather Goddesses of Phobos
''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 6 ...
'' in 1986, which featured "tame", "suggestive", and "lewd" playing modes. It included among its "feelies" a "scratch-and-sniff" card with six odors that corresponded to cues given to the player during the game.
Invisiclues
Originally, hints for the game were provided as a "pay-per-hint" service created by Mike Dornbrook
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...
, called the Zork Users Group (ZUG). Dornbrook also started Infocom's customer newsletter, called ''The New Zork Times'', to discuss game hints and preview and showcase new products.
The pay-per-hint service eventually led to the development of InvisiClues
InvisiClues were hint booklets sold by Infocom to help players solve puzzles in their interactive fiction computer games. : books with hints, maps, clues, and solutions for puzzles in the games. The answers to the puzzles were printed in invisible ink
Invisible ink, also known as security ink or sympathetic ink, is a substance used for writing, which is invisible either on application or soon thereafter, and can later be made visible by some means, such as heat or ultraviolet light. Invisible ...
that only became visible when rubbed with a special marker that was provided with each book. Usually, two or more answers were given for each question that a gamer might have. The first answer would provide a subtle hint, the second a less subtle hint, and so forth until the last one gave an explicit walkthrough. Gamers could thus reveal only the hints that they needed to have to play the game. To prevent the mere questions (printed in normal ink) from giving away too much information about the game, a certain number of misleading fake questions were included in every InvisiClues book. Answers to these questions would start by giving misleading or impossible to carry out answers, before the final answer revealed that the question was a fake (and usually admonishing the player that revealing random clues from the book would spoil
Spoil or spoils:
*Plunder taken from an enemy or victim
*Material (such as rock, earth or other overburden) removed during:
** excavation
**mining
**dredging
*An Australian rules football tactic, see One percenter (Australian rules football)#Spoil ...
their enjoyment of the game). The InvisiClues books were regularly ranked in near the top of best seller lists for computer books.[
In the Solid Gold line of re-releases, InvisiClues were integrated into the game. By typing "HINT" twice the player would open up a screen of possible topics where they could then reveal one hint at a time for each puzzle, just like the books.
]
Interactive fiction
Infocom also released a small number of "interactive fiction paperbacks" (gamebooks
A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...
), which were based on the games and featured the ability to choose a different path through the story. Similar to the ''Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' series, every couple of pages the book would give the reader the chance to make a choice, such as which direction they wanted to go or how they wanted to respond to another character. The reader would then choose one of the given answers and turn to the appropriate page. These books, however, never did sell particularly well, and quickly disappeared from the bookshelves.
''Cornerstone''
Despite their success with computer games, Vezza and other company founders hoped to produce successful business programs like Lotus Development
Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was "offloaded" to India's HCL Technologies in 2018.
Lotus is most commonly known for the Lotus 1-2- ...
, also founded by people from MIT and located in the same building as Infocom. Lotus released its first product, 1-2-3, in January 1983; within a year it had earned $53 million, compared to Infocom's $6 million. In 1982 Infocom started putting resources into a new division to produce business products. In 1985 they released a database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
product, ''Cornerstone
The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.
Over time ...
'', aimed at capturing the then booming database market for small business. Though this application was hailed upon its release for ease of use, it sold only 10,000 copies; not enough to cover the development expenses.[
The program failed for a number of reasons. Although it was packaged in a slick hard plastic carrying case and was a very good database for personal and home use, it was originally priced at ]USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
$495 per copy and used copy-protected disks. Another serious miscalculation was that the program did not include any kind of scripting language
A scripting language or script language is a programming language that is used to manipulate, customize, and automate the facilities of an existing system. Scripting languages are usually interpreted at runtime rather than compiled.
A scripting ...
, so it was not promoted by any of the database consultants that small businesses typically hired to create and maintain their DB applications. Reviewers were also consistently disappointed that Infocom—noted for the natural language syntax of their games—did not include a natural language query ability, which had been the most anticipated feature for this database application. In a final disappointment, ''Cornerstone'' was available only for IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
s; while ''Cornerstone'' had been programmed with its own virtual machine for maximum portability, it was not ported to any of the other platforms that Infocom supported for their games, so that feature had become essentially irrelevant. And because ''Cornerstone'' used this virtual machine for its processing, it suffered from slow, lackluster performance.[
]
Changing marketplace
Infocom's games' sales benefited significantly from the portability offered by running on top of a virtual machine. ''InfoWorld'' wrote in 1984 that "the company always sells games for computers you don't normally think of as game machines, such as the DEC Rainbow
The Rainbow 100 is a microcomputer introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1982. This desktop unit had a monitor similar to the VT220 and a dual-CPU box with both Zilog Z80 and Intel 8088 CPUs.
The Rainbow 100 was a triple-use mac ...
or the Texas Instruments Professional Computer
The Texas Instruments Professional Computer (abbreviated TIPC or TI PC) and the Texas Instruments Professional Portable Computer (TIPPC) are personal computers produced by Texas Instruments that were both released on January 31, 1983, and discont ...
. This is one of the key reasons for the continued success of old titles such as Zork." Dornbrook estimated that year that of the 1.8 million home computers in America, one half million homes had Infocom games ("all, if you count the pirated games"). Computer companies sent prototypes of new systems to encourage Infocom to port Z-machine to them; the virtual machine supported more than 20 different systems, including orphaned computers for which Infocom games were among the only commercial products. The company produced the only third-party games available for the Macintosh at launch, and Berlyn promised that all 13 of its games would be available for the Atari ST within one month of its release.
The virtual machine significantly slowed ''Cornerstone''s execution speed, however. Businesses were moving ''en masse'' to the IBM PC platform by that time, so portability was no longer a significant differentiator. Infocom had sunk much of the money from games sales into ''Cornerstone''; this, in addition to a slump in computer game sales, left the company in a very precarious financial position. By the time Infocom removed the copy-protection and reduced the price to less than $100, it was too late, and the market had moved on to other database solutions.
By 1982 the market was moving to graphic adventures. Infocom was interested in producing them, that year proposing to Penguin Software
Penguin Software was a computer software and video game publisher from Geneva, Illinois, Geneva, Illinois that produced graphics and application software and games for the Apple II, Macintosh, IBM, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari 8-bit, and Atari ST co ...
that Antonio Antiochia, author of its ''Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
'', provide artwork. Within Infocom the game designers tended to oppose graphics, while marketing and business employees supported using them for the company to remain competitive. The partnership negotiations failed, in part because of the difficulty of adding graphics to the Z-machine, and Infocom instead began a series of advertisements mocking graphical games as "graffiti" compared to the human imagination. The marketing campaign was very successful, and Infocom's success led to other companies like Broderbund
Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits ''Choplifter'', ''Lode Runner'', ''Karateka'', and '' ...
and Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
also releasing their own text games.
Activision takeover
After ''Cornerstones failure, Infocom laid off half of its 100 employees, and Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
acquired the company on June 13, 1986 for $7.5 million. The merger was pushed by Activision's CEO Jim Levy
Jim Levy was a music industry executive before he became the founding chief executive officer for Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing busin ...
, who was a fan of Infocom games and felt their two companies were in similar situations. Berez stated that although the two companies' headquarters and product lines would remain separate, "One of the effects of the merger will be for both of us to broaden our horizons". He said that "We're looking at graphics a lot", while Activision was reportedly interested in using Infocom's parser.
While relations were cordial between the two companies at first, Activision's ousting of Levy with new CEO Bruce Davis created problems in the working relationship with Infocom. Davis believed that his company had paid too much for Infocom and initiated a lawsuit against them to recoup some of the cost, along with changing the way Infocom was run. For example:
* Davis required they use Activision's packaging plant instead of their own in-house one, raising the cost of each package from $0.45 to over $0.90. In addition, the Activision plant made numerous mistakes in packaging, whereas the Infocom one almost never did.
* Infocom had a successful marketing approach that kept its backlist
A backlist is a list of older books available from a publisher. This is opposed to newly-published titles, which is sometimes known as the frontlist.
Business
Building a strong backlist has traditionally been considered the best method to produ ...
in store inventories for years. Because of this, older titles continued to sell, and their sales rose when the company released newer games. ''Zork'' especially benefited; its sales rose for years after its initial release in 1980. To Infocom's surprise it sold almost 100,000 copies of the game in 1983, and the figure rose by more than 50% in 1984. Activision preferred to market Infocom's games the way they marketed their other titles: replacing older titles with newer ones. While this made sense for the graphically intensive games that made up the rest of Activision's catalog, since Infocom games were text based, it didn't make sense – the newer games didn't have improved ''text''. This marketing approach cut off potential revenue for numerous Infocom titles that had consistently brought in money for several years.
* Davis required the struggling developer to produce eight titles a year. Infocom had traditionally produced about four games per year with more staff than they had post-merger.
* Davis pushed Infocom to release more graphical games, but the one they did release, ''Fooblitzky
''Fooblitzky'' is a board game-style video game published by Infocom in 1985 and designed by a team which included interactive fiction authors Marc Blank and Michael Berlyn. It is unique among Infocom titles for not being interactive fiction and f ...
'', bombed. This was, in part, due to Infocom's long-standing rule of maximum portability; a game that could display graphics on a number of different systems couldn't take advantage of the strengths of any of them.
* The cost of acquisition was amortized by deducting it from Infocom's operating revenue during the next several years.
Later years
By 1988, rumors spread of disputes between Activision and Infocom. Infocom employees reportedly believed that Activision gave poorer-quality games to Infocom, such as Tom Snyder Productions
Soup2Nuts (sometimes referred to as Soup2Nuts Studios, and formerly part of Tom Snyder Productions) was an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder. The studio is known for its animated comedy series, its use of Squigglevision, a techniqu ...
' unsuccessful ''Infocomics''. Activision moved Infocom development to California in 1989, and the company was now just a publishing label. Rising costs and falling profits, exacerbated by the lack of new products in 1988 and technical issues with its DOS products, caused Activision to close Infocom in 1989, after which some of the remaining Infocom designers such as Steve Meretzky moved to the company Legend Entertainment
Legend Entertainment Company was an American Video game developer, developer and Video game publisher, publisher of computer games, best known for creating Adventure game, adventure titles throughout the 1990s. The company was founded by Bob ...
, founded by Bob Bates
Robert Bates (born December 11, 1953) is an American computer game designer. One of the early designers of interactive fiction games, he was co-founder of Challenge, Inc., which created games in the 1980s for the pioneering company Infocom. ...
and Mike Verdu
Michael Verdu (born December 28, 1964) is an American manager and producer and author of computer games.
Life
Verdu was born on December 28, 1964. His father worked for a trade union, his mother was a dance instructor. Michael visited the Ren ...
, to continue creating games in the Infocom tradition.
Activision itself was struggling in the marketplace following Davis' promotion to CEO. Activision had rebranded itself as Mediagenic and tried to produce business productivity software, but became significantly in debt. In 1991, Mediagenic was purchased by Bobby Kotick
Robert A. Kotick (born 1963) is an American businessman who serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Activision Blizzard. He became CEO of Activision in 1991 after purchasing a company stake the previous year. Kotick engineered a merger ...
, who put into measures immediately to try to turn the company around, which included returning to its Activision name, and putting to use its past IP properties. This included the Infocom games; Kotick recognized the value of the branding of ''Zork'' and other titles. Activision began to sell bundles of the Infocom games that year, packaged as themed collections (usually by genre, such as the Science Fiction collection); in 1991, they published ''The Lost Treasures of Infocom
''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'' is a 1991 compilation of 20 previously-released interactive fiction games developed by Infocom. It was published by Activision for MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, and Apple IIGS versions. It was later re-released on ...
'', followed in 1992 by '' The Lost Treasures of Infocom II''. These compilations featured nearly every game produced by Infocom before 1988. (''Leather Goddesses of Phobos
''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 6 ...
'' was not included in either bundle, but could be ordered via a coupon included with ''Lost Treasures II''.) The compilations lacked the "feelies" that came with each game, but in some cases included photographs of them. In 1996, the first bundles were followed by ''Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom ''Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom'' is a collection of 33 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, and the top 6 winners of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition, released in 1996. All 39 games are combined on a ...
'', a single CD-ROM which contained the works of both collections. This release, however, was missing ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' and ''Shogun'' because the licenses from Douglas Adams' and James Clavell
James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best ...
's estates had expired. Under Kotick's leadership, Activision also developed ''Return to Zork
''Return to Zork'' is a 1993 graphic adventure game in the ''Zork'' series. It was developed by Activision and was the final ''Zork'' game to be published under the Infocom label.
Gameplay
Unlike the previous games in the ''Zork'' franchise, whi ...
'', published under its Infocom label.
Eventually, Activision abandoned the "Infocom" name. The brand name was registered by Oliver Klaeffling of Germany in 2007, then was abandoned the following year. The Infocom trademark was then held by Pete Hottelet's Omni Consumer Products, who registered the name around the same time as Klaeffling in 2007. As of March 2017, the trademark is owned by infocom.xyz, according to Bob Bates.
Titles and authors
![Infocom (1979-1986) (6120466941)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Infocom_%281979-1986%29_%286120466941%29.jpg)
Interactive fiction
* The ''Zork
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...
'' series:
** The original Zork Trilogy (Marc Blank & Dave Lebling):
*** '' Zork I: The Great Underground Empire'' (1980)
*** '' Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz'' (1981)
*** '' Zork III: The Dungeon Master'' (1982)
** The ''Enchanter'' Trilogy:
*** '' Enchanter'' (1983, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling)
*** '' Sorcerer'' (1984, Steve Meretzky
Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957)
''Infocom''. Retrieved July 11, 2011. is an American )
*** ''Spellbreaker
''Spellbreaker'' is an interactive fiction computer game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1985, the third and final game in the "Enchanter Trilogy." It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atar ...
'' (1985, Dave Lebling)
** '' Mini Zork I: The Great Underground Empire'' (1987, Marc Blank & Dave Lebling, free cut-down, single load tape version of game, covermounted on UK's ''ZZAP!64
''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.
The magazine ...
'' magazine)
** '' Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor'' (1987, Brian Moriarty
Brian Moriarty (born 1956) is an American video game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, ''Wishbringer'' (1985), ''Trinity'' (1986), and ''Beyond Zork'' (1987), as well as ''Loom'' (1990) for LucasArt ...
)
** '' Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz'' (1988, Steve Meretzky)
** '' Zork: The Undiscovered Underground'' (1997, Michael Berlyn
Michael Berlyn (born 1949) is an American video game designer and writer. He is best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team.
Brainwave Creations was a small game programming company started by Michael Ber ...
and Marc Blank)
* The ''Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky, and the eighth title published by Infocom in 1983. The original release included versions for Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, TRS-80, and IBM PC ...
'' series:
** ''Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky, and the eighth title published by Infocom in 1983. The original release included versions for Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, TRS-80, and IBM PC ...
'' (1983, Steve Meretzky)
** ''Stationfall
''Stationfall'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and released by Infocom in 1987. It was released for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, and MS-DOS,. The game is a sequel to ' ...
'' (1987, Steve Meretzky)
* ''Deadline
Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to:
* Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished
Arts, entertainment, and media Comics
* Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain
* ''Deadline'' (magazine), a Britis ...
'' (1982, Marc Blank)
* ''Starcross
Starcross is a village with a 2011 census recorded population of 1,737 situated on the west shore of the Exe Estuary in Teignbridge in the English county of Devon. The village is popular in summer with leisure craft, and is home to one of the ...
'' (1982, Dave Lebling)
* '' Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare'' (1983, Michael Berlyn)
* '' The Witness'' (1983, Stu Galley
Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone''.
Infocom was founded o ...
)
* ''Infidel
An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or the irreligious.
Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which the Church ...
'' (1983, Michael Berlyn)
* ''Seastalker
''Seastalker'' is an interactive fiction game written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom in 1984. It was released simultaneously for several popular computer platforms of the time, such as the Commodore 64, Apple II, and IB ...
'' (1984, Stu Galley
Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone''.
Infocom was founded o ...
& Jim Lawrence)
* '' Cutthroats'' (1984, Michael Berlyn & Jerry Wolper
Jerry may refer to:
Animals
* Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National
* Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
)
* ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
'' (1984, Steve Meretzky & Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
)
* ''Suspect
In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U ...
'' (1984, Dave Lebling)
* ''A Mind Forever Voyaging
''A Mind Forever Voyaging'' (''AMFV'') is a 1985 interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom. It is Infocom's seventeenth game. The game was intended as a Polemic, polemical critique of Ronald Reag ...
'' (1985, Steve Meretzky)
* '' Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams'' (1985, Brian Moriarty)
* ''Ballyhoo
The ballyhoo halfbeak or ballyhoo (''Hemiramphus brasiliensis'') is a baitfish of the halfbeak family (Hemiramphidae). It is similar to the Balao halfbeak (''H. balao'') in most features. Ballyhoo are frequently used as cut bait and for trolli ...
'' (1986, Jeff O'Neill
Jeffrey O'Neill (born February 23, 1976) is a Canadian broadcaster and former professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played 12 seasons with the Hartford Whalers, Carolina Hurricanes and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
P ...
)
* '' Hollywood Hijinx'' (1986, "Hollywood" Dave Anderson)
* ''Leather Goddesses of Phobos
''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 6 ...
'' (1986, Steve Meretzky)
* ''Moonmist
''Moonmist'' is an interactive fiction computer game written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom in 1986. The game was released simultaneously for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodor ...
'' (1986, Stu Galley
Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone''.
Infocom was founded o ...
& Jim Lawrence)
* ''Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
'' (1986, Brian Moriarty)
* ''Border Zone
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
'' (1987, Marc Blank)
* ''Bureaucracy
The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
'' (1987, Infocom & Douglas Adams)
* ''The Lurking Horror
''The Lurking Horror'' is an interactive fiction game released by Infocom in 1987. The game was written by Dave Lebling and inspired by the horror fiction writings of H. P. Lovecraft (including his Cthulhu Mythos). The original release was for MS- ...
'' (1987, Dave Lebling)
* ''Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
''Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Jeff O'Neill and published by Infocom in 1987. It was released simultaneously for MS-DOS, Commodore 64, and other platforms. ''Nord and Bert'' was u ...
'' (1987, Jeff O'Neill)
* ''Plundered Hearts
''Plundered Hearts'' is an interactive fiction video game created by Amy Briggs and published by Infocom in 1987. Infocom's only game in the romance novel, romance genre, it was released simultaneously for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, Ata ...
'' (1987, Amy Briggs
Amy Ruth Briggs (born 1962) is an American video game implementor known for creating ''Plundered Hearts'', an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1987.
Early life
At one point in her youth, Briggs was a babysitter of Ron G ...
)
* '' Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels'' (1988, Bob Bates
Robert Bates (born December 11, 1953) is an American computer game designer. One of the early designers of interactive fiction games, he was co-founder of Challenge, Inc., which created games in the 1980s for the pioneering company Infocom. ...
)
* '' Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur'' (1989, Bob Bates)
* ''James Clavell's Shogun
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
'' (1989, Dave Lebling)
* ''Journey
Journey or journeying may refer to:
* Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations
** Day's journey, a measurement of distance
** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road
Animals
* Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...
'' (1989, Marc Blank)
Other titles
* Graphic adventures
** '' Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X!'' (1992, Steve Meretzky)
** ''Return to Zork
''Return to Zork'' is a 1993 graphic adventure game in the ''Zork'' series. It was developed by Activision and was the final ''Zork'' game to be published under the Infocom label.
Gameplay
Unlike the previous games in the ''Zork'' franchise, whi ...
'' (1993, Doug Barnett)
** '' Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands'' (1996, developed Zombie LLC)
** ''Zork Grand Inquisitor
''Zork: Grand Inquisitor'' is a graphic adventure game developed and published by Activision, and released for Windows in 1997; a second edition for Macintosh was released in 2001. The game is the twelfth in the ''Zork'' series, and builds upon ...
'' (1997, developed by Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
)
* BattleTech
''BattleTech'' is a wargaming and military science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2001, which was in turn acquired by Topps in 2003; and published since 2007 by Catalyst Game Labs. The trademark ...
games
** '' BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception'' (1988, developed by Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...
)
** '' BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge'' (1991, developed by Westwood Studios)
* Other games
** ''Fooblitzky
''Fooblitzky'' is a board game-style video game published by Infocom in 1985 and designed by a team which included interactive fiction authors Marc Blank and Michael Berlyn. It is unique among Infocom titles for not being interactive fiction and f ...
'' (1985, Marc Blank, Mike Berlyn, Poh Lim
Poh ( pa, ਪੋਹ, ) is the tenth month of the Nanakshahi calendar, which governs the activities within Sikhism. This month coincides with Pausha in the Hindu calendar and the Indian national calendar, and December and January in the Gregorian ...
& Paula Maxwell
Paula or PAULA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Paula, in video game ''EarthBound''
* Paula, List of The Larry Sanders Show characters, in ''The Larry Sanders Show''
* Paula Campbell (EastEnders), Paula Campbell (''East ...
)
** '' Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth'' (1988, Scott Schmitz
Scott may refer to:
Places Canada
* Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec
* Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380
* Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskat ...
, Ken Updike
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* Ken (album), ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* Ken (film), ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* Ken (magazine), ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine ...
& Amy Briggs)
** ''Mines of Titan
''Mines of Titan'' is a single-player role-playing video game, developed by Westwood Associates (later Westwood Studios), and released by Infocom in 1989 for Apple II series, Apple II, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS.
Remake
''Mines of Titan'' is a Video ...
'' (1988, Louis Castle
Louis Castle is an American video games designer. He is known for co-founding Westwood Studios, designing the PC game ''Blade Runner'', and collaborating with Steven Spielberg on the ''Boom Blox'' and ''Boom Blox Bash Party'' video games for the ...
& Brett Sperry
Brett Sperry is an American video game designer, a fine arts gallerist, and a professional photographer. He is also a leading developer of the Las Vegas arts community where he's made significant investments in property and infrastructure, primari ...
)
** '' Tombs & Treasure'' (1989, developed by Nihon Falcom
is a Japanese video game developer, best known for their '' Ys'', '' The Legend of Heroes'', and ''Trails'' series. The company was founded in March 1981, making them one of the oldest active video game companies. They are credited with pioneer ...
)
** ''Circuit's Edge
''Circuit's Edge'' is a video game developed by Westwood Associates and released by Infocom in 1990. It is based on George Alec Effinger's 1987 novel '' When Gravity Fails''. The game is a hybrid interactive fiction/ role-playing video game; it ...
'' (1989, developed by Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...
)
* Infocomics
** ''Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen'' (1988, Steve Meretzky)
** ''Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams'' (1988, Amy Briggs)
** ''ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle'' (1988, Elizabeth Langosy
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
)
** ''ZorkQuest II: The Crystal of Doom'' (1988, Elizabeth Langosy)
Collections
* ''The Zork Trilogy'' (1986; contained ''Zork I'', ''Zork II'' & ''Zork III'')
* ''The Enchanter Trilogy'' (1986; contained ''Enchanter'', ''Sorcerer'' & ''Spellbreaker'')
* ''The Lost Treasures of Infocom
''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'' is a 1991 compilation of 20 previously-released interactive fiction games developed by Infocom. It was published by Activision for MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, and Apple IIGS versions. It was later re-released on ...
'' (1991; contained 20 of Infocom's interactive fiction games)
* '' The Lost Treasures of Infocom II'' (1992; contained 11 interactive fiction games)
* '' The Zork Anthology'' (1994; contained ''Zork I'', ''Zork II'', ''Zork III'', ''Beyond Zork'' & ''Zork Zero'')
* ''Interactive Fiction Collections
The ''Interactive Fiction Collections'' is a video game series developed by Infocom and published by Activision for the PC and classic Mac OS.
Contents
The ''Interactive Fiction Collections'' are a series of five video game collections containing ...
'' (1995)
* ''The Comedy Collection'' (1995; contained ''Ballyhoo'', ''Bureaucracy'', ''Hollywood Hijinx'', ''Nord and Bert'', ''Planetfall'', and ''Zork I'')
* ''Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom ''Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom'' is a collection of 33 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, and the top 6 winners of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition, released in 1996. All 39 games are combined on a ...
'' (1996; contained 33 Infocom games plus six winners of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition
The Interactive Fiction Competition (also known as IFComp) is one of several annual competitions for works of interactive fiction. It has been held since 1995. It is intended for fairly short games, as judges are only allowed to spend two hours pl ...
, which was not affiliated with Infocom)
* ''Zork Special Edition'' (1997; contained ''Zork I'', ''Zork II'', ''Zork III'', ''Beyond Zork'', ''Zork Zero'', ''Return to Zork'', ''Zork: Nemesis'', and ''Planetfall'')
* ''Zork Classics: Interactive Fiction'' (2000)
* ''The Zork Legacy Collection'' (2002; contained ''The Zork Anthology'', ''Return to Zork'', and ''Zork Nemesis'')
* ''The Zork Adventure Trilogy'' (contained ''Return to Zork'', ''Zork Nemesis'', and ''Zork Grand Inquisitor'')
* ''Lost Treasures of Infocom'' (2012; In-App purchases for most of the titles)
Legacy
With the exception of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' and ''Shogun'', the copyrights to the Infocom games are believed to be still held by Activision. ''Dungeon
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...
'', the mainframe precursor to the commercial Zork trilogy, is believed to be free for non-commercial use. but prohibited for commercial use. It was this copy that the popular Fortran mainframe version was based on. The C version was based on the Fortran version. and is available from The Interactive Fiction Archive as original FORTRAN source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
, a Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions (called story files or Z-code ...
story file and as various native source port
A source port is a software project based on the source code of a game engine that allows the game to be played on operating systems or computing platforms with which the game was not originally compatible.
Description
Source ports are often cr ...
s. Many Infocom titles can be downloaded via the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
, but only in violation of the copyright. Activision did at one point release the original trilogy for free-of-charge download as a promotion but prohibited redistribution and have since discontinued this. There are currently at least four Infocom sampler and demos available from the IF Archive as Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions (called story files or Z-code ...
story files which require a Z-machine interpreter to play. Interpreters are available for most computer platforms, the most widely used being the Frotz
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions (called story files or Z-code f ...
, Zip
Zip, Zips or ZIP may refer to:
Common uses
* ZIP Code, USPS postal code
* Zipper or zip, clothing fastener
Science and technology Computing
* ZIP (file format), a compressed archive file format
** zip, a command-line program from Info-ZIP
* Zi ...
, and Nitfol
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions (called story files or Z-code ...
interpreters.
Five games (''Zork I'', ''Planetfall'', ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', ''Wishbringer'' and ''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'') were re-released in Solid Gold format. The Solid Gold versions of those games include a built-in InvisiClues hint system.
In 2012, Activision released ''Lost Treasures of Infocom'' for iOS devices. In-app purchases provide access for 27 of the titles. It also lacks ''Shogun'' and ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' as well as ''Beyond Zork'', ''Zork Zero'' and ''Nord and Bert''.
Efforts have been made to make the Infocom games source code available for preservation. In 2008, Jason Scott
Jason Scott Sadofsky (born September 13, 1970), more commonly known as Jason Scott, is an American archivist, historian of technology, filmmaker, performer, and actor. Scott has been known by the online pseudonyms Sketch, SketchCow, The Slipped ...
, a video game preservationist contributing towards the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
, received the so-called "Infocom Drive", a large archive of the entire contents of Infocom's main server made during the last few days before the company was relocated to California; besides source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
for all of Infocom's games (including unreleased ones), it also contained the software manuals, design documents and other essential content alongside Infocom's business documentation. Scott later published all of the source files in their original Z-engine format to GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous ...
in 2019.
''Zork'' made a cameo appearance as an easter egg
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
in Activision and Treyarch
Treyarch Corporation ( ; formerly Treyarch Invention LLC) is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü, it was acquired by Activision in 2001. The studio is known for ...
's '' Call of Duty: Black Ops''. It can be accessed from the main menu.
References
External links
Infocom company profile
from MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
Infocom-The Master Storytellers
Infocom history, authors, etc.; often updated with any news from Activision
{{Authority control
1979 establishments in Massachusetts
1989 disestablishments in Massachusetts
Companies based in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Defunct Activision subsidiaries
Defunct companies based in Massachusetts
Defunct video game companies of the United States
Software companies based in Massachusetts
Video game companies established in 1979
Video game companies disestablished in 1989