''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'' is a 1991 compilation of 20 previously-released interactive fiction games developed by

Infocom 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 (software), Cornerstone''. ...

. It was published 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 ...

for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

, Macintosh,

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 ...

, and Apple IIGS versions. It was later re-released on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both compute ...

, and in 2012 on

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

Gameplay

''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'' compiles 20 interactive fiction titles, with which the player interacts via text parser. The compilation includes '' Zork I'', '' II'' and ''

III III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * ...

'', along with the ''Zork''-connected games '' Beyond Zork'', ''

Zork Zero ''Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz'' is an interactive fiction computer game, written by Steve Meretzky over nearly 18 months and published by Infocom in 1988. Although it is the ninth and last ''Zork'' game released by Infocom before the company ...

'', '' Enchanter'', '' Sorcerer'' and ''

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 ...

''. The other titles included are '' Deadline'', '' The Witness'', '' Suspect'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 trol ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Moonmist'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Suspended'', '' Planetfall'', '' Stationfall'' and ''

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 comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it ...

''. The package contains all the instructions (bound in one volume) and maps for each game as well as all the InvisiClues, printed normally instead of using "invisible" ink. The package also features a launch menu which lets the user select which one of the 20 games they wish to play. Some significant omissions from the package were the " feelies" for which Infocom had become known. The package merely contained photocopies or pictures of these items, such as the sunglasses from ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' and the Stellar Patrol ID card from ''Planetfall''.

Development

Discussing the announcement of ''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'', Scorpia of ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' noted that

was "rising like a phoenix ... from the bankrupt ashes of Mediagenic" with the release. After the company's restructuring during bankruptcy, it began to lean on its back catalog of licenses, including ''Zork''. Activision CEO

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 ...

later said that "''Zork'' on a brick would sell 100,000 copies". Infocom had been closed by Activision in 1989; the publisher held the copyright to nearly all the past Infocom titles. An additional bonus was the updated version of ''Hitchhiker's Guide''. The game was repackaged using a later version of 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 f ...

than the original, and now featured a built-in hint system.

Reception

''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'' was a commercial hit. Peter Doctorow of Activision reported in 1992 that ''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'' was "selling extremely well". Jeremy Reimer of '' Ars Technica'' wrote, "Retailing for $99, it sold over 100,000 copies and was almost pure profit. The ashes of Infocom saved Activision from bankruptcy." Brian Walker of '' Computer Games Strategy Plus'' declared ''The Lost Treasures of Infocom'' Activision's best game of 1992. Reviewing the

version of the game in 2017, '' TouchArcade'' gave it a strongly positive review.

Sequel

The success of the original ''Lost Treasures of Infocom'' prompted a follow-up collection published in 1992 titled ''The Lost Treasures of Infocom II''. This package contained 11 more classic Infocom titles. The games included in ''Lost Treasures II'' were: * ''

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 ...

'' * ''

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 polemical critique of Ronald Reagan's pol ...

'' * '' Plundered Hearts'' * ''

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 ...

'' * '' Cutthroats'' * '' Hollywood Hijinx'' * '' Seastalker'' * '' Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels'' * ''

Wishbringer ''Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Brian Moriarty and published by Infocom in 1985. It was intended to be an easier game to solve than the typical Infocom release and provide a good introduc ...

'' * '' Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It'' * '' Trinity'' '' Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' was not included, but could be ordered for $9.95 via an enclosed coupon. The games' InvisiClues were not included as before; instead, a card advertising a pay-per-minute hint line was included in the package. In addition to being dual-format (

and

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 ...

), the CD-ROM version included three extra games: * ''

James Clavell's Shōgun ''James Clavell's Shōgun'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1989. It was released for the Amiga, Apple II, DOS, and Macintosh. The game is based on the 1975 novel ''Shōgun'' by James Clav ...

'' * '' Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur'' * '' Journey'' The ''Soul of the Samurai'' and Known World maps from Shogun and the map from Journey were included separately; an added instruction manual included the ''Book of Hours'' from Arthur as well as instructions for all three added games.

References

External links