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About the StoryAlso known as Dungeon. The original mainframe game that was later split and adapted into the Zork trilogy for microcomputers. Game Details |
IF-Review
Archaeology
The move away from antagonistic IF is the reason why things like mazes, limited light sources, and starvation puzzles are met with a chorus of jeers these days, but the elimination of these elements doesn't necessarily dictate anything in particular about how literary or puzzleless a game might be. Instead, the change makes the whole experience of IF more about fun than bloody-minded perseverance; playing Dungeon makes it clear how necessary this change was, and how far we've come since those mainframe days.
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Play This Thing!
Every gamer should play these games--once at least. For historical reasons--but also to understand what has been lost by the focus on improved graphics at the expense of excellent writing.
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50 Years of Text Games, by Aaron A. Reed
If Adventure had introduced hackers to an intriguing new genre of immersive text game, Zork was what brought it to the public at large. In the early 1980s, as the personal computer revolution reached into more and more homes, a Zork disk was a must-buy for first-time computer owners. By 1982 it had become the industry’s bestselling game.
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[...] The thief, along with the rest of Zork, evolved in a way that few previous text games had: through continuous interaction with an active player base. [...] Much like devs in the 2010s livestreaming game development on Twitch, distant spectators could watch Zork’s creators test and play their game in real-time, as they were making it. It wasn’t long before the spectators figured out how to launch the unfinished game themselves and begin their own expeditions into the Great Underground Empire.
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Zork is more remembered today for its pride of place than its actual gameplay. Scholar Nick Montfort praises its innovations, but calls it “a very early and rough effort” that’s “not a masterwork by today’s standards.” A 21st-century reviewer notes that it “wants nothing more than to see you fail, and it’s not overly concerned with how much fun you might be having.”
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Zork is noteworthy for more than just its commercial success. When the Library of Congress decided in 2007 to start archiving games with cultural significance, it was one of the first ten selected. Influencing the aesthetics of games for a generation, leaving behind tropes like grues and brass lanterns, it would also provide an enduring technical foundation for future text game creators.
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v.13: 03-Mar-2024 02:47 -
JTN
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v.12: 27-Jul-2023 12:57 - JTN Changed external review links | |
v.11: 01-Jun-2023 04:01 - P-Tux7 Changed cross-references | |
v.10: 29-Jun-2020 20:39 - Zape Changed external review links | |
v.9: 11-Sep-2018 15:52 - CiberSheep Changed IFIDs | |
v.8: 11-Sep-2018 15:45 - CiberSheep Changed IFIDs | |
v.7: 22-Dec-2015 11:46 - Digger Changed IFIDs | |
v.6: 05-Apr-2008 11:44 - Emily Short Changed external review links | |
v.5: 04-Apr-2008 18:33 - Paul O'Brian Changed external review links | |
v.4: 19-Feb-2008 19:25 - Emily Short Changed cover art | |
v.3: 19-Feb-2008 19:24 - Emily Short Changed cover art | |
v.2: 20-Dec-2007 18:56 - Erik Temple Changed description | |
v.1: 29-Sep-2007 20:49 - IFDB
Created page |