Microsoft open sources Zork 1, 2 and 3 under the MIT License

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Awesan@reddit

These games were absolutely revolutionary both from a gameplay perspective but especially from an engineering perspective.

Essentially they built a specialized instruction set for text-based games and then coded the game using this instruction set. This allowed them to make the executables very small (in bytes) for the amount of content. The actual machine code for these games is tiny since all the actual game is just data.

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drekmonger@reddit

built a specialized instruction set

The Z-machine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-machine

The main advantage was that it was a marvel of portability, back when there were a couple of dozen competing platforms. It allowed Infocom to use the same Z-code data for all of their games, with just the Z-code interpretor being platform-specific. It's not unlike Java.

The code in the repository that MS provided is mostly in Zork Implementation Language (ZIL), which is compiled to Z-code.

There are modern Z-code compilers (most notably ZILF, which can theoretically work with the ZIL files in the repository, and Inform, which compiles its own more modern language to z-code).

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Awesan@reddit

Implementing a Z-Machine is a fun project that can really stretch you as a programmer if you have not done something like that before. I remember reading Eric Lippert's series on the topic and being very inspired by it.

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Dustin-@reddit

Well I know what I'm doing over winter break.

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tligger@reddit

Same, this looks lit

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dangerbird2@reddit

It was really common back in the early home computer era to write virtual machines for adventure games. It had the dual benefit of letting developers write code in a slightly higher level language than assembler, while being massively easier to port across the huge variety of architectures before IBM PC's became dominant

Other famous examples are SCUMM and Adventure Game Interpreter

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vytah@reddit

There was also another benefit: much better code density. Especially important in that era.

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slacka123@reddit

Does the Z-machine have a list of correct actions? If so, I'm surprised no one has used Kimi K2 or Llama 3.2 to humanize the input processing of these classic games.

One of the most frustrating parts of playing these games as a kid was when I found out that I was typing the right command but wasn't writing in the exact correct wording.

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vytah@reddit

Z-machine itself is language-agnostic. It's all up to the game. The game decides what kinds of words and sentences it accepts. There are only few caveats:

text encoding issues – the Z-machine was designed with English alphabet in mind, later it got support for Western European languages, and only after the community took over, Unicode support
the built-in parser needs spaces between words (but the game can parse text manually if it wants to though)

Modern games using the standard Inform library are relatively smart, and they come with built-in help that usually dispels most doubts.

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phalp@reddit

Kind of like an aimbot for adventures

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ArdiMaster@reddit

No. The Z-Machine/ the interpreter is aware of the list of valid input words (called the dictionary) and the object tree, but which words refer to which objects and wha actions are valid in any given context is defined by the game’s code.

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Stiltskin@reddit

Inform 7 is also one of the most fascinating programming languages I've ever seen. Its code reads much more like prose than something else.

Like, look at this section of code from a game by Emily Short:

Section 6 - Some standardized body parts

A body part is a kind of thing.

Some hair is a kind of body part. Understand "hair" or "hairdo" or "curls" as hair. One hair is part of every woman. A nose is a kind of body part. Understand "nose" as nose. One nose is part of every woman. The description of a nose is usually "Turned up, in a way that looks a little annoyed." Some eyes are a kind of body part. Understand "eye" or "eyes" or "eyelashes" as eyes. Eyes is part of every woman. A mouth is a kind of body part. One mouth is part of every woman. Understand "mouth" or "face" or "lips" as a mouth. [This isn't meant to be sexist about body parts, but since the player is unable to examine his own features anyway, it seems easiest to give them only to Esther.] The description of a mouth is usually "You have the faint impression that she's smirking at you."

Smelling a body part is impertinent behavior. Touching a body part is impertinent behavior. Tasting a body part is impertinent behavior. Smelling a woman is impertinent behavior. Touching a woman is impertinent behavior. Tasting a woman is impertinent behavior. Instead of impertinent behavior: say "You're not on terms of adequate intimacy."

Touching something which is worn by a woman is impertinent behavior. Smelling something which is worn by a woman is impertinent behavior. Tasting something which is worn by a woman is impertinent behavior.

All of this except the stuff in square brackets is executable code.

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tadrith@reddit

Sometimes, I don't know how someone can look at where we started, and where we are, and not be completely amazed. I was born in '81, so after the real "start" of computing, but I remember playing on a Tandy 1000 computer... it's mind blowing how far we've come.

Not only that, how much of the incredible progress we've made is just accepted by the rest of humanity. It's mundane at this point to most people.

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eflat123@reddit

It's also amazing how fast we adapt, get used to something new, and then want more.

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ArdiMaster@reddit

Worth noting that there are now two Inform systems:

the original Inform (created in 1993 and maintained by its creator until ca. 2003, community-maintained since then), currently at version 6.44, is an object-oriented language vaguely akin to C/C++/ObjC.
the newer Inform (originally Inform 7, now just Inform v10.1, developed on and off by the original creator of Inform since 2003) is a rules-oriented system with an English-like syntax (and, theoretically, the ability to adapt to any other syntax/language through an extension).

Both can compile to two different formats nowadays (the Z-machine, as well as a more modern VM called Glulx). While Inform 6 targets the Z-machine as default, Inform 7/10 is really designed more for Glulx because it has so much stuff built-in that you’d quickly run up against the limitations of the 16-bit Z-machine.

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sreguera@reddit

In some sense I find more interesting the low tech, cassette-tape compatible technology that started with Scott Adams and reappeared in the UK with systems like The Quill, it's successor the PAWS and its rival the GAC.

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finnw@reddit

How did Microsoft come to own this code?

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church-rosser@reddit

There's something deeply evil about MS owning the source to Zork... makes my GenX soul hurt.

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Plabbi@reddit

but this very announcement is about them open source'ing it...

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church-rosser@reddit

Open Sourcing doesn't subsume ownership. MS still owns the source code.

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vytah@reddit

You can play it, you can modify it, you can put as a minigame in your game and publish it on Steam if you wish. All they want is for you to keep that copyright notice, and not sue them if you get traumatised by grue or something.

MIT license is very liberal for the user

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church-rosser@reddit

Still says they retain copyrights.

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meneldal2@reddit

I doubt it was high up on the list of priorities after the acquisition

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FlyingRhenquest@reddit

It's about as free as you can get while still retaining copyright of it. Microsoft is a huge beneficiary of the BSD license, which is similar, having gotten the TCP/IP stack for their early versions of windows from BSD-licensed code. It's nice to see them make an early piece of computing history available under a similar license.

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church-rosser@reddit

Yay Microsoft.

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Plabbi@reddit

but this doesn't strike me as "deeply evil" gesture.

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church-rosser@reddit

Fine. Doesn't change that MS's ownership of Zork is wrong on so many levels as to equate with 'evil'.

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Cizeta8088@reddit

Activision bought Infocom in 1986, Microsoft bought Activision in 2023.

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AngheloAlf@reddit

"Zork" sounds like the name of an evil villain monster from an 80s/90s anime

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balthisar@reddit

There's Zorg, 1997 (The Fifth Element).

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MaxChaplin@reddit

Also Zurg and Zerg. Xorg is also a villain to some.

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meneldal2@reddit

Or Borg

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balthisar@reddit

Xorg is also a villain to some.

…because it's hard to configure compared to Wayland?

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Witty-Play9499@reddit (OP)

Well the game is from the 1980s so your intuition is not leading you astray :)

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phylter99@reddit

1977, so you're close

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork

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Witty-Play9499@reddit (OP)

I think yours is Zork ? The ones released by MS(I, II and III) are from the 80s I think>

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phylter99@reddit

The name came from the original and that's what we were discussing, really. The time frame is so small it doesn't really matter. I was commenting more in agreement with you than anything.

The weird naming of things carried over from the 70's into the 80's. It just seems like people wanted names that sounded otherworldly. It may go back into the 60's too, but I've not been around that long.

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redbarone@reddit

The time frame is so small it doesn't really matter.

Ha. The difference in five years at that time was remarkable. Even AI coming on the scene these days doesn't compare to the changes happening back then.

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phylter99@reddit

There were a lot of new things coming out and such, but culture built off older things usually. The weird alien sound naming had just started in the 70’s from what I can find and it continued until the 90’s where it started dying out. We still see it pop up occasionally.

It seems that Zork is something that was from MIT and for them meant nothing like the term thingamajig.

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mpyne@reddit

Yes, but they are ports of the original Zork game released in 1977.

When Nintendo released Super Mario All Stars in 1992 or whatever, that didn't make Super Mario Bros. 3 a 1990s game, it was still an 80s game.

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adaminc@reddit

I only ever played Return to Zork. Never finished it though. I think you can get it on GOG though.

Want some rye? Course you do! pouring sounds

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