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Frotz Zoder
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 files) and could therefore port its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a Z-machine implementation for that platform. With the large number of incompatible home computer systems in use at the time, this was an important advantage over using native code or developing a compiler for each system. History and design Nomenclature and conventions The "Z" of Z-machine stands for ''Zork'', Infocom's first adventure game. Infocom used file extensions of .dat (Data) and .zip (ZIP = Z-machine Interpreter Program), but the latter clashed with the widespread use of .zip for PKZIP-compatible archive files starting in the 1990s, after Activision had closed Infocom. Infocom produced six versions of the Z-machine. Files using versions 1 an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infocom
Infocom, Inc., 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''. Infocom was founded on June 22, 1979, by staff and students of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and lasted as an independent company until 1986, when it was bought by Activision. Activision shut down the Infocom division in 1989, although they released some titles in the 1990s under the Infocom ''Zork'' brand. Activision abandoned the Infocom trademark in 2002. Overview Infocom games are interactive fiction, text adventures 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UCSD Pascal
UCSD Pascal is a Pascal programming language system that runs on the UCSD p-System, a portable, highly machine-independent operating system. UCSD Pascal was first released in 1977. It was developed at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The p-System In 1977, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Institute for Information Systems developed UCSD Pascal to provide students with a common environment that could run on any of the then available microcomputers as well as campus DEC PDP-11 minicomputers. The operating system became known as UCSD p-System. There were three operating systems that IBM offered for its original IBM PC. The first was UCSD p-System, with IBM PC DOS and CP/M-86 as the other two. Vendor SofTech Microsystems emphasized p-System's application portability, with virtual machines for 20 CPUs as of the IBM PC's release. It predicted that users would be able to use applications they purchased on future computers running p-System; advertisem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quetzal File Format
Quetzal is a standardised file format for the saved state of Z-machine games, invented by Martin Frost. Prior to the introduction of Quetzal, each Z-machine interpreter saved games in its own format; Quetzal enabled players to save a game using one interpreter and restore it with another. Use of the format is strongly recommended in Graham Nelson's Z-machine standards document, but not obligatory. Most modern Z-machine interpreters have the ability to save Quetzal files. The files are IFF files with a FORM of "IFZS" (presumably standing for "Interactive Fiction Z-machine Save"), although the saved files are commonly given an extension of ".sav": less commonly sighted are "quz" and "qtz". Despite the reference to the Z-machine in the FORM code, the format has proved flexible enough to be adapted for at least one alternative architecture, Glulx. The magic-number reading of the files are often shown as: 'IFF data, Z-machine or Glulx saved game file (Quetzal)' A backronym A ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blorb
Blorb is a package format for interactive fiction games. Many such games incorporate resources such as sound effects, music, or pictures. Blorb's purpose is to bind these together into one file. The format was devised by Andrew Plotkin and is used in both the Z-machine and Glulx virtual machines, as well as by the Glk library. Concept In the days when games were distributed only on disk, there was no problem in associating a game with its resources: the resources were simply shipped on the same disk. Since all Z-machine games were produced by Infocom, there was also no chance that resources would be shipped in a format which a user's interpreter program could not handle. Blorb is needed because neither of these assumptions hold true in modern times: games are typically downloaded as single files, and a user may be using any of a large number of interpreters. A Blorb file may optionally include the executable code of the game itself. This allows authors of modern games to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inform
Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-machine, Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between 1993 and 1996. Around 1996, Nelson rewrote Inform from first principles to create version 6 (or Inform 6). Over the following decade, version 6 became reasonably stable and a popular language for writing interactive fiction. In 2006, Nelson released Inform 7 (briefly known as Natural Inform), a completely new language Natural language programming, based on principles of natural language and a new set of tools based around a book-publishing metaphor. Z-Machine and Glulx The Inform compilers translate Inform code to story files for Glulx or Z-machine, Z-code, two virtual machines designed specifically for interactive fiction. Glulx, which can support larger games, is the default. The Z-machine was originally developed by Infocom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graham Nelson
Graham A. Nelson (born 1968) is a British mathematician, poet, and the creator of the Inform, Inform design system for creating interactive fiction (IF) games. He has authored several IF games, including ''Curses (computer game), Curses'' (1993) and ''Jigsaw (computer game), Jigsaw'' (1995). Education In 1994, Nelson received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Oxford under the supervision of Simon Donaldson. Writing Nelson co-edited ''Oxford Poetry'' and in 1997 received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for his poetry. he was managing editor of Legenda, the imprint of the Modern Humanities Research Association (Modern Humanities Research Association, MHRA). Interactive fiction Nelson is the creator of the Inform, Inform design system for creating interactive fiction (IF) games. He has also authored several IF games, including ''Curses (computer game), Curses'' (1993) and ''Jigsaw (computer game), Jigsaw'' (1995), using the experience of writing ''Cur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was 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 the 1990s and became one of the largest dedicated video game magazines, reaching around 500 pages by 1997. In the early 2000s its circulation was about 300,000, only slightly behind the market leader ''PC Gamer''. But, like most magazines of the era, the rapid move of its advertising revenue to internet properties led to a decline in revenue. In 2006, Ziff announced it would be refocused as ''Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, Games for Windows'', before moving it to solely online format, and then shutting down completely later the same year. History In 1979, Russell Sipe left the Southern Baptist Convention ministry. A fan of computer games, he realized in Spring, 1981 that no Video game journalism, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediagenic
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 of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016. The company was founded as Activision, Inc. on October 1, 1979, in Sunnyvale, California, by former Atari game developers upset at their treatment by Atari in order to develop their own games for the popular Atari 2600 home video game console. Activision was the first independent, third-party, console video game developer. The video game crash of 1983, in part created by too many new companies trying to follow in Activision's footsteps without the experience of Activision's founders, hurt Activision's position in console games and forced the company to diversify into games for home computers, including the acquisition of Infocom. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
