The Obsessively Complete Infocom Catalog
14 hours ago
- #retro-gaming
- #Z-code
- #Infocom
- Collection of every version of Infocom games, including source code and compiled files.
- Infocom serial numbers are timestamps of compilation dates, useful for development sequence reconstruction.
- Modern IF fans have recompiled Infocom games, sometimes fixing bugs or modifying them.
- Collection excludes modern recompilations but includes some 1980s fan-modified game files for historical interest.
- Jason Scott initiated the process by posting Infocom source code on GitHub in April 2019.
- Jason's collections are edited extracts from the 'Infocom Drive', omitting some variations.
- Thanks to contributors like Beaux Hemmer, Torbjörn Andersson, and Alessandro Giassi.
- Adam Sommerfield posted another cleaned-up source collection in December 2019.
- Download options include catalog.json, allgamefiles.zip, allsources.zip, allinterpreters.zip, and allother.zip.
- Activision holds the copyright, but historical value to the IF community is emphasized.
- GitHub repositories structure source code as commits; this site packages each source directory separately.
- Game files collected from original releases, historically as 'patch files' for legal reasons.
- GitHub repos sometimes contain errors like not deleting old source files in newer commits.
- Private emails and developers' comments are omitted from both GitHub and this site.
- Included 'browsie/feelie' manuscripts omitted by Jason Scott.
- Game files are Z-code files, playable with any Z-code interpreter.
- Z-code versions include 'zip', 'ezip', 'xzip', and 'yzip', now tagged as .z3, .z4, .z5, .z6.
- Early Zork 1 releases include .z1 and .z2 files with nonstandard serial numbers.
- Graham Nelson proposed .z7 and .z8 in 1995 for larger game files.
- Python script zcanalyze.py extracts version, release, and serial number from Z-code files.
- ZILF is an open-source ZIL compiler under active development.
- Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom CD (1996) is the source of most modern releases.
- Lost Treasures of Infocom 1 and 2 (1992) included Hitchhiker and Shogun, unlike Masterpieces.
- 'Solid Gold' editions re-released earlier games with built-in Invisiclues, using .z5 format.
- Versions marked 'final-dev' are unreleased final internal versions, not QA-tested.
- Not a complete collection; 'most current' source may not correspond to final releases.
- Source packages contain .zil files, temporary files, compilation reports, and design documents.
- Release numbers are not always sequential; serial number dates are more reliable.
- 'Solid Gold' editions were labelled as 'cheap' releases during development.
- Games with sound and graphics may not include media files in the source directory.
- Macintosh game files have modifications for fixed-width font display.
- Z-code game files sometimes have zeroes or garbage data padded on the end, ignored here.
- Patch archive includes game files with blank or nonsensical serial numbers, likely 'crack' versions.
- Modified game files bypassing 'feelie' copy protection are omitted.
- Zork/Dungeon mainframe version written in MDL, available since 2003.
- Four versions of Zork-MDL source, labelled by 'US NEWS & DUNGEON REPORT' date.
- Runnable versions recovered from MIT tapes, executable inside ITS emulated PDP-10.
- ITS environment available online via telnet its.pdp10.se 10003.
- 1977-78 versions introduce as 'Welcome to Dungeon'; 1979-81 as 'Welcome to Zork'.
- Early version of Infocom's ZIL compiler in MDL, dated no later than early 1981.
- Documentation gathered from Internet Archive, frobnitz.co.uk, and other sources.
- Two standalone versions of ZAP assembler, one in MIDAS for PDP-10, one in C from 1988.
- Infocom's original ZIL interpreters written in assembly for 1980s platforms, some later in C or Pascal.
- TRS-80 CoCo interpreter released in 2018; others became public in 2023.
- Zork I Release 2 game file extracted from a self-booting, copy-protected TRS-80 Model I disk.
- Various game files and source directories for multiple Infocom games, including Zork, Hitchhiker, and more.
- Unfinished and unreleased games like Checkpoint, Spy, and Hypochondriac included.
- ZilLib, a next-generation parser developed around 1987, included in source code.
- Regression test suite for Z-code interpreters, no source code found.
- Template for creating new games, includes parser, rooms, and stub objects.