Classic Text Adventure Zork Comes to Kindle

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Classic Text Adventure Zork Comes to Kindle


It is pitch black. You, and your e-reader, are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Photorealistic graphics and voice acting were still years away when the text adventure Zork was first released, but as anyone who played it knows, it was a fiendishly tricky little game, as were its multiple sequels. But being all text means that it doesn't need particularly powerful hardware to play it, and an ingenious fan has put a special Kindle friendly website together, so you can play it on your e-reader wherever you are.

A Hawaiian coder known as "Planet Surfer" has made the first three Zork games available on his website, Portable Quest [http://www.portablequest.com/]. The site is pretty austere, unsurprising for something designed with e-readers in mind, but it works just fine in a regular browser too. Surfer says that he has plans to release more text adventure games on the site in the future, and with Infocom - the developer of Zork - releasing dozens of text adventures games over the years, including my personal favorite Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It, Surfer has plenty to choose from.

If you want to take a trip down memory lane, or perhaps delve into a piece of gaming history, jumping into a brain-taxing text adventure isn't a bad to start. Be warned though, even if you avoid the grue, these things eat up time like you wouldn't believe.

Source: Gizmodo [http://gizmodo.com/5658484/play-text+based-adventure-games-like-zork-on-your-kindle]








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Feb 13, 2008
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For the first time since it's release...I actually feel a possible reason to by it.

Now, just release Hitchhikers, and you've got a deal.

[sub]So, you balance the junk mail on top of the satchel...[/sub]
 
Mar 30, 2010
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Hah, I might have to give the Kindle a look then. My mate's got one, but it didn't seem much cop at first glance. Maybe it's time for a second look.
[sub]Also a port of A.D.O.M wouldn't go amiss, Kindle...[/sub]
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Grouchy Imp said:
[sub]Also a port of A.D.O.M wouldn't go amiss, Kindle...[/sub]
That would be truly awesome, but I really doubt it's gonna happen. And if it does, we'll just be sitting at the bus-stop pressing W+5.
 
Mar 30, 2010
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Grouchy Imp said:
[sub]Also a port of A.D.O.M wouldn't go amiss, Kindle...[/sub]
That would be truly awesome, but I really doubt it's gonna happen. And if it does, we'll just be sitting at the bus-stop pressing W+5.
We can always hope I suppose. I think plans are still on track for iADOM, but there hasn't been an update in a while. [link]http://www.adom.de/blog/2010/04/05/adom-in-2010-iadom/[/link]
 

Vzzdak

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May 7, 2010
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The article states, "the first three zork games," but I wonder if they mean to say that it's the Zork (M.I.T.) version, which was released commercially as Zork I, 2 and 3.

If you want to play Zork (M.I.T. version) on iPhone or iPad, then check the app store for Frotz, which includes a number of other titles. The other titles aren't Infocom, so don't get your hopes up.

Here are some relevant links:

1) The Frotz interpreter for Infocom games
http://frotz.sourceforge.net/

2) The official Infocom page
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/ (You probably want to skip the "Where can I get those classic games" link because it's in poor health)
 

Textfyre

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Oct 8, 2010
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Textfyre has been working on new text adventures for the Kindle and all mobile devices. Check out http://textfyre.com, follow us on Twitter @Textfyre, and read my blog at http://chicagodave.wordpress.com. We also have a Kickstarter campaign to help complete native engines for all mobile devices: http://kck.st/aAVxw9

The Kindle browser will improve, but native apps will have much better controls.