Good Old Games Hiding Zork Behind Police Tape

[Tom Goldman]

Good Old Games Hiding Zork Behind Police Tape

Good Old Games is presumably hiding Zork and other classic Infocom text adventures behind gobs of police tape.

Digital storefront Good Old Games is known for its stunts [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103601-GOG-com-Closes-its-Digital-Doors], and it has another in the works that will run until January 18. The retailer is hiding an upcoming release behind digital police tape.

GOG put up a cryptic news post with a link to a game page [http://www.gog.com/en/page/1801] that is covered in jumbled lettering, and the previously mentioned police line. The website says: "Anyone caught violating the police line will be shot on sight."

However, when clicking the link, you aren't immediately killed. My first reaction to the game page made me think that GOG would soon be releasing the Police Quest series, a classic group of Sierra adventure games that played out like King's Quest (also available on GOG), but featured a police officer working through various cases. According to speculation and GOG users that have apparently already decrypted the page's text, the tease is likely for the release of Zork and other Infocom text adventures from the 1980s instead.

Two images in the upper right area of the page show a enchanter eating Morgia Root [http://infocom.elsewhere.org/gallery/beyond/quendor3.jpg]. These particular images are related to documentation from Beyond Zork.

The police line seems to allude to more than just a reveal of a Zork collection, because Infocom was also known for crime-based text adventures like The Witness and Deadline. If GOG has an Infocom pack planned, it might include these and other titles from the company's lineup in addition to Zork, as they've already been bundled in the past through packages such as The Lost Adventures of Infocom [http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Treasures-Infocom-pc/dp/B000AP0CPI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1295028901&sr=1-1]. Getting a chance to revisit the text-based madness of Zork would be welcomed, but I'm holding out for a re-release of Police Quest too.

Source: GOG.com [http://www.gog.com/en/news/police_line_do_not_click/]


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[The_root_of_all_evil]

inb4 "Anyone caught violating the police line will be eaten by a grue."

 

[therandombear]

if it's reasonably priced, maybe I can actually try this game :>

I do believe this means that there will also be new Zork and Pals series....^^

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Zork is freaking difficult.

You can get randomly killed by the thief, and the troll can kill you if you're unlucky. Doesn't matter if your first reaction is /attack, there is some heavy dice rolling going on.

You gotta get lucky.

 

[SaintWaldo]

I'd appreciate some modernized HHGTTG and Planetfall. I'm interested to see what they offer over other Z-machines, esp. as most of those are free. Perhaps on-board InvisiClue hint books?

 

[TheWonko]

Fun fact, you can still get the three original Zork games as free downloads from the old Infocom site [http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html]. Apparently they're now freeware, so yay!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'd appreciate some modernized HHGTTG

It's still ghastly. All of it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_andrew.shtml

 

[Delusibeta]

Fun fact, you can still get the three original Zork games as free downloads from the old Infocom site [http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html]. Apparently they're now freeware, so yay!

That's not the Infocom website. Also, not freeware either. Officially, in any case (it's the old abandonware argument).

 

[Dastardly]

snip

It'd be better if the act of buying the pack was its own text-based adventure:

"You are in a Checkout. To the west, you see a path leading back to Shopping. To the north is a sign that reads 'This way to calculate shipping.' In your hands, you hold a Product and a wallet."

>Get product

"You already have a Product."

>Buy product

"What do you want to buy it with?"

>Buy product with money

"You don't have a money."

>Get money

"There is no money here."

>Open wallet

"You are flat broke. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

 

[Warlokk]

@dastardly: I LOL'd, well done

A day-long binge of the original Zork on my parents' Apple IIc taught me to type... after a year of miserable typing classes in school failed to do so. Great memories...

 

[Firia]

Man, my first bout with Zork was "Return to Zork." One of those adventure games where you could use different toned convo prompts with very different results. Also a brutal game that would let you get stuck cause you screws up way way waaaay long ago, and now you gotta replay the whole game cause you didn't scoop up those rats porperly, and they bit you giving you a fatal disease.

Loved that game.

 

[Reed Spacer]

inb4 "Anyone caught violating the police line will be eaten by a grue."

Or thrown into a twisty little maze.

 

[SaintWaldo]

I'd appreciate some modernized HHGTTG

It's still ghastly. All of it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_andrew.shtml

Ghastly is in the eye of the Hitchhiker. These are actually pretty good IMO, esp. if you've seen the BBC series or listened to the radio plays.

Still would like something similar to this for Planetfall. But thanks for the links, my morning is booked now.

 

[Wintermoot]

I dont think it,ll be Zork, Zork is allready opendomain (atleast that,s what I think and the fact that wikipedia page already links to a site hostin the entire series

 

[archvile93]

I could never stand those old adventure games due to their absurd logic that requires either random clicking, clarvoiyance or someone or something telling you flat out what to do to solve the puzzles, bad experiences where the game made itself unwinnable in a way you would never have realized without either clarvoiyance or someone or something telling you about it before hand, and having to type five sentences that mean the same thing before finding one the game understands. This is good news for people who like them, though.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Ghastly is in the eye of the Hitchhiker.

Or the Paranoid Android. Life certainly is.

 

[TheWonko]

Ghastly is in the eye of the Hitchhiker. These are actually pretty good IMO, esp. if you've seen the BBC series or listened to the radio plays.

After taking so long to get that Babel fish, I can say that my eye is pretty ghastly. It was fun, yes, but I have no idea how the developers meant people to get that fish without commuting suicide from frustration.

 

[vxicepickxv]

Zork is freaking difficult.

You can get randomly killed by the thief, and the troll can kill you if you're unlucky. Doesn't matter if your first reaction is /attack, there is some heavy dice rolling going on.

You gotta get lucky.

Actually, from all of my testing, the faster you type, the more likely you are to kill the troll.

Kill Troll with Sword.

Yes, you need to type it fast.

@dastardly: I LOL'd, well done

A day-long binge of the original Zork on my parents' Apple IIc taught me to type... after a year of miserable typing classes in school failed to do so. Great memories...

Press 80k button to activate multiple case Zork.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

Wait.
Zork and it's sequels/prequels/spin-offs are free from the infocom website. This is madness!

 

[Delusibeta]

Wait.
Zork and it's sequels/prequels/spin-offs are free from the infocom website. This is madness!

That's not the Infocom website.