The source code for 45 Infocom text adventures is now available in its native ZIL (Zork Implementation Language) from GitHub.

I've uploaded the entirety of source code of all Infocom text adventures/interactive fiction to Github. https://t.co/p0K8MRKoTN If you don't understand ZIL, and you probably don't, read this instruction manual. https://t.co/H8nl1fxWcv

— Jason Scott (@textfiles) April 16, 2019

According to the code repository’s readme file, “This collection is meant for education, discussion, and historical work, allowing researchers and students to study how code was made for these interactive fiction games and how the system dealt with input and processing. It is not considered to be under an open license.” But notes Gamasutra, “… Activision, which purchased Infocom in 1986, still owns the company IP, meaning it could eventually clamp down and halt Scott’s preservation efforts.”

To commemorate the release of this code, GitHub will host the live event “Game On I: The Great Quest for Imagination“, on the afternoon of Friday, April 26, 2019, 3–6:30 PM PDT (UTC-7) at its headquarters at 88 Colin P Kelly Jr St, San Francisco, California, USA. Steve Meretzky, the sole or lead designer on such Infocom games as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, A Mind Forever Voyaging, Planetfall, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos, will be the guest of honor. The event will be moderated by Kevin Savetz of the Eaten by a Grue podcast. Topics will include Infocom, working with ZIL, putting the source code on GitHub, and the evolution of software and version control. Following the discussion will be a happy hour, during which game stations will be set up all where people can have fun with Infocom titles and multiplayer games. The event is open to the public; free registration is required. It will also be livestreamed online.

For more on the history of Infocom, watch Jason Scott’s Infocom documentary, included as part of Get Lamp.
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Volume 23, Issue 2 (Jun 2018) of Juiced.GS, the longest-running Apple II publication in print, has now shipped.

In this issue, researchers from Princeton University present the Information Barrier eXperimental II — original Apple II software and hardware used for nuclear warhead verification. Also in this issue is a review of Oregon Trail: The Play! and an interview with its playwright; reviews of two graphic novels about Steve Jobs; a tutorial for procuring and digitizing academic dissertations about the Apple II; how Microsoft’s purchase of GitHub will affect Apple II programmers; and much, much more!

This is Juiced.GS‘s second quarterly issue of 2018, its twenty-third year in print. Subscriptions for 2018 are available for $19 each for United States customers, $24 for readers in Canada and Mexico, and $27 for international customers.

Volume 23, Issue 1 (Mar 2018) of Juiced.GS, the longest-running Apple II publication in print, has now shipped.

This issue features reviews of the WiModem232 modem emulator and the Oregon Trail electronic handheld; Quinn Dunki’s tutorial for using git and GitHub version control with Apple II source code; an interview with Robert Freedman of HLS Duplication; coverage of the inaugural Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest; a day in the life of an Apple II detective; and much, much more!

This is Juiced.GS‘s first quarterly issue of 2018, its twenty-third year in print. Subscriptions for 2018 are available for $19 each for United States customers, $24 for readers in Canada and Mexico, and $27 for international customers.