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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Podcast hosts Carrington Vanston of the Retro Computing Roundtable and Kevin Savetz of ANTIC have joined forces to form a new podcast. Eaten by a Grue is a semi-monthly show in which the two co-hosts play and share their experiences with Infocom interactive fiction. The first two text adventure games they’ve played are Zork I: The Great Underground Empire and Ballyhoo, both of which were originally available for the Apple II and which can now be found in the Lost Treasures of Infocom, among other ports. Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

This month on Open Apple, Kevin Savetz sits down with Amy Kefauver and Lorri Hopping. Amy was the editor of Scholastic Microzine, an educational magazine focused on the Apple II. Lorri was a writer and editor for Microzine. They share many great memories creating lessons with computers, the nature of the educational market, and how computers can engage kids in ways that static media can’t.

After those interviews (thanks Kevin!), Mike and Quinn talk ear worm game introductions, crappy early advertising, and hardware with Bumper Stumper product names. It wouldn’t be a show if they didn’t mention UltimateMicro and Brutal Deluxe, so they make sure to do that too.

Bathe in the glory of 1980s video game box art, enjoy mobile versions of KansasFest memories, and roll your eyes at teenage boy whimsy.

Volume 17, Issue 4 (December 2012) of Juiced.GS, the longest-running Apple II publication in print, has been mailed to all subscribers. This issue features a behind-the-scenes look at Randy Brandt’s work with AppleWorks for Superior Watch Service; a tour of Seattle’s Living Computer Museum; a guide to cleaning your Apple II hardware with Retr0bright; reviews of Terrible Nerd and Structris; and much, much more!

This is Juiced.GS‘s last quarterly issue of 2012. Subscriptions for 2013 are available at $19 for United States customers, $24 for readers in Canada and Mexico, and $27 for international customers, with several free sample issues available as PDFs.

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Kevin Savetz, Internet publisher and author of the memoir Terrible Nerd. We cross enemy lines to look at a book about the cultural, scientific, and philosophical implications of Commodore 64 programming, some of it applicable to the Apple II. Paul Terrell’s Polaroid snapshots of the first Apple-1 computers are cool, just like our reception to Jordan Mechner’s new Karateka game. On eBay, we discover the Androbot is not just another neat product from a Nolan Bushnell company, but another reason we prefer the Apple II to other platforms. And Ken’s accidental purchase of some Microzines produces the concept for a new and very expensive podcast!

Find the show at the Open Apple Web site or in the iTunes and Zune podcast directories.