From: forbes@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (Scott Forbes)
Subject: rec.games.int-fiction Frequently Asked Questions
Organization: Usenet Sports Programming Network
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 16:17:27 GMT

Archive-name:  if-games-faq
Last-updated:  21 Jan 1993


West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a
boarded front door.  There is a small mailbox here.

>OPEN MAILBOX. READ LEAFLET
Opening the small mailbox reveals a leaflet.

(Taken)
    "Welcome to rec.games.int-fiction!

    This is the Frequently Asked Questions list for the group
    rec.games.int-fiction, a USENET newsgroup for the discussion 
    of Interactive Fiction games and related topics.  To read a
    specific question, use your newsreader's search function on 
    the string "(n)", where n is the question number.

    (1)  Interactive fiction:  What is it?  Why is this group here? 
    (2)  Asking for and posting hints (and protecting SPOILERS!)
    (3)  Lost Treasures of Infocom I
    (4)  Lost Treasures of Infocom II
    (5)  Missing or hard-to-find information in LToI packaging
    (6)  Zmachines, vocabulary listers and other programs
    (7)  FTP'able interactive fiction games and spoiler files 
    (8)  Our sister group, rec.arts.int-fiction
    (9)  Whatever happened to Infocom, anyway?

    This FAQ is currently under construction; questions and info
    should be e-mailed to Scott Forbes (forbes@ihlpf.att.com).
    Special thanks to Paul Smith, Magnus Olsson, Jacob Butcher and
    many others for suggestions, ideas and contributions.


    No newsgroup should be without one!"

>PRAY
Altar
This is the south end of a large temple. In front of you is what
appears to be an altar. In one corner is a small hole in the floor
which leads into darkness. You probably could not get back up it.
On the two ends of the altar are burning candles.
On the altar is a large black book, open to page 570.

>READ BOOK
Commandment #12593

    The purpose of this group and some history of IF --              (1)
    here in the newsgroup rec.games.int-fiction we discuss games of the
    interactive fiction genre, ranging from classic games by companies
    such as Infocom and Scott Adams to 'modern' and non-text IF games.

    Simply put, the IF genre includes any game that tells a story as
    part of the game, usually with the player as the protagonist.  The
    actions of the player affect the progress of the story, which often
    centers around solving puzzles or finding treasure, and leads to an
    endgame in which the player 'wins' and completes the adventure.

    Interactive fiction traces its electronic roots to a 1977 program
    named ADVENT, better known as the Colossal Cave Adventure.  It was
    this program, written by Willie Crother and Don Woods, that
    established many of the features now common to the genre, including
    noun-verb parsing (e.g. "TAKE BOOK"), mazes ("You are in a maze of
    twisty little passages, all alike") and the basis of most later IF
    in fantasy/adventure settings.  Soon after this the game Dungeon,
    or Zork, was written by MIT grad students; these students were the
    nucleus of a 1980 startup company called Infocom, which produced
    a version of Zork for the TRS-80 Model I and other machines.  This
    led to widespread popularity of interactive fiction games, and was
    later referred to as the Golden Age of the genre; for several
    years, Infocom's products were the top-selling games on the market.

    Later events, however, led to the decline of the IF genre.  As the
    educational level of the average computer user decreased and the
    features and capabilities of the average computer increased, the
    trend in computer games went to 'arcade' games instead of text.

    By 1989 Infocom had been absorbed by another company and destroyed,
    leaving a legacy of high-quality, well-written interactive fiction
    and a large audience with few sources for good new material.  This
    newsgroup discusses 'classic' interactive fiction games, new games
    keeping the genre alive, and non-text (even non-computer) IF.  

>BLORPLE BOOK
Abruptly, your surroundings shift.

Nondescript Room
This is a drab, nondescript room. The only exit leads south.

>S
Enchanters' Retreat
Belboz is meditating here.

>BELBOZ, HELLO
"Hello." Belboz doesn't seem pleased to see you.

>ASK BELBOZ FOR A HINT                                               (2)
    Belboz looks at you suspiciously.  "Only the rawest apprentice
    would ask for a hint (or post one) without observing proper
    netiquette.

    1. Above all else, don't spoil the puzzle or game for other
       people who are reading the newsgroup but DIDN'T ask for a
       hint.  Use spoiler warnings in the both the posting's title
       and in the text.

       Good example:
       >Subject: Re: ZORK I question (SPOILERS)
       >
       >J. Random writes:
       >>How do I get into the white house?
       >
       >SPOILERS

       
       >Have you tried running for President?
       >

       *** A special note on the "form feed" character:  The ASCII
       character 12, if inserted as the _first_character_of_a_line_
       in the text of an article, causes most newsreaders to pause
       and require the user to hit a key before continuing.  This
       feature is useful when protecting part of a message from
       people who don't want to see it, as it gives them the option
       of hitting "n" instead and skipping the SPOILER section.

       Some newsreaders display this character as a caret followed
       by the letter L, thus:  ^L .  This is NOT the same as typing
       the two characters ^ and L.  Also, it is very important that
       the "form feed" character be kept as the first character on
       the line.  If you reply to a message and put a ">" in front
       of the form feed, it won't work, the message will be spoiled
       and scores of angry netters will tear you limb from limb
       (okay, maybe not THAT drastic, but it's bad manners).

       Most machines can generate a form feed character if you type
       a CTRL-L or (in "vi") CTRL-V CTRL-L.  If you can't generate
       a form feed character, either use 24 blank lines or save
       this message and delete everything but the form feed below.

       The last character on this line is an ASCII form feed:  



    2. If you're asking for a hint, please try to ask in a way
       that doesn't spoil the puzzle, or spoil other puzzles in
       the game.  Describe whatever details are relevant, but
       don't post the answer to every other puzzle you've solved
       up to this point.

       Good example:
       >I've figured out what the gold machine is for, but I keep
       >getting killed whenever I try to use it.

       Bad example:
       >I used the gold machine to send a message to Orkan, but the
       >Warlock noticed my presence and turned me into bat guano.

       If you can't ask the question without revealing part of the
       puzzle, protect the question with spoiler warnings as above.


    3. When asking for a hint, please ask for responses by e-mail.
       If you don't, half a dozen people will post the same answer
       and it's more likely that one of them will spoil the puzzle.

       If someone else posts a hint request and you're interested
       in seeing the answer, send e-mail to the questioner and ask
       that they send whatever info they receive.  Please don't
       post a message to the net asking for the same hint; you have
       a better chance of getting an answer if you send e-mail to
       the person who originally posted the request.


    4. When giving a hint, please try to give just enough info
       to send the adventurer on his/her way.  Please don't post
       the exact sequence of moves required to win the game from
       this point, or solve the next two puzzles in order to get
       the ball rolling.

       Good example:
       >Have you explored the area outside the house?

       Bad example:
       >There's a window on the east side of the house that you can
       >squeeze through in order to get in.  Don't bother with the
       >front door; there's no way to open it.  Don't eat the food,
       >either:  You'll need it later to feed the microscopic dog.

Belboz looks at you expectantly.

>FROTZ BELBOZ
Belboz stops you with a word of power.
"Ah! Now I have you, charlatan! Fool me twice? Never!" He rises 
to his feet, makes a threatening gesture, and you find yourself 
transported to...

Dark
You can make out a shadow moving in the dark.

>LOOK AT SHADOW
The shadow is vaguely Ford Prefect-shaped.

Vogon Hold
This is a squalid room filled with grubby mattresses, unwashed
cups, and unidentifiable bits of smelly alien underwear. A door
lies to port, and an airlock lies to starboard.

Ford removes the bottle of Santraginean Mineral Water which he's 
been waving under your nose. He tells you that you are aboard a 
Vogon spaceship, and gives you some peanuts.

>ASK FORD ABOUT LOST TREASURES OF INFOCOM
A long silence tells you that Ford Prefect isn't interested in 
talking about the Lost Treasures of Infocom.

Ford yawns. "Matter transference always tires me out. I'm going to
take a nap."  He places something on top of his satchel. "If you
have any questions, here's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" 
(Footnote 14). Ford lowers his voice to a whisper. "I'm not 
supposed to tell you this, but you'll never be able to finish 
the game without consulting the Guide about lots of stuff." As he 
curls up in a corner and begins snoring, you pick up the Guide.

>CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT LOST TREASURES OF INFOCOM                             (3)
    The Guide checks through its Sub-Etha-Net database and 
    eventually comes up with the following entry:

    "The Lost Treasures of Infocom" is a collection of 20 games 
    available for $39.95 through most retail and mail-order
    outlets.  The LToI I package is available for the IBM PC, the
    Apple Macintosh and [other machines?]; games in LToI I include:

    Zork I         Enchanter      Deadline       Starcross
    Zork II        Sorcerer       Witness        Suspended
    Zork III       Spellbreaker   Suspect        Planetfall
    Zork Zero      Ballyhoo       Infidel        Stationfall
    Beyond Zork    Moonmist       Lurking Horror Hitchhiker's Guide

    The package includes a manual which contains photocopies of all
    the original manuals and game pieces (such as the trading cards
    from "Spellbreaker", which are needed to solve a puzzle in the
    game), but some information was left out -- see question 5 for
    more details.

    The package also contains a hint book, which looks like
    somebody took all the Invisiclues booklets and typed them into
    a text file. The hint book is riddled with spelling mistakes,
    formatting errors and other problems, but in most cases the 
    mistakes are not serious enough to keep you from using it.

    See also the entry on "Lost Treasures of Infocom II".

You begin to feel distinctly groggy.

>CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT LOST TREASURES OF INFOCOM II                    (4)
    The Guide checks through its Sub-Etha-Net database and
    eventually comes up with the following entry:

    "Lost Treasures of Infocom II" contains most (but not all) of 
    the remaining Infocom text adventure games, and retails for
    $29.95 through retail and mail order outlets.  Games include:

    Seastalker     Wishbringer    A Mind Forever Voyaging
    Trinity        Cutthroats     Hollywood Hijinx
    Bureaucracy    Border Zone    Plundered Hearts
    Sherlock       Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It

    This package contains photocopies of the original packaging,
    but does NOT contain a hint book:  Instead it contains a 
    1-900 number which you can call to receive hints.

You begin to feel indistinctly groggy.

>CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT MISSING GAME PIECES                             (5)
    The Guide checks through its Sub-Etha-Net database and 
    eventually comes up with the following entry:

    Here is a list of missing or hard-to-find info in the LToI I
    game package.

    _Lurking Horror_
    This story begins in a computer room, and the first "puzzle" is
    logging in at the computer and retrieving your term paper.  The 
    computer will ask for a Login ID and Password; the Login ID is
    the number below the bar code on your Student ID Card (see page
    151 of the LTOI manual).
    
    _Deadline_
    The original packaging included an advertisement for a radio
    station, WPDL AM at 1170 KHz.  You will need to tune the radio
    to this frequency (or TUNE RADIO TO WPDL) to get a vital clue.

You begin to feel very indistinct.

>WAKE FORD
Rather like trying to wake the dead.  Speaking of which...

    ****  You have died  ****

Your guardian angel, draped in white, appears floating in the
nothingness before you. "Gotten in a bit of a scrape, eh?" he asks,
writing frantically in a notebook. "I'd love to chat, but we're so
busy this month." The angel twitches his nose, and the nothingness
is replaced by...

It is pitch black.  You could be eaten by a zmachine.

>WHAT IS A ZMACHINE?                                                 (6)
    A zmachine or ZIP (Z-machine Interpreter Program) is a program
    that interprets and runs Infocom game data files.  Infocom used
    a way-ahead-of-their-time implementation scheme that allowed
    them to develop one game that would run on any of 21 different
    computers, using a ZIP program specific to that computer and a
    data file common to all machines.

    Infocom data files are written in Z-code, a compiled version of
    the Zork Implementation Language (ZIL).  ZIL is a dialect of a
    Lisp-like language called MDL.  MDL is ancient history, but ZIL
    and several reverse-engineered ZIPs live on.  Here is a list of
    available ZIPs and related programs, provided by Paul D. Smith:

    _zorkword_ by Mike Threepoint <linhart@rutgers.edu>
        Current version: 9
        Prints the vocabulary list from any Z-Code version game

    _zmachine_ by Matthias Pfaller <leo@marco.de>
        Current version: 2.24
        Plays most Z-Code v.3 games (except games with sound)
        Supports UNIX termcap and MS-DOS systems

    _infocom_ by InfoTaskForce
        Current version: 4.01 + 2 patches
        Plays all Z-Code v.1 to v.5 games.  Includes features to print
        vocabulary lists, object trees, and header info for all Z-Code
        versions.  Supports UNIX termcap and curses and MS-DOS systems

    _infocom_ by InfoTaskForce & Paul D. Smith <paul_smith@dg.com>
        Current version: 3.0
        Plays all Z-Code v.3 games.  Includes features to print
        vocabulary lists, object trees, and header info for all Z-Code
        versions.  Supports UNIX termcap and terminfo, MS-DOS, and
        Amiga systems.  Basically does everything ITF 4.01 does and
        more (command-line restore, enhanced command-line editing
        commands, stellar Amiga interface, etc.) but only works for
        v.3 games.

    [I'm still looking for FTP locations for these files  -- SF]

>N
Oh, no!  A lurking zmachine slithered into the room and devoured you!

    ****  You have died  ****

Now, let's take a look here... Well, you probably deserve another 
chance.  I can't quite fix you up completely, but you can't have 
everything.

Inside the Barrow
There is a lamp here.

A strange little man in a long cloak appears suddenly in the room.
He is wearing a high pointed hat embroidered with astrological 
signs. He has a long, stringy, and unkempt beard.

The Wizard draws forth his wand and waves it in your direction. 
It begins to glow with a faint blue glow. The Wizard, in a deep and
resonant voice, speaks the word "FTP!"  He cackles gleefully.

    FTP'able IF GAMES AND "WALKTHROUGH" SOLUTION FILES               (7)
    Thanks to Magnus Olsson for much of the info in this section.

    Source code for some text adventures (including various versions of
    Colossal Cave/ADVENT, Dungeon/Zork and World) have been posted to
    comp.sources.games and comp.sources.misc. They're available from
    FTP sites archiving these groups, such as ftp.uu.net.

    The two biggest FTP sites carrying MS-DOS text adventures that I 
    know of are ftp.ulowell.edu [129.63.32.1] and nic.funet.fi 
    [128.214.6.100] (the latter one in Finland).

    Some Macintosh IF games are available from sumex-aim.stanford.edu,
    including Colossal Cave and Dungeon.  [Unnkulian may be there too]

    "Walkthrough" solution files for many popular IF games are 
    available from ftp.uu.net, in the directory "/pub/games/solutions".

    There is a new archive at ftp.gmd.de (129.26.8.90) dedicated
    exclusively to Interactive Fiction and to the USENET newsgroups
    rec.games.int-fiction and rec.arts.int-fiction.  This site is
    hoping to become *the* archive site for interactive fiction, and
    already contains a fair collection of games, development systems
    and "walkthrough" solution files.  Uploads are encouraged.


>YONK WIZARD
The wizard glows brightly for a moment.

The Wizard points his wand at you again, and incants "Freeze!"  The
spell is so effective that you end up frozen for half a century...


FC ALERT! 
Planetside systems are deteriorating. FC imbalance detected. 
Emergency reviving systems completed. You are now in control of 
the complex.

SENSA INTERRUPT: Seismic aftershock detected ten meters north of
Beta FC.  Tremor intensity 9.7. Projected damage: connecting cables
in Primary and Secondary Channels.

FC INTERRUPT: All Robots, report locations.

IRIS: In the Weather Monitors.
WALDO: In the Gamma Repair.
SENSA: In the Central Chamber.
AUDA: In the Entry Area.
POET: In the Central Chamber.
WHIZ: In the Advisory Peripheral.

>IMPOSSIBLE
FC: Okay, you asked for it...

FC INTERRUPT: External sensors detect huge radiation abnormalities 
in the star which provides Contra with all light and heat.

WARNING! TIME CRITICAL!!

External sensors detect significant instability in the star.


>WHIZ, PLUG IN.
FC: Cryolink established to Whiz.
WHIZ: It's great to be home. Plugged in to the Advisory Pedestal. 
Ready to process queries.

>ASK ABOUT REC.ARTS.INT-FICTION                                      (8)
    AP:  rec.arts.int-fiction, our older sibling, is a group for
    _authors_ of Interactive Fiction.  Before rec.games.int-fiction
    came along that group was periodically flooded with requests
    for hints about the Babel fish puzzle and other queries from
    players and readers of IF, so they tend to get a bit annoyed
    when such requests start popping up in the writer's group.

    If you're writing an IF game, or are interested in the aspects
    of writing an IF game (puzzles, mazes, non-player characters,
    length of games, length of descriptions, development systems
    and other topics), check out rec.arts.int-fiction.  If you're
    more interested in playing IF games than writing them, then
    this is the place to be.

>ASK ABOUT INFOCOM                                                   (9)
    AP:  This info is taken from the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games FAQ,
    with thanks to Infocom's Stu Galley for passing it along:

    [Thanks to Dave Lebling (Infocom co-founder) for the definitive
     info on this]

    ...
    
    Infocom never went out of business.  It went deeply into debt to
    develop a database product (named Cornerstone) that was a commercial
    flop.  It went shopping for a merger and found Activision, which
    later changed its name to Mediagenic.  What did happen is that
    in May of 1989 Mediagenic closed down the "real" Infocom in
    Cambridge, MA, and laid (almost) everyone off.  All the releases
    up through Zork Zero, Shogun, Journey, and Arthur were developed
    in Cambridge.

    Mediagenic licensed the UK rights to the games to Virgin Mastertronic
    about two years ago.

    Mediagenic went nearly bankrupt, was taken over by outside investors,
    and taken through a so-called "pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy" in
    January, 1992.  As part of that process, they changed their name back
    to Activision, moved from Silicon Valley down to LA, and recently
    merged with a company owned by the investors (called The Disc Company).


FC INTERRUPT: Oh oh. 
Abnormalities in star approaching critical level.    NOVA IMMINENT!

So long from all the gang -- Iris, Waldo, Sensa, Auda, Poet, Whiz, 
FRED, and last but not least, we three FCs.

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