The Great Underground Empire
Runtime: 59 Minutes
History Topics (At-A Glance):
Zork (1977) and Infocom (Development Studio)
Episode Summary:
We're looking at the history of Infocom, and its most successful title, Zork. Our story begins with the development of Zork, and talks about how the gaming community contributed to its development. It continues with the formation of Infocom, talks about its acquisition by Activision, and looks at how the relationship between the two evolved. We'll wrap up with a brief look at the Zork series throughout time. Join us for the next great text adventure on today's trip down Memory Card Lane.
| Video Games Discussed in this Episode: | |
|---|---|
| Zork (1977) | |
| Colossal Cave Adventure | |
| Adventureland | |
| Mystery House | |
| Adventure (1980 video game) | |
| Maze (1973 video game) | |
| Microsoft Adventure | |
| The Lost Treasures of Infocom | |
| Return to Zork | |
| Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands | |
| Zork: Grand Inquisitor |
| Additional Sources: |
|---|
|
Wikipedia contributors. (2023, November 10). Zork. Wikipedia. |
|
Marc Blank : The Programmer Behind Zork. (1983). In Kathy Yakal (Ed.), Compute!’s Gazette (Issue 4, p. 64). https://archive.org/details/1983-10-computegazette/page/n65/mode/2up |
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Wikipedia contributors. (2023, September 10). Tim Anderson (programmer). Wikipedia |
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Wikipedia contributors. (2023, March 7). Bruce Daniels. Wikipedia. |
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Wikipedia contributors. (2023, November 25). Dave Lebling. Wikipedia. |
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Wikipedia contributors. (2023i, November 12). Marc Blank. Wikipedia. |
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Anderson, T. (Winter 1985) The History of Zork: First in a Series. The New Zork Times, via the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/New_Zork_Times_The_Vol._IV_No._1_1985-03_Infocom_US/ |
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Anderson, T. (Spring 1985) The History of Zork: Second in a Series. The New Zork Times, via the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/New_Zork_Times_The_Vol._4_No._2_1985-06_Infocom_US/ |
|
Lebling, Dave. Classic Game Postmortem: Zork. https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020612/Classic-Game-Postmortem |
| Audio Sources: | |
|---|---|
| Cold Open Music |
Bleeping Demo by Kevin MacLeod Link: Free Download Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license |
| Podcast Intro Music |
Open Those Bright Eyes by Kevin MacLeod Link: Free Download Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license |