Zarf Updates

I posted Visible Zork 2 a few ago. What about Zork 3, you might ask? My post ended with a cryptic note: "...Let's say the chances are high. But I'll save that announcement for a bit."

(How do you keep a Wumpus in suspense?)

Here we go. Announcing! And inviting you to support!

The Visible Zorker Project (and Patreon)

I intend to do all 31 of Infocom's text-mode adventures in Visible style. I intend to do one per month in chronological order. And I would like you to be part of this historic project. Yes -- you, in back, with the skirt and funny helmet.

And all the rest of you as well.

Visit the Patreon page to sign on.

Wait, all of the Infocom games?

All the plain-text ones. My "Visible" interpreter doesn't support Z-machine version 6, which means Zork Zero, Journey, Arthur, and Shogun are off the table. All the rest should be doable.

The "weird interface trick" games (Border Zone, Beyond Zork, Bureaucracy) get an asterisk. I may not be able to support those perfectly. Or the work may take longer than usual. But, hey, chronological order -- I won't have to worry about them for a couple of years.

(No, I'm not doing Fooblitzky. Hush you.)

Can you really do one per month?

Zork 2 was a feasibility test. I started that work on the evening of December 23rd; I released it on January 5th. In fact it was fully playable on Jan 2nd; I just gave it a couple of days for beta testing. So that's a week and a half.

(If you support this Patreon, you'll be in on the beta testing!)

Of course that was a holiday week, so I had time off from the day job. But also it was a holiday week, so I had to bake cookies and do jigsaw puzzles with family and friends and welcome in the new year, such as it is. So my time was somewhat divided either way.

If I can get a game up in ten days, I can commit to doing one per month without impacting my other time obligations. (The day job. Also baking cookies.)

It is possible I'll have to take a month off now and then. For example, NarraScope is in June (call for talks now open!) and that will eat some of my life. If I decide to skip a month, I'll pause the Patreon for that month.

I thought only the first three Zork games were open source.

That is true. But remember that I did the first Visible Zorker before Microsoft released them as open source. (Yes, people at Microsoft were aware of it.) This is research work that I think should be undertaken regardless of the legal status of the subject.

Anyhow, my understanding is that the Microsoft folks want to release all the Infocom games as open source. It's just a question of cranking it all through the lawyers. No idea how long that will take -- anywhere from a month to forever -- and I don't intend to wait on them.

What's the Patreon setup?

I'm keeping it simple.

Why are you charging money for this? Why not do it for free?

I've done a lot of IF work for free. Interactive fiction is a community practice, not an industry. Yes, it overlaps with the commercial game industry at many points (fractally!) but the core of it is done for love.

That said, this project is a substantial time investment. I said a year ago that I didn't plan to do any more "Visibles" after Zork 1. But I want to do more! I want to do a bunch! So I've plotted out a way to make the time and effort balance.

That said, all the games that I do will become publicly available two months after the Patreon community gets them. Patreon support gets you early access, not exclusive access.

As with the first two games, all of my Visible Zorker work will be open source under the MIT license.

(Just to avoid confusion: the Visible Zorker site and Patreon are my personal projects. They are not associated with the IF Archive or IFTF.)

What about other improvements to the Visible Zorker framework?

I'm sure there will be new features now and then. For example, I just added a "Grammar" tab -- it displays the ZIL parse table for each game. That's live for both Zork 1 and Zork 2.

I'll keep all Visible games, public and in-progress, updated with the latest improvements.

When does all this start?

The Patreon is open now. The Discord is open now.

I'll wait until February 14th (three weeks) to see how many people sign on. (That's your cue!) In the meantime, we can run Discord discussion and group plays of Zork 1 and Zork 2.

If we reach the $500/month goal by Feb 14th, I will start cranking on Zork 3. The aim will be to have a playable version ready for Patreon supporters on March 1st.

March will then be the month of Zork 3. Discord discussion; group plays; adding to the commentary; polish and bug fixes. Call it two weeks of beta and two weeks of early-access.

In April, we switch to Starcross Deadline. First-playable for Patreon Participants on April 1st; a month of discussion and group play. Thus we continue.

(Of course, Contributor-level supporters will see the games before the beginning of the month. That's the "even earlier access" tier.)

Again, the public and open-source release of each game will happen two months after the Patreon reveal. So Zork 3 goes live on May 1st for the world to appreciate. Hopefully Deadline goes public on June 1st, and so on.

What if you don't reach $500?

I have no idea how much interest this will draw. $500 per month is a bit arbitrary. But if we don't hit that mark by Feb 14th, I'll reevaluate the project and the schedule. Maybe the project doesn't fly. Maybe it will become one game every two months. I'll make an announcement; you'll have the opportunity to adjust your pledge at that time.

I'll do Zork 3 for March regardless, to ensure you get something for your first month's donation.

How DO you keep a Wumpus in suspense?

Trick question. They have sucker feet so they suspend themselves.

This is going to be fun!

Yeah, yeah it is.