Zarf Updates

For November, we return to the Lands of Zork. Sort of.

As usual, the source code repository is also live, licensed with the open-source MIT license. In addition, I've posted high-resolution scans of the original folio manual and feelies.

Enchanter is a fan favorite for good reason. The mechanics of scrolls and spells is evocative and supports a terrific puzzle experience. (My own Hadean Lands was directly inspired by thoughts on how Enchanter intertwines its puzzles.) The NPC Adventurer is of course a loving and joke-dense roast of the Zork trilogy.

I spent some time trying to work out exactly how the Zork and Enchanter storylines fit together. The truth is that this is a bit of whimsy; any serious attempt at Zork historiography rapidly flies off a cliff. You can infer that the Adventurer is from somewhere in Zork 2 or 3, since he's met the Wizard of Frobozz but he hasn't been turned into an old robe-and-staff guy. But then you pull him out of the Underground Empire into the (above-ground) Westlands, and there's no indication that he has a way back.

One might take the hard-hearted view that this is an earlier Adventurer, one of the many who died before achieving Dungeon Mastery. He no doubt meets some fate in keeping with his thickheadedness; someone will kindly summon his Elvish sword home for the next attempt. Better luck to the next guy. Or gal -- this interpretation has the minor benefit of unpinning the gender of the "real" Zork protagonist.

(At one point, the Adventurer says "Hello, sailor" to you. Did you know that you can respond? I didn't! I leave the result to your own investigation. Hint: it's in purloined.zil.)

The game opening deserves some attention as well. It's tight, as Infocom openings always are. It was meant to fit on a 40x24 character screen, right? But there's a lot jammed in. It introduces Krill, Belboz, and your scrawny self. It outlines your quest.

Quests are new, though, if you think about it. Infocom's previous games had two basic setups. Either you were given a fully-mapped space with a well-defined goal (find the murderer, fix the machinery), or you were dumped into the unknown with no hint of the goal to come. (Okay, the original Zork was up-front looting, but I'm lumping it in with the trilogy.)

Enchanter is rather different from both. You have a mission but no idea how to accomplish it. This is the first game that's laid out as a story rather than a space or a puzzle.

Belboz's document (can't call it a "scroll"!) is a somewhat awkward lead-in to that story. The Prophecy of the Kid Who Will Do the Thing is stock footage, but I've always felt it was unnecessary here -- or even confusing. The prophecy is never mentioned after the opening text (unless you die and Belboz has to wave it around again). It doesn't prefigure anything, and it doesn't really explain anything either.

Enchanter's original design document has been preserved. (SPOILERS if you haven't played!) It says:

In addition to the Spell Book and Spells, there is going to need to be a sort of crib sheet giving enough detail for the player to get started. The rationale is that having just graduated from Wizard School, you are still a little shakey.

The manuscript may have started there, but in Enchanter as shipped, you can get exactly the same information if you READ SPELL BOOK.

On the up side, the calligraphy is nice. And the wax seal was a nice touch. Although elasticized red plastic gets kind of sticky after forty years.

Oh, I should note the other important job of the introduction: it establishes that magic is nice. Good magic, at least. There will be a lot of evil ash-colored magic and a lot of mechanical spell-fiddling in this game. But you know that your team weaves spells of warmth and hope.

(Mind you, the opening fails to mention that the esteemed Belboz is a Necromancer. One of the nice ones, I'm sure.)

More reading:

• The Digital Antiquarian
• Drew Cook

Visible Infidel will be the next public release on December 1st. Watch for ASCII hieroglyphs and a morally uplifting Tale of True Adventure! Or morally satisfying, anyway. Tales of True Schadenfreude?

Patreon supporters got access to Visible Infidel a month ago, and Visible Sorcerer today. Please remember that the Visible Zorker is a Patreon-supported project! Your donation is immensely appreciated. (And credited in each game's "About" page, of course.)