Microsoft makes Zork I, II and III open-source
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Key points
- Microsoft officially made the code for the entire classic Zork trilogy open-source.
- The legal status was unclear, as Activision Blizzard could have requested its removal.
- The code was first made public in 2019 by Jason Scott.
Microsoft officially made the code for Zork I, II and III open-source. The trilogy is known for establishing the interactive fiction genre and having a strong influence on many adventure and role-playing games. The code for the Zork series was first made public in 2019 by Jason Scott. However, its legal status was unclear because Activision Blizzard could have requested its removal.
“Today, we’re preserving a cornerstone of gaming history that is near and dear to our hearts,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
“Our goal is simple: to place historically important code in the hands of students, teachers, and developers so they can study it, learn from it, and, perhaps most importantly, play it.”
The Zork series began in 1980 with Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, followed by Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz in 1981 and Zork III: The Dungeon Master in 1982. Zork pioneered technical and narrative advancements that defined the adventure game genre.
Zork’s advanced parser system was a significant leap forward when compared to its predecessors, utilizing a powerful natural language parser that could understand full sentences and complex phrases. The series featured a non-linear world, allowing players to solve puzzles in their preferred order. The non-linear gameplay design fostered one of the first examples of player community collaboration.
