Microsoft open-sourced Zork I, II, and III
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Key points
- Microsoft officially open-sourced the source code for the entire classic Zork trilogy.
- Before the news, the legal status was in the air as Activision Blizzard could have requested its removal.
- The code was first made public in 2019 by Jason Scott.
Microsoft officially open-sourced the source for Zork I, II, and III. The trilogy is known for helping establish the interactive fiction genre, influencing nearly all subsequent adventure and role-playing games. The code for the Zork series was first made public in 2019 by Jason Scott, but the legal status of the code was in the air. At any point in time, Activision Blizzard, if it so pleased, 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 its 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. Modern MMORPGs have adapted their text-based, open-world structure.
