Infocom Software

Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction for the Apple II. Infocom was founded on June 22, 1979 by MIT staff and students led by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Albert Vezza, and Joel Berez and lasted as an independent company until 1986 when it was bought by Activision. Activision finally shut down the Infocom division in 1989, although they released some titles in the 1990s under the Infocom Zork brand. Activision abandoned the Infocom trademark in 2002.

Infocom games are text adventures where users direct the action by entering short strings of words to give commands when prompted. Generally the program will respond by describing the results of the action, often the contents of a room if the player has moved within the virtual world. The user reads this information, decides what to do, and enters another short series of words. Examples include "go west" or "take flashlight".

Infocom was able to release most of their games for most popular home computers of the day simultaneously—the Apple II family, Atari 800,IBM PC compatibles, Amstrad CPC/PCW (one disc worked on both machines), Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, Commodore 128,[4] Kaypro CP/M, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, the Mac, Atari ST, the Commodore Amiga and the Radio Shack TRS-80. The company was also known for shipping creative props, or "feelies" (and even "smellies"), with its games.

Zork I was Infocom's first product.

Titles and authors

· The Zork series:

· The original Zork Trilogy (Marc Blank & Dave Lebling):

· Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1980)

· Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz (1981)

· Zork III: The Dungeon Master (1982)

· The Enchanter Trilogy:

· Enchanter (1983, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling)

· Sorcerer (1984, Steve Meretzky)

· Spellbreaker (1985, Dave Lebling)

· Mini Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1987, Marc Blank & Dave Lebling, free cut-down, single load tape version of game, covermounted on UK'sZZAP!64 magazine)

· Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor (1987, Brian Moriarty)

· Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz (1988, Steve Meretzky)

· Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (1997, Michael Berlyn and Marc Blank)

· The Planetfall series:

· Planetfall (1983, Steve Meretzky)

· Stationfall (1987, Steve Meretzky)

· Deadline (1982, Marc Blank)

· Starcross (1982, Dave Lebling)

· Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare (1983, Michael Berlyn)

· Infidel (1983, Michael Berlyn)

· The Witness (1983, Stu Galley)

· Cutthroats (1984, Michael Berlyn & Jerry Wolper)

· The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984, Steve Meretzky & Douglas Adams)

· Seastalker (1984, Stu Galley & Jim Lawrence)

· Suspect (1984, Dave Lebling)

· A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985, Steve Meretzky)

· Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams (1985, Brian Moriarty)

· Ballyhoo (1986, Jeff O'Neill)

· Hollywood Hijinx (1986, "Hollywood" Dave Anderson)

· Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986, Steve Meretzky)

· Moonmist (1986, Stu Galley & Jim Lawrence)

· Trinity (1986, Brian Moriarty)

· Border Zone (1987, Marc Blank)

· Bureaucracy (1987, Infocom & Douglas Adams)

· The Lurking Horror (1987, Dave Lebling)

· Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It (1987, Jeff O'Neill)

· Plundered Hearts (1987, Amy Briggs)

· Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels (1988, Bob Bates)

· Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur (1989, Bob Bates)

· James Clavell's Shogun (1989, Dave Lebling)

· Journey (1989, Marc Blank)

Other titles

· Graphic Adventures

· Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X! (1992, Steve Meretzky)

· Return to Zork (1993, Doug Barnett)

· Zork: Nemesis (1996)

· Zork Grand Inquisitor (1997)

· BattleTech Games

· BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (1988, developed by Westwood Studios)

· BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1991, developed by Westwood Studios)

· Other Games

· Fooblitzky (1985, Marc Blank, Mike Berlyn, Poh Lim & Paula Maxwell)

· Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth (1988, Scott Schmitz, Ken Updike & Amy Briggs)

· Mines of Titan (1988, Louis Castle & Brett Sperry)

· Tombs & Treasure (1989, developed by Nihon Falcom)

· Circuit's Edge (1989, developed by Westwood Studios)

· Infocomics

· Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen (1988, Steve Meretzky)

· Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams (1988, Amy Briggs)

· ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle (1988, Elizabeth Langosy)

· ZorkQuest II: The Crystal of Doom (1988, Elizabeth Langosy)