I can't play my game, PLEASE HELP

Well, I have my game saved as a zblorb file and a z5 file, but whenever I try to open either of them with frotz, it shows what looks like the command prompt for less than a second and then that disapears.

I am using Inform 7.

Does anyone know what my problem is and how to fix it?

What platform (Windows, Linux, Mac) are you using, and which incarnation of Frotz?

Sorry, forgot to mention I’m on Windows Vista.

I don’t know what frotz I have.

You’re not trying to use the “frotz.exe” that’s included in the “Interpreters” sub-directory of your Inform 7 install, are you? If so that’s not something you can do: that executable is part of Inform 7 and is used by the front-end to run the Game tab: it’s not useable on its own.

Unfortunately, I was trying to use the frotz.exe to run my game. Thanks, I now realize this was a mistake.

What do I need to do to run my game outside of the Inform 7 editor (once it is a zblorb or z5 file) ?

You need to download and install an interpreter program for Z-code files, of which there are lots. Two popular ones for Windows:
Windows Frotz http://www.davidkinder.co.uk/frotz.html
Gargoyle http://code.google.com/p/garglk/

There is also a web-based interpreter (“Parchment”) that is built into the latest versions of Inform 7, see the documentation on “Releasing”, particularly the section on web sites.