I, Thief development diary: a pre/se-quel

Playing Project Announcements
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AUTHORS SAY THE DARNEDEST THINGS

I’d like to do something closer to the Infocom games. A fan fiction, maybe. A sequel to Zork Zero!

If you would prefer a game with minimalist sensibilities… You might enjoy my next game, Zork Zero II.

If you’d like to experience my take on inventory management, please look forward to my next game, Zork Zero II.

If you prefer games with impressively high point values, you might enjoy my next game, Zork Zero II.

The player’s freedom is reflected in the scoring system, not the plot. If this freedom is not sufficient, then I hope that you will find greater pleasure in my next game, Zork Zero II.

I think it would be fun to do a fanfiction. A Zork game, perhaps. I wouldn’t want to retcon the ending of Spellbreaker, so Zork VII seems out of the question. A Wishbringer prequel, perhaps, or Zork Zero II.

Originally, I wanted there to be an orange-eyed cat that seemed to follow wherever D went, but it felt too busy and cluttered. I also intended to include some stray cats at the trailer park that D could feed and pet. Sadly, there wasn’t time to realize every facet of my original vision for Repeat the Ending.

Perhaps there will be more cats in the 50th anniversary edition, or in my next game, Zork Zero II.

Do you know how I feel about Zork Zero? I’ve publicly said a lot about it over the past two years. I hate it. I think the puzzles are bad, the constant, forced jokes are bad. I don’t like anything about it!

You might wonder if, since I hate it, Zork Zero II will be a parody.

No, not at all. Delightfully mysterious, isn’t it?

(Drew “Drew Cook” Cook, Repeat the Ending)

While the working title has, thanks to Mike Russo, changed to Beyond Zork Zero, the general idea remains the same. BZZ is a game about the Zork trilogy’s most interesting character, the thief. What is his origin story, and what is he doing down there in that maze?

Did the royal palace really transform into a white house for a bit of fan service?

How is this a follow up to Repeat the Ending?

All these questions, and many likely to remain unasked, will be answered! In fact, let’s answer some right now.

What is I, Thief?

  • I, Thief (working title Beyond Zork Zero or “bzz”) is in many senses a traditional adventure game with a large, sprawling map and puzzles. It tells the as-yet untold story of the legendary thief.

Are you back on your meta bullshit? I didn’t like that in Repeat the Ending.

  • Yes, I am, but…

  • It will be different. There won’t be footnotes or a reader’s guide this time.

  • There will, however, be an external PDF with introduction material, summaries of Zork and RTE.

  • There will also be some fun fan fiction stories featuring Marbles the cat and her friend D.

  • The idea behind this text is to recreate the experience of an old-school Infocom feelie.

Other than the thief, will other characters from Zork appear?

  • I think fans will be happy to see many old faces, yes.

This doesn’t sound like it has much to do with Repeat the Ending. Kind of a bummer if you ask me.

  • Hopefully, all will make sense by the end! I’ve given this a lot of thought.

Do I need to play both Zork and Repeat the Ending to enjoy this?

  • Most testers have only played one or the other. One had played neither. They mostly felt like they had complete experiences.

  • They also wanted to learn more about these works. I was particularly happy to generate interest in Zork!

Opening crawl:

PROLOGUE

Z–k I: The Gre-t Un—g-ou-d Empire
Copyright (c) 1981, 1982, 1983 In-o-m, Inc. All rights reserved.
Z–k is a registered trademark of In-o-m, Inc.
Revision 74 / Serial number 740517

Treasure Room
It was large room, whose east wall was solid granite. A number of discarded bags, which crumbled at his touch, were scattered about on the floor. There was an exit down a staircase.

I was a suspicious-looking individual. I held a large bag, leaning against one wall. I was armed with a deadly stiletto.

There was a silver chalice, intricately engraved, there.

He dodged as I came in low.

His nasty knife pinked me on the wrist, but it wasn’t serious.

I parried a lightning thrust, and saluted him with a grim nod.

His blow landed, making shallow gash in my arm!

I stabbed nonchalantly with my stiletto and missed.

I took a fatal blow and slumped to the floor dead.

Almost as soon as I breathed my last breath, a cloud of sinister black fog enveloped me, and when the fog lifted, my carcass had disappeared.

[ ⯖ ]

When will this be released? I’m not sure, honestly. When it’s done. But I’ve started at the ending and I’ve made it to the middle part. Hopefully I can update this soon!

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Excited to see this project moving along – as you know, I’m pretty enthusiastic about it :slight_smile:

Wait, really? I have, er, zero memory of this.

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You felt—quite correctly—that Zork Zero II would just be Zork I, so I abandoned the original title. All for the good!

Thanks for supporting this and my other projects :slightly_smiling_face:

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Very intriguing concept. So looking forward to playing this!

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I dunno. Zork Zero II is a pretty awesome title. But it does leave you forever open to the joke, ‘That would be Zork I.’

Some film producers say ‘Never include the joke that can be used to criticise your film in the title of your film.’ Of course nobody can live by that if the title it would force them to avoid is perfect, but it’s still a defensive manoeuvre to keep in mind. If you can pull it off at zero (ha!) cost, it’s always worth considering.

You have to watch out for puns, too. Xanadu became the review quip ‘Xana-don’t.’

-Wade

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I canta wait for this game. I loved RTE, and this one is not unlikely to live up to those standards!

Also Beyond Zork Zero is equally as good a title as Zork Zero II, if not better IMO.

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current project status

Screenshot of text reading as follows: "The 78303-word source text has successfully been translated into a world with 50 rooms and 337 things, and the index has been brought up to date."
Screenshot of text reading as follows: "The 78303-word source text has successfully been translated into a world with 50 rooms and 337 things, and the index has been brought up to date."685×217 16.9 KB

Presented without comment:

>spells


[ENTITY: OEW]

carry out spellbooking: 
     say "YOU HAVE COLLECTED THE FOLLOWING INEFFECTUAL PRIMEOID MAGICS:

     APHOSIS     |   DESCRIPTION     |   GRAMMAR     |   GLYPH  |   COUNT
     --------------------------------------------------------------------
     NIHTSEAH    |   detect aphosis  |   SEE         |   A      |   5
     FLEGECORS   |   insect curse    |   PLAGUE      |   P      |   5
     HYLFEOLL    |   mountainfall    |   ROCKFALL    |   R      |   6


[/ENTITY: OEW]


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current map (inform index)

A visual representation of the game's large map.
A visual representation of the game's large map.1480×475 103 KB

A snippet. I’ve decided to use AW Freyr’s “Hybrid Choices” extension for conversation. I’m having fun imagining the voices of familiar characters from the Zork universe. You can also see signs that I have implemented an automatically updating task list; a notification is printed here.

>talk to dungeon master
The DUNGEON MASTER looks at you expectantly. “Welcome, ANTAGONIST, welcome. You have returned once more to the wealth and splendor of the Great Underground Empire.” His voice is wet with irony. “It seems we have not yet played our game for the last time. You must have many questions! You always do.”

  1. About me
  2. About this place
  3. Why am I here?
  4. I am ready to proceed. (point of no return)

[DEMIURGE]

after updating the task list:
say “YOUR TASK LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED. REVIEW IT WITH THE ‘TASKS’ COMMAND.”;

[/DEMIURGE]

>

Authorial notes: it has been hard to write something that exists in an established continuity. I, Thief, is a kind of fan fiction, I suppose, and faith to the source material requires a lot of research, fact-checking, and commitment. I can’t always write things the way that I would write them. A recurring theme of I, Thief is that the past cannot be changed. I am living this out as an author. So much cannot be changed.

And yet, there remains a lot of room for play. We see so little of the Thief’s story, so I will make it mine to tell.

I would like to release I, Thief in the middle of 2026. How is that going to work out? Would I really release such a big game outside of a major event? It is too early to say, but my earnest answer is “I hope so.”

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I’ll be right here, on the edge of my seat, fingers poised above the keyboard.

In fact, please do release it outside of a Comp. I want all my attention focused on the thief.

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