Playable version of Mini-Zork I, 1984 version

Now that I’ve dusted off my old attempt at making Mini-Zork II playable, here’s a playable version of the 1984 version of Mini-Zork I. It’s been a long time since I compared the two Mini-Zorks, but I got the impression that they were made fairly independently of each other because they strip down the original in different ways.

In keeping with the beta status of the game, I have for the most part resisted the temptation to add gameplay elements. (When I did this the first time, a while back, I was not as restrained.) There were a few things that had been removed but were still referenced, e.g. the prayer on the temple wall, so I figured I had to restore that.

I’ve fixed the game-breaking bugs I encountered on the way (e.g. map exits to object 0, not being able to cross the reservoir, and the thief not fighting back), but you can still get rid of the troll by giving him to himself, just as an example.

Some of the things cut seem a bit odd: The grate in the forest is still there, but you can’t unlock it. The canary and brass bauble still exist in the game, but as far as I can tell there is no way to open the egg without breaking it. The rubber boat is there, but there is little reason for you to use it.

As far as I can tell, the maximum score is 287. I thought I might be able to cheat and get a few more by putting the egg in the trophy case before breaking it, but I don’t know…

The game file produced by ZILF 0.9 (with abbreviations) is a mere 42,920 bytes, so I guess there’s plenty of space for modding while still keeping the game small enough to fit on a cassette-based C64. If that’s your cup of tea.

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