ZILF 0.3

Version 0.3 of ZILF was released recently and is available at its SourceForge project page.

ZILF is a compiler for ZIL, targeting Z-machine versions 3, 4, 5, and 8, and also includes ZAPF, a Z-machine assembler.

ZIL is Infocom’s Zork Implementation Language, which was used to write all of the classic Z-code games. ZIL was based on MDL, a derivative of Lisp that was used to write the original mainframe Zork. The language implemented by ZILF is an approximation of the original ZIL, as historically accurate as possible given the limited surviving documentation and snippets of code.

There’s no complete manual for the language yet, but see Steve Meretzky’s ZIL guide and the MDL manuals. ZILF also comes with some sample source code, including a parser/world library (implementing a slightly changed subset of the features Meretzky describes) and a port of Cloak of Darkness.