The funny part is that they link to the historicalsource (Historical Source) · GitHub account on Github, which has had all of the Infocom source ever since Jason Scott got a wild hair and tossed it up there.
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Does this mean there will be regular updates to Zork which require you to reboot your PC and reinstall all your printer drivers?
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Obligatory: xkcd: Estimation
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Don’t forget mandatory activation if your hardware changes. Too many activations and you have to call them and beg for access.
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So now someone could fix all the known bugs, compile with ZILF, and distribute the fixed versions!
But maybe don’t do it until my next update. There are a few more bugs coming.
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I mean… the code isn’t new, just the officially legal license terms.
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Yes, but it was illegal to do that before.
Now interested ZIL authors can use Infocom’s parser and other “library” code in their own projects.
People have been doing all kinds of “fair use” stuff with this code, but now it’s just plain free.
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The degree to which anybody cared about “illegal” was pretty microscopic. :)
Now interested ZIL authors can use Infocom’s parser and other “library” code in their own projects.
Been happening for years (Milliways: the Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Details)…
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From your blog:
The Zork 1 repo contains Zork 1 release 119, serial 880429. (See the
zork1.chartfile in that repo, or the runnable game file inCOMPILED/zork1.z3.) This is not a version that Infocom ever sold, as far as I know. All the Zork collections available since 1990 have contained release 88, serial 840726. So this is not the exact version of Zork that you played way back when.
At least according to the commit messages, revision 88 is there, you just have to go back in the history a bit. Commit 34cc828c4f has the log message “Revision 88 (Original Source)”:
This is the diff between r88 and r119:
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So I can copy, tweak, combine, publish, share, sublicense, or sell the software, except for stripping out the original copyright notice, heh…
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that’s interesting. I’ve tried to compile zork2 sources, just for fun. I had to convert all the filenames to uppercase (with rename -f 'y/a-z/A-Z/' *), I’m no longer on MS-DOS and my OS is case sensitive, but also edit ZORK1.ZIL and add the file extension .ZIL to the lines with INSERT-FILE which was missing.
But I’m still getting errors, maybe the original compiler behaved in a way which is not compatible with zilf?
zilf ZORK2.ZIL
ZILF 0.9 built 11/08/2019 13:31:00
Renovated ZORK II: The Wizard of Frobozz
[error ZIL0123] /temp/github/games/zork2/2ACTIONS.ZIL:1560: expressions of type 'LIST' canno
t be compiled
[info ZIL0124] misplaced bracket in COND or loop?
19 warnings (19 suppressed)
1 error
I did the same with zork1 and it worked fine.
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For those interested. Alex Proudfoot have a Zork substrate started since before. This could be the base for extracting a zork standard library.
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DREARY-ROOM-FNC looks a little bit suspect. Should be:
<ROUTINE DREARY-ROOM-FCN (RARG)
#DECL ((RARG) <OR FIX FALSE>)
<COND (<EQUAL? .RARG ,M-LOOK>
<TELL
"This is a small and rather dreary room, eerily illuminated by a red glow
emanating from a crack in one wall. The light falls upon a dusty wooden table
in the center of the room. ">
<P-DOOR "south" ,LID-2 ,KEYHOLE-2>
<RTRUE>)
(T <PCHECK> <RFALSE>)>>
You can look at the link a supplied above. This contains code slightly curated.
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thank you, it’s working with your correction! I managed to compile it with the first sentenced translated into French:
ZORK II: The Wizard of Frobozz
Infocom interactive fiction - a fantasy story
Copyright (c) 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986 Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 0 / Serial number 251121
Inside the Barrow
Vous vous trouvez à l'intérieur d'un ancien tumulus caché au cœur d'une forêt sombre. The
barrow opens into a narrow tunnel at its southern end. You can see a faint glow at the far
end.
I had to manually change the resulting ZORK2.ZAP which added new files (ZORK2_FREQ) without the extension, I have the impression if the file is named ZORK2_FREQ.zap it doesn’t need the extension, but if it’s ZORK2_FREQ.ZAP we need to include the extension name.
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Having thought about this more…
I think there will be a real shift for institutions. Libraries and museums and universities have to acquire books in legal ways; there’s lawyers around somewhere, because a university is worth suing. This has turned into a real problem for institutions collecting digital games. (See many threads hereabouts.)
Individual fans will continue to do whatever they want.
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Note that ZILF 0.9 is out of date; newer versions shouldn’t have that problem.
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As an institution of one, this licensing change means I can now include Zork in ZILF as a regression test.
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I am trying to digest what this means. Can you tweak it and add your own content and release a new game ‘not called Zork’.. because the content is copyrighted, right? It’s very unclear what this gives people aside from the ability to look at the code and compile it
Under the MIT license, you can indeed do that! You just have to properly credit the original creators.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions…
You could even just build it into a mobile app and sell it for profit if you wanted. There’s very little you can’t do under this license: pretty much just “taking credit for it as your own work” and “suing the authors if it malfunctions”.
(Now, the name Zork and its logo could also be trademarked. I believe that’s expired, though?)
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