Thirty Two Worlds
Unopened.

In the 1980s, Infocom elevated and popularized the genre of “interactive fiction.” You typed a sentence in plain English, and the game responded by telling you what happened next. The story progressed as you explored and solved puzzles. Solving tricky puzzles took you deeper and deeper, until you were completely immersed in those worlds and their mysteries. Even as computer graphics became more sophisticated, Infocom continued to focus on the narrative and storytelling aspects of interactive fiction, creating stories, not just games.

Between the ages of about eight and twelve, I had an Apple IIc that was my portal to these extraordinary games. Even away from my computer, I was thinking about the puzzles and trying to work out how to solve them. I recall sitting in the back of the room in 7th grade trying to work out how to get past the mutants in Planetfall. And when I finally did, it gave me a sense of accomplishment and wonder I’ll never forget.

In the late 1980s, Infocom did eventually embrace graphics capabilities to enhance the stories and pivoted away from purely word-based interactive fiction. This collection celebrates and honors the thirty games before that pivot, often called “grey boxes.” These include their early games, such as Zork, re-released after their initial “folio” releases, but do not include their graphical adventures, such as Shogun and Journey. The exceptions in my collection are Zork Zero and Beyond Zork, both of which feature limited graphics that enhance rather than compete with the narrative. These are the thirty-two worlds of Infocom.

Not very many games from the 1980s remain as rewarding to play today. These do. The stories are just as compelling, the puzzles just as challenging, and the worlds just as immersive. Games like Trinity and A Mind Forever Voyaging carry messages that remain just as poignant and relevant forty years on. Sadly, too few people remember Infocom today. I want to change that. My collection and my work in AI-enhanced interactive fiction aim to keep the games, their worlds and their characters alive.