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  • zilf
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  • Getting Started

Last edited by Jesse McGrew Sep 20, 2020
Page history

Getting Started

  • Tools
  • Documentation
    • Test Suite
  • Examples
    • Classic Game Source Code
    • Classic Game Known Bugs
  • Articles
    • ZIL Blogs
  • Videos/Podcasts
  • Things That Aren't ZIL

Tools

  • To compile ZIL code into playable Z-machine story files:
    • Download ZILF 0.9
    • Or, build the newest ZILF from source code with the .NET Core 2.2 SDK
  • To edit and debug ZIL code:
    • Visual Studio Code
    • The zil-language extension for VS Code
  • To run compiled Z-machine story files:
    • Gargoyle
    • Windows Frotz
    • Frotz
    • ...or many others
  • To get help:
    • Zork Implementation Language group on Facebook
    • ZILF Discord
    • ZILF subreddit
    • IntFiction.org
  • To report a bug in ZILF:
    • JIRA

Documentation

  • ZILF Reference Guide by Henrik Åsman
  • Learning ZIL, or Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Writing Interactive Fiction...
  • ZIL Course by Marc Blank
  • The MDL Programming Language by Stu Galley and Greg Pfister
  • The Z-Machine Standards Document
  • ZIP: Z-language Interpreter Program by Joel Berez, Marc Blank, and David Lebling

Test Suite

  • ZILF library tests

    Demonstrates the use of features from ZILF's parser and world library.

  • ZILF integration tests

    Demonstrates the use of features in MDL and ZIL, as implemented by ZILF.

Examples

  • Empty game template by Adam Sommerfield
  • Adventure (Colossal Cave) ported by Jesse McGrew
  • Cloak of Darkness ported by Alex Proudfoot
  • The Bean Stalker by Jack Welch
  • Tenliner Cave Adventure posted by jcompton

Classic Game Source Code

  • Unmodified source code for Infocom's games as uploaded by Jason Scott
  • ZIL source code for Infocom's games, cleaned up and patched so it compiles under ZILF (release 1)
  • The Obsessively Complete Infocom Catalog, including source code curated by Andrew Plotkin

Classic Game Known Bugs

  • The Infocom Bugs List by Graeme Cree
  • More bugs in Infocom games by Nathan Simpson

Articles

  • Long Lost ‘Zork’ Source Code Uploaded to GitHub, But Few People Understand It (April 18, 2019)
  • The History of Zork
  • A story about the source code for the original mainframe Zork

ZIL Blogs

  • Internal Secrets of Infocom Games by Michael Ko
  • Vaporware IF: posts about ZILF by Jesse McGrew
  • Learning ZIL by Alex Proudfoot
  • ZIL Crazy After All These Years

Videos/Podcasts

  • Where to Start - Quick Code Guide
    • How to write and run an ultra-simple (1 room, 1 object) game in ZIL
  • Game On! - Infocom text games and ZIL (1:21:50)
    • Kevin Savetz interviews Steve Meretzky at GitHub HQ.
  • Infocom - Zork Implementation Language (4:44; April 23, 2019)
    • A nice quick overview video, featuring an interview with Dave Lebling on Zork, MDL, and ZIL.
  • History of the Language (8:10)
    • A clip from Get Lamp. (Original interview is here.)
  • Jason Scott Talks His Way out of It: The Infocom Source Code Episode (19:27; April 28, 2019)
    • Jason Scott talks about releasing the Infocom Source Code on GitHub.
    • The Specialness of Infocom, The Craft, The Z-Machine, Z-Machine Glories, Full Sentences and Every Platform, GET LAMP, The Infocom .ZIP File, A Release, Stu Galley, GitHub, The Clones and Branches, Steve and Kevin have a chat.

Things That Aren't ZIL

  • Other historical game source code uploaded/curated by Jason Scott
  • Inform 7
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  • Getting Started
  • Releases
    • 0.9
      • Downloads
      • Release Notes
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