Glk/ZCode

ZCode
Engine developer	dreammaster
Companies that used it	Infocom and others
Games that use it	innumerable games
Date added to ScummVM	2018-12-09
First release containing it	2.2.0

About

The ScummVM Z-code engine is based on Frotz. Frotz is the most popular Z-machine implementation, developed by Stefan Jokisch to play games adhering to the different Z-machine versions of text-based games, first introduced for the Zork series and following games by Infocom, then later Graham Nelson's Inform that became the de facto standard for interactive fiction.

Games

Official Infocom games

Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1980)
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz (1981)
Zork III: The Dungeon Master (1982)
Deadline (1982)
Starcross (1982)
Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare (1983)
The Witness (1983)
Infidel (1983)
Planetfall (1983)
Enchanter (1983)
Sorcerer (1984)
Seastalker (1984)
Cutthroats (1984)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984)
Suspect (1984)
A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985)
Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams (1985)
Spellbreaker (1985)
Ballyhoo (1986)

Hollywood Hijinx (1986)
Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986)
Moonmist (1986)
Trinity (1986)
Border Zone (1987)
Bureaucracy (1987)
The Lurking Horror (1987)
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It (1987)
Plundered Hearts (1987)
Stationfall (1987)
Beyond Zork (1987)
Zork Zero (1988)
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels (1988)
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur (1989)
James Clavell's Shōgun (1989)
Journey: The Quest Begins (1989)
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (1997) (developed by Activision)
Milliways (prototype) (created in 1988, released in 2008)

Conversions

Converted from Alan2:

Converted from ScottFree - Adventure International games:

Adventureland (1978)
Pirate Adventure, a.k.a. Pirate Cove (1979)
Mission: Impossible, a.k.a. Impossible Mission, a.k.a. Secret Mission (1979)
Voodoo Castle (1979)
The Count (1979)
Strange Odyssey (1979)
Mystery Fun House (1979)
Pyramid of Doom (1979)
Ghost Town (1980)
Savage Island, Part I and II (1981)
The Golden Voyage (1981)
Sorcerer of Claymorgue Castle (1982)
Return to Pirate's Isle (1983)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
Questprobe: Featuring the Hulk a.k.a Marvel Adventure #1 (1984)
Questprobe: Featuring Spider-Man (1984)
Questprobe: Featuring the Human Torch and the Thing (1985)

Converted from ScottFree - Mysterious Adventures series:

Mysterious Adventures 1: The Golden Baton (1981)
Mysterious Adventures 2: The Time Machine (1981)
Mysterious Adventures 3: Arrow of Death Part 1 (1981)
Mysterious Adventures 4: Arrow of Death Part 2 (1982)
Mysterious Adventures 5: Escape from Pulsar 7 (1982)
Mysterious Adventures 6: Circus (1982)
Mysterious Adventures 7: Feasibility Experiment (1982)
Mysterious Adventures 8: The Wizard of Akyrz (1983)
Mysterious Adventures 9: Perseus and Andromeda (1983)
Mysterious Adventures 10: Ten Little Indians (1983)
Mysterious Adventures 11: Waxworks (1983)

Converted from other architectures/languages:

Super Star Trek (1971-1974) (converted from BASIC to C to Inform)
Hunt the Wumpus (1973) (converted from BASIC to to Inform)
Colossal Cave Adventure (I: 1975-1977, II: 1978-1981, 2.5: 1995, 3: 1978, 4: 1995, 5: 1978, 6: 1984, 370: 1993) (converted from Fortran/C to Inform)
Robots (1976) (converted from BASIC to Inform)
Zork (1978) (the original release by the team that would become Infocom at MIT, converted to Inform) (converted from Fortran to Inform)
CIA Adventure (1980) (converted from BASIC to Inform)
The Wizard's Castle (1980) (converted from BASIC to Inform)
Frankenstein Adventure (1981) (converted from TRS-80 BASIC to Inform)
Softporn Adventure (1981) (converted from BASIC to Inform)
Inhumane (1985) (converted from Applesoft Basic to Inform)
Praser 5 (1985) (converted from Applesoft Basic to Inform)
Werner's Quest 1: The Black Ladder (1985) (converted from The Quill Adventure System to Inform)
Werner's Quest 2: Revenge of the Thing-Fish (1985) (converted from The Quill Adventure System to Inform)
Werner's Quest 3: Rance the Dungeonkeeper (1985) (converted from The Quill Adventure System to Inform)
Werner's Quest 4: Unchanter (1985) (converted from The Quill Adventure System to Inform)
The Nine Dancers (1986) (converted from BBC BASIC to Inform)
Uninvited (1986) (converted from MacVenture to Inform)
Paranoia (1987) (converted from C to Inform)
The Puppet-Man (1987) (converted from BBC to Inform)
Shadowgate (1987) (converted from MacVenture to Inform)
Snafufun (1988) (converted from BASIC to Inform)
Night of the Vampire Bunnies (1989) (converted from BASIC to Inform)
Adventure in Humongous Cave (1993) (converted from AGT (Adventure Game Toolkit) to Inform)
Odieus's Quest for the Magic Flingshot (1993) (converted from LADS (Levy's Adventure Development System) to AGT (Adventure Game Toolkit) to Inform)
Freefall (1995) (Inform version of the 1984 game Tetris)
Icebreaker (1995) (converted from 3DO to Inform)
Robot Finds Kitten (1997) (converted from C to Inform)
Reverzi (1999) (Inform version of the board game Reversi, also known as Othello)
Chaos In Space (2001) (aka Warp!) (converted from DOS to Inform)
HLA Adventure (2004) (converted from HLA (high level assembly) to Inform)

Other Games

Thousands ZCode games exist. A partial list is available in ZCode Games

Status

A sub-engine of the new Glk API has been added based on Frotz.
Most ZCode games should be supported (except the newer, post-1987 Infocom titles which are still WIP)

Resources

External links