You are likely to be eaten by the MIT license: Microsoft frees Zork source
(2025/11/21)
- Reference: 1763733250
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/21/microsoft_zork_source/
- Source link:
Microsoft developer boss Scott Hanselman saved the company's Ignite shindig this week by unveiling the source code for Zork I-III, all available under the MIT license.
"Our goal is simple: to place historically important code in the hands of students, teachers, and developers so they can study it, learn from it, and, perhaps most importantly, play it," said the [1]announcement from Hanselman and Stacey Haffner, Director of Microsoft's Open Source Programs Office (OSPO).
Zork is a milestone in gaming history. Inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork is a text adventure that allows players to interact with the game using natural language (relative to what went before). Not so much "go north" but more "climb up the tree."
[2]
This article would have been published earlier, but more research was needed
Initially developed for the PDP-10 computer, the game was split into three parts by Infocom to fit on the personal computers of the time. The company's founders included the game's original developers.
The game was ported to the Zork Implementation Language (ZIL), which ran on a Z-machine, a virtual machine developed by Infocom for its text adventure games. This meant that running Zork (and the vast majority of Infocom games) on different computer architectures just required porting the Z-machine. Infocom's wares were therefore everywhere.
[3]
Zork was wildly successful. The parser was a step up from what had come before, and it was easy to become deeply immersed in the world of the game without the need for joysticks, mice, or water-cooled graphics cards.
[4]
[5]
Activision acquired Infocom in 1986, and Microsoft acquired Activision in 2023.
[6]Microsoft exec finds AI cynicism 'mindblowing'
[7]Ignite awash with agents as Microsoft triples down on AI
[8]Windows boss defends 'agentic OS' push as users plead for reliability
[9]UK tribunal says reselling Microsoft licenses is A-OK
It is still possible to purchase Zork, and the repositories contain only the source for Zork I, II, and III. The announcement suggests using [10]ZILF (ZIL Forever) to compile and assemble the source into a runnable Z3 file. Then fire up something like [11]Windows Frotz to be transported back to the 1980s and the world of Zork.
Although Zork is perhaps one of the most documented games in history, and subsequent compilers, such as [12]Inform , have kept the, er, lantern ablaze, having the original source files available for inspection is both educational and fun. Hanselman [13]posted : "I wanted to make the ZIL OSS so students and teachers could use them in classes without concern."
Although Hanselman chose to show off the code by spinning up containers in Microsoft's cloud to run it, it will also run perfectly happily on a local computer.
[14]
And daring to demo it on stage runs an obvious risk. No, not from the capricious whims of the conference Wi-Fi gods, but the ever-present danger of being eaten by a grue. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11/20/preserving-code-that-shaped-generations-zork-i-ii-and-iii-go-open-source
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/21/zork.jpg
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/21/microsoft_ai_boss_comment/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/19/microsoft_ai_agents_ignite/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/17/windows_agentic_os_feedback/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/valuelicensing_microsoft_judgment/
[10] https://zilf.io/
[11] https://github.com/DavidKinder/Windows-Frotz
[12] https://ganelson.github.io/inform-website/
[13] https://bsky.app/profile/scott.hanselman.com/post/3m6465fniq22i
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"Our goal is simple: to place historically important code in the hands of students, teachers, and developers so they can study it, learn from it, and, perhaps most importantly, play it," said the [1]announcement from Hanselman and Stacey Haffner, Director of Microsoft's Open Source Programs Office (OSPO).
Zork is a milestone in gaming history. Inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork is a text adventure that allows players to interact with the game using natural language (relative to what went before). Not so much "go north" but more "climb up the tree."
[2]
This article would have been published earlier, but more research was needed
Initially developed for the PDP-10 computer, the game was split into three parts by Infocom to fit on the personal computers of the time. The company's founders included the game's original developers.
The game was ported to the Zork Implementation Language (ZIL), which ran on a Z-machine, a virtual machine developed by Infocom for its text adventure games. This meant that running Zork (and the vast majority of Infocom games) on different computer architectures just required porting the Z-machine. Infocom's wares were therefore everywhere.
[3]
Zork was wildly successful. The parser was a step up from what had come before, and it was easy to become deeply immersed in the world of the game without the need for joysticks, mice, or water-cooled graphics cards.
[4]
[5]
Activision acquired Infocom in 1986, and Microsoft acquired Activision in 2023.
[6]Microsoft exec finds AI cynicism 'mindblowing'
[7]Ignite awash with agents as Microsoft triples down on AI
[8]Windows boss defends 'agentic OS' push as users plead for reliability
[9]UK tribunal says reselling Microsoft licenses is A-OK
It is still possible to purchase Zork, and the repositories contain only the source for Zork I, II, and III. The announcement suggests using [10]ZILF (ZIL Forever) to compile and assemble the source into a runnable Z3 file. Then fire up something like [11]Windows Frotz to be transported back to the 1980s and the world of Zork.
Although Zork is perhaps one of the most documented games in history, and subsequent compilers, such as [12]Inform , have kept the, er, lantern ablaze, having the original source files available for inspection is both educational and fun. Hanselman [13]posted : "I wanted to make the ZIL OSS so students and teachers could use them in classes without concern."
Although Hanselman chose to show off the code by spinning up containers in Microsoft's cloud to run it, it will also run perfectly happily on a local computer.
[14]
And daring to demo it on stage runs an obvious risk. No, not from the capricious whims of the conference Wi-Fi gods, but the ever-present danger of being eaten by a grue. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11/20/preserving-code-that-shaped-generations-zork-i-ii-and-iii-go-open-source
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/21/zork.jpg
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/21/microsoft_ai_boss_comment/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/19/microsoft_ai_agents_ignite/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/17/windows_agentic_os_feedback/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/valuelicensing_microsoft_judgment/
[10] https://zilf.io/
[11] https://github.com/DavidKinder/Windows-Frotz
[12] https://ganelson.github.io/inform-website/
[13] https://bsky.app/profile/scott.hanselman.com/post/3m6465fniq22i
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSCaqI3_c6afArwMBheUCQAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Time passes ...
HalfManHalfBrisket
Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.
I member.
ecarlseen
Getting stuck in Infocom games in the pre-Internet-at-home era, I reverse-engineered ZIL to a certain extent and wrote a program (in x86 assembly!) to let me view and search the strings.
Re: I member.
DarkwavePunk
I was lucky enough to have a hex editor. Searching through gibberish looking for something that might possibly be a string was a rite of passage. Beer for you regarding the assembly. Me too dumb.
Adventureland
MarkTheMorose
...on the VIC-20, in 20-characters-across-ovision. That was my introduction to text adventures. I was fascinated, but not hooked. I confess that my attention was diverted by the flashy graphics and sounds of action games. I retain a fondness for adventures, though, and will, on that mythic 'one day', sit down and play it through. Then there's the rest of Scott Adams' adventures, and Brian Howarth's, let alone all of Infocom's and Magnetic Scrolls'.
Re: Adventureland
YTC#1
Atari 600XL.
Totally hooked reams (literally) of notes (so could start from scratch), got to the end and was 5 points short.
Never played it again
Re: Adventureland
DarkwavePunk
VIC-20. I never finished Voodoo Mansion. Bloody hell that parser was the worst I've ever seen in a text adventure. Tried playing it again in an emulator some time time ago. Not worth the high blood pressure.
Ahead of its time
Z-machine was a marvel of design. Such a clever solution with the limited resources of the day. So many fond memories.