Activision Studios owns and maintains full copyright on all Infocom games. With the exception of the first three Zork adventures no Infocom game can be legally "downloaded for free". I never respond to email about downloading Infocom games.
It is very difficult to purchase any of the classic Infocom games individually. The best bets of any of the compilations released by Activision. These include The Masterpieces of Infocom, The Infocom Collections (still available in places), and The Lost Treasures of Infocom (getting harder to find).If you really, really want the original packaging or you're looking for one of the non-IF games (see next FAQ) then you'll have to resort to hunting in used book and software stores or posting want ads in usenet news groups (like rec.games.int-fiction).
As part of the promotion of Zork Nemesis Activision was giving away free copies of Zork I (PC download or Mac download). As part of the promotion for Zork Grand Inquisitor Activision is giving away copies of Zork II (download) and Zork III (download). They are also giving away a new Zork text adventure called Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (download with Win95 interpreter or without interpreter).
Use the DOS SETVER command to fool the installer into thinking you have the right version.
You need to load a version of theANSI.SYSdriver that comes with DOS or the game itself. If you're using Windows 95 then you must use the version that comes with Windows 95 (in\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS).
Infocom's games come in two parts: a story file and an interpreter. The story file was "compiled" for a virtual computer architecture call the Z-Machine. Only the interpreter had to be written for specific computers. Infocom interpreters have been ported to a wide variety of computers and operating systems allowing the games to be played on just about any kind of hardware.
Simply due to the sheer number of requests I get for this sort of thing (a few of which I'm sure are legitimate) I've adopted the policy of not responding to email about lost documentation. If you're stumped and you really don't have the documentation try reading (carefully!) the relevant walkthrough.
Use the RESTORE command.
Use the INVENTORY command (or "I" for short).
Use the SCRIPT command.
By default the game is in BRIEF mode. This means that you'll get a room description only when you first enter it. If you use the VERBOSE command you'll get the description every time. In SUPERBRIEF mode you don't get any room descriptions ever unless you specifically to a LOOK.
Yes the connection is quite slow (another lesson in "you get what you pay for" connectivity). I could rewrite the guestbook so that the form is at the top so you wouldn't have to wait for the whole thing to load and I really am planning on doing this. It just happens that this is way, way down on my list.If you really want to add something to the guestbook but you can't wait for it to download you can email me the entry and I'll add it for you.
That's right. This page is dedicated to Infocom's Interactive Fiction (text adventure) games and not the games released by Activision under the Infocom name. These games include: BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception, BattleTech 2: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge, The Mines of Titan, Circuit's Edge, Tombs & Treasure, Simon the Sorcerer I and II, Leather Goddesses of Phobos II, Return to Zork, Zork Nemesis, Zork Grand Inquisitor, Planetfall: The Search for Floyd, and Cornerstone (I don't get too many questions about the last one though).
You can write your own IF games in the programming language of your choice. Or just get Graham Nelson's "Inform" compiler at http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/inform.html.
The Infocom page is not a corporate homepage. It is a hobby page run by an old fan who just happens to have too much time on this hands. Infocom as a company ceased to exist when it was purchased by Activision Studios.