Afleveringen
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Classic text adventure news so late-breaking that we have to interrupt our news to bring you new news about that news! Presented again this month by Retro Adventurers Nick, Tim, and Jason.
University of Winchester alumnus
https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/26175575.university-winchester-alumnus-won-award-game/
ABP: Help preserve Amstrad Infocom interpreter source code!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CwYXQ6FiV/
Oo-Topos Commodore 64 copy protection
https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=89439
SchoolAdventure, adapted to Inform
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6duybkh9bo1oq5s4
NAIL: Not An Inform Library
https://github.com/fredrikr/nail
Iron ChIF ZIL contest entries
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=v2b896mwtwf5mhwt
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=b3vcdy1s1ukd5xcw
PunyInform 6.7
https://github.com/johanberntsson/PunyInform/releases/tag/v6_7
Puny BuildTools
https://github.com/ByteProject/Puny-BuildTools#build-targets
Eclipse (Bonaventura Di Bello Project)
https://bdb-project.itch.io/eclipse
https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=03enp9z2oszblv5h
Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2026 Results
https://itch.io/jam/talp2026/results
IntroComp
https://introcomp.org/
Strange Stories RPG
https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/ed994b09-71cf-4128-88bc-e45f89cf7d1b/landing
Zork Zero for Mac VoiceOver users
https://intfiction.org/t/looking-for-mac-voiceover-users-to-test-zork-zero-in-spatterlight/80791
Mysterious eyeglasses-cleaning game (?!)
https://bsky.app/profile/retroadventurers.bsky.social/post/3mnryqxe5k22e
Interactive Fiction Discord Server (visit #retro-adventurers-podcast !)
https://discord.com/invite/8jrbVptACc
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Unofficially official text adventure sequels to beloved media properties both published in 1984. That's what these two have in common.
Laugh While You Can, Monkey Boy! because this John Lithgow Appreciation Podcast features Nick and Jason playing the Adventure International-published unofficial sequel Buckaroo Banzai before marching into the world of post-war New York City as imagined in the world of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, published by Telarium/Trillium.
Fahrenheit 451 (IFDB)
Fahrenheit 451 in-game music (DeepSID)
Buckaroo Banzai (IFDB)
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Your monthly classic text adventuring news update delivered this month by Jason, Nick, and Tim. The top stories are game contests still open for players votes at time of publication! Don't delay, listen and click today!
Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2026
https://itch.io/jam/talp2026
https://gameobserver.com/6th-annual-game-jam-inspires-next-generation-of-developers-to-keep-text-adventures-alive/
Iron CHiF Season One Episode Two: ZIL
https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chif-season-one-episode-2-lancelot-vs-someone2-using-zil/79983
Inform 6 benchmarking
https://discord.com/channels/830344544679493644/830344548315037739/1501871149288525844
PunyInform v6.6
https://github.com/johanberntsson/PunyInform/releases/tag/v6_6
Visible Zorker update: Deadline for backers, Zork III goes public
https://blog.zarfhome.com/2026/05/visible-zork-3
https://archive.org/details/Suspended_Map_Recreation
https://archive.org/details/Infocom_Starcross_Chart_Recreation
Dialog 1b/01
https://intfiction.org/t/dialog-1b-01-library-1-2-0-a-machine-1-0-0-is-released/80151
https://github.com/Dialog-IF/dialog/releases/tag/release-1b01-1.2.0
War of the Worlds for Commodore 64
https://michel-molenaar.itch.io/war-of-the-worlds-c64
Modern PAW environment
https://www.reddit.com/r/interactivefiction/comments/1tgyyj2/show_if_a_modern_jsonbased_paws_engine/
https://carlosparamio.itch.io/paws-ai
Text Adventure Studio (formerly Apple II Adventure Studio)
https://www.reddit.com/r/textadventures/comments/1t3yypi/apple_ii_adventure_studio_is_now_officially_text/
https://textadventurestudio.com/
The Forgotten Nightmare release
https://intfiction.org/t/the-forgotten-nightmare-series-platform-expansion-release/80323/5
Voyage of the Beano for Spectrum Next
https://qladventures.itch.io/the-voyage-of-the-beano
Spring Thing 2026 recognizes C64 Latinorum, other neo-retro titles
https://www.springthing.net/2026/play.html
2026 IntroComp kickoff
https://mastodon.social/@Feneric/116636591715718306
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It's an Infocom antiheroic classic and a throwback Infocom parody this time out as modern IF legend Andrew Plotkin (Zarf) joins Jason and Nick for two perilous adventures.
Lurking Horror sendup The Smirking Horror by Jason Davis leads off, a reasonably faithful re-interpretation of The Lurking Horror from Infocom. It's the first Amstrad CPC exclusive on the show and makes surprisingly minimal use of the graphics available in Graphic Adventure Creator.
For the main course we take on Infocom's Infidel, memorably parodied by Zarf himself (Episode 27's Inhumane) and created by Michael Berlyn and Patricia Fogleman. Legendary for its surly protagonist and shock ending, does it hold up to modern scrutiny?
Infidel (IFDB)
Infidel packaging (gray box)
Infidel packaging (folio)
The Smirking Horror (CPCWiki)
The Smirking Horror (playable online)
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There's news out there in classic text adventures and neo-retro interactive fiction, and it's past time The Retro Adventurers got serious about delivering it! So, welcome to the first installment of a new monthly feature, OPEN MAILBOX -- where you GET NEWS AND LISTEN TO IT.
This episode compiled and presented by Retro Adventurers Nick and Jason covers multiple new Infocom/Z-Machine interpreters, Andrew Plotkin's Visible Zorker developments, an amazingly layered Cornerstone prank-that's-also-real, and other novel developments.
Zym II and Inform 6 Optimization:
https://intfiction.org/t/zym-ii-an-8-bit-z-machine-interpreter-for-symbos/79520
https://intfiction.org/t/accelerating-inform-6-games-on-8-bit-interpreters/79531
https://github.com/fredrikr/krebf
Visible Zorker - Deadline hijinx:
https://blog.zarfhome.com/2026/03/visible-zorker-march
https://www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
New Features for Old Hardware:
https://intfiction.org/t/statusline-options/79162
https://github.com/johanberntsson/ozmoo/releases
Retro Adventurers on Discord:
https://discord.gg/8jrbVptACc
Springtime in the PunyInform Century:https://discord.com/channels/830344544679493644/830344937252978718/1491913229721665840
https://www.springthing.net/2026/
Zabbrev:https://intfiction.org/t/zabbrev-has-been-ported-from-c-to-c/75176/24
https://jxself.org/git?p=zabbrev.git;a=summary
The Linchpin to Infocom’s Database Strategy?:
https://intfiction.org/t/cornerstones-vm-was-cornerstone-for-atari/79644
https://blog.zarfhome.com/2026/04/cornerstone-and-the-mu-machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgz5GIbKx3Y
https://zilf.io/
Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation (IFTF) Grants:
https://blog.iftechfoundation.org/2026-04-08-announcing-the-2026-iftf-grant-recipients.html
Keep Circulating the Tapes:
https://ifdb.org
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Thank you for another year of Retro Adventuring with us! To celebrate we've gathered together to share important news about a change in the team roster, an exciting new monthly department, and to share a first look at our new handcrafted artwork (thank you, Emily Sergent)!
Spend a little time with Jason, Nick, and Tim and watch for more game, interview, and news episodes coming soon to your feed (and YouTube, which did get sorted out!)
Our YouTube channel
Douglas Adams BBC interview (1985)
The BDB Project (Bonaventura Di Bello adventure translations)
Tim's 1987 (?) photo
Adventure Game Aptitude Test (Maniac Mansion 4-hour challenge)
Zork 78 logo pillow
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Hyperspace adventure awaits as Tim Gilberts joins Jason to play two underrated science fiction games from the 1970s. For starters it's Dog Star Adventure, the first type-in text adventure in Softside Magazine. True to its 1979 roots it's steeped in Star Wars lore and vocabulary, and was ported to plenty of classic platforms in its heyday.
The feature game is Aldebaran III, one of the games created by Peter Langston in his Wander system. It, too, leans heavily on genre fiction, in this case the Retief novels by Keith Laumer, covering interstellar espionage, diplomacy, and bureaucracy in equal measure.
Aldebaran III (IFDB)
Wander source code (Github)
Wander game analysis (Renga In Blue)
Aldebaran III (CRPG Adventures)
Dog Star Adventure (IFDB)
Dog Star Adventure in Softside May 1979
Dog Star Adventure (Old School Gamer Magazine)
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Ron Martinez, our guest from Episode 11, returns! This is actually a holdover from the 2025 Year-End Chatisode sessions, but it really stands alone as an exploration of Ron's recent work in narrative design involving generative AI, large language models, and other 21st century interactive storytelling techniques. Joining us on the call are regular Retro Adventurers Jason and Nick, along with This Week in Retro's Dave "Velociraptor" (Episode 29).
And it's a big day for Nabokov fans as both Pale Fire and his lecture on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are invoked.
Hidden Agenda 2026 preview
Hidden Agenda 2026 landing page
Invention Arts
Headcanon
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It's the Infocom classic Zork, but in two unusual formats!
First Nick and Jason explore the unusual covertape edition of Mini-Zork I, a stripped-down, memory-resident version of the original Great Underground Empire created in 1987 and later provided free to readers of the November 1990 issue of ZZap 64 magazine for the Commodore 64. It's a bold undertaking, but is it art? Indeed, does it even work at all?
Then the Retro Adventurers take on Zork-285, a reconstruction "of the very first MDL version of Zork from June 14, 1977" as provided by Henrik Åsman. Only available to play by a small cadre of MIT insiders, this version has the bones of what would later become the full-fledged Dungeon game before being carved up for Infocom's commercial products Zork I, II, and III. It's full of pitfalls but notably empty of grues.
Cover image from David Ardito's 1981 Zork poster, sourced from zarfhome.com
Mini-Zork I on IFDB
Zork 285 on IFDB
The Newton (excerpt from The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, performed by Jason)
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Holiday merriment with many past guests and minimal editing!
Retro Adventurers Jason and Nick chat about the year that was including recent developments in classic adventure open source, plans for 2026, and more with many of our past participants:
Robin Raymond, author of Kingdom of the Seven Stones (Episode 9)Tim Gilberts of Gilsoft (Episodes 5, 13, 17, 25)Scott Adams of Adventure International (Episodes 3, 13)Andrew Plotkin (Inhumane covered in Episode 27 and interviewed in Episode 28)Dave "Velociraptor" of This Week in Retro (Episode 29)Christian Neuhaus, co-writer of You've Ruined a Perfectly Good Mystery! (Episode 23)Iain Lee, game show pilot host and media icon (Episode 18)
A separate chat with Ron Martinez (Episode 11) will be published in a later episode.
Parsely tabletop game
Nick's unfinished PunyInform book
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Nick and Jason deliver holiday cheer straight from Santa's Grotto in the form of two 1980s Christmas classics. First up is the bite-sized Quill adventure A Spell Of Christmas Ice by Mike Turner, originally published on the tape-based 16/48 Magazine for ZX Spectrum users. For the main course, enjoy Brian Howarth's very British adaptation of the very American monster mayhem classic Gremlins.
Curl up by the fire with your favorite picturebook adaptation of a Hollywood blockbuster, listen, and enjoy the season!
16/48 Magazine Issue 12
A Spell Of Christmas Ice, stand-alone tape image
Mike E. Turner (IFDB)
Gremlins: The Adventure (IFDB)
Gremlins: The Adventure (MOCAGH)
Level 9 Archive (Github)
Andrew Plotkin's analysis of Zork I-III becoming open source
Original cover photo by Gy21dds
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No one has reviewed more text adventures and works of interactive fiction over the past decade than MathBrush. A self-described newcomer to the scene he has nonetheless posted over 3,600 reviews and counting of games old and new, along with creating or collaborating with others to create 30 games of his own.
MathBrush's thousands of reviews
MathBrush's IFDB profile
MathBrush's games
Intfiction.org profile
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Get ready to type out every letter in "dodecahedron"!
Nick, Jason, and Ben play two games steeped in math, science, and trippy physics in this episode. Beyond the Tesseract by David Lo is the appetizer course, a game originally designed in TRS-80 Level II BASIC, then ported to C and published on a variety of platforms before later being reimplemented in Inform 6 by Andrew Plotkin. A self-professed "abstract adventure", you'll have a better time with it if you paid attention in school.
The main course was published in 1984 for the BBC Micro by the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (UK) and goes by L: A Mathemagical Adventure. It's a core memory for many who were young and remember their school experiences with BBC Micros, but does the plot to rescue the fair maid Runia from the Drogos hold up today?
Beyond the Tesseract (IFDB, includes playable link)
L: A Mathemagical Adventure (IFDB)
L: A Mathemagical Adventure (playable online, BBC)
Beatle Quest for BBC Micro
Shawn McClure's How To Design Adventure Games (IntFiction.org)
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WE'VE GOT TEXT ADVENTURE SIGN!!
Ben, Jason, and Nick stooge their way through two comedy games. First up is the 1993 Matt Barringer "classic" Detective as put (unofficially) through the wringer of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew by CE Forman and a collection of subsequent riffers. One player was (and remains) completely baffled by this format in which a man and two robots are forced to watch a bad movie (slash play a bad game) for the entertainment of two mad scientists, against a backdrop of scenery bought for peanuts.
Then they take on Delta 4's treatment of Terry Pratchett's Discword in The Colour of Magic, a waiting simulator disguised as a four-part comedy adventure. Watch out for the end of the world!
The Colour of Magic (IFDB)
MST3K: Detective (IFDB)
Detective, author's original version (IFDB)
Discworld on Page and Screen, Part 2 (The Digital Antiquarian)
Review of Detective (SPAG #5)
MST3K Satellite News
Discworld Emporium
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Ben, Jason, and Nick set sail for adventures new and old on this episode, starting with 10 CAVE ADVENTURE, so named for the number of BASIC lines making up its entire codebase. They then head to the Commodore VIC-20 for a crack at Young Arthur's Quest before journeying to the not-so-long-ago 2021 release Captain Cutter's Treasure, a neo-retro style adventure created in the PunyInform system.
Captain Cutter's Treasure (IFDB)
Young Arthur's Quest (Renga in Blue)
Young Arthur's Quest (MobyGames)
10 Cave Adventure (Spectrum Computing)
8-Bit Show and Tell's breakdown of 10 CAVE
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Ben, Jason, and special guest Dave "Velociraptor" of This Week in Retro take on a double dose of robot-themed games. First up is Souls of Darkon by Andy Walker, published by Taskset and Bug-Byte for Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, and Commodore 64. The robot "Komputa" aids the player on their quest to combat a variety of dread evil forces.
For the main course we take on Epyx's text adventure adaptation of Isaac Asimov's novel The Robots of Dawn, written by Jon Leupp. The team note the substantial departure from the book's plotlines, the surplus of empty offices, and some inconsistencies between the Apple II and Commodore 64 versions.
Ben solves a decades-long gaming mystery, plus there's a cat and a mouse and only one of them survives to the end of the episode!
Souls of Darkon (MobyGames)
Souls of Darkon (MOCAGH)
The Robots of Dawn (MobyGames)
The Robots of Dawn (MOCAGH)
The Robots of Dawn (playable online, C64)
The Robots of Dawn (playable online, Apple)
The Robots of Dawn by Asimov (novel, Wikipedia)
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Creator of games including Hadean Lands, Spider and Web, and Shade, as well as a long-time maintainer of Inform and participant in Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation (IFTF) leadership, Andrew "Zarf" Plotkin was also a teenager once. And back then he wrote Inhumane, as covered in Episode 27.
Jason and Nick welcome him to the program discuss the creation of Inhumane, the evolution of his work as a participant in the modern interactive fiction community, and the prospects for another "Infobom" title in that parody vein.
Zarfhome (personal homepage and contact info)
IFDB credits
IFTF
A Change in the Weather
Praser 5
Grimtooth's Traps
Episode image from The Book of Adventure Games II
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All the way back in Episode 1 we promised to play Level 9's Knight Orc. Ben and Jason chip away at that obligation by playing... the first of three independent-load sections of the game. (We're working on it!) They do their best to navigate the aptly-named "KAOS" engine and assemble rope. (So much rope.)
But first, a clearout of news and listener mail, and a visit to the wry parody of Infidel, Andrew Plotkin's Inhumane. The game is loaded with death traps and unlicensed appearances by famous characters, including a cameo from the villain of Episode 20's Mask of the Sun.
Knight Orc (IFDB)
Knight Orc (playable online, BBC version)
Inhumane (IFDB)
Inhumane (playable online)
Retro Gaming Books collection
How to program a text adventure in C
Dog Star Adventure (IFDB)
Evertop PC
Mystery of Arkham Manor (Spectrum Computing)
Mystery of Markham Manor (IFDB)
Rick Hanson (IFDB)
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Ben and Jason take on the text adventure distillations of two uniquely British phenomena.
First up is the "prolific musical innovator" genre with Number 9 Software's Beatle Quest, a psychedelic trip into lots and lots of Beatle song concepts and name-checking.
For the main course, the duo explore the "slobs in space" phenomenon through the storytelling of shareware highlight Jacaranda Jim by modern-day InfoSec celebrity Graham Cluley. It's one of Ben's all-time games, but can he convert his American collaborator?
Beatle Quest by Garry Marsh (IFDB)
Beatle Quest (playable online, ZX Spectrum)
Jacaranda Jim by Graham Cluley (IFDB)
Jacaranda Jim (play online or download)
Christopher Drum's Infocom Zork on Cosmopolitan
Graham Cluley's computer security news (YouTube)
Cover photo CC-BY 2.0 khakidoggy
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Tim Gilberts is back for another rummage through the magazine rack, this time with Jason and Dave. We pull a corporate newsletter and three full-length issues, all from the 1982-1984 period.
We look at the first (and only?) newsletter put out by Spinnaker sub-brand Trillium (later Telarium), browse through the general-interest UK mag Personal Computer Games and compare it to a similar American counterpart, Computer Gaming World, before finishing up in the Sierra On-Line sponsored Softline, with none other than Tron on the cover.
Trillium Newsletter v1n1 (1984)
Personal Computer Games #6 (May 1984)
Computer Gaming World Mar/Apr 1983
Softline May 1982
Bill Bowman, CEO of Spinnaker Software (ANTIC Interview #278)
David Seuss, co-founder of Spinnaker Software (ANTIC Interview #305)
Telarium Corp (Mobygames)
Galactic Adventures (The CRPG Addict)
Patricia Mitchell, Thorn EMI (ANTIC Interview #302)
Chris James, Thorn EMI (ANTIC Interview #326)
Journey to the Planet Pincus (Renga in Blue)
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