The Infocom Cabinet: Binders and Folders of Infocom, Inc. (1981-1987)

[SuperPlay]

'A collection of digitized scans from a large cache of documents related to the game publisher Infocom, Inc. of Cambridge, MA. Assembled by Steven Meretzky of Infocom.

In 2006, documentary filmmaker Jason Scott began production on GET LAMP, a video documentary about the realm of text adventures and interactive fiction. Shooting and research time was roughly 4 years, during which Jason interacted with a large variety of members of the various communities and companies that made up the story of text adventures. Among these was Steve Meretzky, developer at Infocom, Inc, arguably the largest and most influential of the 1980s adventure game companies. '


https://archive.org/details/infocomcabinet&tab=about

[johnnykonami]

These are great.  I'm still pining for a (legal) collection of infocom games.  The nicest one goes for well over $100-$150, and it stinks because Activision now owns the rights to most of them and hasn't done a proper re-release.   What they did do is manage to release a collection for Apple ipad, a system without a native keyboard...  I'd pay $10 bucks for a nice Steam release, all you have to do is come up with an nice interface, a way to browse the included docs and feelies (especially those of them that had clues/maps) and include one of many z-machine interpreters or write your own (super easy).  I'd love a disc based release or hard copy of some kind but I know that's unlikely.  I might start picking up certain ones for the extras if they are all there, maybe for the C64 as that's the most meaningful for me.

My first Infocom game was Hitchiker's Guide on the C64, besides that I think my favorites are Bureaucracy and Suspended.

[elmer]

These are great.  I'm still pining for a (legal) collection of infocom games.  The nicest one goes for well over $100-$150, and it stinks because Activision now owns the rights to most of them and hasn't done a proper re-release.

Is there something wrong with the 2 "Lost Treasures of Infocom collections"?

They're way cheaper than that price, even on eBay ... and include manuals and hints.

[johnnykonami]

I have thought about picking those up too, but it's been a while since I've looked and I think there are a couple of games I wanted on either collection that are missing.  My main thing though is that it would be so easy to release with a new modern interface to investigate modern feelies.  Or in the case of a suspended, to be able to move the tokens around the map.

Also, apparently there's a CD-rom version, but it looks like most copies floating around on ebay 3-1/2" floppies, so there's that too.

[elmer]

Also, apparently there's a CD-rom version, but it looks like most copies floating around on ebay 3-1/2" floppies, so there's that too.

Yep, I got the CD versions back when they came out.

I suspect that the market for these is just way too small for Activision to be bothered ever doing an update.

It's probably too small to even be worth someone's time in trying to license them from Activision.

[johnnykonami]

Probably so, I can dream though.  Even a bare bones Steam version for $10 would please me; I don't think it's readily available anywhere right now but iOS.

[esteban]

This has been added to my "Gotta check it out" list...