If I understand things correctly, when you type "ROBOT, something" the "ROBOT" part is rewritten as a TELL action. V-TELL checks if there are more commands (the "something" part), and if there are it sets WINNER to PRSO and HERE to the winner's location. (Strictly speaking, it should probably use META-LOC instead of LOC.)

The Wizard's action routine handles the TELL action before it can reach V-TELL, so WINNER never changes. Which is wrong, because he's supposed to respond to some commands.

It does work on the demon, though.

#Infocom

Today's "I never saw Zork II do that before" bug is...

The JIGS-UP routine doesn't kill the player, it kills the current actor. That's a feature. But when a timer routine is run, it doesn't change the current actor back to the player.

So simply by talking to the robot, I can save myself from death by timed event.

I had hoped to use this on the Wizard, but apparently his action routine terminates too early. That too may be a bug, but one that cancels the first one.

#Infocom

I knew Zork I had a special case for dying as a ghost, but until now I didn't know how to trigger it.

At the beginning of Zork I, if you die you just wake up again in the forest. After a certain point, dying turns you into a ghost and you have to figure out how to resurrect yourself.

There is very little the game allows you to do as a ghost, so you need something that's independent of your own action, and that's on a timer. The leak in the maintenance room may be the only way.

Happy New Year!

While on the subject of Monkey Island trivia, here's an old one: The Mêlée Island clock tower behaves different in the CD version. There, the clock description changes every time you examine it. In the floppy version, it changes only if you leave the room after examining it, and then come back to look at it again.

And it's probably down to a single line of code added for the CD version. (See alt text for further analysis.) Intentional? A bug fix gone awry?

cc: @mixnmojo

#MonkeyIsland

This will probably be playing constantly in the back of my head for the next month or so.

Edit: Make that the next four years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0y9Nm62_JE

#Election2024

Some time ago, it was announced on the Interactive Fiction Community Forum (intfiction.org) that there would be a lengthy conversation with the author of one of my favorite lighthearted pirate-themed adventure games. Today I learned that it had finally been published.

Yes, I am of course referring to Amy Briggs of Plundered Hearts fame:

https://cdm16903.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16903coll15/id/11/rec/1

(But just in case you thought I meant someone else, @grumpygamer does gets a few mentions along the way.)

#Infocom #PlunderedHearts

I keep hoping for Disney to release the "All The Games We Got the Rights To When We Acquired Lucasfilm, But We Don't Have A Clue What They Are Because They're Not Star Wars So Please For The Love Of God Help Us Do It Right This Time!" Anthology.

I do realize that it may need a catchier title, but "The Lost Treasures of ..." has already been taken.

#LucasArts #LucasFilmGames #ItBelongsInAMuseum

Obviously I'm not suggesting that #Pixar got all of their ideas from @grumpygamer and #HumongousEntertainment. I'm just saying that I think we're long overdue for an animated movie about a vulpine secret agent. A "Spy Fox", if you like.

Leading up to the 2016 US election, I replayed Steve Meretzky's cautionary tale, A Mind Forever Voyaging. It seemed appropriate at the time, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who has ever played it.

I did not replay it for the 2020 election, and I promise I won't do it for the 2024 election either.

You're welcome!

I love being able to study little differences like these. Not just in The Secret of Monkey Island, though that may be one of the most remade games I own.

Here's another example from the leaked source code for Infocom's "Spellbreaker". In the first release only (?), there was a 1% chance that the game would call itself "Mage" because that was the title Dave Lebling wanted. Apparently marketing resisted because that title wouldn't "pop" on the box, and people wouldn't know what the word meant.

Today I learned that the stump joke was even more thoroughly scrubbed from The Secret of #MonkeyIsland than I had thought. It's even gone from the credits for the CD version, as seen on the right half of this picture. The missing radiation shielding, lack of security, and the fate of John Sinclair's 286 remain a mystery. Unless @grumpygamer remembers, of course.

(The only other versions I own are the Mac ones, but their credits - unlike earlier games - are identical to the PC CD version.)

Why on earth would I want an "everything app" when I already have Emacs?