NOTE:   The labeling for the list has been changed slightly. The old 3.1, 3.2, labeling format was getting impractical, since tiny changes in this list may be made at any time, sometimes frequently. As a result, the list is now labeled like an Infocom game, with a revision number and a serial number. The serial number is the date that the list was last updated. The revision number will increase by one every time I create a new update of The Ultimate Infocom Collection (i.e., next time I make a new version, the list will be changed to Revision 5).

The Ultimate Infocom Collection (or TUIC) is my own personal archival backup of Infocom games that I created with a CD burner in 1995, and which I use for checking out new bugs (extreme overuse of the word "Ultimate" in the computer game world has made me regret the title, but it's too late to change it now. It has every Infocom game except Quarterstaff, (including Cornerstone, Fooblitzky, the Infocomics, et cetera), and all the various versions of the games, indexed with a series of batch file driven menus.

For example, if I just want to play Zork 1, I can pop the CD in, type ZORK1 at a prompt, and go immediately into the Solid Gold version of the game. If I need to go bug hunting, the command ZORK1 ? gives a menu of all known versions of Zork 1, and lets you can push F1 to play Version 5, F2 to play Version 15, F3 to play Version 23, and so on.

Little improvements are frequently made to the collection. When Infocom Masterpieces was released, I put all of its Adobe Acrobat documentation files into the next version. Now that I've gotten a colour scanner, I mean to scan in all the original Infocom documentation for a future version.

I've been asked if I could distribute this, and of course I couldn't since it was all copyrighted material, but there may be hope on the horizon. There is a new program at ftp.gmd.de that lets you create a patch to turn one version of an Infocom game into another, provided that you first have the necessary legal copy of the game. With this program, I can upload patch files to GMD that would allow legal owners of a game access to any other version of the game. From that point, I could simply upload just the batch files and directory structure of the collection, and allow people to plug in the datafiles and create their own version.

I've also thought of giving a copy to Activision in the hopes that they may use it as a giveaway with their next Zork graphic adventure, or something like that.



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