InfoTaskForce
Encyclopedia
The InfoTaskForce was a group of Infocom
enthusiasts who first reverse engineered the Infocom Z-Machine
and wrote a public domain
version in C
.
The ITF started in 1986 when an Australian adventure game player was playing "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" and wondered whether there was a way to see all the humorous text in the adventure. He disassembled the CP/M Z-Machine
interpreter
and found out how Infocom was able to simultaneously release their adventures on multiple platforms: they were using a virtual machine
. He changed from playing the adventures to disassembling the interpreter to understand its instruction set
, memory map and its method of storing the adventure's objects.
A group of friends realised that by re-writing the interpreter, they could play Infocom adventures on any machine they chose, so they got together under the name of the InfoTaskForce and began to write it in C. In 6 months they finished a Version 3 interpreter and uploaded it to a local FTP
server for their use. Word leaked out and the ITF interpreter proved popular, not just because it allowed people to play games, but allowed them to understand the inner workings of the Z-Machine
.
Over time, other interpreters appeared on the scene which supported the newer Version 5 features to varying extents, so in September 1992 the ITF created a second and final release of the ITF Interpreter which supported Version 5 features.
The ITF Interpreter was bundled by Activision
in their later release of "The Lost Treasures of Infocom
."
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
enthusiasts who first reverse engineered the Infocom Z-Machine
Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions , and could therefore port all its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a...
and wrote a public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
version in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
.
The ITF started in 1986 when an Australian adventure game player was playing "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" and wondered whether there was a way to see all the humorous text in the adventure. He disassembled the CP/M Z-Machine
Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions , and could therefore port all its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a...
interpreter
Interpreter (computing)
In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...
and found out how Infocom was able to simultaneously release their adventures on multiple platforms: they were using a virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
. He changed from playing the adventures to disassembling the interpreter to understand its instruction set
Instruction set
An instruction set, or instruction set architecture , is the part of the computer architecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and external I/O...
, memory map and its method of storing the adventure's objects.
A group of friends realised that by re-writing the interpreter, they could play Infocom adventures on any machine they chose, so they got together under the name of the InfoTaskForce and began to write it in C. In 6 months they finished a Version 3 interpreter and uploaded it to a local FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
server for their use. Word leaked out and the ITF interpreter proved popular, not just because it allowed people to play games, but allowed them to understand the inner workings of the Z-Machine
Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions , and could therefore port all its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a...
.
Over time, other interpreters appeared on the scene which supported the newer Version 5 features to varying extents, so in September 1992 the ITF created a second and final release of the ITF Interpreter which supported Version 5 features.
The ITF Interpreter was bundled by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
in their later release of "The Lost Treasures of Infocom
The Lost Treasures of Infocom
The Lost Treasures of Infocom is a collection of 20 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, released in 1991. It was available in MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, Amiga, and Apple IIGS versions, as well as a cross-platform CD-ROM version. Infocom was closed in 1989 by its then-parent...
."