Return to Zork
Encyclopedia
Return to Zork is a 1993 adventure game
in the Zork
series. It was developed by Activision
and was the final Zork
game to be published under the Infocom
label.
, which were text adventures
, Return to Zork takes place from a first-person perspective and makes use of video-captured actors as well as detailed graphics; a point-and-click
interface replaced the text parser for the first time in a Zork game. The overall gameplay style was somewhat similar to Myst
, although Return to Zork predated Myst by a few months. Unlike Myst, which had no extraspatial dimensions of functionality, Return to Zork featured multiple ways of interacting with each object in the game world, as well as with several non-player characters also present in the world via a menu which appeared on the left side of the screen. It also offered multiple ways to "complete" the game, which encouraged replay.
Among the actors who appeared in the game were a number of instantly recognizable (by face, if not necessarily by name) character actor
s as well as a number of well-known younger actors: Robyn Lively
of Twin Peaks
as "The Fairy", Jason Hervey
of The Wonder Years
as "The Troll King", and Sam J. Jones
from the 1980 film Flash Gordon
as "The Blind Bowman" and A.J. Langer of My So-Called Life
as fellow Zork explorer Rebecca Snoot whom the player encounters on several occasions.
Game architect and designer Mark Long (co-founder/owner of Zombie Studios
, Seattle, Washington) had several goals in mind to "make the game realistic" and "avoid things like mazes in text adventure games", and "multiple ways to solve puzzles, and to finish the game." In an interview in 1999, he stated these concepts:
s. The feelies include:
winner who wins an all expenses paid holiday to the Valley of the Sparrows, in Zork. Upon arrival, however, the player quickly learns that the entire area has fallen under some dark and sinister influence, becoming decayed and dysfunctional. Whole buildings have mysteriously vanished, murderous vultures infest the land, people have frequent and disturbing nightmares featuring some dark being which refers to itself as Morphius, and many of those who have survived have become reclusive and paranoid. The player must survive countless perils whilst exploring the valley, investigating the causes of the powers that have gripped the land and ultimately putting a stop to them.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
in the Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
series. It was developed 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...
and was the final Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
game to be published under the 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....
label.
Gameplay
Unlike the previous games in the Zork franchiseZork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
, which were text adventures
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
, Return to Zork takes place from a first-person perspective and makes use of video-captured actors as well as detailed graphics; a point-and-click
Point-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
interface replaced the text parser for the first time in a Zork game. The overall gameplay style was somewhat similar to Myst
Myst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
, although Return to Zork predated Myst by a few months. Unlike Myst, which had no extraspatial dimensions of functionality, Return to Zork featured multiple ways of interacting with each object in the game world, as well as with several non-player characters also present in the world via a menu which appeared on the left side of the screen. It also offered multiple ways to "complete" the game, which encouraged replay.
Among the actors who appeared in the game were a number of instantly recognizable (by face, if not necessarily by name) character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
s as well as a number of well-known younger actors: Robyn Lively
Robyn Lively
Robyn Elaine Lively is an American actress. Lively is best known for her role in the film Teen Witch, as well as for her roles in the TV shows Doogie Howser, M.D., Twin Peaks, and Saving Grace.-Early life:...
of Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
as "The Fairy", Jason Hervey
Jason Hervey
Jason Robert Hervey is an American actor, television producer and former public relations agent. He is best known for his role as "Wayne Arnold" on The Wonder Years.-Early life and acting:...
of The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
as "The Troll King", and Sam J. Jones
Sam J. Jones
Sam J. Jones is the stage name of Samuel Gerald Jones , an American actor also credited as Sam Jones.-Early life:Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida.-Career:...
from the 1980 film Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
as "The Blind Bowman" and A.J. Langer of My So-Called Life
My So-Called Life
My So-Called Life is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It originally aired on ABC from August 25, 1994, to January 26, 1995 and was distributed by The Bedford Falls Company with ABC Productions. Set at the...
as fellow Zork explorer Rebecca Snoot whom the player encounters on several occasions.
Game architect and designer Mark Long (co-founder/owner of Zombie Studios
Zombie Studios
Zombie Studios is an American independent video game developer of console, PC, mobile and web-based games. It was formed in 1994 by Joanna Alexander and Mark Long, formerly of the Sarnoff Research Center. Alexander and Long founded Zombie after they completed the design of a virtual reality game...
, Seattle, Washington) had several goals in mind to "make the game realistic" and "avoid things like mazes in text adventure games", and "multiple ways to solve puzzles, and to finish the game." In an interview in 1999, he stated these concepts:
- All of the puzzles in the game reference real, albeit esoteric, references to various cultures and archeological historyHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and studies. A common example would be the exploration of the pyramids in CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
along with the mythologyMythologyThe term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
that surrounds it, but uncommonly known examples were chosen over better-known ones. Mark's overseas duties in the U.S. Army (retired MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
) combined with a year of historical researchResearchResearch can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
is the basis for every puzzlePuzzleA puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
that must be solved to finish the game. - NavigationNavigationNavigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
is "always correct; if you move north then south, you are always in the same place. Solving mazes was overdone, dull, and annoying." - There are multiple ("at least three") ways to solveSölveSölve was a sea-king who conquered Sweden by burning the Swedish king Östen to death inside his hall.The Heimskringla relates that he was the son Högne of Nærøy, and that he had his home in Jutland...
puzzlesPuzzleA puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
, as well "as a half-dozen ways to complete the game." His reasoning: "I didn't like games that you had to follow a single, specific, obfuscated path for each puzzlePuzzleA puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
, and just one way the game could be finished." This was contrary to text-based adventure games and the widely popular MystMystMyst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
series. It also "gave the player a reason to play the game more than once, trying to discover new ways to solve puzzlesPuzzleA puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
and to finish the game. Serious gamers said they had worked out dozens of combinations to complete the game."
Feelies
As a tribute to the original Infocom, Return to Zork included feelieFeelie
Infocom used the term feelie to refer to the extra content included with the boxed versions of their interactive fiction computer games. Feelies differed from game to game and were of the same theme as the game they came packaged with...
s. The feelies include:
- A sweepstakes letter; some packages also included a sweepstakes letter written in French and/or German
- The envelope for the sweepstakes letter
- The 966 GUE edition of the Encyclopedia Frobozzica, which was combined with the game manual
Plot
The player's character is a sweepstakesSweepstakes
The United States consumer sales promotion known as a sweepstake has become associated with marketing promotions targeted toward both generating enthusiasm and providing incentive reactions among customers by enticing consumers to submit free entries into drawings of chance...
winner who wins an all expenses paid holiday to the Valley of the Sparrows, in Zork. Upon arrival, however, the player quickly learns that the entire area has fallen under some dark and sinister influence, becoming decayed and dysfunctional. Whole buildings have mysteriously vanished, murderous vultures infest the land, people have frequent and disturbing nightmares featuring some dark being which refers to itself as Morphius, and many of those who have survived have become reclusive and paranoid. The player must survive countless perils whilst exploring the valley, investigating the causes of the powers that have gripped the land and ultimately putting a stop to them.
Soundtrack
The game disc is also a 26-track audio disc. Each track on the disc plays in a specific location in the game. Some tracks are used in more than one location. In a few cases, a MIDI version of the music is used in the game instead of the CD recording. The tracks are as follows:- (Game data; not a music track - a conventional CD player will play this as a blank track)
- Prologue: Opening of the Mailbox
- White House AND Vulture Pits
- Opening Credits (Journey to the Valley)
- West Shanbar AND Front of Lighthouse AND Road to the South
- Entering the Great Underground Empire AND Bel Naire Temple
- Closing Sequence at End of Game
- Mayor's Office AND Notebook AND Sliding Tiles Puzzle
- Guardian of Zork
- Dreaming of Morpheus AND Inside the Vulture Pits
- Fool's Memorial
- Hero's Memorial AND Boar's Memorial
- Hardware Store AND Ferryman's Dock AND Troll Defeat
- Troll Fight
- Gift Shop
- Boos Miller (unused - MIDI version used in game)
- Dwarven Mines
- Whispering Woods
- Entering the Citadel of Zork (unused - MIDI version used in game)
- Endgame of Survivor (unused - MIDI version used in game)
- Moodock's Armory (MIDI version used in game)
- Forest of the Spirits (this piece is the PavanePavane (Fauré)The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50, is a composition by the French composer Gabriel Fauré, written in 1887. It was originally a piano piece, but is better known in Fauré's version for orchestra and optional chorus...
by Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
) - Cliffs of Depression AND Bogs
- Blacksmith AND Incinerator
- Medley (apparently not used - a rejected version of the final credits?)
Appearance
Return to Zork has appeared in Homestarruner.com's SBEmail #190 in the floppy disk box next to the computer.External links
- The Zork Library (All things Zork since 1998.)
- http://home.earthlink.net/~infernofilecabinet4/XpSetupsP_T/rtz_setup.htm How to setup RTZ for XP.
- The JAVE Entry for Return to Zork
- Home of the Underdogs' entry for Return to Zork
- GameFAQs entry for Return to Zork
- Disaster Labs' satirical review of Return to Zork
- Return to Zork labeled on a floppy disk in the box of floppy disks