Z-code

From Just Solve the File Format Problem
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(Updated links)
Line 44: Line 44:
 
* [http://www.inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point0/index.html The Z-Machine Standards Document (version 1)], by Graham Nelson
 
* [http://www.inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point0/index.html The Z-Machine Standards Document (version 1)], by Graham Nelson
 
** [http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/specification/ZMachineSpec-1.0.zip PDF version, zipped]
 
** [http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/specification/ZMachineSpec-1.0.zip PDF version, zipped]
 +
 +
[[Category:Executables]]

Revision as of 12:00, 9 April 2015

File Format
Name Z-code
Ontology
Extension(s) .z1 .z2 .z3 .z4 .z5 .z6 .z7 .z8 .dat .zip

Z-code is an Interactive Fiction (IF) file format. A Z-code file contains a series of instructions for the Z-machine, a virtual machine designed by Infocom. A Z-code file typically contains an IF game which can be played using a Z-code interpreter. It is sometimes referred to as Infocom format. There are eight versions of Z-code. The first six were created by Infocom, while versions 7 and 8 were created by Graham Nelson, the author of Inform. Version 6 supports sound and images.

Z-code files can be packaged in Blorb container files along with other resources needed for the game, such as images and sounds.

Contents

Extensions

  • .z1 - .z8 (current convention, depending on what Z-code version the file is)
  • .DAT (used by Infocom for most of their commercial releases)
  • .ZIP (rarely seen, conflicts with the common extension used for ZIP compression)

Interpreters

A z-code game can be played on any platform that has an appropriate interpreter. Most interpreters can handle any Z-code version, although version 6 is not as widely supported as the other versions.

  • Frotz (cross-platform, open source, website)
  • Gargoyle (cross-platform, open source, website): can interpret multiple IF formats, including Z-code
  • Parchment (web, open source, website): browser-based Z-code interpreter.
  • Spatterlight (Mac OS X, open source, website): can interpret multiple IF formats, including Z-code
  • Twisty (Android, open source, website, Google Play)
  • Zoom (Mac OS X and Unix-like, open source, website) can interpret multiple IF formats, including Z-code.

The IF Archive contains many other interpreters:

Other Tools

Sample Files

  • Advent.z5: Adventure aka Colossal Cave, the original 350 points version ported to Inform by Graham Nelson
  • SoFar.z8: So Far, by Andrew Plotkin
  • zdungeon.z5: Zork, by Infocom

Information

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox