What's New!

Welcome to The Gallery of Zork (formerly the Infocom Gallery - Phase III)

The original Infocom Gallery made its online debut in 1997, the brainchild of Julian Linder and David Sinclair, as a response to Activision's disappointing treatment of the documentation contained in the Lost Treasures of Infocom CD collection. By 2003 the site was getting long in the tooth. Josh Larios, unable to contact Julian or David, decided to fork the Gallery and update it, while retaining the original site largely intact. Though initially forthcoming, updates at his site stopped in 2004. Meanwhile, David and Julian's original site had disappeared from the Internet.

In December, 2006, I began making high-resolution scans of my own collection of Infocom games. Wishing to see the Gallery updated, but initially unable to contact Josh, I forked the site, creating Phase III (aka, The (all-new) Infocom Gallery). Then, on January 1, 2007, Josh replied, suggesting I take over the site.

Welcome to The Gallery of Zork. May you find it useful.

-- CNJEC, January, 2007

Phase III

6 June 2010

Bug fixes galore. First and foremost, thumbnail generation now actually works -- no more falling over memory limits. Not sure, but I think all the graphics stuff is now working -- from auto image scanning to thumbnail creation, even cleaning up of orphaned thumbnails, this site is now all but auto-maintaining. Yeah, again, I'm the only one who cares :-)

Organized The Zork Chronicles and reduced image sizes to something manageable. It's actually quite a pleasant experience reading online now. Give it a try. Eventually, all the online books will be done up the same.

2 June 2010

Lots more under-the-hood code changes, including code to use a default "no thumb" thumb image should the auto-thumbnail generating code fail. So at least now you'll see a default thumb instead of nothing.

Added Genre and Product Code info to canonical games pages.

17 May 2010

The Infocom Online page is back. I'd removed it during a recent site redesign in favor of adding a "Play Now!" link to each game's page. But after running across numerous blogs this weekend linking to the old page, I've decided to put it back up. As of yet, there is no link to it from the main page. You can access it directly here.

Also added the following, again courtesy of The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History.

• PC1 - 4 images.
• PC2 - full catalog new to GoZ (3 images).
• PC3 - 2 images.
• PC4 - 1 image.
• PC5 - 2 images.
• PC7 - 5 images.
• PC9 - 2 images.
• PC10 - full catalog new to GoZ (2 images).
• PCM - Product grid and '84 order form: 4 images.

16 May 2010

First test of my new code: new content -- and lots of it. Nearly 500 images added today. Under the old code it would've taken me a week or more -- manually creating and uploading thumbs, then manually editing a couple of dozens .php files to handcraft hundreds of html links. Today, just upload the images -- a matter of an hour or two -- and I'm done. Sweet!

All the following is courtesy of The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History.

• Ballyhoo - 7 TI99-4A images.
• Deadline - 12 C64, 18 Folio, 1 InvisiClue, 5 Mastertronic images.
• Enchanter - 8 Folio, 4 InvisiClue, 5 Mastertronic images.
• Hollywood Hijinx - 6 TI99-4A images.
• Hitchhiker's Guide - 3 InvisiClues, 5 Mastertronic, 11 SolidGold images.
• Leather Goddesses - 7 TI99-4A, 5 Mastertronic, 11 SolidGold images.
• Planetfall - 23 DEC, 14 Dysan, 4 Folio, 3 InvisiClue, 5 SolidGold, 5 Mastertronic images.
• Seastalker - 10 Folio, 3 InvisiClues images.
• Sorcerer - 7 Folio (including an Infotator at last!), 5 Mastertronic images.
• Spellbreaker - 5 TI99-4A images.
• Starcross - 16 C64, 6 Dysan, 6 Folio, 1 InvisiClue images.
• Stationfall - 7 InvisiClues images.
• Suspect - 10 TI99-4A images.
• Suspended - 20 C64, 8 Dysan, 10 Folio images.
• Wishbringer - 6 Mastertronic, 8 SolidGold, 7 TI99-4A images.
• Witness - 8 Dysan, 10 Folio, 15 DEC, 1 InvisiClue images.
• Zork I - 7 Personal Software, 6 Mastertronic, 17 C64, 5 InvisiClues, 7 SolidGold, 5 SEGA-Saturn, 10 BlisterPack images.
• Zork II - 10 BlisterPack, 8 C64, 5 Mastertronic,
• Zork III - 11 BlisterPack, 8 C64, 1 Dysan, 5 Mastertronic, 5 InvisiClue images.

15 May 2010

As promised, the site now auto-generates missing thumbnail images. You should never again see a missing thumbnail, and site updates should be as easy as uploading a new image to the proper folder. No more mucking about with manual thumbnail generation, or having to manually update HTML files every time I add a new image. Yet another itch scratched..

12 May 2010

Added htaccess mod_rewrites. Can now access the site via URLs like www.accardi-by-the-sea.org/AMFV.

10 May 2010

Added code to sort the image dirs and filenames, so they don't appear in random order. Next up: auto-thumbnail-generating code. At that point, I can't think of any way to make updating and maintenance any easier. Making the only excuse for continued non-updates pure laziness.

8 May 2010

Something I'd been wanting for quite some time now: I've added a lightbox script for image viewing, making for a much more pleasant (and contemporary) experience. The script is Lightbox2, courtesy of Lokesh Dhakar. Aaaaah! Finally got that itch scratched. [Addendum: Oops, looks like the lightbox script breaks the site menu. Must be a javascript collision. I'll have to look into it.]

7 May 2010

Rewrote some under-the-hood code. Not that anyone out there is interested. It's only thirteen lines of PHP, but it took me three days to write, therefore I'm adding an entry here. The site now autoscans for images, meaning all I have to do is upload a new image, and the site will find it. I no longer have to manually add links. I know, y'all are not impressed. After getting the code working, I reorged and re-uploaded portions of the site.

8 Mar 2010

Zork - The Forces of Krill added read-online and JPG downloads
Zork - The Cavern of Doom added read-online, JPG, HTML, DOC downloads
Wishbringer added read-online thumbnails

4 Mar 2010

Added download PDFs for three choose-your-own-adventures: The Forces of Krill, Zork - The Malifestro Quest, and Zork - Conquest at Quendor. Rewrote the What's New page.

30 Sep 2009

• Added downloads for Zork I, Zork II and Zork III
• Added downloads for Zork: The Cavern of Doom
• Added photos of Steve Meretzky's personal copy of Cornerstone, courtesy of Jason "Textfiles.com" Scott and the Get Lamp project.

25 Sep 2009

Phase III - The Reboot complete. Though my to-do list can hardly be said to be growing shorter, coding-related items are becoming scarce, so I've decided to declare the new site (working title: The (all-new) Infocom Gallery - Phase III (Reboot)) ready for business. To mark this milestone -- the most thorough and comprehensive revisioning in the Gallery's history -- I have rechristened the site The Gallery of Zork. Site has been announced in several venues.

August 2009

With other concerns muscling in, I've left the site half-baked for the past couple of years. Rather than trying to salvage the current site (it was a lot like my junk closet: fine with the door closed, but you don't want to look inside), and having picked up some PHP coding skills in the interim, I've decided to throw the whole thing out and rebuild once again from scratch. I'm dubbing this Phase III - The Reboot.

Phase III - The Reboot

16 Jan 2007

Completed and uploaded rebuilds. New Zork 2 high-res scans now online. Replaced old scans with higher-res and added new scans: full greybox scans, all browsie pages, disk and sleeve.

15 Jan 2007

• In progress: all games folders being rebuilt with new theme.
• In the spirit of Floyd ("More dots better, eh boss?"), have updated Zork I scans with higher-res scans, and added missing stuff: greybox edges and spine, inside flap reviews and tray w/feelies; completed InvisiClues book; scans of game disk and sleeve.
• Have begun adding comments to each scan, in particular dimensions for each item (when known). See Zork I, for example.

14 Jan 2007

Added new main page for Gallery/The Canon. Deleted "all" from the Gallery description on home page: "View images of all Infocom game packaging".

13 Jan 2007

Think I'm getting the hang of JAlbum -- now got the upload feature working.

• Added Zork: The Forces of Krill to the Library.
• Added Zork: The Cavern of Doom to the Library.
• Cleaned up some really nasty, gunky unpleasantnesses in the Library - broken links, missing HTML, and the like. Library now in tip-top shape, and awaiting more content.

So here's where we stand to date: all the additions I had made prior to the Minigal Affair were lost. At present, actual content is the same as the old pre-Phase III Gallery, plus 1) addition of Enchanter folio scans from Josh; 2) new higher-res Suspended scans; and, 3) Cavern of Doom and Forces of Krill added to the library.
--CNJEC

11 Jan 2007

Adding some eye candy -- animated hover effects on the mainpage, gallery and library pages. In the process, managed to overwrite the library page, so had to recreate it. Also some reorganization of file folders which broke links. Hopefully I've found and fixed them all.
--CNJEC

10 Jan 2007

Well, now. What a difference a couple of days makes. I'm now using JAlbum to put together the galleries. While I'm not entirely happy with the result -- at least of the default theme -- I've uploaded the new gallery. Additionally, I've made some cosmetic changes -- reworked the banner and the mainpage, gallery and library page images. I'm tempted to say the site's ready to go live, but I'll play with it another day or two first.
--CNJEC

8 Jan 2007

ARGHHH! I'm beginning to think this MiniGal was a mistake. After hours of carefully organizing all the images into folders, labeling everything, it craps all over its own database, and all my careful organization is out the window. Time to leave a nasty note in the Minigal forums, then find some new gallery software.
--CNJEC

7 Jan 2007

1) Finally found a download PHP script that installs and works. Unfortunately, it sticks a prefix on every file as an inducement to pay for a license. I'll go with it for now, but probably look for a new script later. 2) Added the following:

• Zork: The Cavern of Doom, in image, HTML and PDF formats.
• Greybox scans for Arthur: the search for Excalibur
• Greybox scans for Ballyhoo
• Greybox scans for Beyond Zork
• Greybox scans for Border Zone
• Greybox scans for Bureaucracy
• Greybox scans for Cutthroats
• Greybox scans for Enchanter
• Greybox scans for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Greybox scans for Hollywood Hijinx
• Greybox scans for Journey
• Greybox scans for Leather Goddesses of Phobos
• Greybox scans for The Lurking Horror
• Greybox scans for Moonmist
• Greybox scans for Nord and Bert
• Greybox scans for Planetfall
• Greybox scans for Seastalker

6 Jan 2007

1) Replaced the old form mail script on the Contacts Page with a new one that should be more secure from address harvesters.

2) Added a Downloads Page with the three Zorks; installed a download manager script which, however, seems to be broken. Will have to make enquiries. For now, downloads are via direct link.

3) Added a placeholderHelp Us! Page. Content to come later.

4) Added add-a-link script to the Links Page. But like the downloads link, it doesn't quite work yet.

5) Man, I just lo-o-o-ve IFRAME. I've now enclosed the guestbook home page in an IFRAME, which is really slick. Compare the IFRAME experience with just redirecting directly.

6) Added Caverns of Doom PDF version to the Library for download.
--CNJEC

5 Jan 2007

New slate theme now site-wide, with the exceptions of the 404 "page not found" page and the image gallery itself. Also, I have changed the site URL from /InfocomGallery/ to /Infocom/Gallery/. This of course had the result of breaking links site-wide, but I'm hopeful I've found and fixed them all. Also updated and reformatted the Links page.
--CNJEC

4 Jan 2007

I've made the new slate theme the default site now, but still have to transition some of the sub-pages over to the new theme.
--CNJEC

2 Jan 2007

Hold the presses! New feel! New look! New look and feel! Site has been redesigned as a photo gallery using MiniGal 2, an open source PHP-based photo gallery script. I've abandoned the old site design and am rebuilding the site from scratch. New site homepage and image gallery are online, and am in the process of transferring all the old content over. To date the following have been added:

• AMFV - greybox
• Deadline - folio, greybox, mastertronic and invisiclues
• Suspect - greybox
• Infidel - folio and greybox
• Suspended - folio and greybox
• Wishbringer - greybox, mastertronic and invisiclues
• Zork I - folio, greybox and invisiclues
• Zork II - greybox
• Zork III - greybox

1 Jan 2007

Received a reply today from Josh Larios. He has officially handed the whole site over to me, so this is now THE Infocom Gallery. As soon as I give the word, Josh will redirect his site to mine.
--CNJEC

30 Dec 2006

1) Finished running the site through W3C validation; all pages currently validate as HTML 4.01 transitional and sport a logo saying so. Course, that doesn't guarantee I won't break them again in the near future. 2) Added scans of four items to stuffies: "Fill This Out and We'll Fill You In!" warranty card; "Commodore 64 or PLUS/4" system reference card; "Open This When You Really Need a Hint!" InvisiClues offer; "No Human Stands So Tall" poster offer card. 3) Reworked Zork I InvisiClues. All-new high-res scans; many missing pages added.
--CNJEC

29 Dec 2006

1) Added new 404 page. As a 404 page it's pretty useless, but I'm kinda proud of it anyway. 2) Have begun running the site through the W3C code validator. Those pages that validate as standards compliant will display the W3C logo at the bottom.
--CNJEC

28 Dec 2006

1)Added contact form to contacts page; visitors can now e-mail me directly from the site. 2) Added a guestbook. Will point all guestbook links to it and place a link to the old guestbook on the links page.
--CNJEC

27 Dec 2006

1) Lots more code-tweaking, and playing around with site appearance - colors, background, etc. 2) Reorganized index on mainpage. 3) Added Stuffies page, transferred Product Catalogs to it; no further content added yet. 4) Added Credits page. 5) Added Infocomics page, but no content yet. 6) Insert all the changes I've forgotten to remember here.
--CNJEC

26 Dec 2006

HTML recoding is reaching a stage I can call finished. Most of the site has been rewritten, with most of the HTML hand-coded, though most of the changes are "under the hood". Much greater user of CSS to allow greater control over style. I should be able to get back to updating content soon.
--CNJEC

24 Dec 2006

Lots more HTML rewriting and code cleanup. Renamed a lot of .HTMLs to .SHTMLs to facilitate server-side includes. This had the side effect of breaking links site-wide. I hope I've fixed them all. Removed all the javascript from the main page; it was Netscape and IE version-dependent and no longer worked; and I didn't want to maintain it.
--CNJEC

23 Dec 2006

1)Site-wide rewrite begun. With this rewrite I have four goals: 1) Rewrite all HTML code to make better use of templates and stylesheets, and reorganize the site, to better facilitate future updates. 2) Update the look of the site. 3) Replace current scans with higher-resolution scans. 4) Fill in missing scans. 2) As a sort of proof-of-concept, the revamped Suspect greybox section is now online, featuring the updated look, higher-resolution (200dpi) scans, and a boatload of additions lacking in the old site, notably the addition of scans of the greybox, the floppy disk, and eighteen missing browsie pages. And yes, I know some of the links don't go anywhere yet. 3) Added cover shots and basic information on the four choose-your-own adventure books.
--CNJEC

17 Dec 2006

1) Reworked site logo and section headings throughout the site. 2) Reorganized main page into separate Main, Contacts, Links and About pages. 3) Added Status Line page and contents; updated main page. 4) Added Books page (no content yet).
--CNJEC

16 Dec 2006

Replaced the Bureaucracy Beezer Card application form scans with higher quality scans from a better original.
--CNJEC

12 Dec 2006

With no reply from Josh to my recent enquiries, I have set up a new mirror at Accardi-by-the-Sea. I will begin updating the site shortly.
--CNJEC

Phase II

Date: 14 April 2004

Date: 8 Mar 2003

Date: 9 Feb 2003

Date: 5 Feb 2003

Date: 25 Jan 2003

Date: 22 Jan 2003

Date: 13 Jan 2003

Date: 10 Jan 2003

Date: 9 Jan 2003

Assuming that this mirror of the Gallery is now the primary source, I've decided to start working on it myself. If I can find the original authors, I will offer them accounts here so they can maintain it. In the meantime, I've fixed some missing files, with the kind assistance of Connie Tessier.
--Josh

Phase I

Date: 16 June 2001

Date: 1 Jan 2001

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