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.
Infocom was founded on June 22, 1979 by MIT staff and students led by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Albert Vezza, and Joel Berez and lasted as an independent company until 1986 when it was bought by Activision. Activision finally shut down the Infocom division in 1989, although they released some titles in the 1990s under the Infocom Zork brand. Activision abandoned the Infocom trademark in 2002. |
Interactive fiction
- The Zork series:
- The original Zork Trilogy (Marc Blank & Dave Lebling):
- Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1980)
- Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz (1981)
- Zork III: The Dungeon Master (1982)
- The Enchanter Trilogy:
- Enchanter (1983, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling)
- Sorcerer (1984, Steve Meretzky)
- Spellbreaker (1985, Dave Lebling)
- Mini Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1987, Marc Blank & Dave Lebling, free cut-down, single load tape version of game, covermounted on UK's ZZAP!64 magazine)
- Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor (1987, Brian Moriarty)
- Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz (1988, Steve Meretzky)
- Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (1997, Michael Berlyn and Marc Blank)
- The original Zork Trilogy (Marc Blank & Dave Lebling):
- The Planetfall series:
- Planetfall (1983, Steve Meretzky)
- Stationfall (1987, Steve Meretzky)
- Deadline (1982, Marc Blank)
- Starcross (1982, Dave Lebling)
- Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare (1983, Michael Berlyn)
- The Witness (1983, Stu Galley)
- Infidel (1983, Michael Berlyn)
- Seastalker (1984, Stu Galley & Jim Lawrence)
- Cutthroats (1984, Michael Berlyn & Jerry Wolper)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984, Steve Meretzky & Douglas Adams)
- Suspect (1984, Dave Lebling)
- A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985, Steve Meretzky)
- Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams (1985, Brian Moriarty)
- Ballyhoo (1986, Jeff O'Neill)
- Hollywood Hijinx (1986, "Hollywood" Dave Anderson)
- Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986, Steve Meretzky)
- Moonmist (1986, Stu Galley & Jim Lawrence)
- Trinity (1986, Brian Moriarty)
- Border Zone (1987, Marc Blank)
- Bureaucracy (1987, Infocom & Douglas Adams)
- The Lurking Horror (1987, Dave Lebling)
- Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It (1987, Jeff O'Neill)
- Plundered Hearts (1987, Amy Briggs)
- Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels (1988, Bob Bates)
- Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur (1989, Bob Bates)
- James Clavell's Shogun (1989, Dave Lebling)
- Journey (1989, Marc Blank)
Collections
- The Zork Trilogy (1986; contained Zork I, Zork II & Zork III)
- The Enchanter Trilogy (1986; contained Enchanter, Sorcerer & Spellbreaker)
- The Lost Treasures of Infocom (1991; contained 20 of Infocom's interactive fiction games)
- The Lost Treasures of Infocom II (1992; contained 11 interactive fiction games)
- The Zork Anthology (1994; contained Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork & Zork Zero)
- The Mystery Collection (1995; contained Deadline, Lurking Horror, Moonmist, Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels, Suspect and The Witness. Zork Zero and Planetfall were a bonus in some packages)
- The Adventure Collection (1995; contained Border Zone, Plundered Hearts, Cutthroats, Trinity and Infidel)
- The Comedy Collection (1995; contained Bureaucracy, Hollywood Hijinx and Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It)
- The Fantasy Collection (1995; contained Spellbreaker, Enchanter, Sorcerer, Seastalker and Wishbringer)
- The Science Fiction Collection (1995; contained Suspended, A Mind Forever Voyaging, Starcross, Stationfall and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)
- Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom (1996; contained 33 Infocom games plus six winners of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition, which was not affiliated with Infocom)
- Zork Special Edition (1997; contained Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero, Return to Zork, Zork: Nemesis, and Planetfall)
- Zork Classics: Interactive Fiction (2000)
- The Zork Legacy Collection (2002; contained The Zork Anthology, Return to Zork, and Zork Nemesis)
- Lost Treasures of Infocom (2012; In-App purchases for most of the titles)
Other titles
- Graphic adventures
- Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X! (1992, Steve Meretzky)
- Return to Zork (1993, Doug Barnett)
- Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands (1996, developed Zombie LLC)
- Zork Grand Inquisitor (1997, developed by Activision)
- BattleTech games
- BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (1988, developed by Westwood Studios)
- BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1991, developed by Westwood Studios)
- Other games
- Fooblitzky (1985, Marc Blank, Mike Berlyn, Poh Lim & Paula Maxwell)
- Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth (1988, Scott Schmitz, Ken Updike & Amy Briggs)
- Mines of Titan (1988, Louis Castle & Brett Sperry)
- Tombs & Treasure (1989, developed by Nihon Falcom)
- Circuit's Edge (1989, developed by Westwood Studios)
- Infocomics
- Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen (1988, Steve Meretzky)
- Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams (1988, Amy Briggs)
- ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle (1988, Elizabeth Langosy)
- ZorkQuest II: The Crystal of Doom (1988, Elizabeth Langosy)