Timeline | 1980-1983: Zork Trilogy

Zork I was probably one of the greatest Text-Adventure games ever released.

'Zork' was originally slang among members of the MIT community for an unfinished program (especially a game) and it was under this name that several programmers at MIT developed a game they would eventually name 'Dungeon'. They finished their program somewhere around 1977 but received a copyright violation notice from the publishers of 'Dungeons & Dragons' and so they renamed the game back to Zork and released it for PDP-10 mainframe computers (common in universities at the time).

Zork was an immediate cult classic among the university scene and so those same programmers decided to get together and form a company to publish and distribute Zork to the masses. As common computers of the time couldn't handle the entire game as it existed on the PDP-10, Infocom (the company they formed) split the game into three parts: Zork I, Zork II and Zork III. Each game was slightly altered and more content added so they could function as stand alone games and they began releasing the games, starting with Zork I on common computers of the day (Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM compatibles, etc.)

Zork I was released in 1980, the premise of the game was simple: you were an 'adventurer' presented with situations and questions and you entered commands into the game like 'open door' 'go to the right' and so on to navigate the story and find all the treasures to earn the title 'Master Adventurer' doing so give you a map to a 'stone barrow' which is where Zork I ends...

Zork II was released in 1981 and was a well received follow up to Zork I

...and Zork II begins! Zork II was very similar to Zork I in terms of gameplay (they are all three text-adventure games based on the same engine) but the storyline is a little different. In this game you are still looking for treasues, however collecting them is not the entire goal - in fact it will not win the game for you if you collect all 10, nor is collecting all 10 necessary to finish the storyline and advance the plot to win but some of them are.

The final game of the original Zork trilogy was released in 1983.

Zork III takes a slightly different path than I and II, in this game instead of looking for treasure to advance the plot you are trying to prove yourself worthy of becoming the 'Dungeon Master'. An interesting twist in this game is a time sensitive event, an earthquake that usually occurs somewhere around turn 130 that the player must have advanced for enough into the game to have gotten the key by that point or the game becomes unwinnable (also there are things you can't do until the earthquake alters the landscape).

The Zork games where very challenging, very engaging and tons of fun when they were released. Even as early Action-Adventure games were coming out Zork really defined the Text-Based Adventure game. Later Action-Adventure and RPG games were heavily influenced by the Zork Trilogy.


You can download all three of the original Zork games for free here:
http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html

GoG.com also has the Anthology and later Zork games available here (its about $10 for the entire series)
http://www.gog.com/game/the_zork_anthology

Timeline | 1980: Space Invaders for Atari 2600

Space Invaders stormed onto the Atari 2600 playing a large roll in its success.

Space Invaders was a huge hit in the Arcades for Taito starting in 1978 with estimates of 100,000 machines installed grossing over $600 million in just that year, and just in Japan! Securing the license for the home console version of Space Invaders was an enourmous boon for the Atari 2600 and in 1980 the Arcade classic hit the home console and sales skyrocketted! Sales of the 2600 nearly quadrupled with the release of Space Invaders and the game itself went on to sell over two million copies in its first year on sale for the console. Now described as the first 'killer app' for a home video game console, many people were buying the Atari 2600 just to play Space Invaders.

Space Invaders Rocketed the Atari 2600 to popularity and even allowed it to extend its reach beyond the US to some degree.

To understand the phenomenon that was Space Invaders one has to look at the game in context with the times. No other game before it was as action oriented, it wasn't the first shooting game but it was the first shooting game where the targets shot back. It had waves of enemies that got faster and faster, rudimentary destructible environments (in the form of the blocks the player's cannon could hide behind). The basic concept of the player manning a movable cannon on the ground and shooting down invading aliens and its popularity helped to shift the video game industry from the mostly sports based titles before it (popularized by Pong and the like) to include more sci-fi and fantasy situations. Games like Galaga, Galaxian, Asteroids, Missile Command, Defender and even later first-person shooters like Doom, Quake and Halo feel the influence of Space Invaders.

Space Invaders on the Atari 2600.

Space Invaders for the Atari 2600 boasted '112 game' or rather game-variations (basically a bunch of slightly different game modes) but the main portion of the game had a few differences from the Arcade version. First it was smaller, only 36 aliens to start with instead of 55, only 3 hiding bunkers instead of 4. Also some key strategy changes included the bunkers disappearing altogether if/when an alien touched any of them (instead of grinding away like in the arcade version) and the fact that the player's and alien's shots pass through each other instead of canceling each other out like in the arcade version. Finally the sprites and colors themselves were slightly less impressive than the arcade cabinets could produce. Still Space Invaders on the Atari 2600 was probably one of the greatest games that could be played on any home console at the time - and definitely the most popular.

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders

Space Invaders Wiki:
http://spaceinvaders.wikia.com/wiki/Space_Invaders_(Atari_2600)