[Ready Player One] The white house of ZORK recreated in Anyland

[Jinx]

"The captain conceals the Jade Key
in a dwelling long neglected
But you can only blow the whistle
once the trophies are all collected"


Hello fellow gunters and classic text adventure gamers alike!

Hunting for something important? Might I suggest you stop by the planet of Frobozz in Sector Seven by teleporting directly to [ZORK WHITE HOUSE] in Anyland?

If you do, you'll find that Jinx, with the assistance of Delco, has recreated the old white house in actual virtual reality from the mere text-only descriptions of the classic beloved 1980 text adventure ZORK I: The Great Underground Empire.

Wander around the woods, enter the house the only way you ever could, roll back the living room rug and open the trap door to the cellar -- and bring that brass lantern! There are a few rooms to explore underground and a nasty-looking troll with an axe to avoid.
Things that could be taken can be, and a couple of the trophies are in their place as well.
And the certain cereal box in this house in Ready Player One (the book) and its special prize are where they should be.


As a bonus homage to the original game: if you pick up and hold onto the speech bubble item next to the mailbox, then as you explore the area you'll see the original ZORK text descriptions of each "screen" (room) show up. The text only displays for players who are holding that item.



-------
Obviously I love the book Ready Player One. The last time I read it I had the idea of recreating the ZORK house in Anyland, so we could explore it in VR just like Parzival needed to for a very important part of the story. Now having just re-read the book ahead of the movie release, the idea popped into my head again.
Seeing HTC release a few officially-licensed RPO games, and going to The Distracted Globe dance hall in TheWaveVR which was recreated from the upcoming movie, I thought "Hey what a great time to make the ZORK house from RPO, and maybe draw some public interest to Anyland."
I didn't need an official contract, nor a production crew, nor a 3-D modelling team, no 6 months to create something neat & relevant.
I just needed about a week of after-work evenings free, and a few friends in Anyland to have fun with while building. =)
(It's not the entirety of the map of the game ZORK. That would take much, much longer. It's just enough of the house & cellar areas taken straight from the text descriptions to let you immerse in it.)

With as many changes the movie appears to be making from the book, I don't think the ZORK house puzzle will be in the movie. But it was still a key (pun intended) part of the story of the original story, so if you're hyped for the movie like I am and/or are looking to explore something that was only described in text, check it out.
--Jinx


"West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here."
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1343346095

[Daddy_Cage]

This is awesome!

[coleh]

Nice! Ready Player One hype!

[SpookyKitty]

Guess I gotta go read the book now if I want to find anything remotely secret in this area.

[Jinx]

Thanks, guys!

If you want to play (and get lost in, no doubt) the original text adventure of ZORK, I've been recently replaying it here in this website:
https://classicreload.com/zork-i.html

=)

[akillingsworth]

I have so much love for this

[Jinx]

Aww, great! =)

[Axel Nightshade]

Nice one Jinx can't wait to check it out. Zork was one of the first games I played.

[Daddy_Cage]

I wasn't priveleged enough to play this as a kid, but it's cool to see a cult following for it. It obviously means alot to the people who found this gem. Thanks for your dedication Jinx and Delco! I tagged some of the cool things I found inside btw.

[Jinx]

@Axel -- I remember playing ZORK 1 in high school in the '90s thinking "a text game? what's this?" and found it surprisingly interesting back then.
Also, this is what I was finishing up the other night when you pinged me and I didn't respond. Sorry! ;-)

@Nic -- glad you liked it too! Did you get into the basement? Touch the one side of the rug in the living room and it rolls up. Then you can lift up the trap door and descend. =)

[Axel Nightshade]

You can play it online now http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/5zyoqrsugeopel3ffhz_vq/zork

[Daddy_Cage]

Originally posted by Jinx:

@Axel -- I remember playing ZORK 1 in high school in the '90s thinking "a text game? what's this?" and found it surprisingly interesting back then.
Also, this is what I was finishing up the other night when you pinged me and I didn't respond. Sorry! ;-)

@Nic -- glad you liked it too! Did you get into the basement? Touch the one side of the rug in the living room and it rolls up. Then you can lift up the trap door and descend. =)

I couldn't find that! I'll check it out!