79 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
79 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
[ INFOCOM Bugs! ]
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_____ Zork I _____
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There is an obscure container bug that is probably in every single version of
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the game. A while back, we were wondering what would happen if you have two
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large containers, and you tried putting them inside each other. So, we went
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into Zork I, put the coffin inside the raft, and then said PUT RAFT IN COFFIN.
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They both disappear! Zork I, being our oldest game, contains some classic
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InfoBugs in its early version. Shaking any non-empty open container may cause
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a crash. You "bump your head on the river" if you try to enver it. And saying
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GO <SOMETHING>, such as GO ROPE, may send you into a totally bizarre location.
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_____ Zork II _____
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One of the funniest bugs ever discovered was that you could "talk" to various
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objects in Zork II, such as the aquarium. A command like AQUARIUM, WEST would
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elicit the response, "The aquarium leaves the room." One player led the
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aquarium halfway across the dungeon in search of the solution to a problem.
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_____ Zork III _____
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Possibly the most embarrassing bug ever released occurs at the very end of
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the eariest version of this game. If you are carrying the sword in Prison Cell
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number four when the Dungeon Master pushes the button on the Parapet, the game
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crashes. This happens because the sword's routine checks adjoining rooms to
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know whether to glow, and the relosated Prison Cell had two different NORTH
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exits. The reason none of the testers ever found this bug was because they all
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used the sword to clock the beam of light, and therefore never brought it as
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far as the Prison Cell! A really fun bug occurs when you enter the dungeon,
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drop one of the seven items necessary for admission, and then knock on the
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dungeon door FROM THE INSIDE! The Dungeon Master will tell you you're not
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ready and send you back to the Buttoo Room, but also follow you! You can lead
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him all over the game, and even strand him in the Zork I area, if you're
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clever. In an early version of the game, you could carry a light source across
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the lake inside the chest, thus avoiding using the viewing table to get the
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grue repellent, and consequently finishing the game with only 6 of the 7
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points. Since this bug was fixed, we've had people call up, saying "but my
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friend says the way to get to Key Room is to bring a light source across the
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lake inside the chest!"
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_____ Deadline _____
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Well, there's the first floor bathroom door that was difficult to open. If
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you said OPEN DOOR, you were asked "Which door do you mean, the door or the
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south closet door." A bug that only few people have managed to duplicate is the
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strange case of the two Dunbars - the corpse lying upstairs in the bedroom, and
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the live Dunbar wandering around as though nothing strange has happened!
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Finally, here's another favorite. Sit down on a piece of furniture, such as
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the couch or a bed. Then say (something like) BAXTER, TELL ME ABOUT MARSHALL
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ROBNER. Deadline replies "You can't see any me here."
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_____ Starcross _____
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Speaking of talking to inanimate objects, this bug is rampant in early
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versions of Starcross. A simple (though totally unintended) solution to the
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red rod problem is to say NEST, DROP ROD. The game replies "Dropped." Along
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the same lines, one player was trying to turn the beam of energy off in the
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Laboratory, and said BEAM, OUT. The game's response: "The beam leaves the
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room." Try this one: go to the top of the tree and say THROW HANDS. If you
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have an early version, Starcross replies "The pair of hands sails away,
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drifting in a long arc towards the ground."
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Stretch your imagination a bit and try to find some spectacular bugs of your
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own. The finest bugs begin in the human mind! Here's an example - what would
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happen if you said AGAIN on the first move of the game?
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