Game Groups > Z-Code

This game group contains games written in the platform-independent Z-Code format.

Z-Code is an Interactive Fiction software platform which originates from Infocom's Z-machine virtual machine software solution. All game information are stored in a platform-independent data file, so once you had developed a Z-Code interpreter for a given platform, all Z-Code games could run on it -- a massive save on time and money.

After the demise of Infocom, people decoded the file format and began to develop interpreters for newer platforms. Also the Z-Code standard was developed further, allowing for graphics, sound and other improvements. Today, Z-Code has become some sort of standard for Interactive Fiction, and there are Z-Code interpreters for most, if not all, platforms (a good list can be found here).