Adventure Gamers - Forums

Just a tiny warning: This game is unlikely to run quite correctly with modern Z-Machine interpreters.

Without going into spoilers, there is a point late in the game where the game will print a message, delay for a second or two and then print another message over the old one. The way it does the delay is to just let the game run an empty loop for a number of iterations. This was tuned so that you would get the correct delay on each model of computer the game was running on.

Today, those loops run in the blink of an eye and you won’t even see the first message. Unless you are running the game on emulated hardware, e.g. using DOSbox. (I’ve filed a bug report for the Frotz interpreter, but so far there hasn’t been any good suggestion on how to handle this.)

It should still be possible to play the game, and I don’t think the missing messages contain any vital information. But it’s not quite optimal.

Tedious historical footnote below:

This was a common trick when writing BASIC programs on eighties home computers. For instance, the most well-known programming handbook for the Swedish ABC 80 computer suggested that this:

would give you an approximate 2-second delay. What it does is simply to set F to 1, 2, ... 2000 and run any code between the FOR and the NEXT (in this case, none) for each iteration. And this would work because all ABC 80 computers would run at approximately the same speed. Today you can’t make that assumption, and an optimizing compiler would probably just see this as a roundabout way of setting F to 2000 and remove everything in between.

Infocom wrote their games in ZIL, not BASIC, of course, and had to take into consideration which computer the game was running on. But the idea was the same. From the leaked Infocom source code:

So for this particular benchmark, it seems that e.g. the Amiga ran about four times as fast as a C128 (I don’t think the game was ever released for the C64). (ZIP20 would probably be whatever computer Infocom used for developing the game. Possibly a DECSystem-20.)

It’s a bit annoying that they did it this way, because as far as I know the Z-Machine ‘‘should’’ have been capable of using the “timed input” later used to allow Border Zone to run in real time. But the game had a long and troubled development history, so maybe that feature wasn’t widely implemented at the time that code was written?

Yes, thanks eriktorbjorn. I wonder if the scrollback on Frotz will display the text loop, because that’s what I’m copy/pasting to the thread.

Should we get started then? I’m sure more will join, and it’s not really that important who we play as. I suggest we go with Karlok’s filled form, unless anyone has a better idea.

[Your blood pressure just went up.]

Last name: Adams
First name: Douglas
Middle initial: N
Your sex (M/F): M
House number: 15
Street name: Utopia Avenue
City: Verweggistan
State: Huh?
Zip: 000000
Phone: 5555555555555550
Last employer but one: Infocom
Least favourite colour: blue
Name of girl/boy friend: Jane
Previous girl/boy friend: Doe
You have been granted Licence Number 880521.

Thank you for your cooperation, Ms Adams. Have a nice day.

Well now, Ms Adams, aren’t you glad you left your previous job? The Deep Thought Corporation of America was of course a great company to work for, except for the no-coloured-socks dress code, and you really enjoyed being Vice President (Software Development), especially the opportunities it gave you to cause considerable inconvenience to many hundreds of thousands of people you had never met.

But Happitec is going to be much more fun. The money’s better, it’s a great place to live and work and you’re really looking forward to your Paris vacation.

You’re pretty pleased with your new home, too, and don’t really mind that the removals company fouled up slightly due to a computer scheduling problem. After all, you won’t be using your new place for the next two weeks, and they promised to have everything installed by the time you return.

In fact, the only tiny cloud on the horizon is a silly bit of bother with your bank about a change-of-address card. You know the sort of thing? You send them a change-of-address card, and they say “Oh dearie me, that’s not our official change-of-address form, the computer won’t like it a bit, you’ll have to fill in a proper one, we’ll send one to you,” and they do, but they send it to your old address along with your new US Excess card and your cheque book…?

Of course you know the sort of thing. It’s exactly what has happened to you. But Happitec’s enlightened employee policies mean you don’t really care. After all, who needs money? Pick up your Happitec cheque, grab a bite of lunch, a cab to the airport and then you’ll be living high on the hog at Happitec’s expense. What a truly enviable situation you find yourself in, Ms Adams.

BUREAUCRACY
A Paranoid Fantasy
Copyright (C) 1987 Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bureaucracy is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Interpreter 6 Version F
Release 160 / Licence Number 880521

Front Room

This is the living room of your new house, a pretty nice room, actually. At least, it will be when all your stuff has arrived as the removals company said they would have done yesterday and now say they will do while you’re on vacation. At the moment, however, it’s a bit dull. Plain white, no carpets, no curtains, no furniture. A room to go bughouse in, really. Another room is visible to the west, and a closed front door leads outside.

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eriktorbjorn - 02 September 2021 02:12 AM

historical footnote below:

Thanks for the background. I remember as a kid when programming in Microsoft BASIC using this trick to add a delay. Kind of nostalgic
Surprised, that it wasn’t implemented in Z-Machine (or that they didn’t use it) and add to resort to a macro running an empty loop.

[Blood Pressure: 135/87]

>x me
You’re wearing a digital wristwatch.

>x watch
Your digital wristwatch says it’s Saturday, 9:01 am.

The doorbell is ringing.

>i
You’re not holding anything, but you’re wearing a digital wristwatch. You also have a wallet in your pocket.

>x wallet
[Taking the wallet first]

This deeply tacky wallet was sent to you free by the US Excess Credit Card Corporation to tell you how much a person like you needed a US Excess card, what with your busy thrusting lifestyle in today’s fast-moving, computerised, jet-setting world. Needless to say, you already had a US Excess card which they were trying to take away from you for not paying your account, which, equally needless to say, you had paid weeks ago.

At the moment, the wallet is open.

The doorbell is ringing.

>w
Back Room

You’re in the back room of your new house, another nice room, at present suitable for lining with latex padding and bouncing off the walls, but likely to be pretty impressive and upwardly mobile once the removals men have sorted out their little problem. The exit leads east to the living room.

You see a combination telephone/answering machine and a table here. On the table you see a hacksaw, an address book, a small case, your Boysenberry computer, a letter and your passport.

The doorbell is ringing.

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>e
Front Room

The doorbell is ringing.

>open door
You open the front door.

“Hi,” says the annoyingly bright young man in the doorway. “Chowmail Overnite. Are you Mr Adams, of 17 Utopia Avenue?” He holds up a large burlap bag. “Here’s your order of Llamex(R) brand High-Fibre Llama Treats!”

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>ask man for bag
The delivery man doesn’t respond.

“I’m authorized to accept both Beezer and US Excess,” the delivery man remarks hopefully.

>take bag
“Don’t touch the llama merchandise, buddy,” scolds the delivery man, backing away from you.

The delivery man glances around the room. “Just moved in, eh?” he comments. “Nice place.”

>open wallet
It’s already open.

“The authorized charge is $41.75,” the delivery man reminds you. “Beezer or US Excess.”

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