Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A-Z Geek (Z): Text Adventures and Zombies

This is the final post for the April A-Z Challenge. I posted six days a week, following the letters of the alphabet. I shared all the movies, books and games I watched, read and played--all the influences that turned me into the geeky person and writer I am today.

GAMES
Zork (1980), Zork II (1981), Zork III (1982):
You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door. There is a mailbox here.” The ultimate text adventure game ever, set in the ruins of an ancient underground empire. I spent hours upon hours playing this on my brother’s microbee computer. Zork was also featured in the novel, Ready Player One. I’d love to write a text adventure one of these days.

You can now play Zork I, II, and III for free. Click here to check it out.

Return to Zork (1993): There were other zorks before this, including a comic book, but I didn’t play them. Then this one came out. This stepped away from the classic text adventure format and used ugly graphics instead, including videos of real actors. I couldn’t get into it. I mourned the death of text adventures. No graphics could match my imagination. Or so I thought…

Zork Nemesis (1996): At last they got it right. This graphical adventure game was pure awesome. It had atmosphere, great music, fantastic puzzles. They got the immersive experience totally right.

MOVIES
Zombieland (2009): This is one of the best zombie movies, behind Shaun of the Dead which is probably THE best. I love the list of rules to survive the zombie apocalypse. Rule number one: Cardio.

How would you survive the zombie apocalypse? Have you ever played any of the Zorks or any other text adventure? 

Did you survive the A-Z challenge?


Another reminder for tomorrow, Wednesday, 1st May: the Insecure Writers’ Support Group founded by Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month it’s co-hosted by Rachna Chhabria, Mark Koopmans, and Lynda R Young (yours truly)!! To learn more or join up, click here

#AtoZChallenge #IWSG


49 comments:

Miss Cole said...

I looooooooooooove Shaun of the Dead! Haven't watched it in forever. Might have to this weekend :D

Cynthia said...

Yes, I got through the A to Z Challenge, and so did you! Woot-woot!!

Sheena-kay Graham said...

You seem to really like comedic zombie movies. Zombieland was great and congrats on making it to the end Lynda.

mooderino said...

They've made a pilot for a Zombieland tv show. Not sure it will be up to Walking Dead standards.

mood
Moody Writing
#atozchallenge

Nana Prah said...

Sorry Lynda. With this post recognize nothing. Zilch. Congratulations on surviving the A to Z challenge. Your posts were awesome, even when I wasn't geeky enough to know what you were talking about.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Zombieland!! Great minds think alike.
Survived the Challenge a fourth time and will miss my theme. Really not sure how I'm going to top it next year.

Unknown said...

Like I told Alex, never saw Zombieland. Never even heard of Zork. I live a sheltered life. *shame face*

Congrats on surviving. This was my first year. Not sure if I'll do it again, but it was fun. Being away for 10 days in the middle of the month (without internet!!!!) is tough for following other's posts & comments. Pretty sure I was an epic fail in those areas. Oh well.

Cathrina Constantine said...

I am a movie buff, and I especially liked your posts, Lynda. I can't believe the challenge has come to an end, and now we can somewhat relax and get back to writing. It was so nice to meet new people. Keep in touch.

Unknown said...

I've never seen Zombieland, but it sounds like I need to. This month just flew by. I can't believe it's over. I really enjoyed your posts and your visits back to my blog. :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations in completing the A to Z Challenge.

Yvonne
A to Z AMBASSADOR.

Unknown said...

Congrats on finishing the challenge. You rock! I didn't realize there was so many versions of Zork.

DEZMOND said...

I'd probably be the chief supplies officer in a zombie apocalypse, I'd hoard stuff in tones :) And I'd use a fireblazer as my weapon of choice....

Old Kitty said...

I don't ever want to live through a zombie apocalypse, thank you very much! LOL!! Yay for finishing your A-Z!!!! Take care
x

Betty Alark said...

Zork sounds fascinating! I have so much on my plate that playing Zork is out of the question but thanks for the update.

Yes, Betty survived the A-Z Challenge! And as always, it is a challenge; however, I always benefit from it so I only have positive things to say about it!

See you in circles, Lynda! Its been fun!

Suze said...

It was the fact that you're a cohost that tipped me over to resigning up for IWSG. :)

M.J. Fifield said...

I've seen Shaun of the Dead, but not Zombieland. I'm not a huge zombie fan but I did love Shaun, so maybe I should check out this other one.

Yolanda Renée said...

Not a fan of Zombieland, although I did find it entertaining. I don't think I could do a post on favorite movies, not sure I could find 26 -- but then again, I haven't tried. I might surprise myself.

You did a beautiful job, thanks for all you visits and comments on my blog. So appreciated!

nutschell said...

You can Alex both love Zombieland. I'll have to check that movie out! :)
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

Sherry Ellis said...

Ditto what nutschell said about Alex. Zombieland is awesome!

Kern Windwraith said...

Clearly I've been missing out--I *have* to watch Zombieland.

Hard to believe the challenge is over, but I'm not complaining. It's been lots of fun, but having a moment or two to spare will be kind of delightful. Looking forward to being able to revisit all my favourite blogs in May to catch up on the posts I missed. :)

Julie Flanders said...

This is the third time I've seen Zombieland in a post today, I really need to watch it.
Congrats on finishing the Challenge! :)

Unknown said...

Thank you posting on Games and Movies - I really enjoyed your posts. It was great to celebrate the visual film arts. Congratulations on surviving April, and the A to Z Challenge.

Mel Chesley said...

Yay for surviving the challenge! Good job. Loved your posts. :D

Luanne G. Smith said...

I have not seen this Zombieland!

Congrats on surviving yet another A to Z challenge. :)

Romance Book Haven said...

Great finishing post!

Congrats on crossing to the end!

Nas

Anonymous said...

I can do zombie movies when they are funny. Scary, not one bit. I'm a horror wuss. That said, I have proudly declared I'm joining the zombie hordes if it ever happens. Seems the less stressful of choices. LOL

Congrats on reaching the end of the challenge.

Chancelet said...

Yes, Lynda, we have finished! Yay!

But I have to say though Zombie Land was great, the BEST zombie movie ever was 28 Days Later. I had gone to see Shaun of the Dead when it came out, but I went with my mother who was bored, so we ended up going in to see a different movie (one which bored me to death). Never had a chance to see it again.

Zork sounds great, but I never got into adventure games like that.

Fairview said...

I believe I still have the floppy disk somewhere for zork which I played on my Commodore 64!!!

Jeff Hargett said...

ZORK!!! Take me back in time, Lynda! I'm a teen all over again!

Denise Covey said...

Hi Lynda, you've maintained the theme the whole way through. I didn't get around to visit much as I certainly have different taste, but that's what makes us all interesting. I visited blogs about once a week during the challenge. Glad it's over!

Looking forward to your writerly posts now!

Denise

Tammy Theriault said...

sigh real big girl...you finished the challenge!!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Yes, there does seem to be a pattern there... ;)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Yeah, I'm with you on that. I've enjoyed the reminiscing.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Still, it's fun and certainly a challenge! You chose a great theme too.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Yeah, I will say I'm eager to get back to writing again!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I blinked and it was over! Thanks so much. It's been fun visiting you too.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

but you know zork!!!!!!!!!! Wooo!!!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

flameblazer... crispy zombies... I like.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

While zork is fun, it's definitely time consuming.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

ha, good on ya, Suze :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Yep, I think you'd surprise yourself too.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I'm with you on that one :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

lol, yep. The less stressful path sounds like a winner ;)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

28 Days Later is pretty good too. I'm looking forward to World War Z. That should be awesome.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

How awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Ah, the good ole days ;)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Yeah, my visits to my regulars dropped off a little. I can get back to visiting them again. 26 days for the challenge is plenty!

DWei said...

Hole up somewhere high and give me a shotgun. What works in fiction should work in reality right?

Pat Tillett said...

Congrats on finishing!
I haven't thought about Zork in many years, but I did see Zombieland (again) a couple of weeks ago.

I am semi-prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse by not doing anything stupid.