The "Retro" Money-Making Machine
Alas, good old nostalgia! What is better than idling in a slightly melancholic mood while pondering the past? Almost anything was better in the good old days: Colours were more intense, one-liners smarter and verb lists longer. We were content with the little things. Who needed more than peeps, pixels and bizzareness?
Nowadays you can turn those nostalgic feelings into hard cash. At least if you can offer some familiar faces from back then too, which keeps you from getting lost in that flood of Kickstarters. Of course Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick had no problems with that.
If you haven't already, please read the general overview about the Infocomics first.
ZorkQuest's genesis has one major differentiating factor compared to the previous two Infocomics. Although initially roughly plotted by Dave Lebling, he dropped to work on Shōgun. At this point, it was instead given to Elizabeth Langosy. She had been with Infocom since 1983 in various marketing related functions. She recalls:
I remember hearing sometime in the 90s that a new video game came out in which you play an earthworm. That made me curious, if only because of the sheer absurdity of the idea. The worm is put – as it turns out – into a fancy power suit and is also equipped with a small pistol that can even be converted into a rocket blaster via power-up. The worm's origins are unmistakably the world of colourful, funny cartoons that popped up like mushrooms in those times. My surprise just increased as I heard about a version of that game for my little monochrome Gameboy.