Et-Setera

Description

ZeeME is a ZCode interpreter for the J2ME environment. ZCode is the intermediate language that was designed and used by the original Infocom text adventure games. Using ZeeME, it is possible to package and play a large variety of interactive fiction on your J2ME mobile device.

ZeeME

You may download and install the ZeeME default jar or jad directly from this web site. The default ZeeME jar is packaged with a condensed version of Infocom’s Zork I called Mini-Zork . If you would rather play one of the many available interactive fiction titles, you may use the ZeeME packager as described below.

ZeeME Packager

The ZeeME packager contains the ZeeME interpreter and allows the user to package a ZCode interactive fiction game with the interpreter. Once the new jar has been created, it may be loaded onto the mobile device using standard means. The packager requires a J2SE (c) installation on the machine that will be used for packaging.

The steps required for creating a new interactive fiction package:

1. Install necessary J2SE JRE or SDK on packaging machine.
2. Download ZeeME packager to the packaging machine
3. Download the interactive fiction to be packaged. See Resources for interactive fiction downloads.
4. Run the packager from the command-line by executing “ java -jar ZeeMEPackager.jar “
5. Fill in the fields appropriately and press the “Repackage” button.
6. Install the resulting Java archive (.jar) file to your mobile device.

Hints and Tips

• Many games support the ability to use the commands save and restore to save and restore the current game state. Unfortunately, save/restore appears to be broken in Mini-Zork.

Resources

There are many resources for interactive fiction on the internet. A Google search will reveal a rich community of interactive fictions authors. Some of the best sites are listed here.

• Baf’s Guide to the IF Archive
  An excellent site containing links and reviews to the Interactive Fiction Archive.
• ZCode Games section at the Interactive Fiction Archive
  The primary resource for all interactive fiction games, tools and information.
• Interactive Fiction Competition provides some of the best interactive fiction that you can find. Z-Code games may be used packaged for use in ZeeME. To download individual games, you can visit the Games List .
• You can download the source code ZeeME-0.1.0-src.zip if you are interested.

Contact

Send email to zeeme@setera.org .

Disclaimer

ZeeME and ZeeME packager are provided as-is. There is no warranty or guarantee that ZeeME will work as advertised or that it won’t crater your mobile device. Cratering your device with J2ME is probably not very possible, but there are very few guarantees in life.