** ZaxMidlet is now deprecated. Future work will be on JFrotz, which is now available in J2ME and Android editions.
** JFrotz is available on Sourceforge (along with source code) JFrotz on SourceForge (J2ME install files).
** Temporary Over The Air (OTA) install for Blackberry (Until it is on the BB app world ) BB OTA Install for JFrotz
** JFrotz for Android is available on the Android Market. JFrotz for Android
JFrotz replaced the ZaxMidlet back-end, i.e., the Z-machine engine with a java implementation of Frotz.
The current version is relatively untested. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Note: JFrotz requires at least 3 MB of memory, so Zaxmidlet still may be the right choice for use on some low end phones.
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ZaxMidlet is a J2ME Midlet implementation of the Zax Z-Machine interpreter copyright(c) 2008-2010 by William H. Johnson.
ZaxMidlet can be used to play Z-Machine compatible interactive fiction games, e.g., the stories created by Infocom (Zork, Enchanter, etc.),
or any (or at least most) stories created by the Inform compiler
ZaxMidlet is based on ZAX v0.91 Z-Code Application Executor - Copyright(c) 2008 Matt Kimmel.
ZaxMidlet is hosted on www.sourceforge.net/projects/zaxmidlet.
Please report any bugs or issues there. Prior versions of the software may also be downloaded from sourceforge.
Current Version 0.1.8 - William H. Johnson zaxmidlet@gmail.com - 8/3/2010
Over the Air (OTA) Installation
download source/binaries for local installation
Screen Shots
Readme
License
Version 0.1.8 (8/3/2010):
No substantive changes, but adds signature keys for BLACKBERRY ONLY, which means that annoying messages on BLACKBERRY DEVICES ONLY such
as "The application ZaxMidlet has attempted to open local content. Would you like to allow this?" can be turned off by giving the application
trusted status.
Version 0.1.7 (6/22/2010):
Resolves an issue with the parser that prevented v5+ games from parsing correctly. For example in the story "Aisle," the command "woman, hello" is not parsed properly in previous versions.
Versions of Zax <0.91 included a bug in the READ opcode that improperly placed the typed text in the text-buffer for v5+ stories.
Zaxmidlet 0.1.6 included this bug.
Version 0.91 of Zax fixed this issue, but improperly places the typed text in the read buffer for V1-4 stories
Version 0.1.7 of ZaxMidlet resolves this issue by placing text in the appropriate location of the text-buffer based on the story version.
Using the ENTER TEXT command will now enter a carriage return if no text is entered.
Version 0.1.6 (5/22/2010) adds support for:
VASTLY improved font selections (No more LCDFont, replaced with a new fixed point font)
Settable foreground and background colors
Support for font styles (bold and underline)
A number of bug fixes with respect to timed character input.
See "Screen Shots" (above) for a look at this functionality.
**** DEVICE SUPPORT ****
ZaxMidlet should work on any QWERTY device that supports MIDP2.0 and allows local file access, such as a blackberry and other java based mobile devices.
* Zaxmidlet has been tested on a blackberry curve and bold.
* ZaxMidlet will work on the Blackberry Storm, but is really only usable with the full keyboard, i.e., when the device is turned sideways.
* NON-QWERTY devices are supported through an input menu item, although this is currently a bit cumbersome.
One of my goals is to provide better support for touchscreen devices and non-QWERTY devices in version 1.0.0 of ZaxMidlet.
**** ZaxMidlet is an UNSIGNED midlet for all devices EXCEPT BLACKBERRY*****
This means that you will likely get a number of annoying messages every time you load a story file or save or recall
a saved game, e.g., "The application ZaxMidlet has attempted to open local content. Would you like to allow this?"
You will need to repeatedly answer "yes" to this question.
Fortunately, this is only an issue during the initial load and when you save or recall a saved game.
The only way to avoid this is for the application to be signed. This would cost me between $200 and $500 per year
so I have not done so for obvious reasons.
*** You will need a Story File to use ZaxMidlet****
A search for interactive fiction will result in a huge list.
Zaxmidlet supports Z-Machine compatible story files, e.g., the stories created by Infocom, or any (or at least most)
stories created by the Inform compiler (There are MANY of these, some quite as good as the original commercial Infocom stories).
Looking for NookZax (Android Implementation of Zax for "rooted" nook)? nookZax or http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/nookzax
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