Andrew Plotkin

Andrew Plotkin, 2007. From GET LAMP.

Andrew Plotkin is one of the most renowned authors in the IF community. Andrew's nickname on ifMUD (and elsewhere) is Zarf. Occasionally, he is also erkyrath.

Author Credits

• System's Twilight (1993), puzzle-heavy graphic adventure.
• Inhumane (1995; Z-code).
• A Change in the Weather (1995; Z-code). IF Comp 1995: 1st place in the Inform division.
• Icebreaker (publisher: Magnet Interactive Studios; c. 1995). Only available on CDs for Andy Looney's Icebreaker, an arcade game.
• So Far (1996; Z-code). Winner of four awards from XYZZY Awards 1996: Best Individual Puzzle, Best Puzzles, Best Writing, and Best Game. Also, finalist for Best Setting and Best Story.
• Lists and Lists (1996; Z-code). IF Comp 1996: 11th place.
• The Space Under the Window (1997; Z-code). Finalist at XYZZY Awards 1997 for Best Use of Medium and Best Writing.
• Spider and Web (1998; Z-code). Winner of five XYZZY Awards 1998: Best Individual NPC, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Use of Medium, Best Puzzles, and Best Game. Also, finalist for Best Individual PC, Best Setting, Best Story, and Best Writing.
• Hunter, in Darkness (1999; Z-code). IF Comp 1999: 8th place; Miss Congeniality: 2nd place (tie). Winner of both Best Individual Puzzle and Best Setting at XYZZY Awards 1999. Also, finalist for Best Use of Medium and Best Individual NPC.
• Shade (as "Ampe R. Sand"; 2000; Z-code). IF Comp 2000: 10th place; Miss Congeniality: 3rd place (tie). Winner of XYZZY Awards 2000 for Best Setting. Also, finalist for Best Individual PC, Best Use of Medium, Best Story, Best Writing, and Best Game.
  • Ombre (translators: Hugo Labrande and MonsieurBouc; 21-Aug-2015; Z-code; French). French translation.
• Donkey Kong (as "Dave Ahl Jr."; 2001; Z-code). IF Arcade.
• Lighan ses Lion (2001; text file). WalkthroughComp: Transcript division entry. Received a Special Award for Causing Emily Short the Most Grief.
• Logic Puzzle Sampler (2003; Z-code). Intended as an example for LogicPuzzleComp.
• The Dreamhold (2004; Z-code). Winner of Best Puzzles and Best Use of Medium at the XYZZY Awards 2004; also was a finalist for Best Game, Best Writing, Best Story, Best Setting, and Best Individual Puzzle (the cistern).
• Praser 5 a.k.a. Fifth Praser Maze (29-Apr-2005; Z-code). Zarfhome link. This is a Z-code port of a word and logic game that Zarf originally created in 1989.
• Delightful Wallpaper (as "Edgar O. Weyrd"; 30-Sep-2006; Z-code). IF Comp 2006: 6th place, and winner of Miss Congeniality. XYZZY Awards 2006: Winner of Best Writing, Best Puzzles, Best Individual Puzzle (navigating the mansion), and Best Individual PC (PC). Also finalist for Best NPCs.
• Dual Transform (as "Nigel Smith"; 02-Feb-2010; Z-code). Casual Gameplay Design Competition 7: 3rd place.
• Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home (19-Jun-2010; Z-code). @party competition: Winner.
• The Matter of the Monster (07-May-2011; Undum; Web browser). Indigo New Language Speed-IF.
• Cold Iron (as "Lyman Clive Charles"; 01-Oct-2011; Z-code.) IF Comp 2011: 15th place. XYZZY Awards 2011: Winner, Best Individual Puzzle (with Playing Games, Last Day of Summer, The Life (and Deaths) of Doctor M).
• Bigger Than You Think (as Anonymous; 25-Dec-2012; Glulx). Yuletide 2012 entry. XYZZY Awards 2012: Winner of Best Individual Puzzle (surviving the fall); finalist for Best Puzzles.
• Hadean Lands (30-Oct-2014; Glulx). XYZZY Awards 2014: Winner of Best Setting, Best Puzzles, Best Implementation, Best Use of Innovation. Finalist for Best Game.
• Nouns (2017; Twine).
• Advent Door (2020; Glulx).
• Advent Mirror (2022; Glulx).

Porting Credits

• Ported Adventure, Beyond the Tesseract, Tetris, and Zork.

Tech Credits

• Wrote the proposals for Glk, Glulx, Blorb, and Floo.
• Wrote compilers for Glulx Inform.
• Wrote the MaxZip, XZip, MaxTADS, MacGlulxe, Quixe, and Lectrote interpreters.
• Sensory Jam (2000; Glulx). Intended as a demo for Glulx.
• Gave theoretical guidance and advice for Inform 7.
• Wrote Transmatte, a Python utility that combines variations on an IF transcript into a single CYOA-like HTML page, so that an excerpt from a game can be presented along with a few relevant branching options.

Review and Article Credits

Reviews

• Writes reviews of IF Comp games and reviews of commercial (graphical) games.
• Reviews for Interactive Fiction Reviews Organization.

Articles

• Properties and more in I7 - a three-part post on raif, which suggests how properties might be reimplemented as rules in some theoretical variant of Inform 7.
• Rule-Based Programming in Interactive Fiction - May 2009. (See also: RAIF thread.)
• A Writer's Guide to Interactive Fiction - July 2010. Andrew gave this talk at Readercon 21.

Organizational Credits

• Organizer of LogicPuzzleComp and of The IF Archive CSS Competition.
• One of the maintainers of the IF Archive.
• Co-founder of the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation.

Testing Credits

• Floatpoint (Emily Short; 30-Sep-2006; Glulx).
• The Gateway of the Ferrets (Feneric; 12-Dec-2019; Glulx).

Game Appearances

As an NPC:

• Being Andrew Plotkin (J. Robinson Wheeler as "Celie Paradis"; 2000; Z-code 5).
• The Cabal (Stephen Bond; 2004; Z-code).
• robotfindskitten (David Griffith and Leonard Richardson; 2003; Z-code).

Other Credits

• Created the Golden Banana of Discord, awarded to The Annual IF Competition game with the highest standard deviation in its scores.
• Devised the cruelty scale rating system to measure how forgiving a particular game is.
• Zarf's games (as a group) won the Best of Interactive Art or Fiction category at Jay Is Games's Best of Casual Gameplay 2006, although Zarf placed last in the popular vote. Other entrants in this contest included Floatpoint (Emily Short) and Façade (Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern).
• IF Cheat Sheet.

Links

• Zarfhome - Andrew Plotkin's homepage.
• Andrew Plotkin (archived) - at Baf's Guide.
• Andrew Plotkin at Wikipedia.
• Jay is Games: Interactive Fiction: Zarf - The "Jay is Games" blog did an overview of Zarf's IF games on January 22, 2006.
• Zarf's Swag Annex - Geek products for sale such as the Hungry Grue, Dual Transform, and System's Twilight t-shirts; plus the Periodic Table of Dessert poster.
• The Gameshelf - Game criticism site and group blog that Andrew Plotkin contributed to from 2008-2017.

Interviews

• A Change in the Weather, by Andrew Plotkin - SPAG #7 (Special 1995 I-F Competition Issue).
• IF Roundtable: The Art of the Puzzle (archive) - XYZZYnews #14, 1998. Adam Cadre, Lucian Smith, Andrew Plotkin, and Neil deMause discuss puzzles.
• Zarf, a hot coffee cup with a couple of ideas - Interview by L'avventura è L'avventura, August 2001. (Also in Italian.)
• PC Gamer UK Interview: Andrew Plotkin - by Richard Cobbett for PC Gamer UK, issue 118, January 2003.
• Magic Words: Interactive Fiction in the 21st Century - by Andrew Vestal and Nich Maragos, illustrations by Erin Mehlos. Originally at 1up.com. Includes interviews of Emily Short, Stephen Granade, Andrew Plotkin, Adam Cadre, Daniel Ravipinto and Star Foster. 2004.
• The CGM Interviews - Andrew Plotkin and Emily Short are interviewed by Lara Crigger for Computer Games Magazine #185. 2006(?).
• gamer.co.il magazine interview (archive) - Translated into Hebrew, February 2007.
• GET LAMP: Andrew Plotkin. Interview clips of Plotkin for Get Lamp, 2007.
• Text To Speech: Andrew Plotkin Interview - November 5, 2010.
• Interacting with Andrew Plotkin. Interviewed by Byron Alexander Campbell for Black Clock, January 2011.
• Interview at Adventure Classic Gaming - January 7, 2011.
• An interview with Andrew Plotkin at usesthis.com, January 22, 2011.
• Interview: Andrew Plotkin on Interactive Fiction - July 6, 2012.
• Absent Heroes: Choose Your Own Interview II - with interviews of Adam Cadre, Emily Short, and Andrew Plotkin. July 16, 2012.
• Andrew Plotkin, the Wizard of IF. Interviewed by Greg Collins for Just Adventure, August 16, 2012.
• Shade, and the future of interactive fiction on the App Store - February 12, 2013.
• Roundtable: The Interactive Fiction Renaissance. Interviewed by Leigh Alexander for Game Developer/Gamasutra, March 2013.
• From Infocom to 80 Days: An oral history of text games and interactive fiction - June 20, 2024. Anna Washenko interviewed Andrew Plotkin, Graham Nelson, Emily Short, Chris Klimas, Jason McIntosh, Jon Ingold, Kevin Wilson, and Liza Daly for Ars Technica.