Graham Nelson

Graham Nelson, a mathematician and poet, is one of the central figures of the IF community. He helped to reverse-engineer and expand a portable virtual machine, and created a free programming language and compiler for IF. He has also written several influential essays, a well-respected programming manual, and one of the most widely-distributed games in the IF community.

Author Credits

• Curses (1993; Z-code).
• Balances (1994; Z-code).
• Jigsaw (1995; Z-code).
• The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet (as "Angela M. Horns"; 1996; Z-code), for IF Comp 1996 (1st place). Was a finalist for Best Individual Puzzle, Best Puzzles, Best Writing, and Best Game at the XYZZY Awards 1996.
• The Tempest (1997; Z-code). IF Comp 1997: 25th place. Winner of Best Use of Medium at the XYZZY Awards 1997.
• The Reliques of Tolti-Aph (01-Mar-2006; Z-code).

Porting Credits

• Ported Adventure and Adventureland to the Z-machine.
• With Adam Atkinson: ported Crobe, Fyleet, and Quest for the Sangraal to the Z-machine.

Tech Credits

• Helped reverse engineer and expand the Z-machine.
• Designed the Inform authoring system.
• Deja Vu (1993; Z-code). A demo for the Z-machine.
• Time and Dwarves (1998; Inform source code). Demo code for Inform programmers.
• Released Inform 7 as a public beta in 2006.

Review and Article Credits

• "The Craft of the Adventure." 2nd ed. The IF Archive, 1995.
• "On Jigsaw and I." XYZZYnews Issue #6: PDF, TXT. The IF Archive and Bran Muffin Communications, 1995.
• Had a regular column in most issues of Acorn User magazine from 167 (April 1996) through 202 (Xmas 1998). Covered interactive fiction (especially earlier ones) and other gaming material. IF-relevant issues:
  • The Teaser (pp59-60, no 167, Apr 1996): announcing the Acorn User 1996 Interactive Fiction Competition.
  • Hiding the Pogs (pp58-59, no 168, May 1996): on how adventure games bury their treasure.
  • Go once more a-roving (pp59-60, no 169, Jun 1996): Acheton review.
  • Inform 6 (pp59-60, no 170, Jul 1996). (Program included on cover CD.)
  • Invisible cities (pp61-62, no 171, Aug 1996): on maps in IF.
  • Colourless green ideas sleep furiously (pp57-58, no 172, Sep 1996): on the parser (loosely).
  • The 1996 Interactive Fiction Competition [not that one] (pp61-62, no 173, Oct 1996): results of the Acorn User 1996 Interactive Fiction Competition.
  • Meet Hugo and GTAC (pp83-84, no 174, Nov 1996).
  • Infocom gets a silver disc (pp72-73, no 175, Dec 1996): Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom.
  • Arfle barfle gloop (pp72-73, no 176, Xmas 1996): reviewing Level 9 games.
  • Another world (pp66-67, no 177, Jan 1997): reviewing gaming (including IF) websites.
  • NetHack and Slay (p54, no 178, Feb 1997): includes a brief review of the 2nd r.a.i-f competition results.
  • Burnt Sienna: Val, Frost (pp61-62, no 179, Mar 1997): TADS games.
  • Gruesome (p62, no 187, Nov 1997): Zork: The Undiscovered Underground and other IF news.
  • p65, no 188, Dec 1997: IF material on the accompanying cover CD.
  • The dragon's photo album (p57, no 191, Feb 1998): review of Arya: The Dragon's Quest; Aventura.
  • Three revivals (p82, no 193, Apr 1998): includes a review of Cyborg, a game with a text adventure component.
  • Into the iron city (p55, no 196, Jul 1998): on mazes.
• New Tricks for an Old Z-Machine, Part 2: Hacking Deeper (or, Follies of Graham Nelson’s Youth) - on Jimmy Maher's blog, November 8, 2019.

Organizational Credits

• Judged the Acorn User 1996 Interactive Fiction Competition.
• On the advisory board for the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation.

Testing Credits

• Floatpoint (Emily Short; 30-Sep-2006; Glulx).

Other Credits

• The Inform Designers Manual. Fourth Edition. The IF Archive, 2001.
• Wrote much of the documentation for Inform 7.

Game Appearances

As an NPC:

• The Cabal (Stephen Bond; 2004; Z-code).

As a reference:

• All Quiet on the Library Front (Michael S. Phillips; 1995; Z-code). IF Comp 1995. The PC needs a book by Graham Nelson from the library.
• Basket of Destiny (John Cater; 2001; Z-code). Speed-IF 15. A cardboard cutout of Graham Nelson blocks the entrance to a TV studio.
• Being Steve (Anonymous; 2006; Z-code). The PC insults Graham Nelson via computer.

Links

• Academic home page of Graham Nelson.
  • Former home page, at Demon Internet (archive).
• Baf's Guide listing for Graham Nelson (archive)
• Graham Nelson at Wikipedia.
• inform7.com - The official, current Inform website.
• inform-fiction.org - The old Inform website, no longer kept up to date.
• Нельсон, Грэхем (Nelson, Graham) at IF-Вики (the Russian IF wiki).
• Author Highlights by Mathbrush (03-Feb-2019).

Interviews

• Interview - XYZZYnews Issue #1: PDF, TXT, January/February 1995.
• The Meteor, the Stone, and a Long Glass of Sherbet, by Graham Nelson - SPAG #10, February 3, 1997.
• SPAG #44 - Jimmy Maher interviews Graham Nelson and Emily Short about Inform 7. April 30, 2006. (Spanish translation)
• From Infocom to 80 Days: An oral history of text games and interactive fiction. Anna Washenko interviewed Andrew Plotkin, Graham Nelson, Emily Short, Chris Klimas, Jason McIntosh, Jon Ingold, Kevin Wilson, and Liza Daly for Ars Technica. June 20, 2024.