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). Homepage (archive).
  • Las Reliquias de Tolti Aph (translator: Urbatain; 01-Dec-2008; Glulx). Spanish translation.

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." XYXXYnews #6. The IF Archive and Bran Muffin Communications, 1995.
• 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 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

• Home page of Graham Nelson
• 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).

Interviews

• Interview - XYZZYnews #1, 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)