Andrew Plotkin

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

Author Credits

• Inhumane (year unknown; Z-code).
• System's Twilight (1993), puzzle-heavy graphic adventure.
• 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. Winner of both Best Individual Puzzle and Best Setting at XYZZY Awards 1999. Also, finalist for Best Use of Medium and Best Individual NPC.
• Sensory Jam (2000; Glulx). Intended as a demo for Glulx.
• Shade (as "Ampe R. Sand"; 2000; Z-code). IF Comp 2000: 10th place. 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.
• 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.

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, and MacGlulxe interpreters.

Review and Article Credits

• Writes reviews of IF Comp games and reviews of commercial (graphical) games.

Organizational Credits

• Organizer of LogicPuzzleComp.
• One of the maintainers of the IF Archive.

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.

Links

• Zarfhome - Andrew Plotkin's homepage
• Baf's Guide page for Andrew Plotkin
• 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.

Interviews

• 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.
• The CGM Interviews - Andrew Plotkin and Emily Short are interviewed by Lara Crigger for Computer Games Magazine #185.
• 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.