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 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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.
• Sensory Jam (2000; Glulx). Intended as a demo for Glulx.

Review and Article Credits

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

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.
• 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).

Game Appearances

As an NPC:

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

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

• A Change in the Weather, by Andrew Plotkin - SPAG #7 (Special 1995 I-F Competition Issue).
• IF Roundtable: The Art of the Puzzle - 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 - Translated into Hebrew, February 2007.