Brian Moriarty (born 1956) is an American

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

who authored three of the original

Infocom Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called '' Cornerstone''. Infocom was founded o ...

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

titles, ''

Wishbringer ''Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Brian Moriarty and published by Infocom in 1985. It was intended to be an easier game to solve than the typical Infocom release and provide a good introduc ...

'' (1985), ''

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

'' (1986), and '' Beyond Zork'' (1987), as well as ''

Loom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but t ...

'' (1990) for

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...

Career

Prior to joining Infocom, Moriarty was a Technical Editor for the Atari 8-bit computer magazine ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

''. He wrote two text adventures for ''ANALOG'': ''Adventure in the 5th Dimension'' (1983) and ''Crash Dive!'' (1984). He also worked on ''Tachyon'' (1985), an adaptation of Atari's ''

Quantum In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity ( physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizat ...

'' arcade game, which was previewed but never published. Moriarty joined Lucasfilm Games, later known as LucasArts, in 1988 at the invitation of

Noah Falstein Noah Falstein (born June 1957) is a game designer and producer who has been in the video game industry since 1980, winning "Game of the Year" titles for multiple games such as '' Battlehawks 1942'' and '' Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis''. ...

. There he designed his first graphic adventure game, ''

'', published in 1990. Though the game was a commercial success and Moriarty had an idea for sequels which were briefly entertained, he opted to move on to other projects. After working on an unreleased game based on ''

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 4, 1992, to July 24, 1993. Filming took place in various locations around the world, with "Old Indy" bookend segments filmed in Wilmington, Nort ...

'' for the studio's educational division, he took over '' The Dig'', a science fiction adventure game based on an idea from

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

. The project had a notoriously lengthy and troubled development, with Moriarty leading the second of ultimately three incarnations the game underwent before finally shipping in 1995. When his version of the project collapsed in 1993, Moriarty departed LucasArts and joined the now defunct

Rocket Science Games Rocket Science Games was a video game developer and publisher that created games for consoles and personal computers from 1993 to 1997. The company released '' Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine'', '' Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cata ...

. In 1995 Moriarty became the head of game design for the online gaming service Mpath. On occasion, Moriarty delivers public lectures.Brian Moriarty: Lectures and Presentations
/ref> One of these, his 2002

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tuto ...

presentation "The Secret of Psalm 46,""The Secret of Psalm 46" (2002)
/ref> has been adapted into a dramatic production and a graphic novel, and was included in its entirety as a video

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

in Jonathan Blow's puzzle game '' The Witness'' (2016). Moriarty is a Professor of Practice in the Interactive Media and Game Development program at

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a Private university, private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities and now has 14 ac ...

Games

''ANALOG Computing''

* ''Adventure in the 5th Dimension'' (1983) * ''Crash Dive!'' (1984) * ''Tachyon'' (1985, unpublished)

Infocom

* ''

'' (1985) * ''

'' (1986) * '' Beyond Zork'' (1987) * ''Timesink'' (unpublished)

Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts Entertainment

* ''

'' (1990) * ''Young Indiana Jones at the World's Fair'' (unpublished) * '' The Dig'' (1995) - Credited for "Additional Additional Story"

Rocket Science Games

*'' Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine'' (1994) - Credited for "interactive design"

Other software

* ''The Black Rabbit'' (1982, Atari 8-bit) - single-drive disk duplicator * ''Snail'' (1983, Atari 8-bit) - disk drive RPM checker * ''mUSE: A BASIC Memory Monitor'' (1983, Atari 8-bit) - programming utility

References

External links

A biography of Moriarty
from infocom-if.org
Brian Moriarty: Lectures & PresentationsBrian Moriarty's Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moriarty, Brian 1956 births American video game designers Infocom Interactive fiction writers Living people Video game programmers Worcester Polytechnic Institute faculty Lucasfilm people