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Andrew Plotkin (born May 15, 1970), also known as Zarf, is an American programmer and writer. He is a central figure in the modern
interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...
(IF) community. Having both written a number of award-winning games and developed a range of new file formats, interpreters, and other utilities for the design, production, and running of IF games, Plotkin is widely recognised for both his creative and his technical contributions to the homebrew IF scene.


Interactive fiction

Plotkin was one of the earliest writers to use
Graham Nelson Graham A. Nelson (born 1968) is a British mathematician, poet, and the creator of the Inform, Inform design system for creating interactive fiction (IF) games. He has authored several IF games, including ''Curses (computer game), Curses'' (1993) ...
's
Inform Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-machine, Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released ...
development system, and one of the first since
Infocom Infocom, Inc., 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 (software), Cornerston ...
's heyday to explore the boundaries of interactive fiction as an artistic medium. Many later authors cite him as a primary influence. He has won many awards within the community, and is frequently interviewed for magazine articles about interactive fiction. Plotkin has also made major technical contributions to the interactive fiction medium, designing the
Blorb Blorb is a package format for interactive fiction games. Many such games incorporate resources such as sound effects, music, or pictures. Blorb's purpose is to bind these together into one file. The format was devised by Andrew Plotkin and is ...
archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...
format, the Glk I/O platform, and the Glulx
virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization or emulator, emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide the functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve ...
, and implementing Glulx Inform and several interactive fiction
interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...
s for the
Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...
and X. The Glk API has made possible the creation of "universal translator" interpreters such as Gargoyle, a single program capable of running all interactive fiction formats. , Plotkin holds two XYZZY Award-related records: for most XYZZYs won in one year (5, with '' Spider and Web'') and for most XYZZYs won in total: 18.Z-machine The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions (called story files or Z-code ...
abuse) * '' A Change in the Weather'' (1995; winner of the 1995 IF Comp's Inform division) * ''So Far'' (1996; winner of many XYZZY Awards that year, including for Best Game) * '' The Space Under the Window'' (1997) * '' Spider and Web'' (1998; winner of many XYZZY Awards that year, including for Best Game) * '' Hunter, in Darkness'' (1999; winner of the XYZZY Awards for Best Individual Puzzle and Best Setting) * ''
Shade Shade, Shades or Shading may refer to: * Shade (color), a mixture of a color with black (often generalized as any variety of a color) * Shade (shadow), the blocking of sunlight * Shades or sunglasses * Shading, a process used in art and graphic ...
'' (2000; winner of the XYZZY Award for Best Setting) Other Andrew Plotkin games include: *''Lists and Lists'' (1996), an introductory course in the Scheme programming language *'' The Dreamhold'' (2004), a general IF tutorial game *''Delightful Wallpaper'' (2006; sixth place in IF Comp and winner of Miss Congeniality) *''Dual Transform'' (2010) *''Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home'' (2010) More recently, he was featured on
CNN Money CNN Business (formerly CNN Money) is a financial news and information website, operated by CNN. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN.com and Time Warner's '' Fortune'' and '' Money'' magazines. Since the spin-off of ...
for successfully raising over $31,000 using
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
for development of a new interactive fiction piece called ''Hadean Lands'' for the
iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
and release of the resulting iPhone game framework as
open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
. Plotkin was also featured prominently in the 2010 interactive fiction documentary, GET LAMP. On June 24, 2014, Plotkin released the
source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...
for several of his games for educational purposes.


Other work

He wrote the former
shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. ...
puzzle game '' System's Twilight''. Plotkin appears as a character in ''Being Andrew Plotkin'', an interactive fiction game by J. Robinson Wheeler based in part on the film ''
Being John Malkovich ''Being John Malkovich'' is a 1999 American surrealist fantasy comedy drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, both making their feature film debut. The film stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener, wit ...
''. While a student at
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
, Plotkin was one of the early members of the Carnegie Mellon KGB. He created the organization's signature "Capture the Flag with Stuff" game, which is now played by several hundred students every semester. In 1997, Plotkin developed a rethemed version of Dmitry Davidoff's social game
Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
, replacing the "mafia" characters with werewolves. Plotkin's version of the game subsequently became popular at universities and conferences in the United States, with a set of cards being produced by Looney Labs. He has also made contributions to the Icehouse community, both in designing the game ''Branches & Twigs & Thorns'', and the creation of several custom sets of pieces. During 2006 he was involved in the
open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
on-line game platform Volity and has created, or assisted in the creation of, on-line versions of the pyramid game Treehouse and other Looney Labs titles to showcase the platform. In 2019 he created and co-chaired with Adri Mills NarraScope, a games conference focusing on interactive narrative, adventure games, and interactive fiction.


References


External links


Andrew Plotkin's homepage

Andrew Plotkin on the IFWiki

Andrew Plotkin on the IcehouseGames.org wiki

NarraScope
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plotkin, Andrew Carnegie Mellon University alumni American video game programmers Interactive fiction writers Usenet people 1970 births Living people People from Rockville, Maryland Writers from Syracuse, New York