Andrew Plotkin | |
|---|---|
 Plotkin in 2010 | |
| Born | (1970-05-15)May 15, 1970 (age 55) |
| Other names | Zarf |
| Occupation(s) | interactive fiction writer,programmer |
| Known for | System's Twilight (1994),Spider and Web (1998) |
| Website | www |
Andrew Plotkin (born May 15, 1970), also known asZarf, is an American programmer and writer. He is a central figure in the moderninteractive fiction (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 thehomebrew IF scene.
Plotkin was one of the earliest writers to useGraham Nelson'sInform development system, and one of the first sinceInfocom'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 theBlorbarchive format, theGlk I/O platform, and theGlulxvirtual machine, and implementingGlulx Inform and several interactive fictioninterpreters for theMacintosh andX. 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.
As of 2007[update], Plotkin holds twoXYZZY Award-related records: for most XYZZYs won in one year (5, withSpider and Web) and for most XYZZYs won in total: 18.[1]His most influential games are:
Other Andrew Plotkin games include:
More recently, he was featured onCNN Money for successfully raising over $31,000 usingKickstarter for development of a new interactive fiction piece calledHadean Lands for theiPhone and release of the resulting iPhone game framework asopen source.[2] Plotkin was also featured prominently in the 2010 interactive fiction documentary,GET LAMP.[3][4]
On June 24, 2014, Plotkin released thesource code for several of his games for educational purposes.[5]
He wrote the formershareware puzzle gameSystem's Twilight. Plotkin appears as a character inBeing Andrew Plotkin, an interactive fiction game by J. Robinson Wheeler based in part on the filmBeing John Malkovich.[6]
While a student atCarnegie Mellon University, Plotkin was one of the early members of the Carnegie Mellon KGB. He created the organization's signature "Capture the Flag with Stuff"[7] game, which is now played by several hundred students every semester.
In 1997, Plotkin developed a rethemed version of Dmitry Davidoff's social gameMafia, replacing the "mafia" characters with werewolves.[8] Plotkin's version of the game subsequently became popular at universities and conferences in the United States, with a set of cards being produced byLooney Labs.
He has also made contributions to theIcehouse community, both in designing the gameBranches & Twigs & Thorns,[9] and the creation of several custom sets of pieces. During 2006 he was involved in theopen source 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.