Graham Nelson
Graham Nelson
Graham A. Nelsonis a British mathematician and poet and the creator of the Inform design system for creating interactive fictiongames. He has also authored several IF games, including the acclaimed Cursesand Jigsaw, using the experience of writing Curses in particular to expand the range of verbs that Inform is capable of understanding. He has been described by The New York Times as "ornately literate."...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMathematician
english-mathematician fair gets remember share widely
Remember that 'Curses', being free, is circulated much more widely than shareware games, so it gets more than its fair share of attention.
biggest english-mathematician player single stop stuck
The single biggest is to stop the player from getting stuck and getting bored; always think like the player as well as the designer.
english-mathematician hold serious
I have been working on a more serious game, called 'Jigsaw', for about 18 months, but don't hold your breath. it'll be a while arriving.
city design english-mathematician fortnight garden mind rough unreal
With 'Curses,' I had a rough design in mind already, and in about a fortnight had the attics, the Unreal City and the garden fleshed out.
beginning critics english-mathematician enjoyed frequently generation watching
It's frequently over-praised now, and I've enjoyed watching a generation of 'angry young men' critics beginning to say, well what's so good?
best english-mathematician games longer next reached written
If pushed, though, I'd say that the next stage will be reached when it it's no longer true that about 75% of the best games were written in 1980's on the way to that.
alphabet english-mathematician eventually found full hour later rather screen shifting suddenly toy understood until
Eventually I found it had been working all along-but didn't show anything on screen until it had the first full page of text. I inserted 30 new lines, and suddenly my toy said 'hEllO woRlD'. An hour later I understood alphabet shifting rather better!
english-mathematician grown inform produce
By the new year of 1994, it had grown up into Inform 4 and could produce games twice as large.
attic builds continue deliberate division english-mathematician far means middle neat player possibilities prologue rooms though
A deliberate choice on my part was for the player to continue to find new possibilities in the early Attic rooms far into the game. I think this builds atmosphere, though it means there's no neat division of the prologue from the middle game.
english-mathematician gathering slow
Once the announcements were actually heard, there was a slow but gathering response. by the end of the first year, an avalanche.
writing different resolution
Writing a really general parser is a major but different undertaking, by far the hardest points being sensitivity to context and resolution of ambiguity.
mean plot should
This means keeping many trails open at once, inevitably requiring a fairly 'parallel' plot. This plot should be discovered rather than announced, so show, don't tell.
april ends curse
At the end of April I archived 'Curses' and Inform, and announced them on the newsgroups.
art believe rope
I don't really believe in 'directions' in art; the rope twists as you follow it, that's all.