Graham A. Nelson (born 1968) is a British mathematician, poet, and the creator of the Inform design system for creating interactive fiction (IF) games. He has authored several IF games, including Curses (1993) and Jigsaw (1995).[1]
Graham Nelson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968 (age 55–56) |
| Occupation(s) | Mathematician, poet, game designer |
| Spouse | Emily Short |
Education
editIn 1994, Nelson received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Oxford under the supervision of Simon Donaldson.[2]
Writing
editNelson co-edited Oxford Poetry[citation needed] and in 1997 received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for his poetry.[3] As of 2004[update] he was managing editor of Legenda, the imprint of the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA).[4]
Interactive fiction
editNelson is the creator of the Inform design system for creating interactive fiction (IF) games. He has also authored several IF games, including Curses (1993) and Jigsaw (1995), using the experience of writing Curses in particular to expand the range of verbs that Inform is capable of understanding.[1]
Personal life
editNelson is married to IF writer Emily Short.[5]
Games
editWritten
edit- Curses (1993, Z-code)
- Deja Vu (1993, Z-code)
- Balances (1994, Z-code)
- Jigsaw (1995, Z-code)
- The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet (as "Angela M. Horns", 1996, Z-code), for IF Comp 1996 (1st place). Was a finalist for Best Individual Puzzle, Best Puzzles, Best Writing, and Best Game at the XYZZY Awards 1996
- The Tempest (1997, Z-code), for IF Comp 1997 (25th place). Winner of Best Use of Medium at the XYZZY Awards 1997.
- Time and Dwarves (1998, Inform source code). Demo code for Inform programmers.
- Ruins (as "Angela M. Horns", 2001)
- The Reliques of Tolti-Aph (2006, Z-code)
Ported
editOther works
edit- (1995) "The Craft of the Adventure" (2nd ed)
- (1997) Singularities, with Polly Clark and Tim Kendall. Oxford: Hubble Press. ISBN 0-9531989-0-1. Anthology of poetry
- (2001) Inform Designers Manual (4th ed), with Gareth Rees. Placet Solutions, ISBN 0-9713119-0-0
References
edit- ^ a b Rothstein, Edward (6 April 1998). "TECHNOLOGY: CONNECTIONS; In the intricacy of a text game, no object is superfluous, no formulation too strange". New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- ^ Graham Nelson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ Eric Gregory Trust Fund Awards (winners)[usurped], Society of Authors. Accessed 2007-04-19.
- ^ "New Partners for Oxford University's Legenda Imprint", 2004-10-21. Modern Humanities Research Association Archived 13 September 2002 at the Library of Congress Web Archives. Accessed 2007-04-19
- ^ "Private Games". Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
External links
edit- Homepage of Graham Nelson
- Graham Nelson's entry in Baf's Guide to IF archive
- Nelson's Index to Oxford Poetry Archived 12 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- IFWiki's page for Graham Nelson
- Graham Nelson's talk on Inform Past, Present and Future, June 2018
- Graham Nelson's brief autobiography as of 2019, published by computer entertainment historian Jimmy Maher