Andrew Plotkin
@eblong.com
An interactive fiction guy. https://zarfhome.com, https://blog.zarfhome.com, https://eblong.com/zarf/home.html
Pinned
Andrew Plotkin
@eblong.com
· Jan 26
The Visible Zorker Project (and Patreon)
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon. The plan: deconstruct every Infocom game, one per month, and make the source code explorable.
blog.zarfhome.com
Here we go...
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon! Remember how I did Visible Zork 1 and 2? I'm going to do Zork 3, and then continue through Infocom's entire canon -- in chronological order, one per month.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
Announcing the Visible Zorker Project and Patreon! Remember how I did Visible Zork 1 and 2? I'm going to do Zork 3, and then continue through Infocom's entire canon -- in chronological order, one per month.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
It is indeed a good book.
OK, if this is going to blow up my notifications this much I'm going to fess up and say that I have, in fact, written the book about these guys, and it's even a pretty good book if I may say so myself. www.amazon.com/Neoreaction-...
Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right
Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right - Kindle edition by Sandifer, Elizabeth, Graham, Jack. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right.
www.amazon.com
September 16, 2026 at 1:30 AM
It is indeed a good book.
Some recent mystery and puzzle games. (Okay, _This Bed We Made_ is from a couple years back.)
- The Mermaid Mask
- This Bed We Made
- Cognition Method
- He Who Watches
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/late...
- The Mermaid Mask
- This Bed We Made
- Cognition Method
- He Who Watches
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/late...
Late summer mysteries
Three mysteries... or games which are mystery-shaped, at least. Plus one which doesn't fit the theme but does fit the symmetry group. The Mermaid Mask This Bed We Made Cognition Method He Who Watches ...
blog.zarfhome.com
September 15, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Some recent mystery and puzzle games. (Okay, _This Bed We Made_ is from a couple years back.)
- The Mermaid Mask
- This Bed We Made
- Cognition Method
- He Who Watches
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/late...
- The Mermaid Mask
- This Bed We Made
- Cognition Method
- He Who Watches
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/late...
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
The "Adults Only" ranking has been removed from Nighthawks!
Everything is set for launch on the 22nd!
Phew. What a roller coaster. Thank you everyone for your amazing support while we got this sorted.
If you weren't able to wishlist before, now you can!
store.steampowered.com/app/1221950/...
Everything is set for launch on the 22nd!
Phew. What a roller coaster. Thank you everyone for your amazing support while we got this sorted.
If you weren't able to wishlist before, now you can!
store.steampowered.com/app/1221950/...
September 14, 2026 at 10:20 PM
The "Adults Only" ranking has been removed from Nighthawks!
Everything is set for launch on the 22nd!
Phew. What a roller coaster. Thank you everyone for your amazing support while we got this sorted.
If you weren't able to wishlist before, now you can!
store.steampowered.com/app/1221950/...
Everything is set for launch on the 22nd!
Phew. What a roller coaster. Thank you everyone for your amazing support while we got this sorted.
If you weren't able to wishlist before, now you can!
store.steampowered.com/app/1221950/...
Funny every time: The fans in my M3 iMac are so silent that when I run a real CPU-hog of a task, I can only tell by the *smell*.
(You know that warm dust / motherboard smell. Coming out of the iMac's bottom vents. Silently.)
(You know that warm dust / motherboard smell. Coming out of the iMac's bottom vents. Silently.)
September 14, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Funny every time: The fans in my M3 iMac are so silent that when I run a real CPU-hog of a task, I can only tell by the *smell*.
(You know that warm dust / motherboard smell. Coming out of the iMac's bottom vents. Silently.)
(You know that warm dust / motherboard smell. Coming out of the iMac's bottom vents. Silently.)
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
I did a somewhat deep dive into the recent OpenAI and Anthropic "hacks" for an upcoming interview.
IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing.
Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing.
Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
September 13, 2026 at 1:12 PM
I did a somewhat deep dive into the recent OpenAI and Anthropic "hacks" for an upcoming interview.
IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing.
Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing.
Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
If anyone has contacts at Valve who can help expedite this, we certainly wouldn't say no to the help. In the meantime, I'll be here swimming in cortisol.
We are aware that Steam has classified Nighthawks as an adult game and has excluded it from searches (and delisted it entirely in certain countries). We are working on it. Valve is under the impression that this game is way sexier than it actually is.
September 13, 2026 at 11:20 AM
If anyone has contacts at Valve who can help expedite this, we certainly wouldn't say no to the help. In the meantime, I'll be here swimming in cortisol.
Following up my speculations about the Hugo "Best Game” finalists, now that the winners are out.
Turns out _Clair Obscur_ won handily. Good for the game! Bad if you're looking for finely-sliced statistical commentary.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/hugo...
Turns out _Clair Obscur_ won handily. Good for the game! Bad if you're looking for finely-sliced statistical commentary.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/hugo...
Hugo Award stats, 2026
Back in April I took a look at the Hugo Award finalists, with an eye to seeing how the votes might divide up. I did this because the 2025 Best Game voting showed an interesting split between "indie" a...
blog.zarfhome.com
September 4, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Following up my speculations about the Hugo "Best Game” finalists, now that the winners are out.
Turns out _Clair Obscur_ won handily. Good for the game! Bad if you're looking for finely-sliced statistical commentary.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/hugo...
Turns out _Clair Obscur_ won handily. Good for the game! Bad if you're looking for finely-sliced statistical commentary.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/hugo...
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
at the opening of dollywood some reporter piped up and asked if instead of putting handprints in cement she'd be putting her breasts and she said oh no honey I couldn't I'd be afraid a small child would fall in and hurt themselves
and that is how you do it
and that is how you do it
August 26, 2026 at 1:47 AM
at the opening of dollywood some reporter piped up and asked if instead of putting handprints in cement she'd be putting her breasts and she said oh no honey I couldn't I'd be afraid a small child would fall in and hurt themselves
and that is how you do it
and that is how you do it
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Multiplayer Twine is in live alpha! Sign up now to get a link. It's like Docs for IF, but fully open-source and self-hostable.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
h/t @chrisklimas.com for this awesome collaboration!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
h/t @chrisklimas.com for this awesome collaboration!
August 22, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Multiplayer Twine is in live alpha! Sign up now to get a link. It's like Docs for IF, but fully open-source and self-hostable.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
h/t @chrisklimas.com for this awesome collaboration!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
h/t @chrisklimas.com for this awesome collaboration!
Thoughts on Servant of the Lake, the latest Rusty Lake game; and the HIdden Town series, which is basically a Rusty Lake knock-off but I have no problem with that.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/rust...
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/rust...
Rusty Lake and Hidden Town
I am always happy to see another Rusty Lake game. It's not a high-velocity studio, but they're reliably high-quality and enjoy experimenting with their chosen form. (Co-op gameplay! Short film!) I am ...
blog.zarfhome.com
August 22, 2026 at 12:20 AM
Thoughts on Servant of the Lake, the latest Rusty Lake game; and the HIdden Town series, which is basically a Rusty Lake knock-off but I have no problem with that.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/rust...
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/rust...
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
I wrote up tips for saving and loading games durably in Godot. It's stuff I wish I'd known before shipping games on PC:
eviltrout.com/blog/2026-08...
eviltrout.com/blog/2026-08...
Tips for Saving Game Data in Godot
How we made save games in The Roottrees are Dead and The Incident at Galley House resilient to full disks and failing hard drives.
eviltrout.com
August 21, 2026 at 3:24 PM
I wrote up tips for saving and loading games durably in Godot. It's stuff I wish I'd known before shipping games on PC:
eviltrout.com/blog/2026-08...
eviltrout.com/blog/2026-08...
I've updated all the Visible Zorker pages to include a search field. You can search for objects, routines, variables, and game text.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/visi...
Yes, the word “Zork" is temporarily swamped in gaming news due to some FromSoftware article. Big deal.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/visi...
Yes, the word “Zork" is temporarily swamped in gaming news due to some FromSoftware article. Big deal.
Visible Zorker search feature
Apparently today is the worst possible day to post about Zork the text adventure? See articles about Duskbloods if you don't follow FromSoftware news, which, to be clear, I don't. Spoiler: everybody's...
blog.zarfhome.com
August 20, 2026 at 11:27 PM
I've updated all the Visible Zorker pages to include a search field. You can search for objects, routines, variables, and game text.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/visi...
Yes, the word “Zork" is temporarily swamped in gaming news due to some FromSoftware article. Big deal.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/visi...
Yes, the word “Zork" is temporarily swamped in gaming news due to some FromSoftware article. Big deal.
GDC 2027 page is up. My thoughts:
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/gdc-...
TLDR: “Jeez, if we don't get foot traffic back up at Moscone, we're in trouble.”
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/gdc-...
TLDR: “Jeez, if we don't get foot traffic back up at Moscone, we're in trouble.”
GDC status updates
Back in March I made a lot of hay about the decline of GDC. I didn't confidently predict that GDC'27 would be cancelled, but cancellation wouldn't have surprised me. Well, GDC'27 isn't cancelled. Whic...
blog.zarfhome.com
August 20, 2026 at 2:18 AM
GDC 2027 page is up. My thoughts:
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/gdc-...
TLDR: “Jeez, if we don't get foot traffic back up at Moscone, we're in trouble.”
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/gdc-...
TLDR: “Jeez, if we don't get foot traffic back up at Moscone, we're in trouble.”
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Being found in this list is like the complete opposite of showing up in the Epstein files
gist.github.com/Hipnosis183/...
(h/t @eblong.com's blog here about the fool and his money
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-...)
gist.github.com/Hipnosis183/...
(h/t @eblong.com's blog here about the fool and his money
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-...)
The Fool and his Money - Keygen and Decompilation
The Fool and his Money - Keygen and Decompilation. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
gist.github.com
August 19, 2026 at 5:47 AM
Being found in this list is like the complete opposite of showing up in the Epstein files
gist.github.com/Hipnosis183/...
(h/t @eblong.com's blog here about the fool and his money
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-...)
gist.github.com/Hipnosis183/...
(h/t @eblong.com's blog here about the fool and his money
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-...)
Tomorrow I am heading to Providence for NecronomiCon. Not my usual con haunt, but I'm looking forward to it as a change.
August 13, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Tomorrow I am heading to Providence for NecronomiCon. Not my usual con haunt, but I'm looking forward to it as a change.
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Hey, Project C has a name! PRECOGNITION. Excited to be collaborating with newly launched @kineticpub.bsky.social on this, our wildest ride yet!
PRECOGNITION, by @halfmermaid.co and published by Kinetic Publishing.
Launching on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 in Spring 2028.
Wishlist now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2771630/precognition/
Launching on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 in Spring 2028.
Wishlist now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2771630/precognition/
August 12, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Hey, Project C has a name! PRECOGNITION. Excited to be collaborating with newly launched @kineticpub.bsky.social on this, our wildest ride yet!
16% totality in Boston. No, I didn't get a photo. Go look. (With the eclipse glasses you saved from 2024. I can't be the only person with that kind of junk drawer...?)
August 12, 2026 at 5:52 PM
16% totality in Boston. No, I didn't get a photo. Go look. (With the eclipse glasses you saved from 2024. I can't be the only person with that kind of junk drawer...?)
I absolutely intend to get to AdvX someday. Until then, you should go.
(I actually had a UK trip line up once. I got to the place where AdvX was, but I hadn't pre-registered so I failed to get in. Oh well.)
(I actually had a UK trip line up once. I got to the place where AdvX was, but I hadn't pre-registered so I failed to get in. Oh well.)
Tickets for #AdvX26 are now on sale!
Event page: buytickets.at/adventurexconferencescic/2339289
More info: adventurexpo.org/faq
AdventureX brings together narrative gaming pros and enthusiasts, this year taking place in London on 7-8 November at the LSBU Hub building. Let us know you're joining!
Event page: buytickets.at/adventurexconferencescic/2339289
More info: adventurexpo.org/faq
AdventureX brings together narrative gaming pros and enthusiasts, this year taking place in London on 7-8 November at the LSBU Hub building. Let us know you're joining!
August 12, 2026 at 2:58 PM
I absolutely intend to get to AdvX someday. Until then, you should go.
(I actually had a UK trip line up once. I got to the place where AdvX was, but I hadn't pre-registered so I failed to get in. Oh well.)
(I actually had a UK trip line up once. I got to the place where AdvX was, but I hadn't pre-registered so I failed to get in. Oh well.)
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Part of VGHF's William Volk collection, here's never-before-seen Activision internal feedback on the written treatment for 'Zork: Rebirth Of Evil' (shortly to become 1993's point and click game Return To Zork): https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/a9a07988-af3e-413c-8111-508ffbe6b027
August 11, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Part of VGHF's William Volk collection, here's never-before-seen Activision internal feedback on the written treatment for 'Zork: Rebirth Of Evil' (shortly to become 1993's point and click game Return To Zork): https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/a9a07988-af3e-413c-8111-508ffbe6b027
More details about Cyan's cancelled (but nothing is ever *completely* cancelled) "Project Anglerfish”. Adam Morgan got to see the demo while writing a Wired article.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/more...
www.wired.com/story/no-one...
www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish...
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/more...
www.wired.com/story/no-one...
www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish...
More details on Cyan's Project Anglerfish
Two articles have popped up in the wake of Cyan's fandom-rattling pitch reel for Anglerfish. To recap from last week: Anglerfish was the Myst-universe project that Cyan started prototyping in 2024. Th...
blog.zarfhome.com
August 9, 2026 at 5:04 PM
More details about Cyan's cancelled (but nothing is ever *completely* cancelled) "Project Anglerfish”. Adam Morgan got to see the demo while writing a Wired article.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/more...
www.wired.com/story/no-one...
www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish...
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/more...
www.wired.com/story/no-one...
www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish...
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
I don’t post the Patreon link nearly as often as I probably should cause I hate doing promotion, but it’s been slowly sinking since Doctor Who wrapped, and that’s starting to become a real problem for our budget. If you enjoy my work, you support would be a big help. www.patreon.com/elizabethsan...
Elizabeth Sandifer and Penn — Criticism, Comics, and Things That Don't Start with C
Get more from Elizabeth Sandifer and Penn on Patreon. Criticism, Comics, and Things That Don't Start with C. Support Elizabeth Sandifer and Penn and get exclusive access to their work.
www.patreon.com
August 8, 2026 at 8:40 PM
I don’t post the Patreon link nearly as often as I probably should cause I hate doing promotion, but it’s been slowly sinking since Doctor Who wrapped, and that’s starting to become a real problem for our budget. If you enjoy my work, you support would be a big help. www.patreon.com/elizabethsan...
August 8, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
If you're hungry for more information about our recently revealed Anglerfish prototype, @adamm0rgan.bsky.social has you covered:
https://www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish-myst-game-demo-cyan-worlds
https://www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish-myst-game-demo-cyan-worlds
August 6, 2026 at 8:56 PM
If you're hungry for more information about our recently revealed Anglerfish prototype, @adamm0rgan.bsky.social has you covered:
https://www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish-myst-game-demo-cyan-worlds
https://www.thefrontlist.org/p/anglerfish-myst-game-demo-cyan-worlds
I just got an invitation from Google saying "You now have exclusive access to AI features" (on a trial basis, as a promo).
August 6, 2026 at 9:21 PM
I just got an invitation from Google saying "You now have exclusive access to AI features" (on a trial basis, as a promo).