Creator of games including Hadean Lands, Spider and Web, and Shade, as well as a long-time maintainer of Inform and participant in Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation (IFTF) leadership, Andrew "Zarf" Plotkin was also a teenager once. And back then he wrote Inhumane, as covered in Episode 27.

Jason and Nick welcome him to the program discuss the creation of Inhumane, the evolution of his work as a participant in the modern interactive fiction community, and the prospects for another "Infobom" title in that parody vein.

Zarfhome (personal homepage and contact info)

IFDB credits

IFTF

A Change in the Weather

Praser 5

Grimtooth's Traps

Episode image from The Book of Adventure Games II

All the way back in Episode 1 we promised to play Level 9's Knight Orc. Ben and Jason chip away at that obligation by playing... the first of three independent-load sections of the game. (We're working on it!) They do their best to navigate the aptly-named "KAOS" engine and assemble rope. (So much rope.)

But first, a clearout of news and listener mail, and a visit to the wry parody of Infidel, Andrew Plotkin's Inhumane. The game is loaded with death traps and unlicensed appearances by famous characters, including a cameo from the villain of Episode 20's Mask of the Sun.

Knight Orc (IFDB)

Knight Orc (playable online, BBC version)

Inhumane (IFDB)

Inhumane (playable online)

Retro Gaming Books collection

How to program a text adventure in C

Dog Star Adventure (IFDB)

Evertop PC

Mystery of Arkham Manor (Spectrum Computing)

Mystery of Markham Manor (IFDB)

Rick Hanson (IFDB)

Ben and Jason take on the text adventure distillations of two uniquely British phenomena.

First up is the "prolific musical innovator" genre with Number 9 Software's Beatle Quest, a psychedelic trip into lots and lots of Beatle song concepts and name-checking.

For the main course, the duo explore the "slobs in space" phenomenon through the storytelling of shareware highlight Jacaranda Jim by modern-day InfoSec celebrity Graham Cluely. It's one of Ben's all-time games, but can he convert his American collaborator?

Beatle Quest by Garry Marsh (IFDB)

Beatle Quest (playable online, ZX Spectrum)

Jacaranda Jim by Graham Cluely (IFDB)

Jacaranda Jim (play online or download)

Christopher Drum's Infocom Zork on Cosmopolitan

Graham Cluely's computer security news (YouTube)

Cover photo CC-BY 2.0 khakidoggy