Andrew Plotkin
@eblong.com
An interactive fiction guy. https://zarfhome.com, https://blog.zarfhome.com, https://eblong.com/zarf/home.html
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Andrew Plotkin
@eblong.com
· 15d
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-...
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
While this absolutely sucks, we are going to see a lot more places implementing universal global age verification over this next year, because the number of states and countries legally requiring it has gotten to the point no one can keep up anymore.
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
Age verification for all.
buff.ly
February 10, 2026 at 10:42 AM
While this absolutely sucks, we are going to see a lot more places implementing universal global age verification over this next year, because the number of states and countries legally requiring it has gotten to the point no one can keep up anymore.
I tried Mio (recent metroidvania platformer). It's very pretty, but too fighty for me to make much progress. Oh well.
February 8, 2026 at 4:39 AM
I tried Mio (recent metroidvania platformer). It's very pretty, but too fighty for me to make much progress. Oh well.
New project in my office: the Beacon.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/02/the-...
An LED strip running a homebrew pattern language. Uses the Pixelblaze LED controller, but I didn’t like the Pixelblaze pattern language so I came up with my own.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/02/the-...
An LED strip running a homebrew pattern language. Uses the Pixelblaze LED controller, but I didn’t like the Pixelblaze pattern language so I came up with my own.
February 7, 2026 at 3:21 PM
New project in my office: the Beacon.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/02/the-...
An LED strip running a homebrew pattern language. Uses the Pixelblaze LED controller, but I didn’t like the Pixelblaze pattern language so I came up with my own.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/02/the-...
An LED strip running a homebrew pattern language. Uses the Pixelblaze LED controller, but I didn’t like the Pixelblaze pattern language so I came up with my own.
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
These are the games I grew up with. So nifty to see what the code is doing behind the big curtains as I type "open mailbox"
Website procedural note: I now have a landing page for the Visible Zorker collection.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
The Visible Zorker Project
A software exhibit that allows you to explore the source code of Infocom's text adventures.
eblong.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:33 PM
These are the games I grew up with. So nifty to see what the code is doing behind the big curtains as I type "open mailbox"
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
one of the coolest things i found via bluesky, check this out if you have any interest in programming or zork
Website procedural note: I now have a landing page for the Visible Zorker collection.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
The Visible Zorker Project
A software exhibit that allows you to explore the source code of Infocom's text adventures.
eblong.com
January 31, 2026 at 2:56 PM
one of the coolest things i found via bluesky, check this out if you have any interest in programming or zork
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Yelling "you're not my real Pope" at your real Pope: extremely frowned upon by the church, and a second period of Finding Out is about to commence
February 5, 2026 at 3:52 AM
Yelling "you're not my real Pope" at your real Pope: extremely frowned upon by the church, and a second period of Finding Out is about to commence
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Website procedural note: I now have a landing page for the Visible Zorker collection.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
The Visible Zorker Project
A software exhibit that allows you to explore the source code of Infocom's text adventures.
eblong.com
January 31, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Website procedural note: I now have a landing page for the Visible Zorker collection.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
eblong.com/infocom/visi/
Still just has Zork 1 and Zork 2, but now there's a list to grow.
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
ALL SUBMISSIONS close end of day tomorrow Saturday January 31st. Submit! And take note: there will be no deadline extensions this year.
NarraScope 2026 | A Hybrid Conference on Interactive Narrative
NarraScope is a conference that brings together the writers, developers, scholars, and players of interactive narrative.
narrascope.org
January 30, 2026 at 2:08 PM
ALL SUBMISSIONS close end of day tomorrow Saturday January 31st. Submit! And take note: there will be no deadline extensions this year.
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Announcing the IFTF x GDC Scholarship Program. We have a small number of passes to distribute amongst our community, so if you are interested, please visit this thread on IntFiction.org for details: intfiction.org/t/iftf-x-gdc...
January 29, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Announcing the IFTF x GDC Scholarship Program. We have a small number of passes to distribute amongst our community, so if you are interested, please visit this thread on IntFiction.org for details: intfiction.org/t/iftf-x-gdc...
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
Zarf's Visible Zorker was so cool, glad to see he's giving ALL the Infocom games the same treatment. Support his new Patreon if you can for this non-trivial media archaeological work!
Replay for the morning crowd:
I have launched a Patreon to do Visible Zork 3, followed by all the rest of the Infocom games. One per month. There's an associated Discord for game discussion as we run through them.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
I have launched a Patreon to do Visible Zork 3, followed by all the rest of the Infocom games. One per month. There's an associated Discord for game discussion as we run through them.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
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
January 28, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Zarf's Visible Zorker was so cool, glad to see he's giving ALL the Infocom games the same treatment. Support his new Patreon if you can for this non-trivial media archaeological work!
Replay for the morning crowd:
I have launched a Patreon to do Visible Zork 3, followed by all the rest of the Infocom games. One per month. There's an associated Discord for game discussion as we run through them.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
I have launched a Patreon to do Visible Zork 3, followed by all the rest of the Infocom games. One per month. There's an associated Discord for game discussion as we run through them.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
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
January 27, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Replay for the morning crowd:
I have launched a Patreon to do Visible Zork 3, followed by all the rest of the Infocom games. One per month. There's an associated Discord for game discussion as we run through them.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
I have launched a Patreon to do Visible Zork 3, followed by all the rest of the Infocom games. One per month. There's an associated Discord for game discussion as we run through them.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-...
www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
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-...
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
January 26, 2026 at 11:12 PM
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-...
@nova-box.com Yes? Email contact info at zarfhome.com ?
Zarfhome Software
zarfhome.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:45 PM
@nova-box.com Yes? Email contact info at zarfhome.com ?
This is not helping me figure out the grammar stuff for Visible Zorker.
(Steve Meretzky writing ZIL documentation circa 1989. "Stu" is Stu Galley.)
(Steve Meretzky writing ZIL documentation circa 1989. "Stu" is Stu Galley.)
![[The other four tokens—ON-GROUND, IN-ROOM, HELD, and CARRIED—are incredibly confusing, and no one really understands them except Stu, so he should probably write this bit.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lin5yw3b64f6l7cdwp6tupzt/bafkreih5j4rbhovvejphdjydvlgjngxcdoohfsgvne4ucaz77vdtsxwiia@jpeg)
January 25, 2026 at 12:37 AM
This is not helping me figure out the grammar stuff for Visible Zorker.
(Steve Meretzky writing ZIL documentation circa 1989. "Stu" is Stu Galley.)
(Steve Meretzky writing ZIL documentation circa 1989. "Stu" is Stu Galley.)
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
my new website, mothership.blog, is launching this monday!! it's going to be super fun and you will all enjoy reading it. we are independent and worker-owned and can't stay alive without subscribers, though, and we are currently running a lifetime 15% off deal that you should realllly be grabbing ->
Board the Mothership.
You're just in time.
A couple weeks from now, on January 26, 2026, we'll be launching the full version of our new gaming website, Mothership, which aims to analyze games specifically through the...
mothership.blog
January 23, 2026 at 3:14 PM
my new website, mothership.blog, is launching this monday!! it's going to be super fun and you will all enjoy reading it. we are independent and worker-owned and can't stay alive without subscribers, though, and we are currently running a lifetime 15% off deal that you should realllly be grabbing ->
Orbiting slowly in the dark in TR-49. Occasionally I manage to stumble across a page.
January 22, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Orbiting slowly in the dark in TR-49. Occasionally I manage to stumble across a page.
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
We are aware that the Intfiction forums are currently down and are working on a fix. Thank you for the notifications!
January 21, 2026 at 11:58 PM
We are aware that the Intfiction forums are currently down and are working on a fix. Thank you for the notifications!
I suddenly remember that in kindergarten, the difference between glue and paste was extremely important.
January 11, 2026 at 8:29 PM
I suddenly remember that in kindergarten, the difference between glue and paste was extremely important.
Reposted by Andrew Plotkin
IGF nominations are up, and that means it's time for my eclectic review post.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/2026...
- Arctic Awakening
- Promise Mascot Agency
- The Haunting of Joni Evers
- Carceri
- Prší
- Kid Cosmo
- and Roger
- Jane
(Some other IGF games are already reviewed; see links in post.)
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/2026...
- Arctic Awakening
- Promise Mascot Agency
- The Haunting of Joni Evers
- Carceri
- Prší
- Kid Cosmo
- and Roger
- Jane
(Some other IGF games are already reviewed; see links in post.)
2026 IGF nominees
Oh gosh! The IGF finalists are up. I played a bunch in the first judging round. Many of these are already in my review list, including The Drifter, Öoo, Strange Jigsaws, Type Help, The Roottrees Are D...
blog.zarfhome.com
January 10, 2026 at 1:29 AM
IGF nominations are up, and that means it's time for my eclectic review post.
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/2026...
- Arctic Awakening
- Promise Mascot Agency
- The Haunting of Joni Evers
- Carceri
- Prší
- Kid Cosmo
- and Roger
- Jane
(Some other IGF games are already reviewed; see links in post.)
blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/2026...
- Arctic Awakening
- Promise Mascot Agency
- The Haunting of Joni Evers
- Carceri
- Prší
- Kid Cosmo
- and Roger
- Jane
(Some other IGF games are already reviewed; see links in post.)