Graham Nelson Explained

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]

Education

In 1994, Nelson received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Oxford under the supervision of Simon Donaldson.

Writing

Nelson co-edited Oxford Poetry and in 1997 received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for his poetry.^[2] he was managing editor of Legenda, the imprint of the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA).^[3]

Interactive fiction

Nelson 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

Nelson is married to IF writer Emily Short.^[4]

Games

Written

• 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

• Adventure
• Adventureland
• Crobe
• Fyleet
• Quest for the Sangraal

Other works

• (1995) "The Craft of the Adventure" (2nd ed)
• (1997) Singularities, with Polly Clark and Tim Kendall. Oxford: Hubble Press. . Anthology of poetry
• (2001) Inform Designers Manual (4th ed), with Gareth Rees. Placet Solutions,

External links

• Homepage of Graham Nelson
• Graham Nelson's entry in Baf's Guide to IF archive
• Nelson's Index to Oxford Poetry
• 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

Notes and References

1. News: TECHNOLOGY: CONNECTIONS; In the intricacy of a text game, no object is superfluous, no formulation too strange. . 10 March 2021 . 6 April 1998 . Rothstein . Edward . . https://archive.today/20130104134135/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06EFDE103AF935A35757C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all . 4 January 2013 . live . limited.
2. , Society of Authors. Accessed 2007-04-19.
3. https://web.archive.org/web/20041223060415/http://www.mhra.org.uk/Downloads/LegendaPR.pdf "New Partners for Oxford University's Legenda Imprint"
4. Web site: Private Games . 6 September 2015 . Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling . 2018-05-14.