Steve Meretzky
Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) ''Infocom''. Retrieved July 11, 2011. is an American video game developer. He is best known for creating Infocom games in the early 1980s, including collaborating with author on the interactive fiction version of '''', one of the first games to be certified "platinum" by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Legend Entertainment
Legend Entertainment Company was an American Video game developer, developer and Video game publisher, publisher of computer games, best known for creating Adventure game, adventure titles throughout the 1990s. The company was founded by Bob Bates and Mike Verdu, both veterans of the interactive fiction studio Infocom that shut down in 1989. Legend's first two games, ''Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls'' and ''Timequest,'' had strong sales that sustained the company. Legend also profited from negotiating licenses to popular book series, allowing them to create notable game adaptations such as ''Companions of Xanth'' (based on ''Demons Don't Dream'' by Piers Anthony) and ''Gateway (video game), Gateway'' (based on Gateway (novel), the eponymous novel by Frederik Pohl)''.'' Legend also earned a reputation for comedic adventures, with numerous awards for ''Eric the Unready'' in 1993. As the technology of the game industry changed, Legend continued to expand its game en ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yonkers, New York
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enumerated in the 2020 United States Census. It is classified as an inner suburb of New York City, located directly to the north of the Bronx and approximately two miles (3 km) north of Marble Hill, Manhattan, the northernmost point in Manhattan. Yonkers's downtown is centered on a plaza known as Getty Square, where the municipal government is located. The downtown area also houses significant local businesses and nonprofit organizations. It serves as a major retail hub for Yonkers and the northwest Bronx. The city is home to several attractions, including access to the Hudson River, Tibbetts Brook Park, with its public pool with slides and lazy river and two-mile walking loop Untermyer Park; Hudson River Museum; Saw Mill River daylig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Science Fiction Writers Of America
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While SFWA is based in the United States, its membership is open to writers worldwide. The organization was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America. The president of SFWA as of July 1, 2021 is Jeffe Kennedy. As of 2022, SFWA has about 2,300 members worldwide. Active SFWA members may vote for the Nebula Awards, one of the principal English-language science fiction awards. Mission SFWA informs, supports, promotes, defends and advocates for its members. SFWA activities include informing science fiction and fantasy writers on professional matters, protecting their interests, 26 (4): 40. and helping them deal effectively with agents, editors, anthologists, and producers in print and non-print media; 26 (4) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hodj 'n' Podj
''Hodj 'n' Podj'' is a 1995 computer board game and minigame compilation developed by Boffo Games and published by Media Vision and Virgin Interactive. It was designed by Steve Meretzky, previously known for adventure games such as ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. ''Hodj 'n' Podj'' features 19 minigames based on peg solitaire, ''Pac-Man'', ''Battleship'' and other games. These may be played separately or within an overarching fairy tale story, which follows the suitors Hodj and Podj in their attempts to rescue two princesses. Meretzky conceived ''Hodj 'n' Podj'' in the late 1980s, as a way to revive simpler games that had become hard to obtain. It began production in 1994, and was the first product developed by Meretzky's company Boffo Games. Production was troubled, thanks to a $100 million securities fraud scandal at Media Vision, which led to the project's sale to Virgin. During development, Boffo discovered that ''Hodj 'n' Podj'' appealed to a wider demographic than ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Boffo Games
Boffo Games was a video game developer founded in 1994 by Steve Meretzky, Mike Dornbrook, and Leo DaCosta. The logo was designed by Gayle Syska, formerly of Infocom. Boffo produced two games, ''Hodj 'n' Podj'' and ''The Space Bar'', before closing its doors in 1997. ''Hodj 'n' Podj'' was originally designed for Media Vision but it divested all of its multimedia interests following a securities-fraud scandal and the title was purchased by Virgin Interactive. ''The Space Bar'' was originally to be published by Rocket Science Games (RSG) but SegaSoft bought out RSG and became the game's publisher. History In late 1993, designer Steve Meretzky began to consider founding an independent game development studio with his friends Mike Dornbrook and Leo DaCosta. The three of them had gone to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology together, and Meretzky had worked with Dornbrook at Infocom and with DaCosta during the 1990s. Following the 1989 closure of Infocom, Meretzky worked on a cont ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zork Zero
''Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz'' is an interactive fiction computer game, written by Steve Meretzky over nearly 18 months and published by Infocom in 1988. Although it is the ninth and last ''Zork'' game released by Infocom before the company's closure, ''Zork Zero'' takes place before the previous eight games (''Zork I'', ''Zork II'', ''Zork III'', '' Enchanter'', '' Sorcerer'', ''Wishbringer'', ''Spellbreaker'' and ''Beyond Zork''). Unlike its predecessors, ''Zork Zero'' is a vast game, featuring a graphical interface with scene-based colors and borders, an interactive map, menus, an in-game hints system, an interactive Encyclopedia Frobozzica, and playable graphical mini-games. The graphics were created by computer artist James Shook. It is Infocom's thirty-second game. Previous games by Infocom used a parser evolved from the one in ''Zork I'', but for ''Zork Zero'', they designed a new LALR parser from scratch. ''Zork Zeros parser has some innovative features. If it notice ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A Mind Forever Voyaging
''A Mind Forever Voyaging'' (''AMFV'') is a 1985 interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom. It is Infocom's seventeenth game. The game was intended as a Polemic, polemical critique of Ronald Reagan's politics. Plot The story is set in the United States of North America, which is similar to the real-world US, in the year 2031. The player controls PRISM, the world's first artificial general intelligence, sentient computer. PRISM is instructed by its creator, Dr. Abraham Perelman, to run a simulation of Senator Richard Ryder's "Plan for Renewed National Purpose". This plan is intended to address the nation's failing economy, the high Teenage suicide in the United States, teenage suicide rate, and to strengthen the nation's position in a nuclear arms race. PRISM simulates the life of a man called Perry Simm, ten years after the plan has gone into effect. The player experiences some time in Perry's life. The plan appears to have had ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Leather Goddesses Of Phobos
''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, TI-99/4A and MS-DOS. The game was Infocom's first "sex farce", including selectable gender and "naughtiness"—the latter ranging from "tame" to "lewd". It was one of five top-selling Infocom titles to be re-released in Solid Gold versions. It was Infocom's twenty-first game. Gameplay To start the game a gender must be chosen and the player will get a sidekick character. If the player's character is male, he will meet a burly but dim-witted man named Trent; if the player's character is female, she will find an attractive but somewhat ditzy woman named Tiffany. There are differences in game-play between the two sexes. ''Leather Goddesses of Phobos'' bore a difficulty rating of "Standard". The game has 75 locations, including the maze kn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it was later adapted to other formats, including novels, stage shows, comic books, a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series), 1981 TV series, a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game), 1984 text-based computer game, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film), 2005 feature film. ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' has become an international multi-media phenomenon; the novels are the most widely distributed, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005. The first novel, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (1979), has been ranked fourth on the BBC’s The Big Read poll. The sixth ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Planetfall
''Planetfall'' is a science fiction themed interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky, and the eighth title published by Infocom in 1983. The original release included versions for Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, TRS-80, and IBM PC compatibles (both as a self-booting disk and for MS-DOS). The Atari ST and Commodore 64 versions were released in 1985. A version for CP/M was also released. Although ''Planetfall'' was Meretzky's first title, it proved one of his most popular works and a best-seller for Infocom; it was one of five top-selling titles to be re-released in Solid Gold versions including in-game hints. Planetfall uses the Z-machine originally developed for the Zork franchise and was added as a bonus to the "Zork Anthology". The word ''planetfall'' is a portmanteau of ''planet'' and ''landfall'', and occasionally used in science fiction to that effect. The book ''Planetfall'' written by Arthur Byron Cover, uses the game image on the cover, and is marketed "In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Implementer (video Games)
Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone''. Infocom was founded on June 22, 1979, by staff and students of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and lasted as an independent company until 1986, when it was bought by Activision. Activision shut down the Infocom division in 1989, although they released some titles in the 1990s under the Infocom ''Zork'' brand. Activision abandoned the Infocom trademark in 2002. Overview Infocom games are text adventures where users direct the action by entering short strings of words to give commands when prompted. Generally the program will respond by describing the results of the action, often the contents of a room if the player has moved within the virtual world. The user reads this information, decides what to do, and enters another short series of words. Examples i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marc Blank
Marc Blank is an American game developer and software engineer. He is best known as part of the team that created one of the first commercially successful text adventure computer games, ''Zork''. Career Blank first encountered Don Woods and Will Crowther's ''Adventure'' game while he was studying at MIT in the mid-1970s, where the game was played on mainframe computers. Blank was frustrated by the computer's tiny vocabulary; when it parsed user inputs very few words were recognized. After thinking about the problem during his undergraduate years, he started work on his own adventure game using MDL, a computer language invented at MIT. Blank and a handful of friends wrote the original version of ''Zork'' on a PDP-10 while he was attending medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City (he received his MD degree in 1979). The free-play university version of ''Zork'' first became available on the MIT-DM PDP-10 in June 1977. It was then distributed by the D ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |