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Graham Nelson Quotes
A deliberate choice on my part was for the player to continue to find new possibilities in the early Attic rooms far into the game. I think this builds atmosphere, though it means there's no neat division of the prologue from the middle game.
~ Graham Nelson
Atmosphere
Attic
Builds
Choice
Continue
Deliberate
Division
Early
Far
Find
Game
I Think
Means
Middle
Neat
New
New Possibilities
Part
Player
Possibilities
Rooms
Think
Though
design
copy
At the end of April I archived 'Curses' and Inform, and announced them on the newsgroups.
~ Graham Nelson
Announced
April
Curses
End
Inform
Them
design
copy
By the new year of 1994, it had grown up into Inform 4 and could produce games twice as large.
~ Graham Nelson
Could
Games
Grown
Grown-Up
Had
Inform
Large
New
New Year
Produce
Twice
Up
Year
design
copy
Eventually I found it had been working all along-but didn't show anything on screen until it had the first full page of text. I inserted 30 new lines, and suddenly my toy said 'hEllO woRlD'. An hour later I understood alphabet shifting rather better!
~ Graham Nelson
Alphabet
Anything
Been
Better
Eventually
First
Found
Full
Had
Hello
Hour
Later
Lines
New
On-Screen
Page
Rather
Said
Screen
Shifting
Show
Suddenly
Text
Toy
Understood
Until
Working
World
design
copy
For a fortnight nobody at all emailed me, or posted a follow-up. Doesn't anyone care, I thought? It turned out my newsreader was broken, and hadn't posted at all.
~ Graham Nelson
Anyone
Broken
Care
Follow-Up
Me
Nobody
Out
Posted
Thought
Turned
design
copy
I don't really believe in 'directions' in art; the rope twists as you follow it, that's all.
~ Graham Nelson
Art
Believe
Directions
Follow
Really
Rope
Twists
You
design
copy
I like to employ a form of repetition, in which the same elements recur but in different and unexpected ways. rather than being discarded as soon as they are understood or passed over.
~ Graham Nelson
Being
Different
Discarded
Elements
Employ
Form
Like
Over
Passed
Rather
Recur
Repetition
Same
Soon
Than
Understood
Unexpected
Ways
Which
design
copy
I try to make puzzles range all the way from easy to hard, and to leave many open at once.
~ Graham Nelson
Easy
Hard
Leave
Make
Many
Once
Open
Puzzles
Range
Try
Way
design
copy
I'm rather pleased with the new manuals. I see Inform now as a gauche young adult, having got past the stage of growing out of his shoes every few months.
~ Graham Nelson
Adult
Every
Few
Got
Growing
Having
His
I See
Inform
Months
New
Now
Out
Past
Pleased
Rather
See
Shoes
Stage
Young
Young Adult
design
copy
If pushed, though, I'd say that the next stage will be reached when it it's no longer true that about 75% of the best games were written in 1980's on the way to that.
~ Graham Nelson
About
Best
Games
Longer
Next
Pushed
Reached
Say
Stage
Though
True
Way
Were
Will
Written
design
copy
If you're setting a game during the Cuban Missile Crisis, look through a library. find out what people were wearing, what other issues were in the news, how houses were furnished, what cars were being driven. Especially include things which now seem foreign.
~ Graham Nelson
Being
Car
Crisis
Cuban
Cuban Missile Crisis
Driven
Find
Foreign
Furnished
Game
Houses
How
Include
Issues
Library
Look
Missile
News
Now
Other
Out
People
Seem
Setting
Things
Through
Wearing
Were
Which
You
design
copy
Players very widely disagree with me about what's hard and what's easy. and in a way, 'I won, but it was a fight' is the best compliment a game can receive.
~ Graham Nelson
About
Best
Compliment
Disagree
Easy
Fight
Game
Hard
Me
Players
Receive
Very
Way
Widely
Won
design
copy
The 'interactive fiction' format hasn't changed in any fundamental way since the early 1970s, in the same way that the format of the novel hasn't since 1700.
~ Graham Nelson
1970s
Any
Changed
Early
Fiction
Format
Fundamental
Interactive
Novel
Same
Since
Way
design
copy
The most frequent complaint is that it's hard. True. it's a hard game to win Also, many people ask me how to use the secret debugging commands, apparently under the impression that I'll tell them.
~ Graham Nelson
Also
Apparently
Ask
Commands
Complaint
Frequent
Game
Hard
How
Impression
Many
Me
Most
People
Secret
Tell
Them
True
Use
Win
design
copy
The time has mainly gone on getting Inform into a decent shape for public use. I suppose the plot of 'Curses' makes a sequel conceivable when compared with, say, the plot of 'Hamlet' but none is planned.
~ Graham Nelson
Compared
Curses
Decent
Getting
Gone
Hamlet
Inform
Mainly
Makes
None
Planned
Plot
Public
Say
Sequel
Shape
Suppose
Time
Use
design
copy
Then in my early teens, when the home computer bubble was blowing, I had one of the first, an Acorn Atom, and used to write primitive adventures on that.
~ Graham Nelson
Acorn
Adventures
Atom
Blowing
Bubble
Computer
Early
First
Had
Home
Primitive
Teens
Then
Used
Write
design
copy
This means keeping many trails open at once, inevitably requiring a fairly 'parallel' plot. This plot should be discovered rather than announced, so show, don't tell.
~ Graham Nelson
Announced
Discovered
Fairly
Inevitably
Keeping
Many
Means
Once
Open
Parallel
Plot
Rather
Requiring
Should
Show
Tell
Than
Trails
design
copy
What I would pay much more attention to are the few points where the player can inadvertently make a career decision. Most players end up back-tracking, though some actually enjoy this.
~ Graham Nelson
Actually
Attention
Career
Decision
End
Enjoy
Few
Inadvertently
Make
More
Most
Much
Pay
Player
Players
Points
Some
Though
Up
Where
Would
design
copy
Writing a really general parser is a major but different undertaking, by far the hardest points being sensitivity to context and resolution of ambiguity.
~ Graham Nelson
Ambiguity
Being
Context
Different
Far
General
Hardest
Major
Points
Really
Resolution
Sensitivity
Undertaking
Writing
design
copy
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