Steve Meretzky

Last updated
Steve Meretzky
Steve Meretzky 2008.jpg
Steve Meretzky, 2008
Born (1957-05-01) May 1, 1957 (age 66)
Yonkers, New York
Education MIT (BS)
Occupation Video game designer
Known for Interactive fiction

Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) [1] is an American video game developer. He is best known for creating Infocom games in the early 1980s, including collaborating with author Douglas Adams on the interactive fiction version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , one of the first games to be certified "platinum" by the Software Publishers Association. Later, he created the Spellcasting trilogy, the flagship adventure series of Legend Entertainment. He has been involved in almost every aspect of game development, from design to production to quality assurance and box design.

Contents

His keen wit, prose, and coding skill made him one of the first interactive fiction writers (along with Dave Lebling) admitted to the Science Fiction Writers of America, [2] and in September 1999, PC Gamer magazine named Meretzky as one of their twenty-five "Game Gods"; those who have made an indelible mark on the history of computer gaming.

Biography

Meretzky was raised in Yonkers, New York. His father was trained as an accountant, but spent 25 years selling automotive hardware. Meretzky's mother was a bookkeeper. He graduated from Yonkers High School in 1975. He went on to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in construction management in 1979. [1] [3] After working in the construction industry for two years, in 1981 Meretzky decided to pursue a career as a game tester for Infocom after co-founder Marc Blank asked Meretzky to take over the job from his roommate Mike Dornbrook. [1] [4] In 1983, he became a full-time writer (an "Implementor"), scripting Planetfall and creating the famous cult figure robot sidekick "Floyd". [1]

While working on Planetfall, people noted the similarities between his game and Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . Meretzky listened to the radio series and enjoyed it, so he included a reference to the series in his game. In 1984, Meretzky collaborated with Adams over the course of three months in order to create a computer game adaption of Adams' series, which became one of the bestselling games of the era. A sequel to the game, titled Milliways: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe was proposed, but got cancelled due to the dwindling popularity of text adventure games. [4]

Another popular game was Leather Goddesses of Phobos , whose risque writing pushed the boundaries of the art. In an interview, Meretzky said that he originally just wrote the name on a project board as a joke, but was later asked to actually develop a game to go along with the title.

In A Mind Forever Voyaging , Meretzky attempted to address social issues, but Infocom's success was declining, and the 1988 Zork Zero was his last title there.

In 1988 Meretzky had his son Daniel Meretzky.

In 1994, Meretzky co-founded Boffo Games with Michael Dornbrook and Leo DaCosta, and developed such titles as the story puzzle game Hodj 'n' Podj and the detective comedy The Space Bar until the company closed its doors in 1997. [5] In 1998, he worked as a consultant on Blizzard Entertainment's canceled adventure game Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans . [6] [7]

Around the year 2000, Meretzky joined WorldWinner as a game advisor and Principal Game Designer. Meretzky is also a charter member of the Computer Game Developers Association, and a frequent speaker at industry conferences such as GDC.

Meretzky appears as himself antagonizing rapper MC Frontalot in the music video for "It Is Pitch Dark." [8] (released on Secrets from the Future ). The song references several of Meretzky's text adventure games, and the video is directed by documentarian Jason Scott Sadofsky, whose film GET LAMP is about the genre. [9]

Several years later, Meretzky joined Blue Fang Games to work on the popular Zoo Tycoon franchise. He was employed as a Vice President of Design at social media game developer Playdom [10] from 2008 to 2013, at which point he became Vice President of Creative at GSN Games. In November 2016 he became Vice President of Games at Swedish mobile game company King. [11]

On October 28, 2022, Meretzky along with Leo DaCosta and Michael Dornbrook, re-formed Boffo Games as Boffo Intergalactic Games, and digitally re-released The Space Bar on ZOOM-Platform.com. This version of the game was based on an unreleased DVD version with higher resolution cinematic visuals and improved audio. [12]

Games

Meretzky has been credited on games developed by: Infocom, Legend Entertainment Company, Activision Inc., Boffo Games Inc., MicroProse, GameFX, Floodgate Entertainment, and Tom Snyder Productions. In the following titles, Meretzky was sole or lead designer / creative director.

Infocom

Activision

Legend Entertainment

Boffo Games

WorldWinner

Meretzky created various mobile games during his time at WorldWinner, including Tile City, Word Cubes, Hangmania, Catch-21, SwapIt!, Blockwerx, and Triv!. [13]

Other works

Video games

For these video games, Meretzky had a lesser role, such as in an advisory capacity:

Books

Articles

Related Research Articles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interactive fiction</span> Nonlinear narratives set by audience decisions

Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of interactive narratives or interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphic text adventures still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.

<i>Zork</i> 1977 video game

Zork is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and split the game into three titles—Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master—which were released commercially for a range of personal computers beginning in 1980. In Zork, the player explores the abandoned Great Underground Empire in search of treasure. The player moves between the game's hundreds of locations and interacts with objects by typing commands in natural language that the game interprets. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's commands. It has been described as the most famous piece of interactive fiction.

Legend Entertainment Company was an American developer and publisher of computer games, best known for creating 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 and Gateway. 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 engine to take advantage of higher graphical fidelity, mouse support, and the increased media storage of the compact disc.

<i>A Mind Forever Voyaging</i> 1985 video game

A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV) is a 1985 interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom. The game was intended as a polemical critique of Ronald Reagan's politics.

<i>Leather Goddesses of Phobos</i> 1986 video game

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.

<i>Planetfall</i> 1983 video game

Planetfall is a science fiction themed interactive fiction computer 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. 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".

<i>The Lost Treasures of Infocom</i> 1991 video game

The Lost Treasures of Infocom is a 1991 compilation of 20 previously-released interactive fiction games developed by Infocom. It was published by Activision for MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, and Apple IIGS versions. It was later re-released on CD-ROM, and in 2012 on iOS.

<i>Zork Zero</i> 1988 text adventure game

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. 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.

<i>Stationfall</i> 1987 video game

Stationfall is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and released by Infocom in 1987. It was released for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, and MS-DOS,. The game is a sequel to Planetfall, one of Infocom's most popular titles. It is Infocom's twenty-fifth game.

<i>Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X!</i> 1992 video game

Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X! is a graphic adventure game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Activision in 1992 under the Infocom label. LGOP2 is the sequel to the 1986 interactive fiction game Leather Goddesses of Phobos, also written by Meretzky. LGOP2 featured full-screen graphics and a point-and-click interface instead of Infocom's text parser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Bates</span> American computer game designer

Robert Bates is an American computer game designer. One of the early designers of interactive fiction games, he was co-founder of Challenge, Inc., which created games in the 1980s for the pioneering company Infocom. After Infocom's dissolution in 1989, Bates co-founded Legend Entertainment to continue publishing games in the Infocom tradition, but with added graphics. Notable games that he has designed, written, or produced include Unreal II (2003), Spider-Man 3 (2007), and Eric the Unready (1993), listed as Adventure Game of the Year by Computer Gaming World magazine and also included on the 1996 list of "150 best games of all time". In 1998 he wrote the award-winning game Quandaries for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has twice been the chairperson of the International Game Developers Association, which honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. Bates has written extensively about game design and development in works such as the 2001 book Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games, which is commonly used as a game design textbook in college courses. From 2011–2014, Bates was Chief Creative Officer for External Studios at Zynga. He continues to work as an independent consultant with various publishers in the games industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boffo Games</span>

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.

<i>The Space Bar</i> 1998 video game

The Space Bar is a 1997 graphic adventure game developed by Boffo Games and published by Rocket Science Games and SegaSoft. A comic science fiction story, it follows detective Alias Node as he searches for a shapeshifting killer inside The Thirsty Tentacle, a fantastical bar on the planet Armpit VI. The player assumes the role of Alias and uses his Empathy Telepathy power to live out the memories of eight of the bar's patrons, including an immobile plant, an insect with compound eyes and a blind alien who navigates by sound. Gameplay is nonlinear and under a time limit: the player may solve puzzles and gather clues in any order, but must win before the killer escapes the bar.

The Zork books were a series of four books, written by S. Eric Meretzky, which took place in the fictional universe of Zork. The books were published by Tor Books. Like the Zork video games, the books were a form of interactive fiction which offered the reader a choice of actions symbolized by pages to turn to, as in the contemporary book series Choose Your Own Adventure or the later Give Yourself Goosebumps series. The protagonists of each book were a boy and girl, called Bill and June on Earth and re-dubbed Bivotar and Juranda in Zork. The settings and plots were reminiscent of locations and events from the Zork universe.

Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom is a collection of 33 computer games from interactive fiction pioneer Infocom, and the top 6 winners of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition, released in 1996. All 39 games are combined on a single cross-platform CD-ROM, which also includes PDFs of all the Infocom games' instructions, maps, and hint booklets.

<i>Hodj n Podj</i> 1995 video game

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.

<i>Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls</i> 1990 video game

Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls is a 1990 adventure game. It was the first installment of the Spellcasting series created by Steve Meretzky during his time at Legend Entertainment. All three games in the series tell the story of young Ernie Eaglebeak, a student at the prestigious Sorcerer University, as he progresses through his studies, learning the arcanes of magic, taking part in student life, and meeting beautiful women.

<i>Spellcasting 301: Spring Break</i> 1992 video game

The text adventure game Spellcasting 301: Spring Break is the third and last installment of the Spellcasting series created by Steve Meretzky during his time at Legend Entertainment. All three games in the series tell the story of young Ernie Eaglebeak, a student at the prestigious Sorcerer University, progressing through his studies, learning the arcanes of magic, taking part in student life, occasionally saving the world as he knows it, and having his way with any beautiful women he can get his hands on.

Spellcasting is a series of three interactive fiction games designed by Steve Meretzky during his time with Legend Entertainment. The games feature the character Ernie Eaglebeak, a student at the prestigious Sorcerer University. Spellcasting 101 is the first game created by Legend Entertainment, a hybrid graphical and text adventure format.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Infocom Authors - Steve Meretzky Infocom. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Floyd Here Now!" A Study of Planetfall's Most Enduring Character Kirk Shimano, STS 145 Case History, March 16, 2004
  3. ↑ Steve Meretzky: "Linearity is Fairly Overrated" Talking Writing. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Steve Meretzky (Infocom) - Interview". Arcade Attack. 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  5. ↑ Cifaldi, Frank (October 31, 2005). "Playing Catch-Up: Infocom's Steve Meretzky". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on June 21, 2006.
  6. ↑ Fenlon, Wes (December 8, 2016). "The inside story of Warcraft Adventures: Blizzard's lost point-and-click adventure". PC Gamer US . Archived from the original on August 11, 2017.
  7. ↑ Feldman, Curt (February 19, 1998). "Starcraft, Warcraft Adventure Update". GameSpot . Archived from the original on June 10, 2000.
  8. ↑ YouTube – MC Frontalot – It Is Pitch Dark
  9. ↑ GET LAMP accessed 2008-10-10
  10. ↑ Inman, Thomas. "GDC Europe: Playdom's Meretzky On Making Social Games More Viral". Gamasutra.
  11. ↑ "Steve Meretzky hat neuen Job bei King.com". Adventure-Treff.de. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
  12. ↑ "Boffo Intergalactic Games and Jordan Freeman Group Present: The Space Bar".
  13. ↑ Rouse III, Richard (2005). Game Design Theory & Practice. Second Edition. Worldware Publishing, Inc. p. 201. ISBN   1-55622-912-7.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.