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“Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe” reviewed at The Final Arc

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Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe by Jim Nelson

My Interactive Fiction Competition entry Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe was reviewed by Justin Kim at The Final Arc. Highlights:

On one hand, it’s a game about dealing with the duality of superficial popularity vs meaningful respect as a career writer. On another hand, it’s a mystery about the last days of famed author and poet Edgar Allan Poe. On yet another hand, it’s dealing with the fallout of making a Faustian deal.

And:

You begin in the modern day as a writer, waking up after an explosion. This character’s past is unveiled as you find clues in Baltimore, Maryland, in the year 1849 as a European who discovers the secret of Poe’s disappearance for his own agenda.

It’s a really great write-up, and I appreciate Justin’s kind words.

I met Justin at NarraScope 2023 where we discussed my last interactive fiction, According to Cain. This year, he volunteered to beta test Cognomen and had a number of important suggestions for me to fix. Thanks, Justin!

Check out more from The Final Arc, including their coverage of other IF Comp entries.


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IF Comp 2024: Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe

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Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe, by Jim Nelson

Today is the start of the Interactive Fiction (IF) Competition 2024, which includes my latest IF title, Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe. Over 67 titles are entered in the competition this year.

The great thing about IF Comp is that anyone can play and be a judge. If you’re interested, you’ll need to play at least five of the entries to submit a ballot. I recommend reading over the judging rules before looking over the full slate of titles. Note that many of these games can be played within your browser without downloading any software.

Voting is entirely optional. You’re free to play as many or as few of these games as you like. All are free to download and play.

Here’s my entry’s blurb:

“There are some secrets that do not permit themselves to be told.”

In 1849, Edgar Allan Poe disappeared among the back alleys of Baltimore. A week later, he was found delirious and in disarray. The mystery of his death has remained unsolved for 175 years.

Now it’s your chance to decipher the macabre enigma enshrouding the final days of Edgar Allan Poe—a tale of Faustian bargains, artistic ambition, and immortality…

It’s a parser game, meaning you enter commands as free-form text, which the software interprets as commands and acts upon. Total play time is a little over two hours or so, depending on how well you do.

You can play Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe directly from the IF Comp game list. If you want a more customizable experience, in terms of colors and fonts, or you want to listen to the game’s soundtrack while you play, I recommend installing the QTads interpreter and downloading the game file to your local machine.

Here’s to a great competition!


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Exploring the Best Games: According to Cain

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Cover image for "According to Cain" by Jim Nelson

On the Interactive Fiction Community Forum, author Brian Rushton has been at work completing his series reviewing every game to win the XYZZY and IF Comp awards. He recently posted his review of According to Cain, the most recent game to win the XYZZY:

Your game, the player’s, while fraught with occasional physical danger, is slow-paced and thoughtful. The remembered past, though, is filled with arguments, violence, deception, starvation, betrayal, and jealousy. Just like the previous year’s winner, What Heart Heard of, Ghost Guessed, progression in this game occurs through unlocking horrifying memories of a past family.

His full write-up can be read on the IF forum. More information on Cain, including how to play, can be found here.


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Q&A on According to Cain

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Cover image for "According to Cain" by Jim Nelson

Forgot to mention it here—a couple weeks back, I was interviewed by otistdog (“Mad Scientist”) at the Interactive Fiction Community Forum about According to Cain. Sample from the Q&A:

Q: What was it about the Cain and Abel story that attracted you as a subject?
JN: Two brothers fighting over the affection of their parents and their place in the world, a family banished to the wilderness, the murder, the punishment—it’s so mythic and yet familiar and relevant. Incredibly, the source material is only about fifteen sentences long. The porous openings in the original story gave me handholds into it.

The full Q&A is here. Read more about Cain, or try playing it in your browser.


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According to Cain in the 2022 XYZZY Awards

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Cover image for "According to Cain" by Jim Nelson

Yesterday, the 2022 XYZZY final awards were announced.

If you don’t know, the XYZZY Awards are given yearly for interactive fiction. They’re sometimes called the Academy Awards for interactive fiction.

I was blown away to learn that According to Cain won Best Game and Best Implementation for 2022. Cain was also nominated for Best Writing, Best Story, and Best Puzzles.

This caps off a big year for Cain, which placed sixth in the Interactive Fiction Competition, won Outstanding Game of the Year (Player’s Choice) and Outstanding Game Over Two Hours in the IFDB Awards, and was selected for the 2023 Interactive Fiction Top 50.

I’m floored. In 1999, when I first became aware of the interactive fiction community, I wondered if I could write a title that could win the IF Comp or the XYZZY Award.

To place sixth in the IF Comp was more than I could have asked for. (I was happy to make the top twenty.) To win Best Game for the XYZZY Award is, in some ways, a fulfillment of a twenty-four year personal goal.


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2022 XYZZY Awards now open for nomination

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A computer monitor and keyboard underwater.

The 2022 XYZZY Awards for interactive fiction is now accepting nominations.

The XYZZY Awards is one of the oldest video game award on the books. It first started in 1997 and has been held yearly since. It’s often called the Oscars for interactive fiction. If you’ve played even one interactive fiction game first released in 2022, you can nominate a title and vote on the final outcome.

As mentioned, if you played even one outstanding interactive fiction in 2022—parser, choice-based, any story-based game at all, really—you can vote. I encourage you to head over to the XYZZY Awards site and nominate your favorites for the next round of voting. The deadline is December 16th.


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“According to Cain” makes the 2023 Interactive Fiction Top 50

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Cover image for "According to Cain" by Jim Nelson

This morning I learned that my interactive fiction game According to Cain was selected for the 2023 Interactive Fiction Top 50. This is a poll run by Victor Gijsbers every four years since 2011, and generally attracts interactive fiction enthusiasts and authors (most of whom gather now at intfiction.org). The goal of the poll is to determine the fifty (or so) best interactive fiction games of all time. According to Cain placed 21st in the latest incarnation of the list, which is posted on The Rosebush, a new online journal dedicated to criticism of interactive fiction.

It’s been a good year for Cain—it placed 6th at the 2022 Interactive Fiction Competition (taking first for the Miss Congeniality contest, which is the best game chosen from the votes of all entrants), won Outstanding Game of the Year (Player’s Choice) and Outstanding Game Over Two Hours in the 2022 IFDB Awards, and now this.

Cain started as a short story I began drafting in 2010 (or so). It was the kind of short story that I could never quite figure out, just a collection of scenes with no beginning or straight-ahead story line. (About the only thing I knew was that, when you’re telling a story about Cain and Abel, a murder would have take place at some point.) There was even a time when I toyed with turning it into a novella. I abandoned and returned to the project several times over the course of ten years until, in the midst of the lockdowns, I wondered if I could make it an interactive fiction parser game.

And it worked out. As I said in the Fediverse, if you’re creating something and truly believe, stick with it, even if you have to walk away from it for a while. If you’re committed to the concept, you might be surprised where it takes you.

More information about Cain is available at its home page.


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