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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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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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NarraScope 2023: According to Cain

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I’m speaking at the upcoming NarraScope conference in Pittsburgh. My talk is titled “According to Cain: From Concept to Completion.” I’ll discuss writing my latest interactive fiction, from its meager origins as a rough idea for a short story, to its final form as a video game about an alchemist determined to solve one of the oldest literary mysteries.

According to Cain placed sixth in the 2022 Interactive Fiction Competition, and won Outstanding Game of the Year (Player’s Choice) and Outstanding Game Over Two Hours in the 2022 IFDB Awards.

NarraScope 2023 offers a wide variety of talks and seminars on all manner of interactive storytelling. It runs from June 9th to June 12th. Check out its schedule for more information (table version). You can register to attend in person or attend virtually by streaming video. All talks will be recorded and available online after the conclusion of the conference. It’s designed for both authors and devotees of interactive storytelling in all forms.

If you’re in Pittsburgh during the conference, let me know! It would be great to meet up.

According to Cain: From Concept to Completion
1:30pm – 2:30pm (Eastern)
Sunday, June 11th
Room 548, William Pitt Union
University of Pittsburgh


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According to Cain at the 2022 IFDB Awards

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The 2022 Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB) Awards polling has completed, and According to Cain did well! It won Outstanding Game of the Year (Player’s Choice) and Outstanding Game Over Two Hours (both Player’s and Author’s Choice).

It placed second for the Outstanding Game of the Year (Author’s Choice), missing a tie by a single vote, and second for Outstanding Game in an Uncommon System (both Player’s and Author’s Choice).

You can view the full results at the IFDB. The announcement thread on the Interactive Fiction Community Forum has more details. There’s a feedback thread as well.

It felt pretty good to wake up this morning and hear all this news. As I made my coffee, I thought back on those times when I was writing Cain and despairing no one would want to play it. These awards, as well as its solid placement in the Interactive Fiction Competition, are truly gratifying.

If you’ve not played According to Cain, you can read more at its home page, which includes links for downloading it or playing it in your browser.


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2022 IFDB Award polling closing soon

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Quick note: If you’re an aficionado of interactive fiction, and you played at least one interactive fiction game released in 2022, head on over to the Interactive Fiction Database and vote for the IFDB Award. There’s a lot of categories, but no fear, you can vote in as many or as few of them as you like.

(With one proviso: You can only vote in the “Author’s Choice” categories if you’ve authored an interactive fiction game and it’s listed on IFDB.)

Read over the voting rules, create an account if you’ve not already, browse the IFDB for games you’ve played, and then vote! Polls close Feburary 17th.

(In case you’re asking: Both of my recent interactive fiction games, According to Cain and Past Present, are eligible for the award.)


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