Steve Meretzky
Steve Meretzky, 2008
May 1, 1957 (1957-05-01) (age 54)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SB)
Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957)[1] is an American computer game developer, with dozens of titles to his credit. He has been involved in almost every aspect of game development, from design to production to quality assurance and box design. He is best known for creating some of the famous Infocom games in the early 1980s, including collaborating with celebrated author Douglas Adams on the interactive fiction version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one of the few games to be certified "platinum" by the Software Publishing Association. Later, he created the Spellcasting trilogy, the flagship adventure series of Legend Entertainment.
His keen wit, prose and coding skill made him one of only two 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.
2.1 Lead designer
2.2 Infocom
2.3 Activision
2.4 Legend Entertainment
2.5 Boffo Games
2.6 WorldWinner
2.7 Other titles
2.9 Articles
Meretzky was raised in Yonkers, New York. His father was trained as an accountant, but spent a career of 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 pursue a career as a game tester for Infocom.[1] In 1983, he became a full-time writer (an "Implementor"), scripting Planetfall and creating the famous cult figure robot sidekick "Floyd".[1]
In 1984, he had his most famous collaboration, with Douglas Adams on the computer game version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which became one of the bestselling games of the era. 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 one of his last titles there.
In 1994, Meretzky co-founded Boffo Games, where he was Vice President of Creation, 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.
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."[4] (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.[5]
Several years later, Meretzky joined Blue Fang Games to work on the popular Zoo Tycoon franchise.
He is currently employed as a vice president at social media game developer Playdom.[6]
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.
Planetfall (1983)
Sorcerer (1984)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984)
A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985)
Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986)
Stationfall (1987), Infocom
Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz (1988)
Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen (1988)
Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X! (1992), (under the "Infocom" label)
Legend Entertainment
Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls (1990)
Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance (1991)
Spellcasting 301: Spring Break (1992)
Superhero League of Hoboken (1994)
Boffo Games
Hodj 'n' Podj (1995), Virgin Interactive Entertainment
The Space Bar (1997), Rocket Science Games, SegaSoft
Word Cubes (2001)
SwapIt! (2003)
Skillgammon (2004)
Haunted Mine (2004)
Paint Buckets (2005)
...more than 25 more...
For these titles, Meretzky had a lesser role, such as in an advisory capacity:
Frederik Pohl's Gateway (1992), Legend Entertainment Company
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender (1992), MicroProse
Eric the Unready (1993), Legend Entertainment Company
Sinistar Unleashed (1999), THQ Inc.
Cubis 2 (2004), FreshGames LLC.
Steve Meretzky's Spellcasting 301: Spring Break: The Official Hint Book from Legend Entertainment Company, 1993, Compute, ISBN 0-87455-286-9 (as S. Eric Meretzky)
Zork: The Forces of Krill (A What-Do-I-Do-Now Book, Zork #1), 1983, Tor Books, ISBN 0-8125-7975-5
Zork: The Malifestro Quest (A What-Do-I-Do-Now Book, Zork #2), 1983, Tor Books, ISBN 0-8125-7980-1
Zork: The Cavern of Doom (A What-Do-I-Do-Now Book, Zork #3), 1983, Tor Books, ISBN 0-8125-7985-2
Zork: Conquest at Quendor (A What-Do-I-Do-Now Book, Zork #4), 1984, Tor Books, ISBN 0-8125-5989-4
"Humor in Game Design", 1997, Proceedings of Computer Game Developers Conference
"Interview: Steve Meretzky", Richard Rouse III, "Game Design: Theory & Practice", 2000
"Building Character: An Analysis of Character Creation", 2001, Gamasutra
"Interactive Storytelling", Free Audio File, iTunes U, MIT, Comparative media Studies, Media Industries & Systems, Spring 2006, Week 6: Interactive Storytelling
^ a b c d Infocom Authors - Steve Meretzky Infocom. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
^ "Floyd Here Now!" A Study of Planetfall's Most Enduring Character Kirk Shimano, STS 145 Case History, March 16 2004
^ Steve Meretzky: "Linearity is Fairly Overrated" Talking Writing. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
^ YouTube - MC Frontalot - It Is Pitch Dark
^ GET LAMP accessed 2008-10-10
^ Inman, Thomas. "GDC Europe: Playdom's Meretzky On Making Social Games More Viral". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24919.
Meretzky's home page
Infocom biography
Interview with Steve Meretzky, Adventure Classic Gaming (2001)
Steven Meretzky at MobyGames
Steve Meretzky at the Internet Movie Database
Infocom authors
Name Meretzky, Steve
Date of birth May 1, 1957
Place of birth Yonkers, New York
American video game designers
Interactive fiction writers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
People from Yonkers, New York
Puzzle designers
Lissamphibia
Steve Meretzky — Steven Eric Meretzky (* 11. Mai 1957 in Yonkers, New York) ist ein US amerikanischer Computerspiel Programmierer. Er ist als Entwickler einiger der beliebtesten Spiele der Firma Infocom in den 1980er Jahren bekannt, herausragend hierbei seine… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Meretzky — Steven Eric Meretzky (* 11. Mai 1957 in Yonkers, New York) ist ein US amerikanischer Computerspiel Programmierer. Er ist als Entwickler einiger der beliebtesten Spiele der Firma Infocom in den 1980er Jahren bekannt, herausragend hierbei seine… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Infocom — Infobox Company company name = Infocom company company type = Defunct company slogan = This space intentionally left blank. industry = Entertainment/Business software foundation = MIT (1979) location = Cambridge, Massachusetts key people = Dave… … Wikipedia
Infocom — Este artículo o sección necesita una revisión de ortografía y gramática. Puedes colaborar editándolo (lee aquí sugerencias para mejorar tu ortografía). Cuando se haya corregido, borra este aviso por favor … Wikipedia Español
Planetfall — Infobox VG| title = Planetfall developer = Infocom publisher = Infocom designer = Steve Meretzky engine = ZIL released = Release 20: July 8 1983 Release 26: October 14, 1983 Release 29: January 18 1984 Release 37: October 3 1985 Solid Gold: May… … Wikipedia
Douglas Adams — This article is about the author. For the Indo Europeanist, see Douglas Q. Adams. Douglas Adams Born 11 March 1952(1952 03 11) Cambridge, England … Wikipedia
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — This article is about the franchise. Several terms redirect here; you may be looking for The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy (disambiguation), Hitchhiker s Guide (disambiguation), or High Harmonic Generation. The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy … Wikipedia
A Mind Forever Voyaging — Infobox VG title = A Mind Forever Voyaging developer = Infocom publisher = Infocom designer = Steve Meretzky engine = ZIL released = Release 77: August 14, 1985Release 79: November 22, 1985 genre = Interactive fiction modes = Single player… … Wikipedia
Boffo Games — Infobox Company company name = Boffo Games company company type = Defunct company slogan = foundation = 1994 defunct = 1997 location = key people = Steve Meretzky Mike Dornbrook Leo DaCosta industry = products = revenue = homepage =… … Wikipedia
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game) — The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy Developer(s) Infocom Publisher(s) … Wikipedia