Implementer
Encyclopedia
Implementer was originally the self-given name of the creators of the Infocom
text adventure
series Zork
. Implementor, often shortened to Imp, became the title given to game designers and programmers at Infocom. Implementers were inserted as minor characters in several Infocom games. The game Beyond Zork
also includes a group of characters called Implementors, minor deities who are integral to the plot. The term carried over into MUD
s, particularly DikuMUD
s, where it usually refers to a game's owner or owners, similarly to the term "God
".
, Marc Blank
, and Dave Lebling
. As the company grew, the title Implementor became a badge of status. Infocom frequently promoted from within, and in particular a number of game testers, including Steve Meretzky
, rose to the rank of Imp. Meretzky was publicly referred to as an Implementor, both in the "About the Author" section of the Planetfall
manual and in a few issues of Infocom's customer newsletter
, The New Zork Times (later renamed The Status Line).
Of special interest in the company culture was the "Implementors' Lunch", said to be "a legendary weekly event garnering all the Infocom game writers." Brian Moriarty
has said his first Implementors' Lunch "was like being invited to tea at Abbey Road
with the Beatles!" The Imps used an old Cornerstone
package, square and blue, as a picnic basket
.
It is possible to cast the ZIFMIA spell ("magically summon a being") on the Implementers, revealing an Easter egg
:
A related Easter egg is included in Sorcerer
. It is possible to cast the AIMFIZ spell ("transport caster to someone else's location") on the Implementers:
, the Implementors inhabit the Ethereal Plane of Atrii, where they busy themselves with luncheons and foster speculation that they created the world. When an Ur-grue steals the Coconut of Quendor (after the adventurer fails to catch it), the Implementors charge the adventurer with recovering the Coconut before the Ur-grue undoes all of magic.
, asking the Shanbar Mayor about the joke book gets the response, "How many Implementors does it take to screw in a lightbulb? That's a hardware problem!"
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
text adventure
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes 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 and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
series Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
. Implementor, often shortened to Imp, became the title given to game designers and programmers at Infocom. Implementers were inserted as minor characters in several Infocom games. The game Beyond Zork
Beyond Zork
Beyond Zork was an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and released by Infocom in 1987...
also includes a group of characters called Implementors, minor deities who are integral to the plot. The term carried over into MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
s, particularly DikuMUD
DikuMUD
DikuMUD is a multiplayer text-based role-playing game, which is a type of MUD. It was written in 1990 and 1991 by Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe, Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik Staerfeldt at DIKU —the department of computer science at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen,...
s, where it usually refers to a game's owner or owners, similarly to the term "God
God (MUD)
God or Goddess, in MUDs, often refers to an administrator of a MUD server, most typically the owner. Sometimes multiple individuals with the title of God are present, or the term may even be applied to all administrative and development staff, but it is usual for the term to refer to the most...
".
Implementers at Infocom
The original Zork Implementers who formed Infocom included Tim AndersonTim Anderson (Zork)
Tim Anderson is a computer programmer who helped create the adventure game Zork, one of the first works of interactive fiction and an early descendant of ADVENT . The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 in the MDL programming language on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Anderson, Marc Blank,...
, Marc Blank
Marc Blank
Marc Blank is an American game developer and software engineer. He is best known as part of the team that created one of the first hit text adventure computer games, Zork....
, and Dave Lebling
Dave Lebling
P. David Lebling is an interactive fiction game designer and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid....
. As the company grew, the title Implementor became a badge of status. Infocom frequently promoted from within, and in particular a number of game testers, including Steve Meretzky
Steve Meretzky
Steven Eric Meretzky 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...
, rose to the rank of Imp. Meretzky was publicly referred to as an Implementor, both in the "About the Author" section of the Planetfall
Planetfall
Planetfall is a science fiction interactive fiction computer game written by Steve Meretzky, and the eighth title published by Infocom in 1983. Like most Infocom games, thanks to the portable Z-machine, it was released for several platforms simultaneously. The original release included versions...
manual and in a few issues of Infocom's customer newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
, The New Zork Times (later renamed The Status Line).
Of special interest in the company culture was the "Implementors' Lunch", said to be "a legendary weekly event garnering all the Infocom game writers." Brian Moriarty
Brian Moriarty
Brian Moriarty is an American video game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, Wishbringer , Trinity and Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor ....
has said his first Implementors' Lunch "was like being invited to tea at Abbey Road
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
with the Beatles!" The Imps used an old Cornerstone
Cornerstone (software)
Cornerstone is a relational database for DOS by Infocom in 1985. It was widely hailed upon its release for its ease of use, but is generally considered one of the leading factors that led to the demise of the company.-History and development:...
package, square and blue, as a picnic basket
Picnic basket
A picnic basket or food hamper is a basket intended to hold food and tableware for a picnic meal. Picnic baskets are standard equipment at many picnics....
.
List of Infocom Implementers
- "Hollywood" Dave Anderson
- Tim AndersonTim Anderson (Zork)Tim Anderson is a computer programmer who helped create the adventure game Zork, one of the first works of interactive fiction and an early descendant of ADVENT . The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 in the MDL programming language on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Anderson, Marc Blank,...
- Bob BatesBob BatesRobert Bates , better known as Bob Bates, is an American computer games designer. Starting as a designer in the 1980s for Infocom, he was later co-founder of Legend Entertainment, designing games such as Timequest and Eric the Unready...
- Michael BerlynMichael BerlynMichael Berlyn is an American computer game designer and writer. He is best known as an Implementor at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team....
- Marc BlankMarc BlankMarc Blank is an American game developer and software engineer. He is best known as part of the team that created one of the first hit text adventure computer games, Zork....
- Amy BriggsAmy BriggsAmy R. Briggs is known for creating Plundered Hearts, an interactive fiction computer game published by Infocom in 1987. A Minnesota native, she graduated from Macalester College in 1984 with a B.A. in English, specializing in British literature. Already a fan of Infocom's games, Briggs joined the...
- Bruce DanielsBruce DanielsDr. Bruce Daniels is an American computer programmer and business executive who has worked for Hewlett Packard, Apple Computer, Oracle, Borland, Sun Microsystems and his own start-up Singular Software, which created Mac database management software...
- Stu GalleyStu GalleyStu Galley is an American developer of interactive fiction who was an Implementor at Infocom. He also served as corporate clerk from incorporation in 1979 to merging with Activision in 1986. He wrote three of Infocom's original interactive fiction titles, The Witness , Seastalker and Moonmist...
- Elizabeth Langosy
- Jim Lawrence
- Dave LeblingDave LeblingP. David Lebling is an interactive fiction game designer and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid....
- Steve MeretzkySteve MeretzkySteven Eric Meretzky 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...
- Brian MoriartyBrian MoriartyBrian Moriarty is an American video game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, Wishbringer , Trinity and Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor ....
- Jeff O'Neill
- Jerry Wolper
Zork II
- This is the Tomb of the Unknown Implementer. A hollow voice says: "That's not a bug, it's a feature!" In the north wall of the room is the Crypt of the Implementers. It is made of the finest marble, and apparently large enough for four headless corpses. Above the entrance is the cryptic inscription: "Feel Free."
The Enchanter series
In Enchanter the player can find and read The Legend of the Great Implementers:- This legend, written in an ancient tongue, speaks of the creation of the world. A more absurd account can hardly be imagined. The universe, it seems, was created by "Implementers" who directed the running of great engines. These engines produced this world and others, strange and wondrous, as a test or puzzle for others of their kind. It goes on to state that these beings stand ready to aid those entrapped within their creation. The great magician-philosopher Helfax notes that a creation of this kind is morally and logically indefensible and discards the theory as "colossal claptrap and kludgery."
It is possible to cast the ZIFMIA spell ("magically summon a being") on the Implementers, revealing an Easter egg
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
:
- The implementers of the world, Marc BlankMarc BlankMarc Blank is an American game developer and software engineer. He is best known as part of the team that created one of the first hit text adventure computer games, Zork....
and Dave LeblingDave LeblingP. David Lebling is an interactive fiction game designer and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid....
, appear before you, looking quite as confused as yourself. They speak: - Dave: "What's happening here?"
- Marc: "Uh, I dunno. YOU wrote this code, not me."
- Dave: "Hmm. Another day, another bug. Let's see here..."
- They disappear a moment later.
- Dave's voice: "That should do it."
A related Easter egg is included in Sorcerer
Sorcerer (computer game)
Sorcerer is an interactive fiction computer game written by Steve Meretzky and released by Infocom in 1984. It is the second game in the magic-themed "Enchanter trilogy", preceded by Enchanter and followed by Spellbreaker...
. It is possible to cast the AIMFIZ spell ("transport caster to someone else's location") on the Implementers:
- You appear on a road in a far-off province called CambridgeCambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. As you begin choking on the polluted air, a mugger stabs you in the back with a knife. A moment later, a wild-eyed motorist plows over you.
Beyond Zork
In Beyond ZorkBeyond Zork
Beyond Zork was an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and released by Infocom in 1987...
, the Implementors inhabit the Ethereal Plane of Atrii, where they busy themselves with luncheons and foster speculation that they created the world. When an Ur-grue steals the Coconut of Quendor (after the adventurer fails to catch it), the Implementors charge the adventurer with recovering the Coconut before the Ur-grue undoes all of magic.
Return to Zork
In Return to ZorkReturn to Zork
Return to Zork is a 1993 adventure game in the Zork series. It was developed by Activision and was the final Zork game to be published under the Infocom label.-Gameplay:...
, asking the Shanbar Mayor about the joke book gets the response, "How many Implementors does it take to screw in a lightbulb? That's a hardware problem!"