After 14 years, I decided to retire Playfic, an online community for writing and sharing interactive fiction made with Inform 7. All the games will stay online indefinitely. waxy.org/2026/08/waxy...

Waxy Refresh: The End of Playfic - Waxy.org

After 14 years, I decided to retire Playfic, an online community for writing and sharing interactive fiction made with Inform 7. All the games will stay online indefinitely.

waxy.org

Watch me use up a year's supply of exclamation points in a single blog post as I announce the new edition of my Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner, Tales from Rugosa Coven. Forgive me—I've been waiting for this day a long time.

Book Release Day! Places to Buy Tales from Rugosa Coven, With Links! | Sarah Avery

You can buy an ebook of Tales from Rugosa Coven and start reading it immediately now. If you pre-ordered a paper copy, it's already on its w

patreon.com

Visible Suspended is now available. blog.zarfhome.com/2026/08/visi... Yes, I included the classic map (or a redraw of it). Yes, the little robot discs move around the map. You can even see each robot's current destination (grey marker) for better planning.

At last, my arm is complete again! (Been trawling used-game sources and filling in holes in my collection.)

Oh wowwww. Staff at Rohrbach Library at Kutztown University tried to start a historical video game collection, but it was rejected because of a policy preventing the library from acquiring "obsolete media" Library collections policies are NOT designed for the complexity of game media

Mysterium report part 2: updates on the documentary and Myst Online fan work. blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/myst...

Part 1 of this year's Mysterium report! Covering the news from Cyan. (Yes, you already saw the Anglerfish trailer. There was more info than that.) blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/myst...

💿 Box releases of Myst & Riven remakes! 📚 Luxe hardover editions of the Myst Trilogy novels! 🎞️ Teaser vid for prior prototype revealed! ⛰️ Mysterium 2027 announced for Spokane! See all of the news here: https://cyan.com/mstrm26

Over a year ago, we built a prototype for a new Myst Universe game meant for publisher eyes only. This project is NOT in active development, but we're proud of the work the team did, and wanted to share it with you all. Presenting: Project Anglerfish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNGt02yZNc

Just dropped! Cyan’s pitch trailer for a Myst-universe game described as a "thriller”. This was a prototype from 2024-2025. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNG... This is *not* in current development; it did not get funded. But they'd love to get back to it someday.

A path not taken: Project Anglerfish

YouTube video by Cyan

youtube.com

Hey, #FridayReads folks, my book that won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award will be back in print on August 1st. I laughed every day while I wrote Tales from Rugosa Coven.

@candlemarkandgleam.bsky.social · 2w ago

@skiffyandfanty.com called @sarahavery.bsky.social's award-winning Tales From Rugosa Coven "one of the most grounded-feeling urban fantasies I’ve ever read." It's out August 1, but you can preorder it now. Link to Amazon, but it's up at all the usual suspects.) www.amazon.com/Tales-Rugosa...

Following up my question a few weeks ago about the matchbook from _The Witness_. blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/good...

"Gen Z’s relationship to labor is more transactional than sentimental." Hi, Gen X here. EVERYONE'S RELATIONSHIP TO LABOR IS TRANSACTIONAL. THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED "WORK". www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/o...

Opinion | Gen Z Fell Out of Love With Work. I Don’t Blame Them.

For Gen Z college graduates, the way millennials lived out their ambitions no longer makes sense.

nytimes.com

The Game Narrative Reader, Zeroth Edition: www.gamenarrativereader.org

Someone has (anonymously) reposted Cliff Johnson's _The Fool and his Money_ (2012) as a browser-playable game. www.the-fool-and-his-money.com My thoughts, going on a bit: blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-...

That is a weird-ass color for the sky. No television has ever been that color. My camera is not exaggerating this color shift.

Uploaded another Infocom package scan: archive.org/details/Info... This isn't new material, of course. I see Kay Savetz scanned the same edition, and kept the marketing material too, which I didn’t: archive.org/details/stx_... But hey, another copy can't hurt.

Infocom's Planetfall package : Infocom : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Infocom's packaging for Planetfall for Apple 2.Original folio edition.(The Patrol ID card is signed on the back by me, age 13 or so!)

archive.org

The game is out NOW! Go play it, and please consider giving us a steam review if you like it. It's the best way for the game to get visibility.

Thinky Games@thinkygames.com · 3w ago

We've been very excited for this Type Help remaster, and today is the day! Check out Megan's review of The Incident at Galley House from @eviltrout.com and William Rous 👇

This is a great article if learn all about the business of Evil Trout including interviews with myself, Jeremy and William.

GamesIndustry.biz@gibiz.bsky.social · 3w ago

How Evil Trout aims to turn a cult free game into a Steam hit - again As The Incident At Galley House hits Steam, Robin Ward explains how he’s accidentally made a business out of adapting itch.io hits into polished releases www.gamesindustry.biz/how-evil-tro...

Andrew liked our game! I always enjoy reading his blog because he’s so good at keeping it updated and linking to older articles. Today I went from Dimhaven to Quern to Obduction to The Witness before I stopped.

Andrew Plotkin@eblong.com · 3w ago

Two puzzle games that I have been super-excited to play! - The Incident at Galley House (launches tomorrow morning!) - Dimhaven: The Lost Source blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/game...

Two puzzle games that I have been super-excited to play! - The Incident at Galley House (launches tomorrow morning!) - Dimhaven: The Lost Source blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/game...

This is the matchbook that came in Infocom's _Witness_ package. (My original copy, saved all these years!) What the heck is the fake Chinese "prosperity" symbol on the matchbook front? Anybody know? Is that trying to hide the letters "SA”? Or maybe “CA" or “EA”? Why?

A quick note about ZIL source indentation in the Visible Zorker pages. blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-...

Current state of bot attack from Linux Weekly News. (Or I guess the acronym has been de-acroed, but that crowd.)

Andrew Ducker @andrewducker.bsky.social · 4w ago

Scrapers are destroying the open internet

Applications will close on July 31 at 11:59 PM Eastern - if you are interested in applying for a board position, please submit your material before that date. We look forward to reading everybody's applications!

Hour 6: my SQL query has reached 35 lines. The worst part is knowing how many of you just blinked and said “*Only* 35 lines?" I know! I know!

Design thoughts on _The Red Pearls of Borneo_ ,which I enjoyed, but the design felt uneven. blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-...

OK, let's start the search. Adrienne Shaw is on the lookout for two titles of early LGBTQ software that predate Caper in the Castro. One is called VAPOR PALACE. The other features Tom of Finland art but has no discovered name yet. The search is on - if you know more details or... have a copy? ping.

Contemplating the idea that it's time to invent liberation atheology.

(From last night:) The Visible Zorker project has just posted Starcross! eblong.com/infocom/visi... I am working through every Infocom text game, one per month, and creating an annotated playable version with source code and live tracing of all game activity. See how Infocom did it!

The Visible Zorker: Starcross

A software exhibit that allows you to explore Zork and also Zork's source code at the same time.

eblong.com