March/April 1996
Issue #8

Hollow Voice

These are some of the questions that show up in my XYZZYnews mail repeatedly, and I'm happy to report that we have some partial answers in this issue.

First up is a where-is-he-now interview with Dave Lebling, co-author of the original mainframe Zork and creator of numerous other Infocom titles. I'm happy we were able to track him down, and even happier that he was good-spirited enough to share his thoughts on IF gaming today. This issue also includes Stephen Granade's blow-by-blow description of how his game Waystation came to be written over the course of five years. Whew! Next, C.E. Forman offers some good guidelines for aspiring beta-testers, with a sidebar from Neil deMause about the making of his game Lost New York.

I should point out that some of the other more frequently asked questions that come my way are answered in the XYZZYnews FAQ. If you have a question and don't see it answered there, please continue to send your questions my way via e-mail. :)

On a highly unrelated note: I recently began working on a book (it's about Adobe Photoshop, that wonderful mainstay of graphic designers everywhere) for Prima Publishing. If I have time and am truly inspired, I hope to extend my renewed interest in the graphic arts to revamping the print version of the 'zine. :)

Until next issue, happy gaming!

Eileen Mullin
eileen@interport.net

Contents

• Legalese / Contact Information
• Top 10 Picks for IF on the Web
• Letters
• Interview with Dave Lebling
• Tales From the Code Front: Interactive Fiction in Five Easy Years!
• Oh No! Beta!: Tips and Techniques for Beta-Testing Games-in-Progress
• Beta-Testers I Have Loved
• Game Review: The Light: Shelby's Addendum

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