The XYZZY Awards are the annual awards given to works of interactive fiction, serving a similar role to the Academy Awards for film.[1] The awards were inaugurated in 1997 by Eileen Mullin, the editor of XYZZYnews.[2] Any game released during the year prior to the award ceremony is eligible for nomination to receive an award. The decision process takes place in two stages: members of the interactive fiction community nominate works within specific categories and sufficiently supported nominations become finalists within those categories. Community members then vote among the finalists, and the game receiving a plurality of votes is given the award in an online ceremony. [3]
Since 1997, the XYZZY Awards have become one of the most important events within the interactive fiction community.[4] Together with events like the Interactive Fiction Competition and Spring Thing, the XYZZY Awards provide opportunities for the community to encourage and reward the creation and development of new works within a genre that is no longer commercially lucrative.[5]
The name of the awards comes from the magic word "xyzzy" causing teleportation from the popular early text adventure game Adventure.
Awardsedit
The awards have been presented in the following categories.[6]
Best gameedit
The game which is the most enjoyable as a whole; other awards recognize merit in particular qualities.
2015: Bridget in Birdland by Brendan Patrick Hennessy
2016: BEL/S in Open Sorcery by Abigail Corfman
2017: Fred Strickland in Will Not Let Me Go by Stephen Granade
2018: The Magpie in Alias 'The Magpie' by J. J. Guest
2019: Hazel Greene in Zozzled by Steph Cherrywell
2020: The doppelganger in Doppeljobs by Lei
2021: Marid in The Weight of a Soul by Chin Kee Yong
2022: Bell Park in The Grown-Up Detective Agency by Brendan Patrick Hennessy
Best use of mediumedit
The category had no specific criteria given to voters; many chose to interpret this award as a recognition of particularly daring interpretations of the limits and abilities of interactive fiction, especially as regards the relationship between the player, narrator, and player character. This award was retired in 2010, when Best Implementation and Best Use of Innovation were introduced as replacements.
2008: The Moon Watch by Paolo Maroncelli and Alessandro Peretti
2009: Blue Lacuna by Aaron A. Reed
Best implementationedit
Introduced in 2010 along with Best Use of Innovation, to replace the Best use of Medium award. It recognizes "completeness of implementation, excellence in parser messages, etc".[8]
2019: Ryan Veeder's Authentic Fly Fishing by Ryan Veeder
2020: The Impossible Bottle by Linus Åkesson
2021: The Libonotus Cup by Nils Fagerburg; The Weight of a Soul by Chin Kee Yong (tie)
2022: According to Cain by Jim Nelson
Best use of innovationedit
Introduced in 2010 along with Best Implementation, to replace the Best use of Medium award. It recognizes the "most innovative game".[8]
2010: Aotearoa by Matt Wigdahl
2011: Kerkerkruip by Victor Gijsbers
2012: First Draft of the Revolution by Emily Short, Liza Daly, and Inkle Studios
2013: 18 Cadence by Aaron A. Reed
2014: Hadean Lands by Andrew Plotkin
2015: Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory by Katherine Morayati
2016: The Ice-Bound Concordance by Aaron A. Reed and Jacob Garbe
2017: Harmonia by Liza Daly
2018: I. A. G. Alpha by Serhii Mozhaiskyi
2019: AI Dungeon by Nick Walton
2020: The Impossible Bottle by Linus Åkesson
2021: 4×4 Archipelago by Agnieszka Trzaska; Excalibur by J.J. Guest, G.C. Baccaris, and Duncan Bowsman; The Last Night of Alexisgrad by Milo van Mesdag (tie)
2022: The Bones of Rosalinda by Agnieszka Trzaska.
Best technological developmentedit
Recognizes "interpreters, authoring systems, libraries, utilities, and so on".[8]
Outstanding non-game content ("feelies") created to accompany specific games. Eligibility is based on the year when the supplemental materials were released, regardless of the year of release of the game.
2010: Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 (Aaron A. Reed)
2011: PDFs and screencast tutorials for Kerkerkruip
2012: Feelies for Muggle Studies
2013: Multimedia – Dominique Pamplemousse
Best use of multimediaedit
2014: 80 Days by inkle and Meg Jayanth
2015: Secret Agent Cinder by Emily Ryan
2016: The Ice-Bound Concordance by Aaron A. Reed and Jacob Garbe
2017: Harmonia by Liza Daly
2018: Bandersnatch by Charlie Brooker
2019: Dull Grey by Provodnik Games; Heretic's Hope by Grim Baccaris (tie)
2020: Crocodracula: The Beginning by Ryan Veeder, Harrison Gerard
2021: Fish & Dagger by grave snail games
2022: Gent Stickman vs Evil Meat Hand by AZ / ParserCommander
^Nick Montfort (11 February 2005). Twisty Little Passages: An Approach To Interactive Fiction. MIT Press. p. 210. ISBN 9780262633185.
^Montfort, Nick; Ashwell, Sam Kabo; Cornelson, Dave; Shiovitz, Dan (2005-04-08). "Interactive Fiction FAQ". Interactive Fiction: Other Poetic and Imaginative Writing for the Computer and Writing on Digital Media Topics. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
^Carless, Simon. XYZZY Ranks Top Text Adventures For 2005. GameSetWatch. 28 March 2006.
^Davidson, Drew. Well played 1.0: video games, value and meaning. ETC Press. 2009. ISBN 0557069750