Zork co-creators Marc Blank and Dave Lebling are being honored with the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Pioneer Award at the DICE Summit next year, according to Escapist Magazine .
For someone who spent quite a bit of time as a kid keeping grues at bay, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling are a big deal. Along with Tim Anderson and Bruce Daniels, the pair created a piece of software that continues to influence many of us who write and game today.
In addition to co-creating Zork , Blank and Lebling were co-founders of the influential interactive entertainment company Infocom. The group was responsible for crafting such notable IF titles as Starcross , Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , Planetfall , and numerous Zork sequels.
According to a recent press release, the 2013 Pioneer Award will be presented by Steve Meretzky, the man responsible for crafting Planetfall and The Leather Goddesses of Phobos .
“I wouldn’t be a game designer today if Marc hadn’t given me my first game job as a tester for Infocom back in 1981,” Meretzky said in a statement. “And I wouldn’t be as good a game designer as I am today, if it hadn’t been for Dave’s games at Infocom setting such a high bar for me to attempt to reach. It’s an honor to try to repay a little of that debt by presenting them with this well-deserved reward.”
Although Marc Blank left Infocom in 1982, Dave Lebling continued to write several adventures for the company. His credits include Spellbreaker , Starcross , Suspect , and my personal favorite The Lurking Horror .
Previous winners of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Pioneer Award include Pitfall! and A Boy and His Blob mastermind David Crane.
The folks at Wired put together a fantastic piece about Zork co-creators Marc Blank and Dave Lebling. Instead of a traditional interview, the writers designed the chat as interactive fiction.
