#ifcomp

[lacewing-if]

Help! I Can’t Find My Glasses! is a short and light-hearted slice of life game, featuring a short-sighted Literature Club student as they navigate through the maze of their school.

DEMO ★ FORUM ★ WALKTHROUGH ★ TAG

Synopsis

Your glasses are missing, and it reeks of a cruel prank to your dependence on them. You have your suspects. Now it’s only a matter of time before you unmask them. Will you find your glasses, and see what’s hidden in their heart?

Characters

Jaime (gender-selectable)

The big shot on campus, Jaime is beloved by everyone. That being said, there’s something about them that doesn’t quite add up. Will you be able to tear down their mask, and see them as the thief they are?

Minh (gender-selectable)

The center of entertainment, Minh is the one who draws in laughter and fun. Trouble is their middle name, and you can’t help but feel like another target for their mischief. Will you reclaim your glasses, and show them that not every joke is funny?

Thanh (gender-selectable)

The mysterious outcast. Like seriously, you can never tell what is going on in their mind. It’s as if they live in another world. Will you break through their wall, and finally get to see what’s behind it?

#ifcomp #interactive fiction #choice of games #choose your own adventure #cyoa #choicescript #romance #slice of life #high school #my glasses

[badass-at-fandoming]

Have you ever wanted to run away from your problems? Kiss girls?? Become a werewolf???

Now you can!!!*

Experience the heartwarming terror of Moonrise! In a video game made by a queer woman and for queer women and sapphic folk, this supernatural celebration of queer femininity takes you into the darkness and lets you own it. Use your compassion and sense of responsibility to make connections and fall in love. Or use your newfound fangs and claws to rip, shred, and tear through your problems. Is this the start of a satisfying, shape-shifting life full of romance, or the blood-soaked birth of a new deity of the forest? You decide!

Play as a trans woman, cis woman, or nonbinary person; lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, or asexual. Polyamory options included!

Date your nonbinary best friend, the ruthless Rogue leader, or the lycanthropic goddess amongst werewolves.

Build up your Empathy, Bloodthirst, Snark, Responsibility, Uncanny Valley, and Defense to survive lethal encounters and protect those you hold dear.

Pledge allegiance to the tradition of the Masquerade or the desperate, volatile Rogues.

Expose the supernatural underground to the blistering light or keep their secrets in the deep dark.

Embrace the feral monster within or hold fast to your humanity.

Get your spooky time on for the low, low price of $1.99. Available on iOS and Android, plus inside the Hosted Games app!

Play the demo here: https://www.choiceofgames.com/user-contributed/moonrise/

*Moonrise is a 49,000-word urban fantasy interactive novel by Natalie Cannon, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Cannot guarantee real life girls or werewolf transformation.

#moonrise #video games #lesbian #werewolves #interactive fiction #if #ifcomp #cog #choice of games #hosted games #bisexuality #pansexuality #trans #nonbinary #girl love #gl #gay #lgbtqia #sapphic #werewolf

[xavidotron]

@templeofshame and my game The Gift of What You Notice More is in this year's IFComp!

If you’re gonna get your heart broke, you’d better do it just right… It’s the middle of the night and you’re trying to pack your things. But can you really bring yourself to walk through the door? And how did it come to this? If only you had three mysterious poets to help you figure things out… The Gift of What You Notice More is a surreal escape-room-esque puzzle-based Twine game about memories and choices.

Play it and a bunch of other great interactive fiction at IFComp now!

Cover art by @elanorpam.

#interactive fiction #dar williams #the blessings #ifcomp

[hillshaunt]

"Lonehouse" is now available to play!

happy to share with y'all that my game (along with 70+ other entries) have been released and is now available to the public to play! this is my first time ever participating in the "Interactive Fiction Competition" and it's been a blast through and through!

super thankful for the wonderful people in my writing circle for their support! it's also been a pleasure to be able to see how far their own projects have come to. if you have the time, please check out all the entries! share some thoughts!

available to play here!

#interactive fiction #interactive game #ifcomp #my stuff

[brendanpatrickhennessy]

The only thing Bell Park likes more than a mystery is solving it on her own. But when a time-travelling 12-year-old version of herself lands face-down on her rented co-working desk, she'll have no choice but to take the displaced kid detective along on her latest case.

THE GROWN-UP DETECTIVE AGENCY is out now! It's a new interactive fiction game in the Birdland/Bell Park universe, with art from the incredible Beck Kubrick! It's got mystery, time travel, a little bit of romance, and it's free! Play it now!

#interactive fiction #the grown-up detective agency #bell park #ifcomp

[oneknightstand-if]

The MC's Ever Brilliant Investigation

One Knight Stand - Currently part of IF Comp 2023.

Direct link to online version here.

#choice of games #hosted games #interactive fiction #oneknightstand #ifcomp #if wip #Come ooooon Tumblr let my tags show up in the searches #I swear I'm not a bot (be-booop)! #oks-promo

[manonamora-if-reviews]

The Archivist and the Revolution by Autumn Chen

============= Links

Play the game See other reviews of the game See other games by Autumn

============= Synopsis

A woman alone in a dying city, on a dying world. What will be left when it all falls apart? The Archivist and the Revolution is a slice-of-life/romance/history simulator set in a far-future sealed city that has undergone cycles of destruction and revival. You play as Em, a middle-aged woman who is no longer an archivist, as she struggles with rent payments, chronic illness, and the remnants of past relationships.

============= Other Info

The Archivist and the Revolution is a Dendry* game, submitted to the 2022 Edition of the IFComp. It ranked 4th overall. *Autumn is also an unofficial maintainer of the Dendry format.

Status: Completed Genre: Science Fiction, Slice-of-Life, Romance

CW: optional sexual content, illness, death, transphobia, homophobia.

============= Playthrough

First Played: 6-Oct-2022 Last Played: 05-Aug-2023 Playtime: around 2h (multiple endings) Rating: 5 /5 Thoughts: Some glimmer of hope in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future...

============= Review

This is a Post-Comp Version review. Also maybe biased because I really like Autumn's work.

In a far future, after centuries of conflict, the Earth's population has been reduced to small communities stuck inside arcologies (city domes). In one of them, lives Em, an Archivist (sorta), trying to survive the best she can (sorta), and maybe (re)form relationships to better her situation. Throughout the game, you must ensure Em is on top of her duties and health.

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

As with her other Dendy games, A&R works in layers. On the surface, it is a resource management game, where your savings, energy level (hidden), mental and physical health (hidden) must be minded when organising one's day or spending. While you have agency in this, how far you can go with the different actions will depend on whether you've unlocked certain storylets, or Em's current health at the time. Since she has chronic issues, you won't be allowed to churn through hundreds of files for your job, or even do anything at times.

Underneath, two other mechanics come to play: the relationship/storylet aspect with Em's old acquaintances, and the archiving loop, Em's job. Both will affect Em's survival (savings/health) and the ending of the game. The first is relatively similar to Autumn's previous Dendry games, in which a side-story will be parsed throughout the game, requiring the player to meet specific characters multiple times to uncover the story at large. In this game, clearing more than one path in a playthrough is quite doable. The latter is a mechanic I had not really seen before in an IF game, but one I enjoyed greatly. Your job entails decrypting and archiving files, each with a specific code (hint hint), requiring to be either placed in a specific slot or discarded (or you can keep it for yourself). Combing through the documents were quite fun.

The first time I played the game, I thought I could survive all on my own, leaving past relationships where they were, focusing only on my job and keeping myself afloat. I remember it being incredibly stressful (I almost cried when Em was on the brink of eviction). Everything felt hopeless, and the almost-clinical-at-times prose, as well as the UI, accentuated that feeling.

This time around, I followed Autumn's advice and shamelessly begged my acquaintances for money. I didn't want to recreate that very anxious feeling I had the last time - and wanted to see what else I had missed. Indeed, it was much less stressful to go through. I didn't really have to worry about money (thanks A-), I didn't have to exhaust myself with work, and I could explore more different facets of Em's life (her past relationships, herself, how she had to navigate the world). The world is still wretched, but there is more hope. You almost believe that surviving through it is... doable.

The storylets manages to offer a bit of levity in this wretched world, in which Em can find a community helping others, rekindle her relationship with a (re)closeted trans person, rekindle her relationship with her ex who you had a child with. In (re)making connections, you can learn more about your past and how you (don't) fit in this world. You can go on a date, cook with someone, spend time with your child... have a "normal" life. I quite enjoyed how grounded and raw these storylets felt. They, at times, seemed like a commentary on our present, with the tribalism of social media, the lack of trust in the news, the grueling life under capitalism, and the treatment of transfolks. Strip away the sci-fi/post-apocalyptic future, and they could could be right at home with our current time. I still hated the news part... its description changing the 'a form of self harm' was on point considering the comments...

Even if you don't interact with anyone, you can still learn about the world and your place in it through the notes (essentially a Codex page) or DNA files you decode. From old recovered chats between yourself and other characters, science articles, old journal entries, and documents regarding the Arcology's founder - Liana -, you can build together a bleak image about the world, the state of the environment and human condition, filled with disenchantment and conflict. Depending on what you do with your day, you may find some Easter Eggs, like the TV Series you can watch or the Games you can play, little winks to Autumn's other games. Some characters of the game, made obvious by their names, share a resemblance to ones from the Pageantverse.

With the implementation of the Autosave, I was able to reach a lot more endings than the first time around, especially less bleak ones, without having to replay the game. Those endings are highly dependent on the actions you took during the game, some being sweet (especially with K-), some being maybe critical (imo A-'s, Alone), and one specifically blew my mind (Ending 1 - didn't find before). Ending 1 is by far the most interesting one in my book. While it might seem a bit like a Deux Ex Machina or coming from out of nowhere (depending on your playthrough it may feel like a whiplash), it is the one that has not left my brain since I've replayed the game - maybe because of how strikingly different it is from the others. I think this ending might work best if connections with other characters were not made. It also made me wonder whether Em's life would have been that different if her arcology was still in contact with the others, or whether contact was severed between all arcologies. Honestly, it brought a lot of questions about the world after reading through (sequel of Ending 1, when?).

I don't know if there is a point or a moral to the game. If I were to give one to it, it would be that communities are important for people to thrive, maybe even necessary, and that the world can be a very difficult place when you keep to yourself, worse when your situation is dire in the first place. Even if it seems bleak, there is a glimmer of hope and goodness there...

============= Old Review

Can we code DNA to make data storage?

I enjoy Autumn’s games and (re-)played all her other publications this year (after being introduced through A Paradox Between Worlds). So I was excited for her entry this year too!

Although it is supposed to be placed in a bleak almost apocalyptic future, there seems to be references to some sort of post-Covid period, the current inflation (especially housing) and the treatment of transpeople. Or at least this was the vibe I got from it. A strong feeling of almost hopelessness oozes from the prose (though you can end with a more hopeful/positive ending if you play it right). I almost cried when I didn’t make the rent and saw the amount just jump…

Like Autumn other games, there is a focus on the relationship between the different characters and on MC’s conditions (mental and physical). It is a bit hard to go through (the trigger warnings are warranted) but it does offer an interesting exploration on how to survive when your situation looks this dire. The news items are heart-breaking… but I hated the comments even more.

The Archiving mechanic is really interesting. Reading each file (some being contemporary pieces) as if they were bits and pieces from an ancient time is disturbing (but in a good way). The filing section is simple when you get the hang of it, but it does its job as it’s supposed to. I don’t know if this has been mentioned in the other reviews but: the code for the DNA strings are related to which category you are supposed to file it in and or the origin of the document, W being wikipedia. If you ever wanted to make the filing more difficult, you could add subsections to each categories

But, when you take into account the small resource management (you being the resource to take care of), the simplicity of the archiving makes things a bit easier to go through. I think I would have liked some sort of “action points” or “energy level” bar to see how much more I could do that day (but that is almost the only issue I have with the game, and it’s not even an issue really).

The inclusion of a walkthrough is very welcomed, as each ending requires widely different paths to take. I also liked the background changing depending on where the character was physically (outside, in the room, working…) and the way the pictures were edited enhances the feeling of things not being quite right.

I also like the small link between this entry and the previous games (which was made obvious to me by following the progress of this game on the author’s personal blog)

Overall, this was a great entry, and I hope our future is not as bleak as this one.

#The Archivist and the Revolution #Autumn Chen #interactive fiction #complete #2022 #dendry game #anti romance jam #review #ifcomp

[manonamora-if]

ive been looking at the ifcomp and i think im gonna do it. any advice for a firsttimer? what should i expect? what was your experience?

Hi Anon!

First of all, congrats on taking the leap! I know it can be quite daunting to participate in one of the biggest and oldest IF Competition there is currently. Takes quite a bit of guts to do it! Yay, you!

Suuuper long ask answer because you asked questions requiring long answers, where I probably repeated myself multiple times.

IFComp Advice

What to expect?

What was my experience?

TLDR: it's hard but also fun. Def recommend at one point (unless ranking makes you go blerg... then do the SpringThing or an unranked game jam).

IFComp Advice

I do have some advice for you, especially if you are planning on submitting a game to the IFComp this year, which is less than a month away:

Be Ready for your work to be judged and reviewed by people. Some will be harsh, some will be kind, most will be fair. If you are not fully open to criticism, especially negative one, the voting period will sting like hell. It is also fine not to read any review or comment about your entry, but a head's up is important.

Be prepared to rank low. If you follow the advice below, you probably won't end up last place. But the competition is stiff. Authors often spend a year or two on their entries before they submit. If you know you can't handle rankings, go for the SpringThing instead. More chill.

Submit your intent to participate NOW! The deadline is Sept 1st, but it's easy to put it off and forget. And intent to participate doesn't mean you have to submit something. You can back out at any moment (even during the voting period).

Check the rules and timeline of the comp (@ifcomp). You don't want to disqualify yourself by mistake...

Keep it short: 15 to 30 min of gameplay. There is less than one month left, and you want plenty of time to make sure your entry is as polish as possible! I took 3 months last time and it was a buggy mess on Day 1 of the voting period.

Use a program you know, or a simple one with good documentation or guides. You might have time in a month to learn how to use a complex program, but I wouldn't recommend it. List at the end.

Create something simple but airtight. You are racing against time. Shooting for the moon with something complex could work, or it could land you in the bottom. Usually, it is best to create a game which is doing little, but doing it very well, than submitting a behemoth that can't even do its core gameplay loop right every time (dissing myself, yes). Sam Ashwell has some good article for choice-based, Emily Short for parser puzzles.

Your prose should have as little grammar mistakes as possible. Pass your text through as many grammar checkers, and maybe some human testers (beta). The more eyes you have on it, the better. Hate to say it but, avoid word crimes there...

Have some impactful interactivity, that makes sense with the story. Puzzle, branching of variation, etc... Even if all of it is fake, and you are pushing the player through a linear story, the player shouldn't feel like they are just flipping pages of a book. I am not talking about the quantity, but the quality of the interactivity. Emily Short has some great article about that stuff.

Don't have bugs. Should be obvious, but you know... I didn't follow that one and got (rightly) roasted for it in the reviews. Test your game (and have people test your game) A LOT.

Style your project a little bit (if possible). It doesn't have to be fancy, but as simple as changing the colour of the background and the text, maybe the font of the text as well (!!! it should still be readable) can go a long way. Also appreciated but never mandatory: different formatting for different bits of text, some animation in the text, having images, having audio, having accessibility settings (theme, font, visual, audio)... Again, those are pointers. Leave this for last.

Credit where credit is due. Code, assets, beta-tester, etc... anything you did not make from scratch, or anyone helping you along the way, should be added in a credit page. Also credit yourself for what you did :P you deserve to show off your efforts!

Test your game relentlessly. Yes it bares repeating, I've done that mistake. Don't be me. Test your stuff again. Have people break your game.

Edit your submission page with care. Have a grabbing hook for your synopsis, an eye catching image, and any relevant documents the players would need (i.e. walkthrough). DON'T FORGET TO ADD A WAY FOR PLAYER REACH YOU FOR BUGS!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Have fun! If you have fun making your entry, it will show in the writing and how the game is constructed.

Hypertext/Choice-based: Twine (Harlowe, SugarCube), Ink/Inklewriter, Moiki, ChoiceScript Parser: Adventuron

Oh... and good luck. You'll need it :P

If you are thinking of next year instead, most of these advice applies. You can just rule out the intent submission for now, the length of the game (1h gameplay is usually the sweet spot), and the program to use (though take one you understand). The rest could work for any comp honestly.

What to Expect?

The IFComp period in an exciting time where many people gather to play games and talk about them. Many people submit stuff yearly, sometimes with good results, sometimes it's atrocious. Sometimes, authors who haven't been seen in a while reappear to show off their labour of love or review other people's games. It can be very intense and overwhelming if you are participating (author or player).

As an author, you should expect (not exhaustive):

deadline (intent/game/voting),

potentially getting comments for bugs (and having to update, which you are allowed to),

seeing reviews and discussions about your entry (mainly on the IntFiction Forum, but sometimes on blogs too): good stuff, negative stuff, and people missing the point entirely or having bad take, or takes you didn't think about.

seeing people rating your entry on the IFDB (rating =/= vote, but can be a flawed indicator)

feelings galore (good, bad, ugly, anxious), especially stressing about the results

having to remind yourself that no one can judge everything completely objectively (expect when it comes to bugs, it is or it isn't), and that people vote for what they like.

following the rules on the IFComp website

a special private group on the IntFiction forum to discuss with other authors when the voting period starts, as well as posting reviews,

maybe get a prize at the end? (depends on your placement)

Honestly, it can be pretty rough. This is not an easy competition. Most people have been working on those projects for months or years. Some have for just a few weeks, but their pieces can be out of this world. Only the organisers have an idea of who is competing ahead of time, and how competitive it could be from year to year (i.e. did big names come out or not).

While reviews and ratings can give you an indication of how your game is faring with players, you will not be able to know until the votes are actually out (case and point: me, thought I did much better than reality). Either way, it will be a surprise, good, bad, disappointing...

Speaking of reviewers, most will try to be as partial as possible and going into every entry with an open mind. But, there are harsh reviewers out there, as well as kind ones. It is not unusual to see blunt reviews, especially if something ticked the player (bugs usually).

But also, it's loads of fun! You have a bunch of very serious people debating on minor things, newcomers trying out the comp and sometimes even reaching the stars, oldcomers popping by for a cup promising they will review ever game and then disappearing after three, a lot of very very very good games to play, so many different perspectives on what if IF, and feeling like you have a voice in what should be crowned the best of the competition!

It's weird, it's serious, it's goofy...

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best... but most importantly, have some fun. And do what's best for your mental health!

What was my experience?

I think I've talked about it quite extensively in my Post-Mortem for The Thick Table Tavern. Read that before the end of this, for context.

And almost a year after this experience (on this day, I was frantically writing), I think my feelings have changed quite a bit. I went into the competition guns-blazing without understanding the importance of things (bugs/grammar especially) and thinking I had done the absolute most and breaking the genre, believed I did sooooo much better than any other entry, got very dramatic when the first non-positive reviews came in, and was about to throw my shit when I saw the 1s in the voting curve. I am only a bit over-exaggerating here.

I definitely deserved the placement I got. Don't misunderstand, I am incredibly proud of what I achieved there! But... there were major issues for sure. And I've come around to recognise those.

Those 1s-2s were warranted, those negative comments were warranted: the first version was buggy as hell (which I think was the version in the mass downloadable packet? and I updated the game like 20 times), there are still a bunch of issues with the prose (I learned my em dash lesson!), the pacing is aaaalll the way off (I thought I was being cheeky, but didn't always land)... This was something way different for the comp, maybe more experimental than people expected (I mean, who does a click-only bar for a text-based comp...)? But most importantly, while it looked polished, you just needed to play a few minutes to see the varnish crack...

To say the least, I got slapped back to reality. HARD. This was a mediocre good-looking game. Real pretty, big flaws. And that's ok (not putting myself down). Not every game can be winners (unless it's La Petite Mort or DOL-OS :P), not every game will work as intended. You can rack all the trophies all the times. Sometimes you're just at the bottom.

All this might sound hella negative, but I am incredibly grateful for this experience. I have learned so much about game creation, coding, writing, what to do and avoid... There are things I probably wouldn't have learned had I not participated (or not as early). I have created friendships (and rivalries /jk) and found a community where I feel comfortable being this experimental with my work (hey, it worked for DOL-OS!) and continuing breaking the codes. It's renewed my drive to create and do more: games, experiments, trying new program, but also for the community, helping out, creating guides and templates, giving advice...

And I've found a bit of love for reviewing stuff it turns out.

I've made my peace.

And I have plans for a new pretty weird game for a future IFComp ;) I will make people cringe again :P Hopefully not because of bugs!

Final sidenote: I am still not taking my advice. No one tested DOL-OS before it was submitted, and it won. But also, other games placed poorly... I am still speed-running through competitions (not the IFComp this time), and tripping all over all the time. I still submit thing thinking I'm the hottest stuff and that no one else will be better than me. Completely delusional here. Be better than me, for your sake.

#ifcomp #interactive fiction #experience #competition #tttt #the thick table tavern

[kastelpls]

for those who don't know what ifcomp is, it's basically a competition where authors submit their interactive fiction to be judged for $$$. read the about page, i guess lol. i'm writing reviews on games, which have provoked me into the thinking emoji.

there are currently two reviews and i sure effortposted them lol.

#ifcomp #ifcomp 2023 #interactive fiction

[lacewing-if]

Hey guys! 👋✨

So, okay, I know it’s been a long time since I last post. Like, a really long time. And you’re probably wondering who the hell is this chick popping on your dashboard. But in case you do remember my IF, Strange Case at Harbord, I do want to make a few announcements.

SCAH is going on an infinite hiatus.

Yeah it’s very much not a surprise for anyone here. I have told you guys that I’m rebooting the game, but I also have a severe perfectionism. It’s supposed to be fun, I know, but I have spent way too much time on this project to feel comfortable screwing it up. Good news is, however, I’m ready to screw up my other projects.

✨I’m joining this year’s IFComp.✨

It’s going to be a short and light-hearted game, titled Help! I Can’t Find My Glasses! The bare bone is basically done, but I’ll be updating more of it in the future.

The game is going to be available to the public on October 1st, so stay tuned!

#announcement #ifcomp #my glasses

[litrouke-works]

January

A dynamic fiction novella spanning one year in the life of a man after the end of the world.

CW for suicide, trauma, gore, violence, and strong language. Art by @addictivities.

If you like post-apocalyptic settings, musings on trauma and the reconstruction of self, or meddling kittycats, give it a look here. I encourage you to play the other entries to IFComp as well!

Behind the scenes stuff under the cut.

Because I can't focus well on the computer, I handwrite most things, including code... Behold, me planning the scene unlock logic and drafting a couple scenes:

I think the game text falls somewhere between 20k and 30k, but I haven't separated it from the code to check. This thing has occupied FAR too many months of my life, so while I wish I had more time to fix some minor issues, I'm elated to ship it off and call it a day.

If you give it a read and end up wanting to chat about it, do reach out! I'd love to hear from ya.

#game: january #interactive fiction #ifcomp #twine #twine game #interactive novel

[stanwixbuster]

New game, and this one's about nose bleeds.

This was my submission to this year's IFComp, if you guys want to play and vote for the submissions check them all out here.

(make sure you vote on at least 5 games or none of your votes will count, and don't just play mine go check out the others you fools)

#i linked to itch but i highly recommend you playing on the ifcomp site and playing the other games too #games #writing #ifcomp #interactive fiction

[jaclynhyde]

Started my IFComp 2023 recs post! I'll be updating it as I play. Six games in and I've already recced three, so enjoying this year's crop!

(Play Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head it's amazing (check my post for a huge CW if you think you might need one))

#ifcomp #ifcomp 2023

[ifcomp]

IFComp 2023 Now Accepting Intents & Entries

Hello, everyone, and happy (slightly belated) start of July! With a new July comes a new season of the Interactive Fiction Competition! From now through September 1st, 11:59pm Eastern (23:59 EST), the IF Comp website will be open for authors to declare their intent to enter this year’s competition! (Final entries are due on September 28th, 11:59pm Eastern, but you must register by September 1st! You may back out from the competition at any time. ) As with the previous iterations of the IFComp, authors will be allowed to participate as judges, vote, and review entries other than their own. If you have any questions about the competition or its rules, you can contact us at [email protected] In addition to entries, we are also accepting prizes to award contestants! If you would like to donate a prize for this year’s competition, you can email us at [email protected] - no prize is too humble or too grand. If you would prefer to donate money, our Colossal Fundraiser will be begin in August. Another announcement will be made then.

#ifcomp #interactive fiction competition #interactive fiction #competition #interactive games #announcement #parser #twine #choicescript #visual novel #renpy

[brendanpatrickhennessy]

I made the deadline. The Grown-Up Detective Agency will be released on October 1st.

#interactive fiction #the grown-up detective agency #bell park #ifcomp

[hanakogames]

The Only Possible Prom Dress

I have not played this game but just the description makes me sit up and take notice:

Ten years ago you had to burgle every store in Stufftown to get your hands on the sought-after doll called Sugar Toes Ballerina so your 7-year-old daughter Samantha wouldn't be heartbroken on Christmas morning. ("Not Just an Ordinary Ballerina," 1999.) Sam is 17 now, and tonight is her senior prom -- but her little brother spilled black ink (accidentally? maybe...) on her prom dress! The clerk at the fashion boutique in Stufftown said on the phone they have the identical dress in the right size, but most of the stores have closed up early because there's a parade downtown. So now it's back to Stufftown to try to get your hands on the Only Possible Prom Dress.

It's not going to be easy. "The Only Possible Prom Dress" is a parser-based puzzle-fest in the classic mode, packed with chatty characters and unlikely perplexities. For best results, the cross-platform QTads interpreter is strongly recommended.

Also I have semi-played (actually just read an LP) of the ballerina game and I liked it so that helps as well.

Game can be played online here  

If you have the time, do check out the ongoing IFComp, you can contribute to the judging if you play and rate five games.

#interactive fiction #text adventure #ifcomp #free games