Twisty Passages? Again? March 25, 2010 7:15 AM   Subscribe

So. Is anyone interested in another Interactive Fiction Contest?

March has come and nearly gone; a year passed way faster than I could have imagined. I'm still up for another contest. Since April is tax season for Merkans, I suggest May as the "write an interactive fiction game/work in one month" month. This means you would have this last week of March and all of April to get familiar in your system of choice before beginning the month-long game creation.

This thread is for gauging interest. I'm hoping we get all the people from last year and perhaps a few more.

For those of you who are new to this, please review previous posts for background. Basically, you use a programming language/tool designed to make interactive fiction (read: text adventure games) and then it's put up on a website where other MeFites can play them and vote on their favorites.
posted by Deathalicious to MetaFilter-Related at 7:15 AM (55 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite

I had fun last time learning Inform 7 and playing the submitted games. Hopefully this time I can actually throw something together for people to play. The setup on the website for playing and rating the games was also great, it was nice to be able to play them in the browser without needing to install interpreters.

Also you may want to MeMail last year's participants and other people who expressed interest in those threads, because not everyone reads MeTa all the time. I know last time there were a lot of people who commented that they had missed the original announcement.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:24 AM on March 25, 2010


Natch. But you can pry Inform 6 from my cold, defeated hands.
posted by Maximian at 8:44 AM on March 25, 2010


Inform 6 games are also welcomed. I'm a programmer by trade, and even though I also code for fun, I find trying to write a game in Inform 6 just feels like work. Writing a game for Inform 7 is like writing a story.
posted by Deathalicious at 8:46 AM on March 25, 2010


I'd like to join in, I'm not sure whether time will or allow it or not. I completed about 70% of a game last year before a crunch at work hit.
posted by substrate at 9:03 AM on March 25, 2010


Every time I've tried to write an IF game, I get maybe 20% in before I decide it sucks and give up, but this time... THIS TIME... yeah, I may give it a shot if time permits.
posted by DecemberBoy at 9:05 AM on March 25, 2010


Hm, this sounds up my alley. I'm not known for my follow-through but I will express interest!
posted by restless_nomad at 9:07 AM on March 25, 2010


Can I plan the story now and then code it during May?
posted by Memo at 9:11 AM on March 25, 2010


Can I plan the story now and then code it during May?

There are no hard rules on this, but I think this is a fair way to think about it: If the work you do means that during the coding process you could literally cut and paste large sections of your story into place, then don't do that. But you can certainly do a lot of thinking beforehand.

According to NaNoWriMo, Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.

I think that's fair for this competition too.
posted by Deathalicious at 9:19 AM on March 25, 2010


Uh, the website for last year's contest seems to have disappeared. Is there any surviving record of it?
posted by decagon at 9:43 AM on March 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Actually, this might be good timing for me. I hit a wall with my creative writing and it was strongly suggested I drop my current project and try an unrelated one.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 9:47 AM on March 25, 2010


I'd definitely interested in another MeFiIFCo!

It looks like there's been a fair amount of development to Inform 7 over the past year, too.
I'd encourage anyone who doesn't think they have the time to make a whole game to just have a quick play with I7. You can get a basic game working incredibly quickly.
posted by lucidium at 9:50 AM on March 25, 2010


Brandonblatcher was hosting it. I guess it moved?
posted by Deathalicious at 9:57 AM on March 25, 2010


This sounds fun!
posted by tastybrains at 10:01 AM on March 25, 2010


I'm in! Of course, being in last year didn't lead to me submitting anything, but hey!
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:37 AM on March 25, 2010


I might just actually do this this time.
posted by Damn That Television at 11:07 AM on March 25, 2010


Wow, I didn't even know people were still into text adventures (sorry, "Interactive Fiction")! Let me look into this Inform thing, but count me in as interested.

I have to warn you that my adventure will probably make little to no sense...my writing was influenced by Naked Lunch way too early, and now I'm stuck.
posted by hiteleven at 11:21 AM on March 25, 2010


> EXAMINE INTERACTIVE FICTION CONTEST_
posted by Pronoiac at 11:38 AM on March 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


I'd like to give this another go - having a poor record last year. Thanks for organising.
posted by paduasoy at 12:05 PM on March 25, 2010


You examine the interactive fiction contest with good intentions, but fail to produce anything meaningful for it.

It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a mod.
posted by Electric Dragon at 12:20 PM on March 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


>PICTURE A MIC
I don't understand.

>LOOK
The stage is empty. You see a beat here.

>LOOK AT BEAT
The beat looks tempting.

>POSE
You show your rings and your fat gold chain. The people respond for the R, 'cause that's the way it'll have to be.

>INVENTORY
You got: soul.
posted by Damn That Television at 12:22 PM on March 25, 2010 [5 favorites]


Is anyone interested in being a co-sponsor? Last year I took everything on but was only working part-time. The biggest hassle (and expense) was sending out the participation awards.
posted by Deathalicious at 12:26 PM on March 25, 2010


I've long been intending to learn Inform and write IF, so I intend to be in, since that would give me a deadline of a sort.
posted by jeather at 12:33 PM on March 25, 2010


Deathalicious: I can host you on shii.org, but I can't provide coding advice or awards...
posted by shii at 12:39 PM on March 25, 2010


Oh God, Electric Dragon, now I have an idea. And an outline.
posted by restless_nomad at 12:41 PM on March 25, 2010


Anyone up for collaboration? Experienced writer and editor here, but I kind of get bogged down in the details and yak shaving and all that.
posted by Madamina at 12:44 PM on March 25, 2010


I'm considering making a game called A Good Day where you have to solve several puzzles as Ice Cube and you lose if you use your AK.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:51 PM on March 25, 2010 [9 favorites]


I'm considering making a game called A Good Day where you have to solve several puzzles as Ice Cube and you lose if you use your AK.

If you do that I'll make a game based entirely around You Can't Fade Me (warning: lyrics extremely offensive...well, no surprise, I guess).
posted by hiteleven at 1:08 PM on March 25, 2010


Hmmm... I might just have time for this as well. I'm currently in France and speak very little of the language. In theory, this is supposed to be optimal conditions for cranking out a pile of tasty mathematics for my thesis, but, you know, math might just be better with a side of INFORM. (Graham Nelson was, after all, a mathematician himself.)

Just be warned that the structure of the game space might be non-Euclidean or some shit like that. 'Coz that's how I roll.
posted by kaibutsu at 1:16 PM on March 25, 2010


I'm considering making a game called A Good Day where you have to solve several puzzles as Ice Cube and you lose if you use your AK.

Personally I would go with a game where you're Q-Tip and you have to drive back to El Segundo to find your wallet.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:21 PM on March 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


This sounds like a lot of fun. I just downloaded Inform 7. Let's see if I can actually get my ass in gear and finish something.
posted by brundlefly at 1:22 PM on March 25, 2010


I remember playing a game that began by trying to get out a box that had a bomb inside. Was it from the previous contest?
posted by Memo at 2:27 PM on March 25, 2010


Huh, it looks like all of the games from last year's are on IFDB.
Memo, I think Bunt is the one you're thinking of.
posted by lucidium at 2:51 PM on March 25, 2010


Huh, it looks like all of the games from last year's are on IFDB.

Hey, that's neat! Some of them even have reviews from random people. The download links no longer work though because they point to the defunct contest site.

I think Bunt is the one you're thinking of.

Yeah, that one was definitely about defusing a bomb and escaping a box, among other things.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:59 PM on March 25, 2010


What's this, something to commit to then underperform on?? I'm in!
posted by fleacircus at 3:12 PM on March 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


I wanted to try this last year but didn't have the time. Playing around with Inform7, I'm pretty impressed at the ease of use. Hmmmm...
posted by eyeballkid at 4:11 PM on March 25, 2010


I'm down. Let's do this.
posted by aparrish at 4:18 PM on March 25, 2010


I'm a programmer by trade, and even though I also code for fun, I find trying to write a game in Inform 6 just feels like work.

Ever tried TADS 2? Now that feels like work. #pragma C+ for maximum goodness. Hell, you can even write functions in C and then call them from your game code.
posted by Maximian at 4:35 PM on March 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I missed it last year, but May should be a good month for me this year.
posted by notquitemaryann at 4:44 PM on March 25, 2010


I'll express the best of intentions to participate. But I wouldn't suggest anyone hold his or her breath.

I asked Brandon Blatcher about last year's contest a week ago or so. He hadn't realized it was down and said something or other about having moved his site or changed hosting.
posted by Zed at 10:06 PM on March 25, 2010


Who would like to design an interactive fiction based on my tale? please respond through mail.
posted by parmanparman at 12:03 AM on March 26, 2010


i didn't like text games back in high school either - you couldn't toggle between scripsit & the screen
posted by infini at 12:39 AM on March 26, 2010


I asked Brandon Blatcher about last year's contest a week ago or so.

Yeah, I'm looking into it. I did change hosting providers, so that seems to have messed with things of course, but I'm contacted Deathlicious to work it all that. All the data should be there, just some code adjustments to recognize new database connections.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:45 AM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I should have some time on Sunday to figure the site out and (hopefully) get it up and running again.
posted by Deathalicious at 7:36 AM on March 26, 2010


I'm ok with hosting it again and bonus: No server moves planned! Laughing Squid is a great host.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:48 AM on March 26, 2010


I am interested in participating
posted by I am the Walrus at 8:49 AM on March 26, 2010


I've been meaning to give this a try, so yes.

It'd be my first, so I'm open to collaborating.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:00 AM on March 26, 2010


Just a heads up, if you're looking at the old links, the have a format of www.brandonblatcher.com/~meficommunity/metafict/. If you drop the "~" symbol, you should be able to access most the links.

Deathilicious, I'll go through the older posts and send the mods a note asking them to change the code to fix the lnks. Not everything will work until we redo the database connections, but all the links will be in place for that magical moment.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:35 AM on March 26, 2010


If I can wrap my head around one of the engines, I'm in. Well...I'll try.
posted by dejah420 at 5:21 PM on March 26, 2010


I think I'll do this, if school crunch isn't murderous by this time.
posted by Askiba at 4:53 PM on March 27, 2010


The competition website is up.

Please register if you have interest in competing or judging.

There is a Resources page with links to information about Inform, the recommended tool for developing interactive games.
posted by Deathalicious at 5:44 AM on April 12, 2010


Hmm, getting a "Unfortunately there were no suitable nodes available to serve this request." when I try to register.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:40 AM on April 12, 2010


Death, some of your links are borked. Inform seems to have largely moved to Inform7.com (some seem to be borked for other reasons.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:53 AM on April 12, 2010


If you could get me some of those links I'll be happy to fix them. A lot of the old links on the site no longer work anymore since the move.

If you are having problems logging or signing in, please email me at deathalicious@cvilleweekly.com.
posted by Deathalicious at 6:39 PM on April 12, 2010


Looks like there'll be a brand spanking new revision of Inform 7 just in time for May.
posted by Zed at 2:21 PM on April 13, 2010


There's an established Boston area IF group, a new one in Seattle, and ones starting up in the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago. I'm going to plan to make the SF Bay Area one.
posted by Zed at 8:43 PM on April 18, 2010 [1 favorite]


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