The 6th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition
Introduction
------------
What began six years ago as an effort to encourage the development
of short works of interactive fiction has grown into a competition
involving some fifty authors and around two-hundred judges. Each
year people from around the world write text adventures that can be
played in two hours or less. In recent years the definition of what
interactive fiction is has changed; this year there are several
"text" adventures which include graphics and sound.
Whether you've never played a text adventure before in your life,
or you've judged in every competition since 1995, we're glad you're
taking part.
Welcome to the Sixth Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.
Playing The Games
-----------------
(Note: for the latest information, please visit the competition
web site at
http://www.textfire.com/comp00)
You may play the competition games in any order you
choose. However, if you don't think you'll have time to play all of
the games before the end of the voting period, you are encouraged
to use Comp00.z5. Comp00 is a front end for the competition which
is designed to look like a text adventure. It has information about
all of the games, and will present them to you in random
order. That way, even if you don't play all of the games you will
have played a random sampling of them. Comp00 can also keep track
of the scores you give each game. You don't have to use Comp00, but
if you decide to give it a try, load it using WinFrotz (more on
WinFrotz in a moment) and type ABOUT for more information. There
are two types of competition games: interpreted games and
platform-specific executables.
Interpreted Games
Interpreted games are written using a computer-independent
language, and can thus in general be run under many different
operating systems. To play an interpreted game, you need an
interpreter. There are several types of interpreted games in the
competition.
The first are TADS games. They are found in the tads folder of the
competition directory. The filenames of TADS games end in .gam, and
they are run using a TADS interpreter. You can find TADS interpreters
at
http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXtadsXexecutables.html
The second are Inform, or z-machine, games. They are found in the
inform folder of the competition directory. The filenames of Inform
games end in either .z5 or .z8, and are run using a z-machine
interpreter. Z-machine interpreters can be found at
http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpreters.html
The third are Hugo games. They are found in the hugo folder of the
competition directory. Hugo games end in .hex, and are run using
some variation of HE, the Hugo Engine. You can find a Hugo
interpreter at
http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXhugoXexecutables.html
The fourth are AGT games. They are found in the agt folder of the
competition directory. AGT games end in any number of extensions,
and are run using AGiliTy. You can get a copy of AGiliTy from
http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXagtXagility.html
The fifth are ADRIFT games. They are found in the adrift folder of
the competition directory. ADRIFT games run only on Windows
systems. You can get the ADRIFT Runner at
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~jcw/adventure/
The sixth are BASIC games. This year there is one game written in
BASIC. It can be found in the basic folder of the competition
directory. An executable version is included for MSDOS. If you need
a BASIC interpreter for another platform, you can find one at
http://www.fys.ruu.nl/~bergmann/compilers.html
Platform-Specific Games
This year there are two types of platform-specific games: MSDOS and
Windows games. The MSDOS games are found in the msdos folder of the
competition directory. The Windows games are found in the windows
folder of the competition directory. They are playable only on DOS
and Windows systems or with a DOS or Windows emulator.
Rating The Games
----------------
You rate each game you've played by giving it a whole-number score
from 1 to 10. Larger numbers are better. Your rating must be based
on no more than two hours of cumulative playing time. If, after
playing a game for two hours, you want to keep playing it, you must
give it a score and not change that score later.
Comp00 can keep track of your scores for you, which will make
submitting them easier. You must submit them before November 15th,
2000.
Submitting Your Scores
----------------------
Once you have played and rated as many games as you can before the
November 15th deadline, you need to submit your scores. You do not
need to have played all the games to vote; however, you must play
at least five games. There are three ways to do this. The first is
to use the web-based interface located at
http://www.textfire.com/cgi-bin/vote.cgi. The second is to use
Comp00. Comp00 will create a file called rating.txt with all of
your ratings. You can e-mail that file to the vote-counter, Mark
Musante, at
[email protected]. The third is to put all of your
ratings in an e-mail message and send that to Mark. You may submit
different ratings, and only the last one you send in will be
counted.
If you choose to e-mail your votes to Mark and you do not use
Comp00's rating.txt file, use the following format for your
e-mail. In the subject line of your message, put "VOTE". In the
body of the message, put the name of each game you are rating
followed by its rating, with one game name and rating per
line. Send your message as plain ASCII. Do not use HTML or send
your votes as an attached non-ASCII file like a Microsoft Word
document.
Remember, you must vote before the end of the day on November 15th,
2000. Votes submitted after that date will not be counted, so if
you won't have access to the Internet around that time, be sure to
vote early. You can always change your votes at a later date.
CDs and T-Shirts
----------------
All of the competition games along with all necessary interpreters
for Windows and Mac are available on a CD. It's intended to make
things easier for people who'd rather not have to download all of
the games, or who want a nice souvenir of the competition. This CD
will only be available for a limited time. It will cost $4 in US
dollars, and will be sent as soon as possible after the start of
the competition. You can see what the CD will look like further
down on this page.
I am also selling competition t-shirts. They will be short-sleeve
cotton shirts with the competition logo on the front and a list of
the games and their authors on the back. The cost in US dollars
will be $15 for people living in the US or Canada, $20 for people
living in other countries. The shirts will be sent out after the
competition ends. We will be taking orders for both items through
November 10th, 2000.
If you would like a shirt and/or a CD, you have two payment
options. One, if you live in the US, you may use the online service
PayPal to pay via credit card. You will have to sign up with their
service to do so. You may sign up at
https://secure.paypal.x.com/refer/pal=sgranade%40phy.duke.edu. Note
that this will give a credit of $5 to me should you sign up; I will
turn this money into a competition prize. Should you wish to pay in
this fashion, pay the appropriate amount ($4 for the CD, $15 for
the shirt if you live in the US or Canada, $20 for the shirt if you
live outside the US or Canada) using PayPal and send an e-mail to
[email protected] containing your name, shipping address, a
list of what you're ordering, and a requested shirt size if
necessary (S, M, L, XL).
If you live overseas or would prefer not to use PayPal, send a
check, money order, or cash for the appropriate amount ($4 for the
CD, $15 for the shirt if you live in the US or Canada, $20 for the
shirt if you live outside the US or Canada) along with a card
containing your name, shipping address, and requested shirt size if
necessary (S, M, L, XL) to:
Stephen Granade
1221 C Rosedale Ave.
Durham, NC 27707
U.S.A.
(Shirts larger than XL are available for an additional $1 per X above XL.)
I can only take cash, checks, or money orders outside of PayPal,
and they must be in US dollars. If your order will not reach me by
November 10th, do not send it. This is a very limited-time
offer.
