The 2005 Interactive Fiction Competition

  Introduction
  ------------

  What began ten years ago as an effort to encourage the development
  of short works of interactive fiction has grown into a competition
  involving some forty authors and over 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, as each year more games with
  graphics and sound are entered in the competition.

  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 2005 Interactive Fiction Competition.


  Playing The Games
  -----------------

  (Note: for the latest information and possible updates to games,
   please visit the competition web site at http://www.ifcomp.org/)

  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 play them in random order. That way, you will have played a
  random sampling of the games. You can do this using the game
  information and voting page at http://ifcomp.org/info/. The page
  has information about all of the games, and will list them in
  random order if you so wish.

  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.

  TADS GAMES. TADS games are found in the tads2 and tads3 folders of
  the competition directory. The filenames of TADS games end in .gam
  (for TADS 2) or .t3 (for TADS 3), and they are run using a TADS
  interpreter. You can find TADS interpreters at
  http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXtads2Xexecutables.html
  and
  http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXtads3Xexecutables.html
  There are single interpreters that can run both TADS 2 and TADS 3
  games. If one exists for your operating system, use it.

  Z-CODE GAMES. The z-code games are in the zcode folder of the
  competition directory. The filenames of z-code games end in .z5 or
  .z8, and are run using a Z-machine interpreter. Z-machine
  interpreters can be found at
  http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpreters.html

  HUGO GAMES. The Hugo games are in the hugo folder of the
  competition directory. The filenames of Hugo games end in .hex, and
  are run using a Hugo interpreter. Hugo interpreters can be
  found at
  http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXhugoXexecutables.html

  ALAN GAMES. The ALAN games are found in the alan folder of the
  competition directory. The filenames of ALAN games end in .a3c.
  They are run using an ALAN version 3 interpreter. You can find one at
  http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXalan3Xexecutables.html

  ADRIFT GAMES. The ADRIFT games 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.adrift.org.uk/



  Platform-Specific Games

  WINDOWS GAMES. The Windows-specific games are in the windows folder
  of the competition directory. They are playable only under Windows
  or under an emulator.



  Rating The Games
  ----------------

  Rate each game you play by giving it a whole-number rating 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
  rating *and not change that rating later if you resume play*.

  You can enter your ratings as you assign them using the ballot page
  at http://ifcomp.org/info/, if you wish. You can also change
  previous ratings if you change your mind about a game.



  Submitting Your Ratings
  -----------------------

  Once you have played and rated as many games as you can before the
  November 15th deadline, you need to submit your ratings. You do not
  have to play all of the games to vote; however, you must play at
  least five games. There are two ways to vote. The first is to use
  the web-based interface located at http://ifcomp.org/info/. The
  second is to email your ratings the vote-counter, Mark Musante, at
  [email protected]. You may submit different ratings, and only the
  last one you send in will be counted.

  If you choose to email your votes to Mark, use the following format
  for your email. 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 11:59 P.M. EST on November 15th,
  2005. 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 ratings at a later date.

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