The 2010 Interactive Fiction Competition

The 2010 Interactive Fiction Competition

Introduction
------------

What began fifteen years ago as an effort to encourage the
development of short works of interactive fiction has grown into a
competition involving some thirty 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. Since the
competition started the definition of what interactive fiction is
has changed, with a number of games now including 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 2010 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/vote/. 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.

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,
.z8, or .zblorb, and are run using a Z-machine
interpreter. Z-machine interpreters can be found at
http://inform7.com/if/interpreters/

GLULX GAMES. The glulx games are in the glulx folder of the
competition directory. The filenames of glulx games end in .ulx or
.gblorb, and are run using a Glulx interpreter. Glulx interpreters
can be found at
http://inform7.com/if/interpreters/

TADS GAMES. The TADS game is found in the tads3 folder of the
competition directory. The filenames of TADS games end in .t3, and
are run using a TADS interpreter. TADS interpreters can be found at
http://www.tads.org/tads3.htm

Apple II games. The Apple II game is in the web folder. To run it,
you will need either to play it online at http://leadlightgame.com
or use the included Apple II emulator for PC or Intel-based Macs.

Platform-Specific Games

WINDOWS GAMES. There is one system-specific game in the windows
folder of the competition directory. It can be played under Windows
or by using a Scott Adams interpreter, available from
http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXscott-adamsXinterpreters.html

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/vote/, 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/vote/. 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,
2010. 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.