The 2002 Interactive Fiction Competition

  Introduction
  ------------

  What began eight 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, 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 2002 Interactive Fiction Competition.


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

  (Note: for the latest information, 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
  use Comp02.z5. Comp02 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. Comp02 can also keep track
  of the scores you give each game. You don't have to use Comp02, but
  if you decide to give it a try, load it using a Z-machine
  interpreter (more on Z-machine interpreters 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.

  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://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXtads2Xexecutables.html
  and
  http://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://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpreters.html

  GLULX GAMES. There is one Glulx game in the glulx folder of the
  competition directory. The filename of the Glulx game ends in .blb,
  and is run using Glulxe. You can get a copy of Glulxe from
  http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXglulxXinterpretersXglulxe.html

  ALAN GAMES. The ALAN games are found in the alan folder of the
  competition directory. ALAN games consist of two files, one ending
  in .acd, the other in .dat, and are run using an ALAN
  interpreter. You can find one at
  http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXalanXexecutables.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/

  QUEST GAMES. The Quest game is in the quest folder of the
  competition directory. Quest games run only on Windows systems. You
  can download the Quest package from
  http://www.axeuk.com/quest/

  WEB GAMES. This year there is one web-based game. You can play it
  by going to http://scurra.com/ within your browser, or load the
  .html file from the game's directory under the web folder of the
  competition directory.


  Platform-Specific Games

  There are two platform-specific games in the competition.

  BASIC GAMES. There is one game written in BASIC, in the basic
  folder. The game folder includes the BASIC source, a DOS
  executable, and a freeware Macintosh BASIC interpreter known as
  Chipmunk Basic.

  SHELL GAMES. There is one game written in the Bash shell scripting
  language, in the shell folder of the competition. The game includes
  a method of playing it under DOS.



  Rating The Games
  ----------------

  Rate each game you play 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 if you resume play*.

  Comp02 can keep track of your scores for you, which will make
  submitting them easier. You must submit them before the end of the
  day on November 15th, 2002.


  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
  have to play all of the games to vote; however, you must play at
  least five games. There are three ways to vote. The first is to use
  the web-based interface located at
  http://ifcomp.org/cgi-bin/vote.cgi. The second is to use
  Comp02. Comp02 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
  Comp02'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,
  2002, where "end of the day" means "by 11:59 P.M. EST." 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.

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