The 5th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition
Introduction
------------
What began five years ago as an effort to encourage the development of
short works of interactive fiction has grown into a competition
involving around thirty authors and one 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 several of the "text"
adventures include graphics, and one consists of a series of web
pages.
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 5th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.
Playing The Games
-----------------
(Note: for the latest information, please visit the competition
web site at
http://www.textfire.com/comp99)
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 Comp99.z5.
Comp99 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.
Comp99 can also keep track of the scores you give each game. You don't
have to use Comp99, but if you decide to give it a try, load it using
a Z-machine interpreter (more on that in a moment) and type ABOUT for
more information.
There are three types of competition games: interpreted games, MSDOS
executables, and web-based games.
Interpreted Games
Interpreted games are written using a computer-independent language,
and can be run under many different operating systems. To play an
interpreted game, you need an interpreter. There are three 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
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/tads/executables
The second are Inform, or z-machine, games. They are found in the
inform folder of the competition directory. The filnames of Inform
games end in either .z5 or .z8, and are run using a z-machine
interpreter. Z-machine interpreters can be found at
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/infocom/interpreters
The third are ALAN games. They are found in the alan folder of the
competition directory. ALAN games consist of two files, one ending in
.dat, the other in .acd. They are run using ARUN, the Alan interpreter.
You can find ARUN at
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/alan/executables
MSDOS Games
The MSDOS games are found in the msdos folder of the competition
directory, and are playable only on DOS systems or with an MSDOS
emulator.
Web-based Games
The web-based games are only playable over the Internet. In the web
folder of the competition directory are the first pages of the
web-based games.
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.
Comp99 can keep track of your scores for you, which will make
submitting them easier. You must submit them before November 15th,
1999.
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. 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 Comp99. Comp99 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 Comp99'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,
1999. 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.
T-Shirts
--------
This year we are 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 through October 30th,
1999.
If you would like a shirt, send a check, money order, or cash for $15
($20 if you don't live in the US/Canada) along with a card containing
your name, shipping address, and requested shirt size (S, M, L, XL)
to:
Stephen Granade
1221 C Rosedale Ave.
Durham, NC 27707
U.S.A.
I can only take cash, checks, or money orders, and they must be in US
dollars. If your order will not reach me by October 30th, do not send
it. This is a very limited-time offer.
