Textfire 12-Pack: Difference between revisions

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This [[collection]] was an April Fool's Day prank played in 1998: a group of people pseudonymously put together some very peculiar "demos" of very odd games, claiming that full versions would soon be available for sale. The original 12-pack contained 16 games, and the 17th, ''George'', was added afterwards with more apocryphal news.
{{Event
|Type=Other event
|Series=No
|Total=18
|Event dates={{Event date
|Event what=Date
|Event when=1998/04/01
}}
}}
This [[collection]] was an April Fool's Day [[pranks|prank]] played in 1998: a group of people pseudonymously put together some very peculiar "demos" of very odd games, claiming that full versions would soon be available for sale. The original 12-pack contained 16 games, and the 17th, ''George'', was added afterwards with more apocryphal news.  Eventually, the conspirators came clean with the release of ''Masta'mind'', the 18th game, which revealed the authors' true identities.  Cody then created a {{link|deadurl=http://www.crosswinds.net/~yekrats/textfire.html|archive=https://web.archive.org/web/20000819061931/http://www.crosswinds.net/~yekrats/textfire.html|website}} with behind-the-scenes information.


(''Masta'mind'' must have been added even later, as the 18th game.)
==Games==
(All the demos can be found [https://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archive/games/demos/textfire/ at the IF Archive] and [https://ifdb.org/search?searchfor=series:Textfire+12-pack IFDB].)
* ''[[Bad Guys]]'' ([[David Glasser]] as "Ed Dallas"; [[Z-code]]).
* ''[[Coma!]]'' ([[Nate Cull]] as "Rachael Croft"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[An Exploration of Colour]]'' ([[Neil James Brown]] as "Mal Jackson"; [[Z-code]]).
* ''[[Flowers for Algernon]]'' ([[Adam Cadre]] as "Deborah Keyes"; [[Z-code]]).
* ''[[George (game)|George]]'' ([[Cody Sandifer]] as "Shea Davis"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[The Inanimator]]'' ([[Matthew Amster-Burton]] as "Thomas Winkler"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Insomnia]]'' ([[Scott Starkey]] as "August Pelter"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Jack's Adventures]]'' ([[Dan Shiovitz]] as "Ben Scagels"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Masta'mind]]'' ([[Stephen Granade]] as "Riley Hawkins"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Once]]'' ([[Chris Klimas]] as "Robin Andrews"; [[Z-code]]).
* ''[[Operate!]]'' ([[Cody Sandifer]] as "Shea Davis"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Pumping!]]'' ([[Stephen Granade]] as "Riley Hawkins"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Revenge of the Killer Surf Nazi Robot Babes from Hell]]'' ([[David Dyte]] as "Alex Crowley"; [[Z-code]]).
* ''[[A Tenuous Hold]]'' ([[Stephen Granade]] as "Riley Hawkins"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[The U.S. Men's Hockey Team Olympic Challenge]]'' ([[Leon Lin]] as "Shishi M. Hayashi"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Verb!]]'' ([[Neil deMause]] as "D.L. Schneck"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''[[Will the Real Marjorie Hopkirk Please Stand Up?]]'' ([[Neil James Brown]] as "Steve Parsons"; [[Hugo]]).
* ''[[Zugzwang]]'' ([[Magnus Olsson]] as "Alfred Timpson"; [[Z-code]]).


==Games==
==The "Textfire" name==
* ''Bad Guys'' ([[David Glasser]] as "Ed Dallas"; [[Z-code]]).
* When the Textfire group were brainstorming names, the original choice was "Thundersoft", but it turned out there was already a Thundersoft.
* ''Coma!'' ([[Nate Cull]] as "Rachael Croft"; [[TADS 2]]).
* [[Cody Sandifer]] proposed the name "Textfire".
* ''An Exploration of Colour'' ([[Neil James Brown]] as "Mal Jackson"; [[Z-code]]).
* [[Adam Thornton]] registered textfire.com for use with the IF Comp.
* ''Flowers for Algernon'' ([[Adam Cadre]] as "Deborah Keyes"; [[Z-code]]).
* The [[German]] IF website, [http://www.textfire.de textfire.de], is the home of the annual [[Grand Prix]] competition, which began in 2002.
* ''George'' ([[Cody Sandifer]] as "Shea Davis"; [[TADS 2]]).
* [[Textfyre]] was a commercial publisher founded by [[David Cornelson]] in 2007.
* ''The Inanimator'' ([[Matthew Amster-Burton]] as "Thomas Winkler"; [[TADS 2]]).
 
* ''Insomnia'' ([[Scott Starkey]] as "August Pelter"; [[TADS 2]]).
[[Category:Events]] [[Category:1998]]
* ''Jack's Adventures'' ([[Dan Shiovitz]] as "Ben Scagels"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''Masta'mind'' ([[Stephen Granade]] as "Riley Hawkins"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''Once'' ([[Chris Klimas]] as "Robin Andrews"; [[Z-code]]).
* ''Operate!'' ([[Cody Sandifer]] as "Shea Davis"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''Pumping!'' ([[Stephen Granade]] as "Riley Hawkins"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''Revenge of the Killer Surf Nazi Robot Babes from Hell'' ([[David Dyte]] as "Alex Crowley"; [[Z-code]]).
* ''A Tenuous Hold'' ([[Stephen Granade]] as "Riley Hawkins"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''The U.S. Men's Hockey Team Olympic Challenge'' ([[Leon Lin]] as "Shishi M. Hayashi"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''Verb!'' ([[Neil deMause]] as "D.L. Schneck"; [[TADS 2]]).
* ''Will the Real Marjorie Hopkirk Please Stand Up?'' ([[Neil James Brown]] as "Steve Parsons"; [[Hugo]]).
* ''Zugzwang'' ([[Magnus Olsson]] as "Alfred Timpson"; [[Z-code]]).

Latest revision as of 22:04, 11 November 2024

Textfire 12-Pack
Other event
Frequency
[[File:|385px|center]]
Part of series
Website [http:// ]
Organiser
IFDB event page Event
IFDB series page Series
Total entries 18
Event dates
Date 1 Apr 1998
Edit this infobox

This collection was an April Fool's Day prank played in 1998: a group of people pseudonymously put together some very peculiar "demos" of very odd games, claiming that full versions would soon be available for sale. The original 12-pack contained 16 games, and the 17th, George, was added afterwards with more apocryphal news. Eventually, the conspirators came clean with the release of Masta'mind, the 18th game, which revealed the authors' true identities. Cody then created a website (archive) with behind-the-scenes information.

Games

(All the demos can be found at the IF Archive and IFDB.)

The "Textfire" name

  • When the Textfire group were brainstorming names, the original choice was "Thundersoft", but it turned out there was already a Thundersoft.
  • Cody Sandifer proposed the name "Textfire".
  • Adam Thornton registered textfire.com for use with the IF Comp.
  • The German IF website, textfire.de, is the home of the annual Grand Prix competition, which began in 2002.
  • Textfyre was a commercial publisher founded by David Cornelson in 2007.