Current events

Game Releases

September 2005 Game Releases

• Two Spanish games from MedievoComp:
  • Los alegres hombres de Sherwood (Vingthor; 11-Sep-2005; Glulx).
  • La Caja de Sarimek (Jarel; 11-Sep-2005; Glulx).
• Two games entered at 2K Comp 2005:
  • 23:15 (Jon Ripley; 10-Sep-2005; MS-Windows, RISC OS) Winner.
  • Smile (Chris Molloy Wischer; 06-Sep-2005; MS-Windows).
• The IF Whispers game The Corn Identity; (Carl Muckenhoupt, Serhei Makarov, Tama Wise, J. Robinson Wheeler, Alexandre Owen Muñiz, Admiral Jota, Andrew Schepler, Jacqueline A. Lott, Sam Kabo Ashwell, Dan Shiovitz, John Cater, Duchess, Mark Musante; 05-Sep-2005; Z-code).
• Several new games were added to the Quest Archive:
  • The Former (DirkW; 4-Sep-2005; Quest).
  • Haunted Horror (Matt Slotnick; 4-Sep-2005; Quest).
  • The Lazy Gun Cult (Felic Roman; 4-Sep-2005; Quest).
  • Operation: Sleepover (Justin Bailey; 4-Sep-2005; Quest).
  • Star Wars: Escape from Dagobah (David Leavitt; 4-Sep-2005; Quest).
  • Three Worlds (Zach Kelly; 4-Sep-2005; Quest).

August 2005 Game Releases

• From Speed-IF Jacket 3:
  • The Fluid of Life (Carl Muckenhoupt; 28-Aug-2005; Z-code).
  • The Hentai Adventures of Captain Cumshot (Jake Wildstrom; 28-Aug-2005; Z-code).
  • Upwards (Sam Kabo Ashwell; 29-Aug-2005; Z-code).
• This is a test of several forms combat in IF. a.k.a. BattleSim Demo (James Mallette; 24-Aug-2005; TADS 3). Demo. Download page.
• speedif zombie (J. Robinson Wheeler; 23-Aug-2005; Z-code). Speed-IF Zombie.
• InsideADRIFT Summer Comp 2005 released five games on 21-Aug-2005:
  • Can It Be All So Simple? (The Dominant Species; Adrift).
  • Lights, Camera, Action! (David Whyld; Adrift).
  • Must Escape! (Robert Rafgon; Adrift). New version of his game from ADRIFT Intro Comp 2005.
  • Regrets (David Whyld; Adrift).
  • Target (Richard Otter; Adrift).
• The Last Detective (Catalin; 14-Aug-2005; Quest). See Quest Archive.
• Space Boy's First Adventure (thatguy; v2.0: 11-Aug-2005; Adrift).
• Laboratory R.A.T.S. (Christy Henshaw; 10-Aug-2005; Adrift).
• Options (David Whyld; 06-Aug-2005; Adrift). ShadowVault Download.
• X-Men: First Day at the Institute (Captain Cranky Pants; 02-Aug-2005; Adrift).

July 2005 Game Releases

• Building (Mike Tulloch; 30-Jul-2005; Z-code). Homepage.
• The White Singularity (Irene Villanueva; 26-Jul-2005; Adrift).
• Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment (Ben Croshaw; 2005). Graphical point-and-click game. Download from authors page
• IntroComp 2005 released the following seven games:
  • The Amazing Uncle Griswold (David Whyld; 24-Jul-2005; Adrift).
  • Deadsville (William McDuff; 24-Jul-2005; Z-code).
  • The Fox, The Dragon, and The Stale Loaf of Bread (David Welbourn; 24-Jul-2005; Z-code).
  • The Hobbit (Serhei Makarov; 24-Jul-2005; Z-code).
  • Negotis: Book 1 (Robert DeFord; 24-Jul-2005; TADS 3).
  • Somewhen (Bryce J. Rhaiz; 24-Jul-2005; Z-code).
  • Weishaupt Scholars: Prologue (Michael Martin; 24-Jul-2005; Z-code).
• Crazy Old Bag Lady (Sprite; 16-Jul-2005; Adrift).
• The First Mile (Howard A. Sherman, publisher: Malinche Entertainment; 15-Jul-2005; Z-code). Commercial; available from Malinche's page for The First Mile.
• Crawler's Delight (A.Troll; 14-Jul-2005; Adrift).
• Dog Show (Mrs. Drallos' Fourth Grade PACE class; 10-Jul-2005; Z-code). Written with Adventure Book. Winner (and only entry) to LOTECH Comp 2005.
• Façade (Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern; 05-Jul-2005; MS-Windows). Homepage. Currently runs only on Windows XP, 2000 or ME, requires a 1.6 GHz processor or faster, and is 800 MB to download. Also, this "one act interactive drama" is possibly not "IF" as it's usually defined.

(See also Games Released in 2005.)

Review & Article News

Reviews and News in September 2005

• InsideAdrift25 Articles by David Whyld and Ken Franklin and a wish list of what new features would make a new version of ADRIFT great.
• Puzzle of Masks, Masked - Victor Gijsbers for IF-Review reviews Pytho's Mask (Emily Short; 2001; Z-code).
• Façade review at Brass Lantern - Matthew Murray reviews Façade (Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern; 05-Jul-2005; MS-Windows).

Reviews and News in August 2005

• (GAME ON) Interactive Fiction - An IF thread on the penny-arcade.com forums.
• Reviews Exchange has moved to a new website; its new editor is Robert Street, beginning with issue 6.
• >READ GAME - Heirs of Infocom, fans of interactive fiction still choose their own adventures by Allen Varney, Escapist Magazine, issue 7, pgs 12-18.
• IF-Review. Charon reviews Back to Life... Unfortunately (David Whyld; 2004; Adrift).
• Get Lamp: The Text Adventure Documentary is an upcoming project by Jason Scott, and is planned to be filmed in 2006.

Reviews and News in July 2005

• InsideAdrift24 Articles by Stefan Donati and Eric Mayer and a review of The Lair of the Vampire.
• SPAG 41 released on July 15th. Contains reviews of Bolivia By Night, Catseye, Conan Kill Everything, The Dreamhold, Façade, The Fire Tower, Heist, Moonglow, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, and Wumpus 2000.
  • Note: This is editor Paul O'Brian's final issue; the new editor is Jimmy Maher.
• Review Exchange - Issue 5 (July 2005) is now available from David Whyld's Shadow Vault. Contains reviews of The Adventure Of Space Boy!, Escape To Freedom, The Final Question, The Fire Tower, Future Boy, Halloween Hijinks, In The Claws Of Clueless Bob, Lauren’s Awakening, Murder Mansion, Must Escape!,Normville, Outline, Point 2 Point, Rift, Sex Artist, Silk Road Secrets: Samarkand To Lop Nor, The Will, Zack Smackfoot: Escape The Jungle Terror.

(See also: Reviews and Category:Publications.)

Competitions & Contest News

What's Hot

• The 2nd Annual 1 to 2K Classic Text Adventure Competition a.k.a. 2K Comp 2005 has two games entered so far. Late entries should get them in soon. Submission deadline: September 15th. Organiser: Paul Panks.
• MedievoComp is a comp for Spanish IF with a medieval theme. Two games have been entered. Submission deadline: September 11th. Organizers: Baltasar and Urbatain.

Results of Recent Competitions

• InsideADRIFT Summer Comp 2005 results were announced on August 28th. From five games, first place was taken by Target (Richard Otter; Adrift).
• IntroComp 2005 results were announced in a ceremony on August 7th. The winning entry was Deadsville (William McDuff; 24-Jul-2005; Z-code). Winning authors have until July 23rd, 2006 to complete their games in order to claim their prizes.
• LOTECH Comp 2005 had one entry, which was declared the winner on July 10th. That game was Dog Show (Mrs. Drallos' Fourth Grade PACE class; Z-code), written with Adventure Book.
• CCAB Comp 2005 a.k.a. Christopher Cole and A. Bomire's AIF Comp had three entries. 15 people voted on June 27th, and the winning game was Sex Artist (A. Ninny; TADS 2).

Upcoming Competitions

Authors should be working on their entries for:

• Finish The Game Comp 2005 for Adrift games. Submission deadline: Saturday, 24th September 2005. Organizer: David Whyld.
• French Mini-If-Comp, announced April 17th. Submission deadline to be determined; originally, June 21st was proposed. Potential authors should visit the submission date voting page and vote when they want the new deadline to be. The earliest proposed submission deadline is July 20th. Final submission deadline around September 30th. Organizer: Otto Grimwald (original idea by Stab).
• 11th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition is the big competition in October. Intent deadline: September 1st, 11:59pm EST. Submission deadline: September 30th, 11:59pm EST. Donate prizes. Organizer: Stephen Granade.
• InsideADRIFT End of Year Comp 2005, for both new Adrift games and any Adrift game released during the 2005 calendar year. Submission deadline: December 18th. Organizer: Ken Franklin.
• Spring Thing 2006 will run again sometime in the spring of 2006. Dates to be determined; rules will probably be the same as in 2005. Organizer: Greg Boettcher.
• Slamdance Independent Game Competition is a competition for many types of electronic games with a focus on game design. Note that Rule 5 specifically welcomes interactive fiction formats. Entrants must pay appropriate fees, fill out an application, and sign a release. Early deadline: midnight September 30, 2006. Late deadline: midnight October 24, 2006. Organizer: Slamdance Games.

Competition Rumours

• Rumours are buzzing about a possible Hugo Mini-Comp? Suggested submission date: July 4th.
• There will be no IF Art Show in 2005. I finally asked Marnie Parker about it; she'd totally forgotten about it, too busy. We'll try again in 2006.

(See also: Category:Competitions, Category:Minicomp, and the Competition Calendar.)

Website News

• IFCollab is the new home of the IF Collaborators List, currently maintained by Mike Snyder.
• Game of the Week is a site suggesting one game each week to discuss on rec.games.int-fiction. The idea is to get more attention to non-comp games, to the benefit of authors and players alike.
• Renga in Blue is Jason Dyer's new IF blog. Check it out!
• IFWiki officially open to the public on Feb. 10, 2005.
• Plover.net gets hacked twice, hampering efforts to move accounts to a new machine. Seebs is working hard on the problem.
• IF Primogenesis- Mind's Eye Adventures IF Gold a brand-new IF community site dedicated to preservation of IF public heritage works as a new WIP Database. Similar efforts have preserved games on other platforms, eg. the Classic Amiga Preservation Society is one model community. This one is being developed, so stay posted for go-live updated website soon.

Tech News

• Alan version 3 went Alpha on September 10th, 2005! Visit the new Alan homepage for more info.
• Filfre v. 0.92 released Jul. 14, 2005 by Jimmy Maher.
• Windows Frotz 2002 1.07 released on May 21, 2005 by David Kinder.
• Rumour: Inform 7 is in the works. No release date is known.

See also:

• Informary by Roger Firth. Latest news and developments concerning all aspects of Inform.