Current events

Game Releases

December 2005 Game Releases

• A Spot of Bother (David Whyld; 12-Dec-2005; Adrift).
• Consequences (David Whyld; 1-Dec-2005; Adrift). AIF.

November 2005 Game Releases

• Notice Me (Wotan-Anubis; 28-Nov-2005; Adrift). AIF.
• Book and Volume (Nick Montfort; 17-Nov-2005; Z-code). Visit the game's homepage.

October 2005 Game Releases

• French Mini-If-Comp released five games sometime in mid-to-late October:
  • Le Cercle des Gros Geeks disparus (Adrien Saurat; Z-code). French.
  • Dreamlands (a.k.a Echappée Belle Dans les Contrées du Rêve) (JB Ferrant; Z-code). French.
  • Les Feux de l'enfer (Sabine Gorecki; Adrift). French.
  • Qui a tué Dana ? (Vegeta; Adrift). French.
  • Le Temple de Feu (Eric Forgeot; Z-code). French.
• MedievoComp released two additional games sometime in mid-October:
  • La Conción del Bardo (Bruce Humphrey; Oct-2005; Z-code). Spanish.
  • El Trono de Inglaterra (Selena and Baltasar; Oct-2005; Z-code). Spanish.
• txt adventure (Chris (Mr Pants); c.15-Oct-2005; Z-code). Play it online.
• Palace of Shadows (Christos Stogiannopoulos; 10-Oct-2005; Java). This game was intended for 2K Comp 2005; Download from CAAD.
• IF Comp 2005 released 36 games very early on October 1st:
  • Amissville II (Santoonie Corporation; TADS 2).
  • Beyond (Mondi Confinanti; Glulx).
  • Chancellor (Kevin Venzke; TADS 2).
  • Cheiron (Sarah Clelland and Elisabeth Polli; Glulx).
  • The Colour Pink (Robert Street; Z-code).
  • Distress (Mike Snyder; Hugo).
  • Dreary Lands (Paul Lee; Z-code).
  • Escape to New York (Richard Otter; Adrift).
  • FutureGame (tm) (The FutureGame Corporation; Z-code).
  • Gilded (A Hazard; TADS 2).
  • Hello Sword (Andrea Rezzonico; Z-code). Two versions: English and Italian.
  • History Repeating (Mark Choba and Renee Choba; Z-code).
  • Internal Vigilance (Simon Christiansen; Z-code).
  • Jesus of Nazareth (Paul Allen Panks as "dunric"; MS-Windows).
  • Mix Tape (Brett Witty; TADS 3).
  • Mortality (David Whyld; Adrift).
  • Neon Nirvana (Tony Woods; Z-code).
  • A New Life (Alexandre Owen Muñiz; Z-code).
  • Ninja II (Paul Allen Panks as "Dunric"; MS-Windows).
  • Off the trolley (Krisztian Kaldi; TADS 2).
  • On Optimism (Tim Lane; Z-code).
  • Phantom: caverns of the killer (Brandon Coker; Z-code).
  • The Plague (Redux) (Cannibal; Adrift).
  • Psyche's Lament (Now We Have Faces; Z-code).
  • PTBAD6andoneeighth (Jonathan Berman as "Slan Xorax"; Adrift).
  • Sabotage on the Century Cauldron (Thomas de Graaff; TADS 2).
  • Snatches (Gregory Weir; Z-code).
  • Son of a... (C.S. Woodrow; Z-code).
  • Space Horror I: Prey for Your Enemies (Jerald M. Cooney; MS-Windows/HTML).
  • The Sword of Malice (Anthony Panuccio; Z-code).
  • Tough Beans (Sara Dee; Z-code).
  • Unforgotten (Quintin Pan; Z-code).
  • Vendetta (Fuyu Yuki; Adrift).
  • Vespers (Jason Devlin; Z-code).
  • Waldo's Pie (Michael Arnaud; Alan 3).
  • Xen: The Contest (Xentor; TADS 2).

(See also Games Released in 2005.)

Review & Article News

Reviews and News in December 2005

• The Get Lamp Adventurer's Club is a newly-opened pre-order page for the not-yet-filmed text adventure documentary Get Lamp, to be filmed in 2006 by Jason Scott.
• IF-Review. Dan Shiovitz reviews Finding Martin (Gayla Wennstrom; 2005; TADS 2).

Reviews and News in November 2005

• InsideAdrift26 Articles by David Whyld and Ken Franklin. Contains articles on 'The IF Comp and Adrift'.
• Keeping a Genre Alive - Vauhini Vara of The Wall Street Journal writes about IF and the current IF Comp.

Reviews and News in October 2005

• Terra d'IF, numero 7 is out! This Italian IF newsmagazine contains reviews of Enigma, Little Falls, and Radicofani. There is also an interview with Aaron A. Reed, available in both Italian and English.
• Playing Catch-Up: Bubsy's Michael Berlyn - Frank Cifaldi interviews Michael Berlyn for Gamasutra.com.
• Review Exchange - Issue 6 (October 2005) is now available. Contains reviews of Can It All Be So Simple?, Lights, Camera, Action, Must Escape!, Regrets, Target, The Adventures of Space Boy! Volume I, Crazy Old Bag Lady, Laboratory R.A.T.S., The White Singularity, The House Husband
• SPAG 42 released on October 2nd. Contains reviews of Dastardly, Flat Feet, Future Boy! and Return to Ditch Day

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).

(See also: Reviews and Category:Publications.)

Competitions & Contest News

What's Hot

No competitions are currently in their voting/judging stage.

Results of Recent Competitions

• 11th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition had 36 entries, and the results were announced shortly after the voting deadline. The winner is Vespers (Jason Devlin; Z-code), and there was a tie for second place: Beyond (Mondi Confinanti; Glulx) and A New Life (Alexandre Owen Muñiz; Z-code). Congrats to all the winners! Organizer: Stephen Granade.
• MedievoComp was a comp for Spanish IF with a medieval theme. Four games were entered in total, and the results were announced in November 1st. The winner is La Caja de Sarimak (Jarel; Glulx), which was also judged to have the best puzzles. The runner-up, El Trono de Inglaterra (Selena and Baltasar; Z-code), was judged to have the Best NPC (Merlin). Organizers: Baltasar and Urbatain.
• French Mini-If-Comp results were posted in mid-to-late October 2005. There were five entries, all in French. The winner was Le Cercle des Gros Geeks disparus (Adrien Saurat; Z-code). Organizer: Otto Grimwald.
• Finish The Game Comp 2005 results were announced on 15th October 2005. From six games, first place was taken by Pathway To Destruction (Richard Otter; Adrift). Organizer: David Whyld.

Upcoming Competitions

Authors should be working on their entries for:

• InsideADRIFT Awards 2005 votes during December 2005.
• 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.
• XYZZY Awards 2005 will likely begin voting in early 2006, with the ceremony probably sometime in March 2006.
• Erins 2005, for the year's best AIF, will likewise likely begin voting in early 2006, with its ceremonly also probably in March 2006.
• 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.
• InsideADRIFT Spring Competition 2006 is tentatively slated to run from April 16–30, 2006. Organizer: Ken Franklin.
• 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.

(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.