Current events

Game Releases

Klub Karisma (Christian Bluemke; 25-Apr; Z-code; German).
Le Pantin Electrique : Prologue a.k.a. The Electric Puppet (Christophe Géradon; c.22-Apr; Z-code; French and English).
A day in life (John Goettle; c.06-Apr; Z-code).
Spring Speed-IF 2008 released three games on April 6th:
- EXTERMINATE! (Michael C. Martin; Z-code).
- Gardening for Beginners (Juhana Leinonen; Z-code).
- Spring Cleaning (Roger Carbol; Z-code).
You Have To BURN ROPE WITH TORCH a.k.a. You Have To Burn The Rope (Michael Cook; v1: 05-Apr, update: 08-Apr; Glulx).
Spring Thing 2008 released three games on April 2nd:
- Blue Lacuna: Sneak Preview (Aaron A. Reed; Glulx).
- Pascal's Wager (Dave as "Doug Egan"; Z-code).
- Without A Clue (David Whyld; ADRIFT).

The third PDF issue of SPAC 2.0, the Spanish IF newsletter, has been published.
Inside Erin: The AIF Newsletter Volume 4 Number 8 (August 2008) in pdf and text formats.

SPAG #52 - Includes A Blind Man's Take on Interactive Fiction by Ari Damoulakis; Works of Wisdom: A Comparison of Nate Cull's "Planner" and Aaron Reed's "Intelligent Hinting" by Ron Newcomb; an interview with Mike Rubin; reviews of An Act of Murder, Child's Play, Deadline Enchanter, A Fine Day for Reaping, Ghost Town, Gun Mute, Hors Catégorie, Lost Pig, Suveh Nux, Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom, and Varkana; and SPAG Specifics of Metamorphoses.
Terra d'IF, the Italian IF newsletter, returns! (View PDF.) It's no longer only about IF but about all possible forms of interactive narrative.
Inside Erin: The AIF Newsletter Volume 4 Number 7 (July 2008) in pdf and text formats.
InsideADRIFT Issue 38 (View PDF) is published.

Zork I Speedrun - 7min46sec - Yes, it's someone playing Zork I really quickly. Watch it on YouTube.
English 401: Viking Studies - Whoa. There's SEVENTEEN Inform 7 games about Vikings here, thanks to an English class at Gettysburg College, PA in 2007. Or perhaps they're more like travelogues than games; we'll just have to play them and see. (Thanks to Emily for discovering the site.)
Inside Erin: The AIF Newsletter Volume 4 Number 6 in pdf and text formats.

The second PDF issue of SPAC 2.0, the Spanish IF newsletter, has been published.
Inside Erin: The AIF Newsletter Volume 4 Number 5 in pdf and text formats.
The Textfyre interactive fiction company has released the source to FyreVM, their implementation of Glulx written in C#. See this RAIF thread.
The latest issue of the PC Format magazine features a 4 page article on IF. See this R*IF thread.
Travis Hall announces a new IF/RPG hybrid Retro Text Game or RTG. You can read about his progress at his blog.

Competitions currently in their voting or judging stage:

Xcomp 2008. The Spanish Xcomp focuses on experimental IF works in the Spanish language; exploring new possibilities, either in technical or in the literature aspects. There are 8 entries. Voting deadline: last week of August 2008. Organizer: Jenesis.
IntroComp 2008. Intents deadline: July 20th, 2008. Submissions deadline: August 20th, 2008, 11:59 PM EST. Six games. Voting deadline: September 5th, 2008. Winners will be announced on ifMUD, September 7th, 2008, at 2pm Eastern (7pm UTC). Organizer: Jacqueline A. Lott.

(Most recent comps are listed first.)

InsideADRIFT Summer Comp 2008. Submission deadline: was 2000 BST Tuesday 1 July 2008; later extended to Sunday 6 July 2008. Voting deadline: 2000 BST Thursday 31 July 2008. Five games. Organizer: Ken Franklin. Competition for ADRIFT games. Winner: Happy Valley (Jacqueline H. as "Lumin").
2008 AIF Mini-comp. Nine games were submitted, and the results have finally been announced in the latest AIF Newsletter. The overall winner is Winter Break (Dudeman; Z-code), which also scored at the top of the Writing, Technical, Sex, and Enjoyment categories.
The Comp With No Name 2008. Organizer: Cowboy. Three games were submitted. A juried panel voted on them. Games were publicly released on June 4th. Winner: Beanstalk the and Jack (David Welbourn; ADRIFT).
Spring Thing 2008. Intents to enter may be sent to the organizer beginning from September 30, 2007. The intents deadline was March 1, 2008. The deadline for paying the entry fee electronically was March 15, 2008. The deadline for authors' finished games to be sent (and for authors' entry fees if sent in the mail) was April 2, 2008. The deadline for voting was May 5, 2008, 11:59 PM EDT. Organizer: Greg Boettcher. Winner : Pascal's Wager (Dave as "Doug Egan"; Z-code).

Authors should be working on their entries for:

IF Comp 2008. Intents deadline: September 1st, 2008. Game submissions by September 29th, 2008. The organizer is once again Stephen Granade.
The Odd Competition. Competition for ADRIFT games. Submission deadline: September 17, 2008, 11:59 PM (PST). Organizer: Abbi Park.
French Minicomp 2008. Competition for games in French. Submission deadline: September 21, 2008. Organizer: Eric Forgeot.
2008 IF Art Show. Submission deadline: was May 2nd, 2008; now postponed to c. October/November 2008. Organizer: Marnie Parker.
InsideADRIFT Game of the Year Comp 2008. Competition for any ADRIFT games that have been written and/or released during the calendar year of 2008. Submission deadline: Sunday 7th December 2008. Voting deadline: midnight 31st December 2008. Organizer: Ken Franklin.
BBBen's 2009 AIF Threesome Comp. Submissions deadline: January 31, 2009. Organizer: BBBen.
La Comp Más Monstruosa. Spanish Monster Comp. Submissions deadline: October 15, 2008. Organizer: Mel Hython.