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[tabitha-writes]

Dialogue Jam

Let's Get Talking!

The Dialogue Jam is a month-long unranked jam all about communication between characters. Whether through verbal dialogue or written correspondence, this jam aims to bring discussions forward.

Constraints and Rules:

Your Entry must be centered around an exchange between characters. No description allowed!

This could take the form of a dialogue (even monologue!), script, or letters.

Elements like stage direction or dialogue tags can be used, though they should be kept to a minimum.

The Jam is open to any program/medium, as long as the piece can be considered Interactive Fiction (i.e. the game is interactive, and its focus is on the text).

The Jam is open to any language.

You can submit up to 3 entries!

You should aim for 15-30 minutes maximum gameplay.

Entries can have NSFW content, as long as you indicate it in your submission.

Entries should not include any generated AI content.

Spam or hateful content will not be accepted.

Come talk with us!

Join the Neo-Interactive Discord 

[tabitha-writes]

Interactive Fiction Showcase 2024

Showcase your Game!

The Interactive Fiction Showcase is a year-long "jam" meant to collect and showcase Interactive Fiction games completed in 2024, and show how diverse the Interactive Fiction scene is! And maybe: build more bridges between the community, help people finding their new favourite game/author...

Whether it is long or short, an easy adventure or a complicated puzzle, a strange experiment, a quick creation, or a years-in-the-making game, come show off what you've made!

Are you more of a player? Then, come check this page regularly for new submissions! Maybe leave a rating or a comment too :)

This is an unranked event.

Rules:

The Showcase is open to IF games in all of its forms: kinetic, choice-based, hyperlinks, parser, visual novels... As long as it is Interactive Fiction (there is interactivity and the focus of the game is on the text), the entry will be accepted.

The Showcase is open to IF games in any language.

Entries must be playable and in its complete form when submitted. Completed games in 2024, whose demo was previously public, are welcome. Games submitted to other events (jams/competitions) are welcome.

Entries can include NSFW content, as long as it is indicated in the submission.

Entries should not include any generated AI content - or it will be removed.

Spam or hateful content will be removed.

Creating Interactive Fiction:

Interactive Fiction is a text-based narrative medium, where players can interact with the story in some fashion (input commands, click a link/button, press key). There are many different ways of creating IF, and many different programs to do so. You can find some mentioned below:

Primarily HyperText/Choice-Based: Twine,  Ink, ChoiceScript, Dendry

Primarily Parser/Input: Inform 6, Inform 7, PunyInform, Adventuron, ADRIFT

Other: Bitsy, Binksi, Ren'Py

and many more can be found listed in the IF Wiki.

If you are looking for other Interactive Fiction Events, discuss general IF, or ask question, you can visit the IntFiction Forum. (we also have monthly IF events over at @neointeractives)

Interactive Fiction Database and Archive:

IFDB

The IFDB, or Interactive Fiction Database, is an IF game information catalogue, creating a historical record of the IF landscape. The database is a community project, updated by its members, by adding titles to the directory, ratings games, writing reviews... If a listing has not yet been created for your game, please consider making one!

IF Archive

The IF Archive is an archive of Interactive Fiction games, and IF-related elements (walkthroughs, interpreters, articles, collections...). The Archive’s mission is to preserve the history and practice of interactive fiction and make it freely available to the public. If you wish to, you can upload a copy of your game to the IFArchive, through the IFDB listing of your game (recommended) or directly to the archive.

The IFDB and IFArchive, as well as the IntFiction Forum and Twine, are managed by the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation. These programs are funded through individual donations.

Visual Novel Database

The VNDB, or Visual Novel Database, is a community project that strives to be a comprehensive database for information about visual novels. The database is updated by its members, by adding titles to the directory, ratings games, writing reviews... If a listing has not yet been created for your visual novel, please consider making one!

[tabitha-writes]

I recently made a little visual novel for a queer vampire game jam that's been happening over on itch! It felt like the perfect excuse to use a newer OC of mine as well as completing a game. (still working on another haha) You can find it here and I highly recommend checking out the other submissions! I haven't gone through all of them yet, but they've all been great so far <3

[tabitha-writes]

"try & watch a horror film from the point of view of the monster." - Three Poems, Sam Sax

you are a vampire in the house of a vampire hunter. you are a corpse in the bed of someone painfully alive. you are a dirty, filthy thing in a room with the sun rising behind you and your lover's father in front of you, crossbow pointed at your chest.

[tabitha-writes]

My second Queer Vampire Jam entry is a companion to my first one, featuring the same characters but from the opposite POV. This is a short (<2k words) game focused on sensual intimacy between two ace characters, one of whom is also non-binary.

[tabitha-writes]

New game!

A summer road trip with your best friend and his two younger sisters is the perfect time to finally tell him you're in love with him—right...?

“I'll Drive” is a short (~4,000 words) interactive, friends-to-lovers rom-com with a single ending. Starring...

Luke (protagonist) - Hopelessly awkward trans guy

Blaine (love interest) - Stressed-out sweetheart

Imogene (older sister) - Too-cool teen (who's terrified of driving)

Trish (younger sister) - Matchmaker in training

[tabitha-writes]

New game!

A summer road trip with your best friend and his two younger sisters is the perfect time to finally tell him you're in love with him—right...?

“I'll Drive” is a short (~4,000 words) interactive, friends-to-lovers rom-com with a single ending. Starring...

Luke (protagonist) - Hopelessly awkward trans guy

Blaine (love interest) - Stressed-out sweetheart

Imogene (older sister) - Too-cool teen (who's terrified of driving)

Trish (younger sister) - Matchmaker in training

[tabitha-writes]

You're a Time Agent! by Tabitha O'Connell

Play the game Read other reviews Other games by Tabitha (@tabitha-writes)

Silly time loops! (4/5)

When it comes to time-loops settings and gameplay, Tabitha always delivers. This time taking a more silly approach to the genre, with you playing as a "dumbass time agent" that ends their missions in the stupidest of ways (essentially winging it). The goal here is to get through a guarded door. Simple, right?

WRONG! Who Thought trying to get through a measly door with just one guard would be so difficult!

With each passage are given a couple of options, each branching into other set of choice, until you either manage to enter the building or reach a dead end. The game also lets you reset the loop from the start. Resetting will sometimes add new options (when you uncover information). There are 3 ways to properly end the game, with 4 achievements to get.

Each path is pretty silly, tricking the guard by confusing him, or distracting him. There are tons of funny one-liners and hilarious exchanges (I laughed so hard at the (Spoiler - click to show)). The third ending was so stupidly funny!

I had a bit of an issue with how the learned knowledge was displayed on the page (with the oldest bit disappearing from the page), but changing the colours of the links, to display which path had been taken or which led to a dead end, was really helpful when starting a new loop!

[tabitha-writes]

My latest game, written for the Queer Vampire IF Jam! (Also submitted to Ace Jam 2024 because both main characters are ace!)

Your name is Zach. You’re 23, you were an art major in the two years of college you completed, oh, and you’re a vampire.

Play as Zach, who has survived his blood-sucking life so far by keeping to himself, never getting attached to the people he relies on for sustenance. Tonight, though, he's starting to feel a connection with the chatty grad student he plans to bite...

~3,000 words total. Multiple possible endings.

[tabitha-writes]

Dark Communion, by alyshkalia

Two teenage girls. One abandoned church. ??? survivors. A short Twine game written for Ectocomp 2023. Cover photo by me.

[tabitha-writes]

New game: Dark Communion

In this spooky game, explore an abandoned church with your sister, crush, or acquaintance--and try to make it back out again...

[tabitha-writes]

The Loneliest House by Tabitha O’Connell

IFDB - Game - @tabitha-writes Note: this was a La Petite Mort entry, and submitted to the Bare-Bones Jam

Summary: You’ve always been drawn to the lonely old house on the hill outside your town. It’s been abandoned for as long as you’ve lived here; you’ve never seen it get any care or attention. To everyone else, it’s just a part of the scenery. But to you it’s always been something more–a mystery, an omen, a promise.

This is a short parser letting the players use only one command: examine (X / L), where the point is to examine the abandoned house, and its different element, as if you were exploring it. Examining an element gives you a description, which focuses on other smaller elements, which if you examine those will describe further details, and... so on and so forth until the details are simply too small to see, or until you examined all elements to reach the end.

The gameplay reminded me of Nested, where checking an element gives you details you can look out, each if checked will give out subsequent details, and... Except, unlike Nested, TLH doesn't loop back to repeat ad infinitum if you take one specific path.

As for the whole, it felt a bit voyeuristic, especially in the descriptions of each details of the house, as, even if it is abandoned, you sort of see yourself opening the door or looking out the scenery from the window. You wish you could be inside the house, but you can't. You're on the other side of the fency, gazing with envy at the house. It's pretty eerie...

Also: +1 for including a walkthough! -1 for not being able to pet the dog (/jk)

[tabitha-writes]

Dark Communion by Tabitha O’Connell

IFDB - Game - @tabitha-writes

Summary: Two teenage girls. One abandoned church. ??? survivors.

Moody abandoned church? check! Two kids with not enough fear to know better? check! Spooky shenanigans? check, check, check!

The game plays like one of those horror movie, where dumb kids do something they shouldn't, stumble on a weird thing that definitely means them harm, and try they best to escape - hopefully in one piece...

The writing is quite moody and creepy, and with the quick page, it gives little space to breathe (you have to act now or else...). The reluctance of your PC towards your sister/more-than-friend/acquaintance's wish to explore without care is understandable, from the uneasy descriptions of the abandoned church (and all the horror warnings of not breaking off ranks). Endings can come quite fast, depending on the choices, with some leaving you with a sense of dread for what happened.

As is it quite easy to pick the "wrong" choice, and reach a bad end, the game gives you the opportunity to "rewind" to the last choice made, and try something else. While there are many ways to fail the game, it is also a short one - so getting back on track doesn't take too long.

Another interesting bit of this game, was how the text/ending was affected from the first choice: what relationship you have with the other girl. Different tactics are required for different relationships...

Anyway, going back to hunt the last of the achievements~

[tabitha-writes]

POV: You’re a Teenage Girl in a Conservative Christian Family by alyshkalia

IFDB - Game - @tabitha-writes

Summary: A little piece of my religious trauma.

I'm going to need a hug after this, and so will you.

The piece is fairly short, with a couple of hundred words at most, and it will make you hate yourself (maybe) when you reach the end. Entrenched in the very harsh environment that is religious conservative norms, the game explores what it feels to be denied the little joys of life and exploring your identity.

It is not just a tour-de-force to be able to hit those emotions with so little words, but the way the choices are formatted hits like a ton of brick. As you click and come back to the main page, choices appear and disappear from the list... until there is nothing left. Until you are denied everything.

Strangely, the harsh Harlowe interface and palette adds another layer of bleakness to the situation.

[tabitha-writes]

Repeat the Ending: R4 update

Release 4 of Repeat the Ending is now live. It is primarily a feature update. I've extensively revised the hints regarding the game's 33 points.

Perhaps more significantly, this is the first release with story mode, an accessibility and tutorial feature. If you've never played RTE, this is a good time to try. I intend for this to be the final, definitive version.

[tabitha-writes]

Structural Integrity, by Tabitha O'Connell

You are Yaan, a well-off government official romantically involved with former messenger boy Kel. Uncover the cracks in your relationship, and decide what you're going to do about them... Author's Comment: “This game is based on my novella of the same name. I had a lot of fun adapting it and exploring different possible ways the story could go, as well as making room for the reader’s perception to shape the story.”

[tabitha-writes]

The 5-Second Simulation by alyshkalia

A Single Choice Jam entry.

Entry - IFDB - More by alyshkalia - @tabitha-writes

A Sysiphian Experience While one the short side, this parser is still much longer than its title promises. Set somewhat like an escape room, you must find three words to complete the simulation and escape a doorless room. Easy, right? Well... no. You can only do one action before the simulation ends and you need to reboot it. Forced to replay the game until you find all elements to complete the puzzle, the game forces you to think about your previous action, as it does not track it on screen. You can look at different objects around the room, as well as manipulating them to discover the room's secrets. But remember, the room resets when the simulation ends! The Sysiphian gameplay is quite interesting and pretty smart. It really makes you think about the information you have on the screen before you have to reload the game. Examining every single element in the room will give you and idea of what you can interact with... and most importantly how. The hints parsed throughout the rooms are quite cleverly done (though it took me a while to find some of them - thank you Help for putting me out of my misery). The first word is probably the easiest to find, and as soon as you understand the logic in it, the other needed words will follow quite easily (or go check the help section, like I did :P ) It is a very neat small parser experience, and I would recommend to anyone with 30min to spare.