#ifcomp 2023

[twinegardening]

[nsfw, twine node map for the game DICK MCBUTTS GETS KICKED IN THE NUTS]

DICK MCBUTTS GETS KICKED IN THE NUTS by Hubert Janus

It's exactly what it sounds like. Content warning: flashing images, crude humour, testicular trauma, Hitler

[norbezjones]

I put this in a devlog, but I will also transcribe the post below:

Hey everyone.  I have some very sad news to share.

I found out from the relative who has been “holding onto my stuff” that nearly 99% of it was thrown away when they retrieved it around this time last year.  They told me at the time that some things that “weren’t necessary” would be disposed of, but I didn’t think that meant pretty much all of it.

To say I’m devastated would be an understatement I think.  I’m going through a period of serious grief, because there are so many things from my pseudo-dementia recovery period that are now just . . . gone. 

The novel I started when I entered inpatient in April 2022, and was working on all throughout my recovery.  The novellete I finished at my last residential in early 2023.  Stories from my childhood that I retrieved from the home I grew up in.  My tarot decks, including the first one I ever bought.  My stuffed bear, Michelle, who had been with me since I was 6 years old.  Multiple journals I kept during my recovery period, chronicling everything because I knew I wouldn’t be able to remember my experiences if I didn’t.  Now that those journals are gone, I won’t be able to recall the majority of my memories of my time there anymore.  Those memories will stay buried without a way to bring them back up/call them to the front of my mind; that’s how my brain works nowadays.

My copic markers.  Multiple important government documents.  My binder of lyric games, and all of my supplies to play them (dice & multiple decks of cards [with different themes unique to each]). My physical copy of I’m sorry did you say street magic, the latter of which I used to run sessions in at multiple recovery centers.  My copies of Alice Oseman’s books.  The notes I made for Romance The Backroomsearly in its development process.  The sketchbook where I came up with the concept of a virtual band called Sailor Souls, drawing multiple comics with the characters that helped others on their mental health journeys as well as myself.  The sketchbook with the storyboards for my last Heart Town Huntersanimatic.

There’s so much more, but I’m literally incapable of remembering it all.

I’m glad that this game is at least here to preserve the memory of some of the items that were thrown away, but there’s so much gone—that small victory feels insignificant in comparison to the loss.  I don’t know what I’m going to do or where I’m going to go from here, but I knew I wanted to let those who have played this game know what has happened.

That’s all, I think.  Thank you for reading.

[kastelpls]

for those who don't know what ifcomp is, it's basically a competition where authors submit their interactive fiction to be judged for $$$. read the about page, i guess lol. i'm writing reviews on games, which have provoked me into the thinking emoji.

there are currently two reviews and i sure effortposted them lol.

[golmac]

the 2023 annual IF Competition is underway!

Go check out some games and rate them if you like. Lots of stuff to choose from. Judging is open through November 15.

[ode-to-odes]

IFComp Reviews: Setting Sail!

Day one of IFComp is finally here, and I've already started playing through the 75 entries we have this year. With a plethora of new authors, an abundance of nautical stories, and a fuckton of mysteries (not to mention the amount of nautical mysteries!), I have high hopes for the season. In order to give the uninterested less to scroll through, I'll leave my full impressions of games under the cut, with a TLDR for each one above.

I'm using IFComp's personal randomized list as my playing order to do my part in eliminating the quantity-of-votes bias that can occur in comps like this one. Thank you to whoever implemented that; I love the IF community so much.

Anyway, the first three games of the day are as follows:

Lake Starlight by SummersViaEarth TLDR: Polished, complete, with no (discovered) bugs and only a few comma mistakes, but I am very much not the target audience and as such didn’t enjoy playing it.

How Prince Quisborne the Feckless Shook His Title by John Ziegler TLDR: Hot Diggity Fizz! Play this game. Right Now. Seriously, it's one of the best parser games I've ever played, and I had to stop at the two hour limit. Be warned though, it's long as hell. Two hours is probably about 10% of time needed to complete.

All Hands by Natasha Ramoutar TLDR: Short, haunting, and while not (in my opinion) worthy of a place on the podium, it's definitely worthy of an attentive playthrough.

Full reviews below the cut!

Lake Starlight: This game was fairly short (took me less than half the listed time to finish it, although I’m admittedly a pretty fast reader). You play as a teenage girl who finds out she has magic and is whisked away to magic summer camp. Plus, the world is dystopian eco-hell. My first playthrough took me 35 minutes, and then I spent another five or so exploring different endings.

Overall, the writing has a very consistent voice and style, and I didn’t encounter any bugs during my playthrough, so the polish is definitely there, technically speaking. I found the themes to be a bit too cluttered to really get much out of the game, though - the author incorporates so many different mystical ideas and cultures that the whole thing starts to feel overdone. Additionally, the use of slang was a bit outdated and awkward? It very much felt like someone was trying to write a teenager, or a story that appeals to teenagers, without actually interacting with teenagers on a regular basis.

This game wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t for me. I do think my 13-year-old sister would’ve liked it more than I did, but as a college student with the ability to read and think critically AND with a better grasp on the language teens use today, I found it difficult to get through. If not for the comp, I don’t think it’s a game I would’ve played through to the end.

HPQtFSHT: I spent the morning reading through every summary of each game to get a feel for this year’s comp ✨vibe✨ and this one definitely grabbed my interest from the start. I’m honestly a bit disappointed it was second on my list to play because I like to save bigger parser games for the end.

And boy, is this game big. The first part/chapter/section of the game, intended to be assessed by the judges (estimated to take the allotted two hours) had me in an absolute chokehold. The world is so fun to explore, and the characters are all hilarious. The writing overall is probably my favorite part of the game, which is always a good omen in a long parser. The expressions used by characters, the names of locations and people, as well as the descriptions are all very consistently written, and written incredibly well. The narrative voice is hilarious, and I honestly laughed out loud at points in this game (the hamster dam, for example. love it.). Although it will take longer, I highly recommend reading the full text of the story when given the option, as it is just so much fun. I spent the entire time wondering whether or not fruitlet is a real word, laughing at PQ trying to whistle on that damn blade of grass, and searching for needles in haystacks and forks in the road.

In terms of gameplay, the puzzles were clever, and the use of Prince Quisborne as an assistant/squire/pet-adjacent companion is so fun. The flavor text describing his behavior gradually changes over time, reflecting his growth, which is just. So awesome. I only needed to use a hint once, and when I did, I realized I was struggling because I’d forgotten to examine something that was obviously important. Unnecessary items are automatically left behind (probably a good thing, as I probably would’ve raided a poor child’s treehouse if not for this feature).

Also, points for feelies! This game comes with a pdf map of the land you and PQ explore, and it’s gorgeously hand-drawn and easy to follow. You can also use the command MAP to pull it up in the interpreter, but I prefer keeping them both open on the same window for reference. Also, not a feelie, but the option to keep your inventory showing on the side of the window is super helpful. Oh, and the borders of the game are great, too! Not distracting, and very much add to the atmosphere.

This first, intended-to-be-judged, part of time game took me the better part of an hour, so I still had loads of time to spare to keep exploring and playing. And, as stated before, by me and others, it’s so, so massive. For context, the predicted two-hour-mark (one hour for me) ends with you at 15/300 points. An hour later than that, I was at 24/300 points.

I love this game so much already, and I’m not even 10% done, if the points system is to be believed. Also, I cannot believe this was written by a new author. Absolutely insane debut, Mr. Ziegler. My hats are off and my marbles are lost.

All Hands: This was the shortest game I’ve played so far (an admittedly low bar considering that I’ve only played three, and one of those was definitely in the top three longest games in this whole comp), but what it lacks in length it makes up for in atmosphere. A spooky story about revenge (or lack thereof), and my first nautical story of the comp, with many more sure to follow.

This one was predicted an at hour to play, but it only took me about 20 minutes to get through the whole thing, and then play again to explore some alternate possibilities. The writing is gorgeous and haunting, and I like that the three interaction options stay consistent throughout the game. Overall, I really enjoyed playing it. You’ve got a spooky ship to explore, spooky songs to listen to, and a spooky story to discover. It’s a great little reflective and atmospheric piece, and while I don’t think it really gets points for ambition or scale, it’s worth a playthrough.

[jaclynhyde]

Started my IFComp 2023 recs post! I'll be updating it as I play. Six games in and I've already recced three, so enjoying this year's crop!

(Play Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head it's amazing (check my post for a huge CW if you think you might need one))

[wigc]

The 29th 'IFComp' Has Interactive Fiction to Play (and Rate)

Hard to believe that IFComp has been a thing for nearly thirty years now. Thirty! Wow. It's only getting better each year iteration, too, and... oh, time to play and rate/vote on the 29th iteration, where 70+ pieces of interactive fiction await! Choose wisely and judge accordingly.

Continue reading

[manonamora-if-reviews]

One Knight Stand by A. Hazard

============= Links

Play the game (IFComp) See other reviews of the game Follow @oneknightstand-if

============= Synopsis

It's another humdrum day as the weekend winds to its inevitable end. The pandemic has stretched on for a decade now. A new serial killer stalks the streets. A ghost haunts your dreams. And your polo club is waiting. Exactly as expected. Just ignore the sounds in your living room. Just ignore that shadow scuttling across the floor. Just ignore the lies of the 'friend' whose known you for years. He's lying. She's lying. That stranger on the street is lying. And the voices whispering in your mind are definitely lying. Even this blurb is lying. But that's fine… Y̸̷̶̷̸̷̷̷̥͑̅̌̔̉ͯo̼̩̖̓ͪ̽͢ǔ̢͢͏̫͕͋'͎̬́͐ͥ᷇͢r̉͏͍̾᷉̓̓e͓͕ͦ̿᷅͆͠ l̜̻̈̅̃͢͞y̡̬͙̪̦̦ͧi̘᷅̓͒̐̍͑n̰͈᷅ͯͥͨ͜g̯᷾̒̑᷄̕͟ t̶̙͍̏͊᷈͠o̙̟ͦ̏̄ͭ͂ő̶͎̘̝̂

============= Other Info

One Knight Stand is a ChoiceScript game, submitted to the 2023 Edition of the IFComp.

Status: Completed Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy

CW: Violence, Language, Mature Themes, Body Horror, Mind Control -/ sound effect, animated elements.

============= Playthrough

Played: 3-Oct-2023 Playtime: around 1h30 (one playthrough) Rating: - [IFComp vote] Thoughts: Will probably be a ChoiceofGame darling

============= Review

Sitting at over 400k total words, One Knight Stand is quite a sizeable game, with extensive branching. It also is a demo (prologue + 1st chapter), meant to be part of a longer series. Characterised as a mashup between Among Us and Arthurian lore, the story will twist and turn at every corner. I found one Dead End.

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

The game is very much anchored in the ChoiceofGame style of interactive fiction, with its extensive, almost overwhelming, character creation, lengthy playthroughs, and variation galore. Replay value seems to be an important part of this entry, due to the many many choices available (some are even locked depending on previous choices).

While the amount of available content is impressive (400k for a single chapter is massive), the pace of the story is at times painfully slow. In part due to the extensive nature of the character creation. From requiring you to confirm every single character-building choice, to going into details about some trivial options (like the shade of your favourite colour has a dozen of option per hue), it often felt unnecessary and tiresome (be prepared for choice-fatigue here...).

The entry starts pretty intriguing, with a spooky nightmare set in an Arthurian setting, with a bone-chilling feeling that continues to follow you throughout the rest of the chapter (with creepy voices and creepy feelings)*. To balance it out, the prose strive to add humour when it can, from mentions of or punny winks about mainstream media (Knights of Our Lives, lol), to taking an almost sarcastic or parody approach to some situations**. The balance was not quite there, however, making me question whether the story was supposed to be primarily comedy or horror. *I had a bit checked-out by the time the horror started to pick up. ** It's kinda funny a fast-food server can be part of a Polo club...

While I was not particularly fan of the pronoun switch between the main text (you) and the choice list (I), as it sometimes broke the flow of reading, the formatting of the more horror-y beats (especially the ones with creepy sounds or anxious feelings) helped keeping things fresh. Another thing I hope will be used further into the game was the phone element, specifically the texting side-"game". The options of sending back messages were pretty funny (yay for creepypasta).

For a ChoiceofGame style game, it has a pretty solid base and I suspect it could become quite popular with CoG fans. But I don't think it's my kind of game (I was almost relieved when I reached the end, even if it wasn't a "good" one).

I'm calling it now: you are the long lost child of the Phone Company CEO.

[ifcomp]

Welcome to the 30th Annual IFComp!

2024 IFComp Logo, by Lauren Davies

We’re glad you’re here. If this is your first time joining us, welcome! If you’re already familiar with us, welcome back! Either way, we hope you have a great time and enjoy exploring some of the over sixty new games we have for you this year.

What's next? 

Check out the games, now live at ifcomp.org 

You have until October 15, 2023 at 11:59pm Eastern to vote. 

You only have to play & rate 5 games to be a judge! (Yep, just five!)

We would love to expand the number of judges! You can help!

Talk about the competition on social media, and encourage others to check out all these new games. Consider playing with a friend or family member who is new to interactive fiction, talk about the games together, and encourage them to vote as well. Thanks! 

We will do a post-competition survey to capture your ideas for improving the competition in the future, so if you have thoughts about improvements, please watch for the survey in October.

Email us at ifcomp@ifcomp.org if you have any questions.

Thank you in advance for judging!

—Jacqueline Ashwell, September 2024

[twinegardening]

The Gift of What You Notice More by Xavid and Zan

If you're gonna get your heart broke, you'd better do it just right... It's the middle of the night and you're trying to pack your things. But can you really bring yourself to walk through the door? And how did it come to this? If only you had three mysterious poets to help you figure things out... The Gift of What You Notice More is a surreal escape-room-esque puzzle-based Twine game about memories and choices. Content warning: relationship troubles

[kastelpls]

i wrote about an IF work that talks about a controversial artist i had no idea about. topics include queer desire and aria's Love and Dehumanization.

[golmac]

Since a few reviewers of LAKE Adventure mentioned Repeat the Ending by name, I decided to have a look.

Spoiler: It's really good!

[ode-to-odes]

IFComp Reviews: We're Not Sailing in Circles... Right?

Here's the next three reviews from the comp! For some reason, all three of these involved going back in time/UNDOing/time loops. Makes you wonder how random that randomizer is.

Last Valentine's Day by Daniel Gao Polished little time loop. Fun to play, thoughtful commentary on love, romance, and relationships. Short and sweet; I actually couldn't find any meaningful difference between options (this one is choice-based), which I don't love, but if you're looking for a ten-minute piece that'll make you think, this is the one for you.

One King to Loot Them All by Onno Brouwer TLDR: Linear parser about wearing a loincloth and swinging an axe. Fun to play, and I'd actually recommend this to players just starting out in IF (though you should probably play a game with standard commands first).

DICK MCBUTTS GETS KICKED IN THE NUTS by Hubert Janus TLDR: Don't give up after the first ending you reach. Nor the second. Nor the tenth. And if you see flashing neon lights, you've got the wrong file.

Full reviews (and spoilers!) below the cut.

No full length reveiw for Last Valentine's Day. It's so short that what I wrote above is really all I have to say.

OKtLTA: My favorite part about this game was actually the custom commands. They added an extra element to the tone of the game without being so outlandish as to confuse the player into checking the command list every other turn. The writing was very consistent with no obvious mistakes (the combat scenes were especially engaging and fun to read), and I encountered no bugs while playing.

The game is very linear, with no red herrings; don’t go into this game expecting a puzzle adventure, because that’s really not what the focus is. The one thing which was unexpected and moderately confusing (moreso to a seasoned player than a new one, which is interesting) was [SPOILERS] the use of the UNDO command in the game. I struggled with how far back I had to go with it before the end goal became obvious. This was mostly confusing because it’s a new use of a mechanic which is typically unused or relatively ignored within games, so seeing something different done with it was jarring. However, once you get used to it, it’s actually really cool. Make sure you read the descriptions as you’re going.

To players used to twisty, puzzle-y parsers, this game might feel a little too linear. That was certainly how I felt, but I don’t think it makes it a bad game: just one that I didn’t feel as engaged in as some other parsers I’ve played. I do think it would be a great game for a beginning IF player or a player looking for some more slashing and hacking than they might normally find in a parser game. The helpful hints and storymode contribute to that rec for beginners as well. It’s clever, funny, and a strong debut work which I had fun playing, so. There you go.

DMGKitN:

Okay, I’ll be honest: this game wasn’t next in my randomly assigned list. But after reading through the confusion regarding the two versions of this game floating around, I just had to play it. I managed to access both versions of the game. When I chose the “Play Online” version, I was given the crazy one, with flashing colors and words and general confusion. I do think this version is elevated by the fact that there’s an actual game to be played elsewhere, or else it would definitely be a very confusing entry (as we’ve seen already). To be so honest, as someone who’s never used twine, I actually thought the flashing colors and weird changing perspective of the page was kind of impressive, but maybe that’s actually easy to do. I wouldn’t know.

The longer and visually calmer version of the game was fun, though. This one I got by downloading the game file, by the way. I did suffer through a few iterations before realizing that the undo button was not there for decoration and I could just go back if I made a choice I didn’t like. That said, I saw quite a few of the endings, and I’m pretty sure I made it to the fullest ending, which was definitely worth the wait. While it took me a minute to get into the story, once it’s really going and you’re exploring the different options, it’s actually a pretty funny experience.

And as a checkmark, all the writing, grammar, coding, etc. was perfect. Points for polish.

[manonamora-if]

Retrospective 2023 (2)

See Part 1 for the Retrospective Infographic

2023 has been a rollercoaster of stuff, with some very high-highs, and some pretty low-lows. Things have been pretty busy this year, then got busier and weirder. I didn't manage to do things I wanted to do, ending up doing a lot of different things instead. This year was kinda the perfect storm to do all those new stuff and experimentation I've published.

It's been good, it's been bad, it's been ugly, and it's been cool. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Long post ahead - breaking here.

Goals for 2023

Last year, I made big-ass post about what I hoped to achieved during those next 12 months. The main one being: Get things off my desk and shelf it for good! The goal was to finish WIPs and remasters of "completed" projects.

And I... somewhat did that? But also... did whatever. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Taking the list of the "plan":

Goncharov Escapes! was: re-written, re-coded, and translated (to French). The new version also now includes music!

La Petite Mort was: re-written, added content, and translated (to English) for this year's Ectocomp. It just need one more or two things tho

The demo of P-Rix - Space Trucker is now playable on mobile! (and the template based on the game is out too)

The Trials and Tribulations of Edward Harcourt didn't get just one but TWO updates last year!

A bunch of templates! 5 to be exact: 3 focused more on visuals (Sci-Fi, VN, Title), and the other 2 more on code (Setting, Charac Creator).

So... what's extra? Well... a lot. Maybe too much...

A lot of new titles under my name: DOL-OS, The Rye in the Dark City (wip), The Roads not Taken, À la Campagne, Entre-d'oeuf coquilles/An Eggcellent Preparation, Collision, Intersigne, Clarence Street 14, The Dinner, In the Blink of an Eye, Tower of Sleep, and Dévoiement. From bite-size to full large game, that makes TWELVE new thing this year! I... may have gone a bit overboard with this...

Aside from the template, I've also worked on the SugarCube Guide, a guide that covers all markup, macros, functions, methods, and APIs of the SugarCube format. From the basics to the very advanced code ~ Which will receive another update when the 2.37 comes out for real.

After the @seedcomp-if, I continued to organised more IF events: Neo-Twiny Jam, Single Choice Jam, Orifice Jam, Bring Out Your Ghost, Bare-Bones Jam, ShuffleComp... and helped out other events (the IFComp, y'all!).

I've been a tad less active on the Tumblr front lately, mainly because I've hung out more on the Forum or the @neointeractives Discord. But I've been plenty active reviewing games, especially since last May (@manonamora-if-reviews). The count is over 300 now...

I made a zine?????

So yeah... A LOT this year. (and there would have been more had I not gotten sick...)

2023 Achievements and Milestones

There were probably a bunch of itch/analytics milestones this year, but... I've tried to stay away from numbers as much as I could, because I realised it was a source of anxiety. I want to make games for fun, not worry that I haven't achieved a certain play level by a certain date. So I've even edited my itch's dashboard to hide it all. (I'm still updating the analytics sheet once in a while tho) And anyway... nothing will ever be as popular as CRWL, even when I'm trying to push other - and much better imo - games down everyone's throats.

Some other stats on itch:

22 [total] games on itch (incl. the experiments & demos) we're getting closer to my goal of 1 game/birthdays

9 free-to-use prompts

7 free-to-use templates

3 coding guides

1 zine

I also participated in 22 different jams and comps, almost always using one game for multiple jams at once (I'm crazy, but not that crazy). I ranked pretty high on multiple jams, which I am really happy about, and got some amazing reviews and lovely comments. A bunch of my games from 2022 were nominated for the IFDB Awards (and two were mentioned in the Top50 IF too)! (maybe next time I'll get a spot too !)

But the major thing coming out of it all was winning a big competition too, with DOL-OS at the start of the year. Holy shit, did that make my year. I really wasn't expecting it because so many of the games that year were incredible! This was such a confidence booster! I think that's my biggest achievement this year. (I just finished the puzzle I won too, and that was loads of fun) I am so so so proud of that game, especially after releasing the remaster.

Some non-numerical achievements I'm happy about:

I continued experimenting this year, with non-linear stories (DOL-OS), shorter and more kinetic content (Neo-Interactive jam entries), and... well... a thing. The experimentation included trying out other programs to make game too!

Speaking of the thing... I've made a monster of a Twine, creating a bad (oh so bad in convention) parser... which I still haven't finished fixing. I talked at length about here.

I've made an actual proper parser game, following the conventions of the medium... and enjoyed it a lot. From creating puzzles to solving the puzzle that was coding it. It didn't rank super high, but it got some good reactions! Making a parser strangely helped me playing them, and appreciate them more.

Has it been a lot of stuff? Yeah... it feels a bit like a lot...

Some 2023 personal things

Like last year, I've continued to struggle with feeling like I was not doing enough during the year (or the month, before doing the monthly dev logs). Not enough words written or progress made. It was a pervasive thing last year, and I've been working on myself to feel less so, especially with all I've been doing anyway this year. But it's still there.

I think I recently found one of the reasons I've been feeling this way: not working on or finishing the WIPs I started with back in 2021 and in 2022, not making substantial progress that would warrant an update... It's been especially hard when seeing other authors churn out updates left and right and I have little to nothing to show for. Maybe that's why I've been compensating with all the new little projects and jam entries throughout the year (and half-way through 2022). I mean... there hasn't been a month where I didn't publish something new, whether it was an update, or a new game, or a template/guide, or brought out a whole-ass remaster of a game.

And by working on those other little things, I think I found myself in some sort of cycle, where the time spent on those new things is not spent on the WIPs, and I start feeling bad about it. But when I open the file, with all that pressure I put myself, nothing gets written or fixed. So I distract myself with a different thing... and I end up not making any progress on the WIP. It sucks, because I want to see those WIPs done. I want to finish those stories. But it's been hard. Who'd have thunk it??? I'm a stupid human being after all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I know breaking that cycle will happen... when I work on those darn WIPs. I just need to push myself to get there... But I also want to enjoy what I am writing too, because the quality of the writing really sucks when I force it... So silliness has been happening in the meantime.

Will it continue like this? In the near future, most likely. Hopefully not to the extend of the past year and a half. At best, I'd want to have 1-2 updates on a bit WIP, 1-2 new medium-sized games, and a handful small silly experiments, during a year.

Not that I owe anyone an explanation, but anons being nasty about the whole no-progress thing - essentially why @crimsonroseandwhitelily was offline for a whole while, or why I haven't answered many questions lately.

Also gonna take this moment to not address the very personal stuff that happened IRL, even with the very insisting messages I got. I was tempted to go on a whole tangent about what's been going on, but I'm a bit paranoid about my privacy on the internet (and with the anons wilding lately, I've become more careful), and I don't really want IRL to flood this space either (more than it has anyway - considered leaving a few times tbh). I like this specific corner to not be about IRL, to have it as an escape and spend some time just not having to think about it. So yea... you can ask all you want, I'm not going to answer. But it's been a time... I'm coping by being here damnit. Maybe you'll get an(other) autobio game about it one day xD

Here's to a more peaceful state of mind (and inbox) next year...

2023 is OVER officially

And what a fucking year this was. It's made me even more excited to see what 2024 has in store for me.

I want to learn more, for sure. I think I reached a bit of a plateau with SugarCube, where the only thing I feel I haven't tried yet is some sort of RPG adventure/combat system. Or diving further in JavaScript/jQuery (it's inevitable...). Or have less of a spaghetti code... Though it didn't really start as a conscious effort, I'm glad I tried different IF programs and Twine formats this year. It helped me think more about IF game structure and coding. It really pushed me to grow and appreciate the variety there is in IF outside of Tumblr. It did reinforce my love for Twine, especially SugarCube xD

I know I've complained about having done a lot but also not feeling I did enough, but strangely this year has also been pretty fulfilling. Having achieved things I didn't think I could, mess around and create unmentionable bits of code that should not have seen the light of day, learned how to handle new formats, met and talked with a bunch of cool and knowledgeable IF peeps, and just tried to do some good for the community.

I would love to be as fulfilled in this new year too!

I was shocked with all the good things I got in 2022, but I didn't imagine it would be even better this year. How much I got out of this year. How much I got done. How much I learned. How much I grew as a person and a creator. I'm glad I stuck around another year.

I'm really lucky I was able to have the year I had, to be surrounded by such lovely people, to get such positive return on stuff, to be in this community, to have the friends I have, to still be here.

So, thanks for sticking around too, and partake in my silliness :)

[wigc]

It's Time: 'Interactive Fiction Competition 2023' Accepting Intents & Entries

I may sound like a broken record at this point, but... this marks the 29th year for the Interactive Fiction Competition (aka. IFComp), a competition focused entirely on the wonderful world of interactive fiction. Twenty-nine years. Man, that's a lot of choose-your-own-adventure tales! Oh, and this year will be adding to an already ridiculously large library, as IFComp 2023 recently opened its doors.

Continue reading

[manonamora-if-reviews]

Lake Starlight by SummersViaEarth

============= Links

Play the game See other reviews of the game

============= Synopsis

You are young and female and coming-of-age on a planet in utter chaos--its people on a path to ecocide and self-destruction. Magic runs in your blood, but you're just a kid and you're stuck in a toxic little town with no way out. Except…today you wake up to new choices. Will you learn to harness your inner magic or sleepwalk through your planet's darkest days?

============= Other Info

Lake Starlight is a Twine(SugarCube) game, submitted to the 2023 Edition of the IFComp. It ranked 57th overall.

Status: Completed Genre: YA Fiction, Fantasy, Coming-of-Age

CW: mention of death, drug use, destruction

============= Playthrough

Played: 14-Dec-2023 Playtime: around 45min Rating: 2 /5 Thoughts: Magic Summer Camp - The Extended Intro

============= Review

Lake Starlight is an incomplete young-adult fantasy game, where you play as a teenage girl on the day of her "coming-of-age" celebration, during which she will be given the choice to go to a Magical Summer Camp(tm) to harness her powers or * shrug *. Themes of sisterhood, environmental justice and anti-corporation are prevalent throughout the story. The current version includes two endings: a "sad" one, and the end of Book 1 (which ends abruptly).

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

I didn't particularly enjoy this game, honestly. It wasn't much of the typical YA setting where the Earth is on fire, society is really bad, but you (yes you! a teenager) can change the course of humanity and solve all its problem (with magic!) - those can be pretty fun! But the execution didn't quite click with me.

I think part of my issue with it was both in how lengthy the passages where, giving the player little to do but try to digest the over-exposition of concepts or other characters. I'd often go dozens of passages before I could do something... if the game wouldn't pull the rug from under me and end up choosing for myself instead. I wondered what the point of it all was…

Even if the game goes all-in with the exposition, and in a pretty cliché way (a very-YA style), it often does very little with the concepts introduced. The world is pretty bad all around, but who cares, here's your ticket to essentially Heaven on Earth for the summer. Meet a bunch of girls with tragic or at least interesting backstories, but you don't get much to do with them or engage with those background either. The reason for it being the story being incomplete. One would hope this would end up being more fleshed out when/if the game updates.

I played this game twice, finding the bad ending first... and I think I liked that ending better. It at least gave closure. The "good" path of Book 1 ends too abruptly…