#neointeractives

[neointeractives]

Neo-Twiny Jam 2025

Returning for a third edition! Still fundraising for LGBTQ+ organisations! Come make a Tiny Game for charity!

The Neo Twiny Jam is an Interactive Fiction Jam with one rule:

Don't write more than 500 words.

Any type of Interactive Fiction is welcome, from any kind of IF system/format, regardless of genre/theme.

You are not limited to Twine only. Use any program you want as long as the output is interactive fiction.

NSFW content is acceptable (NSFW themes must be clearly indicated in the submission).

Sounds, graphics and code are not included in the word count.

No AI/LLM generated content, incl. game cover/title card.

No Hate/Spam submissions.

You must credit any asset used.

The Neo Twiny Jam will run from June 1st 2025 (12:00 AM/00:00 EST) to June 30th 2025 (12:00 AM/00:00 PST).

This Jam is unranked.

The inspiration for this jam comes from Porpentine's Twiny jam, which ran in 2015. During the original three-week jam, creators were asked to submit a Twine game with no more than 300 words.

Like the previous years, I will be matching the number of entries into a donation to an LGBTQ+ charity - Trevor Project and SAGE. Please contact us if you would like to donate as well.

Join the Jam!

We will track entries on Tumblr with the #neotwinyjam, but you can also tag @neointeractives/@neo-twiny-jam!

Join the Neo-Interactive Discord 

[neo-twiny-jam]

Looking to donate? LGBTQ+ orgs

This post will be updated as we get more links.

Every year, during the Neo-Twiny Jam, we feature LGBTQ+ organisations for our fundraiser. Donors often add to the list with causes they wish to support.

If you are looking to donate to an LGBTQ+ organisation, but don't know where to start, you can find below an incomplete list, organised by country.

Featured during Neo-Twiny Jam

Equality Florida (2023) raised $523 total

A4TE (2024) as well as Trevor Project and MermaidsUK raised $618 total

Trevor Project and SAGE (2025)

We're always looking for donors to pledge during the jam, matching the submission count or a set amount! Contact us if you'd like to be included!

Other Organisations to Donate to

If we missed an organisation or your country isn't included, let us know so we can add it!

Global

OutRight Action International

Human Rights Campaign

ILGA World

United States

Ali Forney Center

American Civil Liberties Union

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

The Attic Youth Center

Audre Lorde Project

Center for Black Equity

Family Equality

Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network

GLAAD

GLSEN

Hetrick-Martin Institute

It Gets Better Project

Lambda Legal - Lambda Literary - LGBTQ Writers in School

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center

LGBTQ Freedom Fund

The Marsha P. Johnson Institute

The Matthew Shepard Foundation

National Center for Lesbian Rights

The Okra Project

Out & Equal

The Point Foundation

Pride Foundation

Sylvia Rivera Law Project

Trans Lifeline

Transgender Law Center

United Kingdom

Affirmation Scotland

akt

Elton John AIDS Foundation

Kaleidoscope Trust

LGBT Foundation

LGBT Youth Scotland

MindOut

Naz and Matt Foundation

Pride in Gloucestershire (done)

The Proud Trust LTD

The Rainbow Project

Sparkle

Stonewall

Trans Aid Cymru

UK Black Pride

France

AcceptessT

ActUpParis

Collectif Famille-s

Fédération LGBTI+

Fondation Le Refuge

SOS Homophobie

Netherlands

COC Nederland

Belgium

Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations

Spain

Federación Estatal LGTBI+

Italy

ARCIGAY

Germany

Lesben- und Schwulenverband in Deutschland

Trans-Kinder-Netz

Mexico

Yaaj Mexico

Poland

Grupa Stonewall

KPH

[romanhyacinths]

A Winter Away is a 5-10 minute, (mostly) epistolary visual novel about a daughter duck processing being far away from her aging mama. Made in 5 days, from scratch, for the @neointeractives Dialogue Jam.

All art, programming, and writing by yours truly! Play it here: https://roman-hyacinths.itch.io/a-winter-away

[petricakegames]

Nobody Cares About Charley

Developed in May 2024 for The Locus Jam--an interactive fiction mini-jam all about places, spaces, and rooms. Come create an IF piece set in one specific place!

Nobody Cares About Charley is a short, interactive fiction game written made with Ink. You're on lunchbreak, trying to get as many minutes of peace as your limited time will allow. Explore the Employee Breakroom, avoid your coworkers, prove that you care about Charley...because no one else does.

About:

Around 4,200 words

Multiple endings

Play time under 30min

PLAY THE GAME

[manonamora-if]

(Hope you feel better, Anon!)

👋

one of the Neo-Int mod/organiser chiming!

Our monthly jams, which are announced on Tumblr (@neointeractives) and our Discord, have a bunch of different themes and restrictions. While we do not have a monster jam per se (our Bare-Bones Jam in October will come back!) , we welcome and encourage non-traditional works of IF, whether it's form (kinetic/experimental), or content (diverse/minority stories).

Want to make all your entries monster-based? Come on in! Submit! :D

Our current jam Smoochie Jam runs until the end of the month! And our next jam (official announcement soon) might interest you ;)

hi! im (attempting) to finish something in time for the vampire jam, but in case that doesn’t happen — are there any plans for similar jams in the future? i’d love to participate in Anything queer monster related, the timing was just bad for me this time (i got covid)

aww i'm sorry :( i hope you feel better! we did extend the deadline to the 25th, in case you didn't see that announcement earlier.

i do want to do a werewolf jam, maybe in the summer. vampjamp has been a kinda learning experience i guess, and my first time putting something like this together (with the help & encouragement of @nyehilismwriting and @attollogame) and i do think i would like to make it an annual thing, around valentine's day every year.

next year i think i might try and do a theme (beyond just queer vampires), and i'll probably bite the bullet and make a discord for it... i think we would benefit from a central hub, i'm just shy...............

anyways all that to say that i do plan for a werewolf jam. maybe june or july? i thought about doing it in the fall but i know a lot of people will be in school/approaching exams and i want to try and make it open as possible for everyone (plus there are lots of halloween jams around that time, too). but halloween in the summer mayhaps 🤔

and i will pass the word on to @neointeractives that the people crave monster jams 🧛‍♀️⚰️🐺👻🧟

[neointeraction]

At Neointeraction Design, we specialize in creating seamless, user-centered digital experiences through our expert UI/UX design services. With over 15 years of industry experience, we’ve collaborated with businesses and startups across various sectors to bring innovative designs to life. Our services include user research, wireframing, UI development, and accessibility design, ensuring each project is tailored to meet your business goals. We deliver designs that are not only visually stunning but also enhance functionality, usability, and accessibility.

Explore our UI/UX design services and discover how we can help transform your digital presence. From user research to product design, we’ve got you covered with resource augmentation, dedicated teams, and fixed price delivery models. Our approach ensures predictable results and top-tier quality.

[thesophiades]

No wayyyy- I just found out ur the person who makes those ifs I love 😭😭😭😭 -an egg

that's me! this is a very sweet ask, thanks!

[hpowellsmith]

Hey, I'm sure you get asked this all the time, but I've been writing my entire life, and while I've self-published some novels with moderate success, the content is not something I'm interested in sharing with future employers (unless it's Heart's Choice). I have a very stable day job in a different industry, but *really* want to break into professional writing, specifically interactive fiction, visual novels and TTRPGs. Could you recommend some good ways to start building pro experience?

Hello, thank you so much for your ask!

Sadly the field is in a very bad place at the moment, thanks to tech companies jumping on LLM trains, investor monopolies, and focusing on Number Go Up Forever rather than sustainability. There are very few junior roles around especially if writers don't already have professional experience in games, each one gets huge numbers of applications, and I constantly hear from friends who have applied to a position only for, partway through the process, it to be made redundant, the project to be cancelled, or even the studio to be closed. Things have changed a lot for the worse since I was first applying for things years years ago, and it's hard to see when and how it'll improve.

That said!

As you've self-published books before, you'll likely be at an advantage for writing interactive fiction has a lot of crossover with skills, especially with prose-type games like the ones published by Choice of Games/Hosted Games/Heart's Choice. If you're interested in getting into selling your interactive fiction, I'd recommend trying out tools like ChoiceScript and Twine and making some smaller pieces to get to grips with branching and variables.

Publishing with Choice of Games/Hosted Games/Heart's Choice is the most reliable way of making money from interactive fiction that I've seen; you can also self-publish entirely (using Twine, ink, or whatever other coding language) on itchio or Steam. Some people self-publish interactive fiction on Patreon which, for a small number of writers, can be very lucrative but you'd want to make sure to share some of your work publicly as well so that people can get excited about it. For better or worse, Patreon monetisation often focuses on things other than completing a project, such as short stories about characters or alternative versions of scenes; this might or might not be your thing. (The ChoiceScript licence also requires you to make ChoiceScript material after a month at most so do be aware of that.)

Every so often (less often these days due to aforementioned industry crisis) mobile companies are founded, offering platforms for monetisable IF/visual novel-ish mobile games; unfortunately they don't often stay around for long, and/or they often get bought out by LLM companies. One that's lasted longer than others is Dorian, but I've not worked with them so can't speak to how good they are to make games with; I've heard a few things both positive and negative so it's worth doing your homework and contacting people who've worked with them if you're interested.

For ChoiceScript, CoG and Heart's Choice offer an advance and editing, plus royalties, with a house style and (very flexible) deadlines; Hosted Games allows fuller freedom but there's no editing or advance. Lots of people get a lot out of both. As you've published your writing before, it's worth applying to CoG or HC if that's the direction you'd like to go in.

In general, joining game jams or comps is a good way of honing your skills. You could do this solo or join a group. Either way, it will develop your skills and give you something to put into a portfolio. There are various themed interactive fiction game jams on itch.io - I'd recommend following @/neointeractives and @/interact-if as they often share information when they come up.

I'm sorry that I can't give more concrete advice - at the moment it boils down to "make some interactive work that you're proud of", I think, and certainly keep the stable job going while you do it. It's a tough time all round, unfortunately.

If you or anyone reading is interested in applying to write for Choice of Games or Heart's Choice, is working on an outline for them, or is contracted with them, and has any questions or would like any info or advice about the process- feel free to drop me an ask, email, or message. I've been doing this for a long time and have gone through the pitch/outline process seven times now, so I know my way around it pretty well!

Best of luck with your interactive writing!

[manonamora-if]

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!

[lapinlunaire-games]

hello tumblr if this place ceases to be i am to be found at:

itch.io (lapinlunaire-games)

neocities (lapinlunaire-games)

the @neointeractives discord

[northern-passage]

hiya! i really enjoyed faith lat year (playing on the reg tbh its just SO good)

are we gonna seemore tiny pieces in the future? like u did with faith for that charity jam? (u know if they are doin it again?)

hi!! yes they are actually doing neo-twiny jam again! check out the post here! it starts June 1st! this year they're raising money for TransEquality.

i definitely recommend following @neointeractives they've been hosting a lot of little jams throughout the year & are a good place to find short-form IF works.

as of now, i am planning to write something for it again this year, this time using inkle. we'll see if i'm successful with it hahahaha

[neointeractives]

Smoochie Jam!

A Valentine's Interactive Fiction Jam

For this Valentine's month, you can help make romance happen with a smooch!

The Smoochie Jam is a month-long unranked jam all about kisses, real or imagined, love and romance.  The name and concept of this jam were inspired the original SmoochieComp in 2001, hosted by Emily Short.

Games should be about romance, kissing, or the deliberate subversion thereof. Here is an optional list of story ideas and concepts:

♡ first kiss, last kiss ♡ kissing in the rain ♡ kiss of life (or kiss of death) ♡ sealed with a kiss ♡ kiss with a fist ♡ spaghetti kiss

Constraints and Rules:

Your Entry should relate to romance, love, kisses, or the deliberate subversion thereof.

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 a 15-30min maximum gameplay.

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

Games should not include any generated AI content (incl. Cover Image/Game Page). Entries using AI/LLM will be removed.

Assets used must be properly credited.

Spam or hateful content will not be accepted.

Join the Jam!

We will track entries on Tumblr with the #smoochiejam, but you can also tag @neointeractives!

Join the Neo-Interactive Discord

[neo-twiny-jam]

Neo Twiny Jam will come back!

Hi!

It's Manon (@manonamora-if) again. And with June coming up soon, so will the Neo Twiny Jam return. Full details about the jam will be announced at @neointeractives in a few weeks. The main constraint is still the same.

The jam won't be the only thing returning this year.

Once more, I will be matching the number of submitted entries* into a donation for an LGBTQ+ charity. *only valid entries following the rules will count as submitted. Spam/Hateful content will be removed.

Last year, we raised $523.00- for Equality Florida, thanks to all the entries submitted and individual donators.

This year, I will be donating to the National Center for Transgender Equality (or TransEquality).

If you would like to participate in this charity drive, consider participating in this year's Neo Twiny Jam! And if you are thinking of matching a donation to TransEquality or any other LGBTQ+ charity, please let us (@neo-twiny-jam/@neointeractives) know so we can coordinate our efforts!

-Manon

The Neo Twiny Jam is an interactive fiction game jam commemorating the Twiny Jam, organised in 2015 by Porpentine, an influential trans voice in the medium whose games helped popularised the use of Twine as a game developing tool.

[romanhyacinths]

Inspired by Greek mythology and T.S. Eliot, WAITING FOR THE DEATH WIND is a short visual novel created by yours truly in a week for #dialoguejam 2025 by @neointeractives.

Fully voice acted! Original music! It's free! What's not to love! Play it in-browser here: https://roman-hyacinths.itch.io/waiting-for-the-death-wind

[tabitha-writes]

New IF #2! Second in this pair of entries, each starring Yaan or Kel trying to get through a Situation.

Made for the @neointeractives' 2024 Neo-Twiny jam. Four possible endings, ~490 words.

[if-seal]

how do you keep going with a project if you lose the motivation? i have so many unfinished stories :/ pls help, o wise seal

Dear Friend In Need of Motivation,

Did you know that elephant seals can hold their breath for up to two hours? I can't do that, though: I can do about 30 minutes.

Which is to say that not all of us are holding-our-breath-for-two-hours kinds of seals. And even if we are, we need to practise.

Friend, it is entirely understandable to have a collection of unfinished stories. I have SO many. Sometimes they feel like a great idea at the time, or we get a burst of enthusiasm at the start but then the plot doesn't make sense anymore, or we move onto the next one because it's so shiny and delicious.

Just to say that you are entirely not alone in this.

There is a bit of an overlap with yesterday's Friend With A Scene Of Much Importance so first I will point you towards the practical advice there about keeping on track with writing. In particular breaking what you need to do down into small chunks, planning it out before writing, and trying just five minutes of work may help you.

But motivation for a whole project is a bigger question.

Time to get a nice beverage of your choice - I like iced lemonade - and do some introspection about what brings you joy about your project. Is it immersing yourself in a world? Making characters happy or miserable? Surprising players with twists and turns? Whatever it is, keep it in your mind. Make a post-it. Write it on the side of the bath in bubbles.

If a lot of your joy is about getting feedback and people hyping your work, be cautious! That is a fantastic feeling but it's harder to rely on it than something within you. Chase that intrinsic motivation if you can, friend!

That said! If you're able to share your story with someone you trust, and say "I am feeling down about this and really need some cheerleading, can you tell me what's great about it" that can be a great way to boost motivation and remind you what you love about your work.

I also suggest having a document with notes about each New Shiny Idea that comes up while you're working on a long project. That way your brain will recognise that you've paid attention to the idea and will hopefully not bother you so much about doing THIS ONE NOW.

You may want to consider simplifying your unfinished game, or starting small, especially if you have never finished a game before. I know how exciting it is to find a huge squid and want to eat it all, but sometimes it's just a bit much and a dogfish is more manageable. Check out the beautiful games in the @neo-twiny-jam which have only 500 words or the original Twiny Jam, or the Single Choice Jam from @neointeractives which contain only a single choice. Making a small game is a glorious feeling because you get that dopamine rush of having completed something and it's not such a long process.

Ultimately each story you write is a story only YOU can tell. Your perspective, your experience, your skills, will bring something special and different. Your gay selkie will be different to Sealy McSeal's gay selkie even if you are both writing a similar lighthouse romance. Finishing a game, even a small one, will give you so much more understanding about how interactive stories hang together.

Now. The tricky bit.

Because sometimes despite our efforts a game just doesn't hang together and we leave it behind. If that happens be kind to yourself about it, understand that every project is a learning experience, and let it go.

Because you will have learned something - even if it's as small as "I don't want to try something that complicated again" or "I need a less sandboxy approach" or "this game would work better with storylets" or "I don't actually feel able to tackle merfolk governance in this game". It may be larger, like developing your descriptive skill, or figuring out a particular way of coding, or doing something interesting with UI, or framing choices in a way you haven't before. Either way, it does have value even if it's unfinished.

You might consider putting it in the Bring Out Your Ghosts Jam from @neointeractives so you can show off what you did and formally say goodbye so it's not hanging over you like a sinister-looking clump of seaweed anymore. You might look at it in the future and cannibalise it for other work, or enjoy your turns of phrase or the tricky code you got working; you might never look at it again.

That's all OK. Not everything gets finished.

But I believe that you can finish something. If you've done it before, you can do it again. And if you haven't yet, you've got that in your future. Good luck!