The 7th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition Introduction ------------ What began seven years ago as an effort to encourage the development of short works of interactive fiction has grown into a competition involving some fifty authors and around two hundred judges. Each year people from around the world write text adventures that can be played in two hours or less. In recent years the definition of what interactive fiction is has changed, as each year more games with graphics and sound are entered in the competition. Whether you've never played a text adventure before in your life, or you've judged in every competition since 1995, we're glad you're taking part. Welcome to the Seventh Annual Interactive Fiction Competition. Playing The Games ----------------- (Note: for the latest information, please visit the competition web site at http://www.ifcomp.org) You may play the competition games in any order you choose. However, if you don't think you'll have time to play all of the games before the end of the voting period, you are encouraged to use Comp01.z5. Comp01 is a front end for the competition which is designed to look like a text adventure. It has information about all of the games, and will present them to you in random order. That way, even if you don't play all of the games you will have played a random sampling of them. Comp01 can also keep track of the scores you give each game. You don't have to use Comp01, but if you decide to give it a try, load it using a Z-machine interpreter (more on Z-machine interpreters in a moment) and type ABOUT for more information. There are two types of competition games: interpreted games and platform-specific executables. Interpreted Games Interpreted games are written using a computer-independent language, and can thus in general be run under many different operating systems. To play an interpreted game, you need an interpreter. There are several types of interpreted games in the competition. The first are TADS games. They are found in the tads folder of the competition directory. The filenames of TADS games end in .gam, and they are run using a TADS interpreter. You can find TADS interpreters at http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXtadsXexecutables.html The second are Inform, or Z-machine, games. They are found in the inform folder of the competition directory. The filenames of Inform games end in .z5, .z6, or .z8, and are run using a Z-machine interpreter. Z-machine interpreters can be found at http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpreters.html The third are Glulx games. They are found in the glulx folder of the competition directory. The filenames of Glulx games end in .ulx or .blb, and are run using Glulxe. You can get a copy of Glulxe from http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXglulxXinterpretersXglulxe.html The fourth are ALAN games. They are found in the alan folder of the competition directory. ALAN games consist of two files, one ending in .acd, the other in .dat, and are run using an ALAN interpreter. You can find one at http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXalanXexecutables.html The fifth are ADRIFT games. They are found in the adrift folder of the competition directory. ADRIFT games run only on Windows systems. You can get the ADRIFT Runner at http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~jcw/adventure/ The sixth are Quest games. They are found in the quest folder of the competition directory. Quest games run only on Windows systems. You can download the Quest package from http://www.axeuk.com/quest/ The seventh are web-based games. This year there is one game written in Java. It can be found in the web folder of the competition directory. You can play the game on any computer that has the Java VM installed. To play it, load the .htm file from that directory in a browser. Platform-Specific Games This year there are two types of platform-specific games: MSDOS and Windows games. The MSDOS games are found in the msdos folder of the competition directory. The Windows games are found in the windows folder of the competition directory. They are playable only on DOS and Windows systems or with a DOS or Windows emulator. Rating The Games ---------------- Rate each game you play by giving it a whole-number score from 1 to 10. Larger numbers are better. Your rating must be based on no more than two hours of cumulative playing time. If, after playing a game for two hours, you want to keep playing it, you must give it a score *and not change that score later if you resume play*. Comp01 can keep track of your scores for you, which will make submitting them easier. You must submit them before the end of the day on November 15th, 2001. Submitting Your Scores ---------------------- Once you have played and rated as many games as you can before the November 15th deadline, you need to submit your scores. You do not have to play all of the games to vote; however, you must play at least five games. There are three ways to vote. The first is to use the web-based interface located at http://www.plover.net/~textfire/comp01/cgi-bin/vote.cgi. The second is to use Comp01. Comp01 will create a file called rating.txt with all of your ratings. You can e-mail that file to the vote-counter, Mark Musante, at markm@plover.net. The third is to put all of your ratings in an e-mail message and send that to Mark. You may submit different ratings, and only the last one you send in will be counted. If you choose to e-mail your votes to Mark and you do not use Comp01's rating.txt file, use the following format for your e-mail. In the subject line of your message, put "VOTE". In the body of the message, put the name of each game you are rating followed by its rating, with one game name and rating per line. Send your message as plain ASCII. Do not use HTML or send your votes as an attached non-ASCII file like a Microsoft Word document. Remember, you must vote before the end of the day on November 15th, 2001, where "end of the day" means "by 11:59 P.M. EST." Votes submitted after that date will not be counted, so if you won't have access to the Internet around that time, be sure to vote early. You can always change your votes at a later date. T-Shirts -------- As in years past, I am selling competition t-shirts. They will be short-sleeve cotton shirts with the competition logo on the front and a list of the top games and their authors on the back. The cost in US dollars will be $15 for people living in the US or Canada, $20 for people living in other countries. The shirts will be sent out after the competition ends. We will be taking orders through November 10th, 2001. If you would like a shirt, you have two payment options. One, you may use the online service PayPal to pay via credit card. You will have to sign up with their service to do so. You may sign up at http://www.paypal.com. Should you wish to pay in this fashion, pay the appropriate amount ($15 for each shirt if you live in the US or Canada, $20 for each if you live outside the US or Canada) using PayPal and send an e-mail to sgranade@phy.duke.edu containing your name, shipping address, a list of what you're ordering, and requested shirt sizes if necessary (S, M, L, XL). If you would prefer not to use PayPal, send a check, money order, or cash for the appropriate amount ($15 for each shirt if you live in the US or Canada, $20 for each shirt if you live outside the US or Canada) along with a card containing your name, shipping address, and requested shirt size if necessary (S, M, L, XL) to: Stephen Granade 1221 C Rosedale Ave. Durham, NC 27707 U.S.A. (Shirts larger than XL are available for an additional $1 per X above XL.) I can only take cash, checks, or money orders outside of PayPal, and they must be in US dollars. If your order will not reach me by November 10th, do not send it. This is a very limited-time offer.