"A Long Way to the Nearest Star" by SV Linwood is an #InteractiveFiction spaceship mystery that came in 3rd in the 2022 #IFComp.

Echoes of "Analogue: A Hate Story" by @christinelove and "Tacoma" by Fullbright.

The premise (what happened to the crew?) is well-worn, but the interactions with the AI named "Solis" make it work. Choice-based, with inventory & 1-2 tricky puzzles (I needed to use one hint), multiple endings, lots of attention to detail.~2+ hours, free.

https://svlin.itch.io/a-long-way-to-the-nearest-star

I have finished a full draft of my #IFComp game! 27 days left for rereading, rewriting, polishing, improving flow and pacing, testing, and so on. But that should be doable. I'm stoked!

#InteractiveFiction

IFComp is coming soon, and the 2023 Colossal Fundraiser has begun!

The Colossal Fund raises money for the cash prizes that are awarded to the top two-thirds of IFComp entries.

For more info: https://blog.ifcomp.org/post/726564958054318080/the-2023-colossal-fundraiser-has-begun

#IFComp #InteractiveFiction

I enjoyed "The Grown-Up Detective Agency" by @bphennessy, a very cute interactive story about a missing persons case. The twist: private detective Bell Park's 12-year-old self has recently made an appearance in Bell's life -- and is determined to help with the investigation.

The game won the 2022 #IFComp and is free to play; it took me a bit over an hour to finish.

Great writing - I laughed out loud a couple of times.

https://bphennessy.itch.io/grown-up-detective-agency

#IndieGame #InteractiveFiction

I'm at 3600 words, but some of those are duplicates and will be removed when I rewrite the code. Still, good progress.

#InteractiveFiction #IFComp

I added almost 1100 words today, in the perhaps 3.5 hours I spent on the game. That's great! Though it's far too early to become confident that I will finish in time, days like this are what I need.

#InteractiveFiction #IFComp

I am attempting another two week surge on my #IFComp entry. Hopefully it'll be more productive than last time (where I got distracted by a side project for three days, and then got disrupted by sick kids).

I'm attempting to block out the time a little to help with pacing and robustness to chaos. And understand the trouble I've gotten myself into. Might have a beta test mid-August.

#GameDev #writing

Working on an #inform7 game for #IfComp. I'm more comfortable using TADS, but I figured this was a good opportunity to finish an I7 project. #gameDev #interactiveFiction

I've booked in leave to do a big surge on my #IFComp piece "Hand me Down". Cover art is coming along well, and I'm bashing through the To-dos.

Lots of thoughts and emotions are swirling around the project, though, but I can't lose my nerve. Just the usual impostor syndrome and creator anxieties, so they can be ignored.

#interactivefiction #gamedev #writing

The Artistic Process

Step 1. Think about cover art for #IFComp game.

Step 2. Start trying to block it out in Blender3d.

Step 3. Shout "fuck this" and go looking for local illustrators.

Step 4. Spend the rest of the night gently asking illustrators if they do commissions.

Tempted to cautiously put in my intent to enter #ifcomp2023. Will it be ready in time? Yes, or else* doom!

#interactivefiction #ifcomp

* I'll yoink it from the comp before putting in another half baked game.

@hlabrande Will this be an entry for #IFComp, or is that a wildly unrealistic timeframe to complete such a thing?

#IFComp (https://ifcomp.org) starts up again in a month or so and this seems like as good a year as any to actually submit something for me. I've had a funny idea floating around in my head for a short IF, the trick is going to be to remember to get on and do it.

We covered it on part three of our coverage of #IFComp 2021 https://www.theshortgame.net/296-ifcomp-2021-part-3/

Just wrote a postmortem for my #IFComp game "A Chinese Room", which is a great excuse to post about it.

A one or two reader experience, A Chinese Room is one story in two, an outsider's impression of Russia, a story of power, control, inhumanity, and love.

It is, in my opinion, the best thing I've ever written.

You can find the game here: https://milomesdag.itch.io/a-chinese-room

And my postmortem here: https://bit.ly/3VfkK6G

#InteractiveFiction #Russia #Twine #2player #Politicalthriller #Writing

A quick (if slightly late) post about my recent comp results, and some plans for the next Bubble Gumshoe text adventure. #InteractiveFiction #IFComp #ECTOCOMP #Inform7 #Twine https://damonwakes.wordpress.com/2022/12/12/ifcomp-and-ectocomp-results-2022/

Did you know? We adopted IFDB.org in 2021, with support by a dedicated program committee. IFDB is still continuing its modernization: very recently, the IFDB API was improved to help automate importing the #IFComp entries. This saved some time to our volunteers, and meant people could start reviewing and rating right away!

We are excited to help support and grow the website. This year, it has hit the arbitrary but impressive milestone of 10,000 reviews - and we can't wait for the next 10,000!

I'm still finding my footing on here, so my apologies for boosting my home turf kind of as a test. If you're a fan/educator/creator of #IF, #textadventures, #choicenarrative, we'd love to have you join us at the Interactive Fiction Community Forum.

We just ended #ifcomp and there's a wealth of great discussion and reviews available!

https://intfiction.org

Robin Stevens spotted StamblerRambler's #IFComp prize en route today, amusing itself sowing discord by blocking the disabled space.

(https://www.ifwiki.org/Golden_Banana_of_Discord)
#InteractiveFiction

Hooray! "Esther's" tied for 17th place in #IFComp this year. I've posted a reflection on my blog.
https://www.bradleycbuchanan.com/b/building-esthers-cafe/