What began twelve years ago as an effort to encourage the development of short works of interactive fiction has grown into a competition involving some thirty authors and over two hundred judges. Each year people from around the world write text adventures that can be played in two hours or less. Since the competition started the definition of what interactive fiction is has changed, with a number of games now including graphics and sound.
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 2007 Interactive Fiction Competition.
You have installed the games of the 2007 Interactive Fiction Competition, but you may not have the programs (called interpreters) necessary to play the games. If you do not have these interpreters already installed on your computer, you will need to download and run WinInterpreters.exe. That file should be available from the Interactive Fiction Competition site.
(For the latest information and possible updates to games, 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 play them in random order. You can do this using the game information and voting page available on the competition web site. The page has information about all of the games, and will list them in random order if you so wish.
There are two types of competition games: interpreted games and platform-specific executables.
Interpreted games are written using a computer-independent language, and can in general be run under many different operating systems. To play an interpreted game, you need an interpreter. The instructions below on how to run the games assume you have installed the interpreters using the WinInterpreters.exe package.
There are several types of interpreted games in the competition.
TADS games. The TADS games are in the tads2 and tads3 folders of the competition directory. The filenames of TADS games end in either .gam or .t3, and they are run using the HTML TADS interpreter. To play them, either double-click their icon or load them from the interpreter's file menu.
Z-code games. The z-code games are in the zcode folder of the competition directory. The filenames of z-code games end in .z5, .z8, or .zblorb and are run using Windows Frotz. To play them, either double-click their icon or load them from Windows Frotz's file menu.
Glulx games. The Glulx games are in the glulx folder of the competition directory. The filename of Glulx games ends in .ulx or .gblorb, and are run using WinGlulxe. To play them, either double-click their icon or load them in WinGlulxe.
ADRIFT games. The ADRIFT games are in the adrift folder. The filenames of ADRIFT games end in .taf. To run them, double-click their icon or load them from within the ADRIFT Runner.
Quest games. The Quest game is in the quest folder. The filename of the Quest game ends in .cas. To run it, double-click its icon or load it from within the Quest menu.
There are several platform-specific games included that you should be able to run directly.
Windows games. The Windows-specific games are in the windows folder. They can be run by double-clicking their .exe files.
Rate each game you play by giving it a whole-number rating 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 rating and not change that rating later if you resume play.
You can enter your ratings as you assign them using the ballot page, if you wish. You can also change previous ratings if you change your mind about a game.
Once you have played and rated as many games as you can before the November 15th deadline, you need to submit your ratings. You do not have to play all of the games to vote; however, you must play at least five games. There are two ways to vote. The first is to use the web-based interface. The second is to email your ratings to the vote-counter, Mark Musante, at vote@ifcomp.org. You may submit different ratings, and only the last one you send in will be counted.
If you choose to email your ratings to Mark, use the following format for your email. 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 ratings as an attached non-ASCII file like a Microsoft Word document.
You must vote before 11:59 P.M. EST on November 15th, 2007. Ratings 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.