The 2009 Interactive Fiction Competition Introduction ------------ What began fourteen 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 2009 Interactive Fiction Competition. Playing The Games ----------------- (Note: 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. That way, you will have played a random sampling of the games. You can do this using the game information and voting page at http://ifcomp.org/vote/. 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 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. 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 a Z-machine interpreter. Z-machine interpreters can be found at http://inform7.com/if/interpreters/ GLULX GAMES. The glulx games are in the glulx folder of the competition directory. The filenames of glulx games end in .ulx or .gblorb, and are run using a Glulx interpreter. Glulx interpreters can be found at http://inform7.com/if/interpreters/ ADRIFT GAMES. The ADRIFT games are found in the adrift folder of the competition directory. The filenames of ADRIFT games end in .taf. They are run using the ADRIFT Runner (for Windows), Gargoyle, or Spatterlight. You can get the ADRIFT Runner at http://www.adrift.org.uk/. You can find Gargoyle at http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/ and Spatterlight at http://ccxvii.net/spatterlight/. One of the ADRIFT games this year requires version 3.90 of the Runner, while the others require version 4.0. Platform-Specific Games WINDOWS GAMES. There is one system-specific game in the windows folder of the competition directory. It can be played either under Windows or under Linux. Rating The Games ---------------- 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 at http://ifcomp.org/vote/, if you wish. You can also change previous ratings if you change your mind about a game. Submitting Your Ratings ----------------------- 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 located at http://ifcomp.org/vote/. The second is to email your ratings 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 votes 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 votes as an attached non-ASCII file like a Microsoft Word document. Remember, you must vote before 11:59 P.M. EST on November 15th, 2009. 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 ratings at a later date.