Spring Thing 2007 news

[Greg Boettcher]

The Spring Thing is now accepting intents to enter. For more
information, see:

http://www.springthing.net/

[...]

Well, I guess I'd better say more than that. It so happens that I've
gotten very little email about the Spring Thing this year, so I'd
better take on the burden of telling people more about the competition,
for the sake of anyone who doesn't know.

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What It Is
----------

The Spring Thing is a competition for IF games. It differentiates
itself from the other annual IF Comp in a few ways:

-- It allows games of longer than two hours.
-- It allows judges to spend more time on each game (both because
there's no two-hour judging restraint, and because the Spring Thing has
always had fewer games than the IF Comp).
-- The $7 entry fee tends to ensure that games aren't entered unless
the authors think they're good. Judges sometimes say this results in a
better playing experience.
-- For authors, there have always been plenty of prizes to go around in
the past. (On the other hand, that has yet to be proven this year.)

---------
The Rules
---------

The rules are more complicated than those of the IF Comp. However, here
is a simplified version of the rules. If you want to enter the Spring
Thing:

1. Send me your "intent to enter" by March 1.
2. Make sure I get your $7 entry fee by March 15. (Or March 31 if
you're sending the money by mail.)
3. Send me your game, along with a walkthrough, by March 31.
4. You can only enter one game, and it has to be finishable,
non-commercial, etc.
5. See http://www.springthing.net/2007/rules.htm for more details.

-------------------------
Donations Are Appreciated
-------------------------

So far this year, I have only managed to persuade one person to donate
a prize, and that person was me. It feels great to be a prize donor,
but -- well, right now, it also feels kind of lonely.

Donating prizes is a great way to rid yourself of excess cash and/or
valuables, while at the same time helping the IF community. To donate,
email me at the address below.

--------------------
For More Information
--------------------

Visit:

http://www.springthing.net/

Or write to me at:

____________________dot_net
_____at_springthing
greg

Greg

[aaroni...@gmail.com]

For anyone who hasn't been following it in the past few years, I'd like
to add that the Spring Thing seems to attract more thoughtful, unique
games than average. I had the priviledge to be in the '05 comp in a
collection of very interesting games including Thredony and Bolivia by
Night, and "The Baron" from the '06 comp was among my favorite games of
the year.

As an author, entering your game in the Spring Thing will make it stand
out more from the crowded annual Comp, and as a player, the entry fee
means you'll have less crap to weed through to find the good stuff.
Everybody wins!

Kudos to Greg for keeping the Thing alive.

--Aaron A. Reed

[rgrassi]

I'd really like to take part but chances to complete the game are very
low.
Rob