YAIFC: Announcing TWIFcomp

[dhakajack]

TWIFcomp is a competition for tweet-sized interactive fiction. Why?
Because the world needs more strangely-themed interactive fiction
competitions and this one requires little time to write, play, and
judge. The idea grew out of a RAIF thread a few days back and seems
like just the thing to take IF into the attention span-challenged
future. The basic premise: write a complete game in 140 characters.
Example: http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/43

Big prizes are in the offing: the first three places will take home a
roll of duct tape, a package of ramen noodles, or a pair of lucky
dice. Surely, you have it in your soul to crank out a mere 140
characters for a chance at fame and glory.

The complete rules are listed at: http://blog.templaro.com/?page_id=118

You should really read the full rules, as this whole competition
business is trickier that you would think. However, in a nutshell: I
must receive game submissions by 16:00 GMT, on Sunday, April 25, 2010.
Voting starts as soon as the games are posted (see the same page
listed above). Voting finishes at 16:00 GMT on Saturday, May 1, 2010,
with results announced the next day.

[Poster]

In article
<50c1d79f-07fd-4a94...@i25g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
dhakajack <dhak...@gmail.com> wrote:

Someone really needs to create a new newsgroup for things like this:
rec.arts.int-fiction.unserious.

--
Poster

www.intaligo.com I6 libraries, doom metal, Building, Zegrothenus
sturmdrangif.wordpress.com Game development blog / IF commentary
Seasons: Q4 '11 -- One-man projects are prone to delays.

[dhakajack]

> Someone really needs to create a new newsgroup for things like this:
> rec.arts.int-fiction.unserious.

Right, except I'm actually serious about this, so it would go in
rec.arts.int-fiction.no_but_I_am_actually_serious

Granted, the prizes are a little tongue in cheek, as the main
gratification from this comp would be bragging rights. On the other
hand, you can't knock duct tape in terms of usefulness, and I'm only
asking for 140 characters, so there is some proportionality between
the prizes and the hours of coding and debugging.

I am interested in how people will respond to the challenge of pushing
the authoring systems to their limits -- this level of concision is
not trivial. In the same way that ace programmers can accomplish
amazing things with one-Iiners, I think it is possible to communicate
some aspect of a story with very brief code, and I've already received
a number of submissions that bear this out.

I'm not saying that I'd choose to spend my evenings playing 140-
character games (it would be a short evening), but I'm willing to give
this experiment a couple weeks and see what comes out the other end.
It's only costing me some time, a roll of duct tape, and a couple
other items that are kicking around my desk (yes, and postage).

[dott.Piergiorgio]

dhakajack ha scritto:

>> Someone really needs to create a new newsgroup for things like this:
>> rec.arts.int-fiction.unserious.
>
> Right, except I'm actually serious about this, so it would go in
> rec.arts.int-fiction.no_but_I_am_actually_serious

well, never looked to shell.inf or similiar code ?

Best regards from Italy,
Dott. Piergiorgio.

[Duncan Bowsman]

I like the minimalist ideal here. Compare to six word stories.
http://www.sixwordstories.net/

"Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?"
- Eileen Gunn

[Captain Mikee]

I'm curious about the judging process.

It seems that under the current configuration, most people playing the
submissions would have already read the source code. This obviously
affects their playing strategy. Do you intend to provide a spoiler-
free venue for evaluating the submissions?

[Andrew Plotkin]

I'd like that too.

For most games, most players *won't* read the source code even if it's
provided; a few will call it up afterwards and check through it for
their own amusement. TWIFComp is a rare opportunity to design a game
for which reading the source is part of the intended experience.

But not everybody will want to do that! I'm trying to create a
puzzle-game here, and the source code would be a spoiler.

--Z

--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*

[Matt Weiner]

Is this true? As I read the rules, we have to e-mail the source code
to Jack, but is he going to distribute the source code or just the
game?

I'm planning to post the source code for my games on my blog anyway,
but I agree that it'd be best to encounter them spoiler-free first.

Matt

[dhakajack]

> Is this true? As I read the rules, we have to e-mail the source code
> to Jack, but is he going to distribute the source code or just the
> game?

This -- like almost every other aspect of the comp -- is not something
I gave a lot of thought ;-)

It sounds like there is a good rationale to hold back on the code
until after the vote, so that's what I'll do.

I am looking forward to showing off the code at the end. I'm sure
there will be some really clever code nuggets in there.

- Jack

[dhakajack]

I know. It's gauche to reply to your own post, but having now thought
about this issue a bit more, I'm modifying my earlier statement.

On April 25th when I'm posting the submissions, I will create one blog
post per game (http://blog.templaro.com/?tag=twifcomp2010). The post
will include the author's name, the game description (or whatever the
author wants printed on that page, such as instructions, diatribes,
etc.), and include a link to the game and a link to the source code.
By keeping the source code one step removed, I am hoping to avoid
spoilers, and to allow the player to try out the game in a naive
state. For games that can be played online (e.g, via parchment), I'll
also include a link to the online version.

I'll put this same information on the TWIFcomp rules page.