November 2020 IFComp Virtual Meetup

[Greg Frost]

Since the competition judging period is extended this year, we’ll hold a special second IFComp online meeting on Sunday, November 15th from 2 PM to 4 PM via Google Meet. We’ll play samples of several more games from the competition and discuss them with the group.

As always, we’ll send out the Google Meet link by email. If you are not already on the email list, please contact me for a link.

[Greg Frost]

Thanks very much to our authors for joining us!

Here are my notes from the November meeting:

Attendees: Bitter Karella, Brian, David D, E. Joyce, Greg, Joshua Labelle, Paul M, Seth, Tristan Jacobs

Location: Online (Google Meet)

Program (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)

1:45 PM Introductions and opening discussion

2:00 Played part of (s)wordsmyth by Tristan Jacobs (UK)

 -developed using Fungus for Unity on Mac, distributed for Windows

 -this is the author's first IFComp entry

 -play style is inspired by Dungeons & Dragons

 -writing process was similar to process of writing for theater

 -author considered adding artwork later

2:30 Played part of Lovely Assistant: Magical Girl by Bitter Karella (US)

 -the author has been contributing entries to IFComp since 2016

 -this is the author's first Inform work; previous works were in Quest and Twine

 -IFComp reviews of Quest games often focus on aspects of the Quest system

 -dialogue options in this game were scaled back due to difficulty of dialogue systems in Inform

3:00 Played part of What the Bus? by E. Joyce (US)

 -developed in Twine (Sugarcube)

 -the author used a horror/comedy/surreal style

 -the setting is deliberately vague, but based primarily on Boston and New York

 -testers had lots of variety in which endings were harder/easier to find

 -several branches are based on real transit problems

 -each city's transit system is dysfunctional in its own unique way (Anna Karenina principle)

 -author also has an entry in this year's EctoComp

3:45 Played part of Tavern Crawler by Joshua Labelle (CA)

 -developed in Twine (Harlowe) with modifications

 -idea based on gameplay loop of completing quests and interactions with companions

 -dialogue choices give stat bonuses; unavailable options are also shown

 -romance path options are marked with hearts

 -gameplay is structured in three acts with tutorial prologue

 -the fantasy setting is based on D&D and Tolkien with some steampunk elements

4:15 Wrap-up discussion and verified next meeting date. Adjourned at 4:30 PM.