Spring Thing is an annual festival celebrating new text-based computer games of all kinds. Originally founded as an off-season counterweight to IF Comp in the fall, the current incarnation of the Thing is a less competitive space with looser restrictions. Without the two-hour judging limit of IF Comp, for instance, longer games are welcomed (though shorter games are fine, too!) There’s no fee to enter, but you do have to submit an “intent to enter” in advance. And there are prizes!
Games must be debuts and in a well-polished state (bug tested, etc.)
You must submit an intent to enter by March 1st, 2024, and your game itself by March 29th.
Your game must be free to play, and will be archived on the Spring Thing site after the festival closes, although:
You can submit to the “Back Garden” to showcase a demo of a game you’re planning to sell, or a polished excerpt of something unfinished, or a game that cannot be archived.
Entrants to the Main Festival can be nominated for one of two “Best In Show” ribbons, and all entries are eligible for custom “Audience Awards.” Prize donors also gift fun, unique prizes , which Main Festival entrants have a chance to receive.
The festival is always looking for prize donors . If you have a cool idea for a prize that fellow IF authors might enjoy, let me know!
Check out the site for more info, and I’m happy to answer any questions here or sent to brian at springthing.net . Thanks, and happy writing,
Just wanted to add, let me know if you see any mistakes on the page, like giving the wrong year or saying dates are already past. I comb through it to check, but something always slips through.
Looking forward to the games this year! If something you were making for IFComp didn’t make it, Spring Thing is a great place to showcase it. Or if you have a jam game you didn’t finish in time.
One wee thing to fix: on the prizes page (https://www.springthing.net/2024/prizes.html) it says “The prizes donated for the 2023 festival so far are:” which should presumably read 2024.
NONONonononono! I’m only just finished IFCOMP23 and not even returned to my patient WIP when the NEXT distraction is published? You couldn’t give me 3 DAYS of undiluted focus???
GREAT FOR WHOM???
Really, WIP, I love you, I do. Don’t be like that! We’ll have all winter together!
(Really enjoyed last year, especially the open-ended review time of ST! Between us, looking forward to again, but PLEASE DON’T TELL MY WIP!!)
Whether it’s selfishness or something else that I ought to blame, I just try to do whatever seems the most fulfilling. If I guess right, I wind up feeling pretty fulfilled.
Sometimes I guess wrong, but that’s for another thread.
I’m sure people would like to play your game, please spend some time on it!
LadyBug QA. Just now starting to do a lot of free stuff before I dip my toe into private consulting. Don’t have socials setup, what’s a good contact once I get that prepared?
I’ll partecipate only in the back garden, because, well, there’s no ranking, so no damages can be caused by misguided (or unwise, I don’t have time nor coolness for quad-checking ita-eng xlation, so CYO word…) moderation.
