Announce: Spring Thing Festival 2019

I’m very pleased to announce the 2019 Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction!

springthing.net/2019/

Spring Thing is an annual festival celebrating new text-based computer games of all kinds. Originally founded as an off-season counterweight to the larger fall Interactive Fiction Competition, 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 (although 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!

The details can be found at the official Spring Thing site, but in brief:

  • Games must be debuts and in a well-polished state (bug tested, etc.)
  • You must submit an intent to enter by March 1st, and your game itself by March 31st.
  • 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.

This year, ribbons have changed somewhat: the main ribbon is now called “Best In Show” and the top two nominated games are awarded it each year, the Alumni’s Choice ribbon has been retired, and players have the option of making up their own ribbons to give to games, which might be anything from “Best Story” to “Smartest Parser” to “Alumni’s Choice” (aha!) to “Lydia’s Favorite.” More details on how this will work can be found on the festival website.

The festival’s also 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 aaron at springthing.net. Thanks, and happy writing,

–Aaron