ECTOCOMP 2026 - is here

Competitions
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We’re currently working on the 2026 edition of ECTOCOMP.

Just hold there a little longer.

Thanks!

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ECTOCOMP is an annual competition for interactive fiction celebrating the SPOOKY MONTH OF HALLOWEENTOBER. Whether you celebrate Halloween, Day of the Dead, All Saints’ Eve, or just love ghost stories and creeping people out, this is your time to shine!

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ECTOCOMP 2026 is open!

Beware of witches!

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Yay! I actually got an early start on mine this year :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Question- I needed to clip and clean up (plus make one of the) sound effects for the game. I’m guessing that counts towards the time spent on it right?

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Yes, that does count!

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ATTENTION EVERYONE!

We have updated the rules this year to change a word on what counts and what does not count for the 4 total hours:

The whole rules for La Petite Mort are now like this new wording in bold letters):

  1. Games submitted for the La Petite Mort category should be written in 4 hours or less.
    1. Any time spent planning, thinking, doodling, researching, etc. DOES NOT count.
    2. Any time spent writing words or code that ends up in the game DOES count. (Except if you’re reusing a game engine/library or code that you wrote in the past.)
    3. Time spent coding the game’s sound and image design (e.g., CSS, illustrations, voice-over, music…) DOES count.​
    4. Any time spent on the cover or other external feelies does NOT count.​
    5. La Petite Mort games cannot be updated during the competition. Exception: if you find you have a game-breaking bug, you are allowed to fix the bug to guarantee players can complete your game. But otherwise, NO UPDATES! NO POLISHING!

Also, don’t forget to cast an eye on the QA section at the end of the rules.

Happy witching!

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Time permitting, I may have something this year…

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Wahoo! Ectocomp is my favorite.

I’m thinking of writing a story with Arcturus. :slight_smile:

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WHAT.

NO YOU’RE OPEN.

I mean.

panics

(ETA: Okay, it’s fine, the deadline is the end of October. It’s fine. :fine:)

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Does time spent searching for fonts, audio assets, background images, etc. prior to actually integrating them into the game count as “coding the game’s sound and image design,” or as “planning/researching”?

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It doesn’t count.

You can plan, search, research and gather for all the time you want.

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Hey! We are in October now!

Just in case you are new, ECTOCOMP is the annual event and competition dedicated to horror or supernatural games in any language—a very popular event within the community.

Only interactive fiction is eligible, with absolutely no use of generative AI.

You have the entire month of October to complete your terrifying creations, except that the games must be ready for the Halloween evening.

Watch out for witches!

Also, please, kindly help spread the word using the hashtags ectocomp2026 #InteractiveFiction twine #textadventures or anything related. Thanks!

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I just completed mine! Looking forward to the others.

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I can’t wait to play it! :slight_smile:

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People, just remember the submitted games won’t be “visible” in the comp till the proper date, but anyoine who knows the URL can access the games, and they are accesible through itchio.

You are free to post about the games on social networks.

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I’ll be taking a stab at this. Never really done any of these competitions. Expect grossness.

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I submitted our game!

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