By the way, for people trying to find the 2020 guest cover art topic: IFC entries get drawn
I kept searching for “cover art” and missed it.
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How long does it normally take for people to start entering stuff into the prize pool? I’m wondering if I should enter in something like a cameo in my next game. Is it too early or am I just fretting about the comp and keep checking the rules for any changes (then glancing at the pool out of sheer boredom)?
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You can already shoot an email to [prizes@ifcomp.org] 
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One more query. It says I have to put in a PayPal account, but…
Well, you need to be 18 to have a PayPal account. Should I put one of my parents’ account, and then have it transferred? Is that the best option?
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I believe that’s only if you want to get paid.
The money comes via PayPal. If you can’t do PayPal, we’ll write you a check from a bank based in the United States. But we really prefer PayPal.
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I’ll put a parent’s account then.
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I noticed the IFComp rules do not mention anywhere that the entries need to be IF.
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If I remember correctly I think the philosophy is ‘the voters will determine what is IF’. A year or two ago there was a game that was a steam early access card game with in app purchases. It was allowed in IFComp, and either took last place or close to last place, so in that case the system was working as intended.
(Edit: the base game was what was being entered, of course commercial games aren’t allowed)
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the voters will determine what is IF
Indeed. Which leads me on to the guilty secret they don’t want you to know…
Nobody actually knows what IF really is!
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I’m entering a Donkey Kong clone. It’s interactive and it’s fiction, but it doesn’t need to be either of those things anyway. 
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Yeah, my recollection is that games intended to be IF only on a technicality tend to prompt interesting discussions on what it means to be IF but don’t do well in comps. They might be interesting and thought-provoking experiments but the judges don’t always agree.
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It’s true – I think of Jared Jackson as the best example, who wrote a really great Zachlike called Language Arts for the 2019 Comp, and a pretty solid deckbuilder the following year. They had some IF elements, including choices and a branching frame story for the deckbuilder, but despite that and being good examples of their respective genres, they didn’t do all that great in the voting. Which is I guess how it should be given the expectations of judges; probably they would have been a better fit for Spring Thing, say.
I do think there is a structural issue in the indie/amateur game scene where there aren’t too many other places for games produced using what’s become our community’s standard model (single amateur author, relatively long production time and expectation of polish, released as part of a single reasonably big event) – there are itch.io jams, of course, but those usually impose significant constraints on authoring time, from my understanding. But then the success of the indie movement means the next tier up usually has at least small teams, an expectation of reasonably polished art, etc., and usually are released individually and require a marketing plan. Like, I’m legit not sure how a one-person Zachlike could get noticed these days, so trying to crowbar something like it into IF Comp sort of makes sense even if it’s not going to score very well.
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I can offer a session of bug-finding playthrough with gameplay notes (both white and black box) and a bug fix verification session as one of the prizes, if people would appreciate that. I’m a QA professional with 15 years of experience, including AAA testing.
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If it’s for after the comp, you can send it at prizes@ifcomp.org .
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Thanks for the link, email sent!
I’m happy to also do some prerelease testing for submissions for free (wouldn’t mind credits, tho, for portfolio). Just ping me or contact me somehow via the forums and I’ll do a run through with notes and bug finds.
Caveat: if I get too busy I can’t play every game, so I suppose it’s somewhat of a book now/first come first serve situation 
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It’s pretty standard for people to give explicit credit, in case you’re wondering! In parser games, it is in CREDITS or ABOUT, and in Twine there’s usually a menu on the right where people can/should slip in a CREDITS option.
I think this would be an especially good prize for someone who has written something experimental or who is planning serious post-comp fixes.
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This is true
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Wabam
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Yes that makes a lot more sense now!
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