IFComp 2025 New Authors

Competitions IFComp
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Hi all! Super-happy to finally have limited scope enough to get an entry in! My game is a satire of the just plain ludicrous personality tests way too many American corporations are forcing potential employees to take; it’s called “The Burger Meme Personality Test” and I hope it’s good for a few laughs.

I’m a writer, mostly of the non-interactive kind, and a game designer—my wife and I just published an RPG that also comes out in Sept. Long-time fan of IF, and really so pleased by the innovative designs and coding virtuosity of the community. As a non-coder, I struggle with making my IFs just plain run (!), but the Twine community has been super-generous.

Anyway, excited to play others’ games and to throw my burger into the ring, so to speak. Good luck to us all!

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22

Your background sounds perfect. I will look for your game.

Welcome!

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23

Your game sounds fun! I took many personality tests for various US corporations. I don’t think I ever passed one of them. I particularly remember not getting an admin position with the Bell system because I didn’t fit their mold… The HR person said I liked to work too independently.

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24

The tests are so bad, there’s no passing them. Pretty sure there’s an inverse relationship between how well one does on them and one’s competence :smile: I mean, heaven forbid we hire an employee who can work independently…

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25

Hello all! I’m Henry/Antemaion, and this is my second (now successful) attempt at submitting the same game to IFComp. Last year, I worked myself to exhaustion and didn’t finish on time; this year, I was still bug testing until a few minutes before the deadline, but the game is in!

the wretched product itself: Saltwrack, which I describe as a post-post-apocalyptic hypertext horror novel. The land is shrouded in toxic saline glaciers; humanity persists only in a few scattered enclaves. You play as a scientist journeying north to find the source of a world-ruining cataclysm. You can choose two companions to accompany you, from a small array of doubtful characters. One saltwalker, a voyager experienced with travel in the wrack, and one oracle, a psychic navigator who relies on their extrasensory powers to guide you.

I’ll be doing some more bug testing soon, as I have no doubt I missed some potent ones, and I’ll probably submit a less buggy version early in the judging period. But it is complete, after around five or six years of work. I’m excited to have it meet people.

Postscript: I received notice by email that the game will not be available to readers in the UK, due to its content. A little surprising to me; while it is a horror game, and contains some dark endings, it’s not exactly pornographic. It’s mostly about the mundane suffering of trudging through endless fields of ice. O Well…

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Geoblocked games in IFcomp
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I feel that! Same here. I discovered a major bug where my audio engine was causing the whole thing to become unplayable on some devices on the last day that almost broke my spirit. My hasty workaround is less than ideal, so I’ll probably submit a bug fix or two too. Glad you fought through and got it done in time though! I’m very intrigued by the concept of yours. Can’t wait to play it.

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27

Unfortunately, particularly graphic depictions of violence and self-harm are also banned in the UK, so if you have any of those that would also do it.

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Geoblocked games in IFcomp
Geoblocked games in IFcomp
28

Hey IFComp community! This is Joan**, a first time entrant to IFComp. :hugs: I would say I’m relatively new to the interactive fiction community as a whole, having published my first IF just this April. The story I’m debutting for the competition has kinda been in the backlog for about two years or so (tldr: it is a piece originally written for a research program at my university but it got scrapped because it was going to take too long to make). I’ve decided to pick it up after graduation; wasn’t going to let a good idea go to waste! I also want to spotlight the work done by my amazing crew for the game, I was so fortunate to have met my talented team and have everyone onboard. Please show them some love in your reviews!

All in all, I’m excited to be here! Please check out WATT by Joan. :light_bulb:

** P.S. Shameless self-promo but you may also check out my itch profile ‘profzhai’

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29

Hey, I’m Nulla! I’ve been writing IF for a couple of years now doing various jams on Itch. I decided on a whim at the start of the month to enter the comp for the first time (having been a judge for the past few years) and ended up putting together a strange horror piece. I’m not sure but it may be the first IFComp entry to use Decker? I’m excited to see what people think of it, anyway! Part of the impetus behind it was the recent impositions by payment processor companies and the UK government, so it’s funny that it’s going to be geoblocked in the UK. That is: I can’t access my own game. What a world, huh? I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else has submitted too! It’s always an exciting time of year.

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30

It’s not even customary for IF Comp games, but occasionally done and I like to encourage them.

Don’t feel like you need to. It’s nice for the reasons I gave above, but some people just like their game to speak from themselves, or just move forward with new projects rather than talking about old ones.

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31

Hello! I’m Meri. This will be my first IFComp and first ever finished IF piece. I’ve casually played IF games here and there over the years and always wanted to make one myself. I’m an animation school drop-out turned professional software dev, with a side hustle as a circus performer who has done a lot of immersive productions, so the medium seemed like it would be a natural fit. I’ve enjoyed banging my Twine IDE with a very blunt object (ie my knowledge of good Twine practices)

I’m feeling a lot of emotions on the eve of competition start! I set IFComp as a personal goal for myself because I struggle to finish things without a deadline and looming judgement…but my submission, “Slated For Demolition”, ended up being a fairly personal piece, and I’m feeling vulnerable and not sure what to expect reception-wise. I started writing something entirely different back in November, but I found myself leaning into the things that felt natural to write in the process, which is how it came to be more about my own experiences more than anything else. In a lot of ways, it therapeutically served the purpose I had hoped it would, which I suppose is my “unexpected thing”. Then yesterday I found out I’m being censored in the UK! Excavating a little part of your soul for the world to see in the name of healing and then being deemed “inappropriate” is a bit…painful? I’m not really sure how to feel. I know it’s the fault of bad policy and politics, but it hurts.

In summary: Making art is a whirlwind! I guess I’m just hoping for the best. This will be an interesting month. Excited to see the other entries though.

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32

While I don’t expect to win, as stated above, my secret goal is to not come in last place. :upside_down_face:

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33

Likely someone will submit an entry designed to capture last place!

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34

Yeah, most years there’s a near-indisputable last place due to joke entries, a treasure trove of bugs, comp mismatches, etc. So, if it’s any consolation, you won’t be last place!

re: bugs, you are able to update your entry mid-comp, although some people download the full zip (which always uses the first versions)

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35

that’s very generous of them! (and hopefully it wasn’t me, but if it ends up being so, can I retcon this comment into it being totally intentional?)

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36

Hi! :sun_with_face:
My entry (Rain Check-In) is a short game with a few rooms and one puzzle only. I tried to keep everything the most simple and polished I could!

This is not my first interactive fiction (is the fourth I write using inform 7) but is the first time I partecipate to the IFComp.

As I designed it, I think my game should be played three times: first one to understand what is going on but ending in a game over before finishing it. A second time to complete one ending, and a third going out from the rails to find the alternative storyline.

In a way I’ve been inspired by one of my favorite IF; “9.05”. I wanted a small setting with things to discover in more paths and leadings to different ends. I also experimented for the first time with a time-evolving and light-changing environment.

I’m thrilled seeing how many people joined, and I hope to find “unexpected” actions in transcripts to possibly extend even a bit further with a post-comp release!

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37

I think honest and personal games are what we all need these days. I look forward to playing it.

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38

I’m a little late, but here’s my blurb :).

Hi, I’m Laura! I’m a PhD student in computer science, writer, and a bunch of other things. I stumbled into IFComp after being introduced to it through a class on IF taught at my prior institution. My final project for the class ended up more or less complete, but waaaaay beyond the scope of what was needed for the class. So, after adding some things and roping all my friends into playtesting it, I decided to throw it at IFComp and see what happened.

IF is a nice way to use my creative writing skills for game development that carefully sidesteps my complete lack of visual art skills. As a side effect of my job/education, I have the programming skills to make inform7 games without issue, but if I continue in the practice, I’ll probably just use Twine or write my own Python games in the future. We’ll see - maybe I’ll change my mind on that.

My game, Mooncrash!, puts the played in a world that is about to end and has them decide what to do about it. It starts with a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon throwback - a personality test. This determines which of four factions the player works with to try to mitigate the oncoming apocalypse. After playing through one such scenario and/or dying, the player gets to try again and play through another faction’s scenario, or to re-try one they did before if they did not complete its objective.

Without giving too much away, the four branches respectively contain:

  • A fairly simple crafting puzzle

  • A little infiltration mission

  • A winding conversation

  • Basic RPG combat

After completing all four branches, the player unlocks a final sequence where death is permanent, and they can learn some more about the end of the world. Also, it (usually) gets a little meta.

(I’m happy to post a spoiler-ful breakdown elsewhere if desired)

My game, like many others, is subject to the UK geoblock. This seems reasonable to me given the UK laws - there are some dark themes and rather graphic death cutscenes, and the organizers aren’t the ones who made the rules here. Still, I am keeping an eye open for how other authors handle the restrictions, and I may upload the game elsewhere if that is allowed.

The game is based on a high-level heavily-homebrewed D&D 4th edition game that I ran a few years ago, which took about 9 months to complete. Some (but very importantly, not all) of the playtesters were also players in the original campaign.

More about me: I’m in the second-ish year of my PhD program. My job doesn’t actually involve much ‘normal’ programming. I’m on the proofy/mathematical side of computer science, specifically in the area of Formal Methods, and even more specifically Proof Assistants. I write proofs about programs. The first publication with my name somewhere in the author list is this one. The second one will hopefully show up somewhere next year??? Be careful if you ask about my research, because I will talk about it for indefinite periods of time.

I recently moved to Germany with my husband and my cat. In my spare time, I play so, so many video games, write stories, and play TTRPGs.

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39

Hey all! I’m a brand new author this year. I learned Inform kind of on a whim in July and really enjoyed the whirlwind process of putting a game together for the competition. I really love interactive fiction; I used to play all the time when I was younger and have found my way back to it as an adult. My all time favorite is the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy IF! My favorite part about interactive fiction is how it allows writing and gaming to combine in such a unique way and I’m so excited to finally be making my own game and doing my part to keep this art alive!

Looking forward to checking out everyone else’s games as well. :slight_smile:

My game (Clickbait) features a silly adventure where you get trapped in an abandoned subway tunnel in your attempts to take the perfect shot for a photography contest. You’ll be crawling around the tunnels, drinking questionable protein drinks to get powered up enough, and having strange conversations with your fellow mysterious tunnel dwellers! I loved the process of making the game and being able to lace every inch of it with my silly/sarcastic voice. Can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of it and excited to use this feedback to inform (ha, pun intended) future games I’ll make!

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40

Good luck to all of you! I’d like to refer you to Mathbrush’s thread last year for some helpful advice and reassurances:

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