Hey, Coneely! I love the storytelling aspect of IF too, almost even more than the programming challenge it provides.
I hope you end up enjoying this forum as much as I have been.
As an aside, have you tried any of the big IF programming tools? If so, which ones have you played with? I’m partial to Inform 7, myself.
i have not gotten close to that far really. The programming aspect is a ways off for me. I would say a good month. Im still in a very basic learning mode. Playing as many games as i can. Just learning the language still. I tried to jump right into some of the winners and runners up of various contests from the last couple years and found my self quite overwhelmed. I did get through Shade, which i would recommend to anyone starting out. Pretty easy and quick. Took me about an hour and a half, i felt pretty good about that. Looking forward to checking out some different genres though. Maybe some mystery stuff. Im a big Lovecraft fan, so i am looking forward to Ecdysis. Fantasy is fun, but im afraid it may feel a bit generic for me. But who doesnt love a good dungeon crawl. I found this site 1up.com/features/top-5-inter … tion-games so im starting with these. I would love any other suggestions as well. Im eating this up like crazy.
Hello, my name’s Miguel (looper/loopernow), my friend introduced me to the Zork games as a teenager which I just loved for their immersive quality…though like some others here I am one of those people who has rarely finished a parser game (unless its short and easy), and definitely not any Zork games. My brain says, “This is a puzzle? Abort.” It’s just not interested enough.
Anyway, rediscovered IF in the early 2000s and played them for a little while, maybe a year or two, and desperately wanted to write my own game. Tried, tried, tried. I think it was just too much, not coming from a programming background.
Fast-forward, I must have been looking up gaming systems again on a whim, and came across Twine. I’ve written one 5-minute game and am working on another and on something (probably not a “game”) for Shufflecomp. Nice to meet you all. 
Awesome! I’m really excited about how the readily-accessible nature of Twine brings more people into our community who wouldn’t have located it otherwise.
Hi everyone,
Having just registered my intent to enter for IntroComp, I figure now’s as good a time as any to finally de-lurk and introduce myself. I’ve been playing IF and following the community off and on for 10+ years (I just checked the IFComp results page to see if I could figure out exactly when I first discovered the community, and it looks like 2000. So, uh, I guess 14 years). Actually, it’s probably longer than that; I think I played Adventure and Zork when I was 13 or so. But it was playing Shrapnel in 2000ish that made me aware of the possibilities of IF and the community behind keeping it alive.
I’ve always wanted to write a game but have never made it too far. I was active in the ADRIFT community for awhile back in the day, but never produced anything with the system. These days I’m mostly interested in Inform 7 and Twine (my IntroComp project is being made with the former, and I hope to get something done in time for IFComp with the latter).
Welcome, unlurker.
14 years of lurking is some seriously impressive lurking! Welcome!
Thank you!
In my defense (because “14-year-lurker” makes me sound kind of creepy), the “off” part of “off and on” has been a few years at a time and the new “on” period started just a month or two ago.
And I, like Nick, have also been lurking (not 14 years though, just 3 months 14 days). I unlurked myself into my new form, The Translator!
(I only know one language, English, though.)
Hi there mates,
Like Nick, I’m here still with the high of having just “declared intent” to participate in the next IFComp. Unlike him, though, I have very little lurking history I’m afraid. 
I’ve always been very much into narrative and videogames, collaborating in a couple of indie games, so I guess in a way it was high time I did something on my own and gave IF a go. I’ve been messing around with Inform 7 for a few months now, starting absurdly ambitious projects that of course I haven’t been able to complete. So I am taking this IFComp 2014 as a challenge - complete a [playable] game in these scarce 3 months.
Glad to be here with you guys, any tips will be very welcome!
Hi there,
I am Brandt, and i am a indie/freelance developer.
In my spare time i experiment with games, i have been looking around here a few times over the past year and finally decided to join on the count of the Interactive Fiction Competition.
I recently made a small interactive story called ‘Cthulhu science’, and i thought it was great fun actually, so why not make more? 
If you you wan’t you can see some of my experiments here:
sebbdk.github.io/thelist/
Or this interactive children’s book and i am making with a buddy themoonmachine.blogspot.dk/p/art-gallery.html
Anyways hoping for fun times and possibly finding some people who wanna make collabs’
Cheers!
Hello all,
I’ve just started to get back into IF. I’m a software developer / system administrator by trade, and have grown up with interactive fiction, beginning in the 1980s with Peter Killworth’s BBC games - Philosopher’s Quest and Castle of Riddles, both of which I adored. I contributed in some small way to RAIF in the early 1990s, when at Oxford, and used the earliest versions of Inform 6, and beta-tested Peter Killworth’s Inform ports of the Countdown trilogy. After university, I diverted into writing MUDs, but haven’t really written anything of note for over a decade. I’m now getting back into things with Inform 7, working with my children to produce a model of 9th century Anglo-Saxon England, with a simple plot and a few puzzles. Looking forward to learning and ultimately helping if I can.
Although by today’s standards they’re probably considered unfair and limited, the world of both Philosopher’s Quest and Castle of Riddles so inhabit my mind, I might well be tempted to port them (and perhaps expand them?) to a modern platform.
Wes hæl.
Hi!
It looks like Philosopher’s Quest has been ported to the z-machine, but Castle of Riddles awaits a modern port!
UPDATE: Hm, according to this the z-code port is for the original Brand X, not for the AcornSoft Philosopher’s Quest.
Well, sign me up! I know Castle of Riddles even better than Philosopher’s Quest.
Hi, my name’s Michael. I used to play around with IF back in the day, mostly in TADS but with Inform as well. Started a lot of really ambitious projects that would end up dropped as soon as they reached a major memory barrier or if I got distracted by something shiny; for me it was always more about solving the puzzle of “how do I make this happen” than actually completing projects.
Now I’m older and, if not wiser, at least more productive. I’m looking to get back into IF-development, so here I am.
Well, I’ve quite a background of RPG games. Been playing ever since I was a wee lad. There are things you should probably know about me.
The first MMORPG I really got into was Runescape, but my parents are religious fanatics and didn’t like me playing games with magic in them. They said I would go to hell… I was a stubborn child though and snuck around and played when they weren’t around. Sooner or later I got banned from Runescape because I botted too much, and some wankers reported me.
Then I moved on to PS3. I am a Playstation fan. I think the XBOX is ridiculous since their controllers are weird, and they make you pay for a live account. And Halo is just boring.
While I have played many games for the console, the one I focused on for a long piece of time was Call of Duty. That was what introduced me to Challenge Lobbies where we could hack the game patch and unlock all of our equipment and ranks… So I did those for a long time. I was also a fan of QuickScoping… And I joined QS clans like a nerd.
I took a break from COD and played TES games, first Oblivion, and then Skyrim when it was released. It is my favourite console game, honestly. I love fantasy.
After that I began to play MUDs, the first one being Avalon. It’s a text-based MMORPG, and it was an enthralling and amazing experience. It is the only game I still play today, since I no longer have my consoles…
Gaming aside, I like almost every genre of music, though I usually stick with the more popular ones on the leaderboards. I hate gangster rap. Just reminds me of my brother who thinks he’s a wigger.
My username comes from one of my favourite books, a Sorcerer named Belgarath. I love to read fantasy novels, and there are too many to call a favourite.
phew Anyway, pleasure to meet you all.
Hi and welcome, Garath. (Assuming that it is the David Eddings books you’re referring to, I read and liked the first two series of those as a teenager long ago.)
Hi everyone,
The first time I touched an IF game was back in the late 90’s, and I think it was Adventure.
I started getting into IF more back in 2004 when I played Laura Knauth’s Winter Wonderland.
I tried to make some of my own games using Inform 7, but I kept putting them off for whatever reason. Hopefully, my current project will actually see a completion date in the near future.
Aside from IF, I also enjoy photography and retro game design.
Hope to make friends with all of you!
Hi, I’m new here…my nickname on- and offline is Pete, so call me that, please. People assume it’s male, but it’s short for Petra. I’m actually a 33 year old woman. I have never been part of or followed any sort of “IF community” so I don’t really know any of the websites or influential people.