My partner and I have two projects currently in the works, either of which might end up in Spring Thing or not depending on scheduling. One is an Inform 7 murder mystery; the other is a ChoiceScript game based on a tabletop RPG I ran, which…also ends up being a murder mystery. Hey, I know what I like.
Very different vibes though. The first one is a classic closed-circle whodunnit where you have to prove your innocence before the vehicle reaches its destination. The second one is a noir-esque supernatural one where you realize the murder was just the tip of an iceberg of corruption and lies.
The pattern of “one of us codes and the other writes” is a great way to get things done faster, but it also relies on our schedules lining up in the right way!
I’m going to try to submit a revamped version of a jam game to the Back Garden. Hoping it will be a good way to get feedback and maybe some beta testers. Is that allowed for this competition? The first version was published on itch.io, but it’s incomplete.
Good question! That’s @mathbrush’s call, but the guidance on the website says:
Can I submit a revised version of a previously released game?
The general idea behind the “new” guideline is that games should feel like a debut: they should have mostly new content. A translation of a game from another language or an extensively fleshed out version of a game prototyped in IntroComp or Ludum Dare would probably be cool; a minor improvement to an already existing game, not so much.
As for beta testing, probably a good idea to get some of that done before entering it. This forum is a good place to ask for testers.
Thanks Graham! It really does look like the Python game is a go. I’m to the point where I can just type text into auxiliary files to write out the story and that’s it. I thought it’d be the easy part, but it isn’t.
Maybe we could start a beta testing topic where people could swap testing? It’s been done before for comps, and I’m pretty sure it was really helpful.
I would say definitely okay for Back Garden and most likely also Spring Thing as it sounds like something similar to introComp you have published. As Christopher says, you must ask the organizer Mathbrush. IFComp is much more strict so that wouldn’t be possible as far as I know.
If it has been substantially revised, the Back Garden is a good place. If someone who played the old game found many new things in the new version, enough to make it feel like a new experience, then the Back Garden is great.
Hello hello. It looks like I’ll enter Spring Thing this year, same as Charm, because I’m excellent at planning and it’s increasingly likely that I won’t finish my SeedComp entry on time. (Blame the scope creep, not me!) This will be the first comp I enter, and the first proper interactive fiction game I’ve made, though I’ve read plenty. It’s a surreal story about traveling through a post-apocalyptic ocean, with a lot of horror elements thrown in. We’ll see how it goes. Cheers.
"This new critical edition of the poorly-received 1996 text adventure game Repeat the Ending by Drew Cook features many enhancements and extras: annotations, critical essays, and more. Return to 1996 and join D, a so-called “entropist” who can turn disorder into powerful magic, on a fateful trip across a small, southern town. Can D change the way his story ends? Or is he forever doomed to… Repeat the Ending?
Features three digital feelies and artwork by Callie Smith."
I’m making a story-based game based on a piece of German folklore!
It’s intended to be sort of a… looking glass where I want the player to insert themselves into the place of the game characters. As for a plot, the game is supposed to tackle themes of hope, despair, inevitability, philosophy, oh… and some psychological horror elements. (I’m intentionally being very vague because any more words would easily spoil the ending haha)
But I am using a new engine other than Twine to create my game, so there is a huge learning curve I have to tackle after I finish writing… hopefully I can make it before the deadline!
As for why, Spring Thing… the community is very forgiving, robust, and kind :^)
I’m writing a locked door mystery game set in Victorian London. The main character is the daughter of Chinese immigrants living in the pre-WW1 Chinatown near Canary Wharf. Madame Soo is a brilliant detective who may be in just a bit over her head.
The engine is designed from the ground up to be played on mobile foremost, but with a solid play experience for desktop as well.
Just to understand, I remember that some intro-comp games were later placed in the Main Festival of Spring Thing but above you only mentioned the Back Garden so I wonder if games similar to Intro Comp games can still be placed in the Main Festival?
Hmmm, I’m not really sure on this one. I think Introcomp games basically had a special deal to get into Spring Thing, and that this was before the Back Garden existed, which is why they ended up in the main area.
So the options are to either keep things that way (new and introcomp games in main, expanded games only in Back Garden), move introcomp to back garden as well, or allow expanded games into the main area.
I think the main reason for not putting expanded games in the main competition is that theoretically you could get someone with a long-time WIP that people have been following for years on itch or Twine come in and just smash away everything else. That would be a pretty bad thing but with a very low chance. On the other hand, putting a game in the back garden instead of the main one just removes the chance for ribbon nominations, which is slightly bad (they’ll still get reviews that can be used as quotes for marketing, etc.).
So right now I’m leaning towards the status quo, with keeping expanded games in back garden and introcomp in the main (although the number of complete introcomp games is pretty low!)
This will be my second Spring Thing. I haven’t entered any others; I wanted to do Ectocomp but had too many distractions at the time. Spring Thing just fits my yearly cycle better!
I don’t want to give too much away about my game, but it’s going to be much more tightly themed than last year’s game, with a smaller world but more to do in it. I can’t promise it will have a shorter total playtime, but like The Hole Man, you’ll be able to end the game at your leisure and go to a customized ending based on what you’ve done.
What happens in the game? Six words: It’s time to play the music…
Ha, I instantly got this reference (I think) since that song is on the continually-recurring playlist of kid music we have for my son. Sounds like a good time, looking forward to it!
Still learning Inform7 as I go. But I did submit my intent to join the Spring Thing Festival. Building a little “grab the treasure” game to get my feet wet in Interactive Fiction building and publishing.
Also submitted the intent! The game is part of my bachelor’s thesis, and one of the requirements was to join a comp, and springthing overlaps with my deadlines, more or less. Can’t really say too much on the project at the moment, as everything is in a sort of… in rushed progress state, but the general idea is to have a simple exploration and well, interaction game suitable for first timers. I’ll be using Vorple, and all the images/sounds used will be generated with AI software. (Part of the development process as well, per the thesis). Having a blast with the whole process, and i’ll probably be building up on this project and expanding it with ideas that don’t quite fit the current timeframe.
As for the general theme, i’ll just leave the one sentence description i added in the application form. Self discovery, acceptance and the difficulty of letting go.