Maybe it will be easier for me, because these are stories that I have already designed and played around a table, which allowed me to validate their coherence? That said, your project seems exciting, have you thought about cutting it into episodes?
your name sound french, albeit I can’t exclude that you’re franco-canadian, so a friendly warning: seems that the anglo-saxon monoculture heavily influence the judgement, but the feedback and constructive criticism is well-thought.
so, I suggest forgetting the IFComp and partecipate to the Spring Thing backgarden: You will get what really matters, feedback and constructive criticism without humiliation and loss of dignity.
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
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I second @DamonWakes’s and @Piergiorgio_d_errico’s suggestions, sort of: smaller entries could be submitted to Spring Thing or ParserComp, or even many of the small Itch.io jams, to ramp up to IFComp.
I know I went with a rather big and complex entry my first IFComp. It was based (heh) on a semi-famous baseball game. I didn’t really have a feel for the routine of asking for testers and implementing their input and having a time schedule.
The next year I had something more complex but much more logical. In the meantime I read Aaron Reed’s book on inform and game design, but what really worked was 1) getting a big head start and 2) being a part of the Apollo 18/20 game jam.
What I wrote may be forgettable. But it helped me do better. Plus I got to test others’ games and see – they make mistakes too and the final product can turn out quite nice!
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Yes indeed, I am French. Thank you for this warning that I imagine is well-intentioned.
I will think about all this. For the moment, I do not yet have a clear vision of all these competitions, their objectives, their calendar and I do not know if we can compete during a competition season with the same game (or game prototype). It is still very vague for me. If there is a summary on this forum, I am interested.
That being said, I am not sure that the English-speaking world is so monocultural, quite the contrary. It is certainly surprising from a Frenchman, I think on the contrary that its cultural production, and in particular its gaming production, is prolific and welcome. For example: although I am philosophically aligned with a very classically Latin ancient pre-Christian Greco-Roman materialism and I am a fan of ancient European history, it remains obvious that Al Nofi is and will remain a native New Yorker. That’s how it is, there are historical reasons for this, which go beyond individual free will and it’s a good example of cultural openness among millions.
For the moment, I only have polite discussions here, without humilation and loss of dignity. As an individual, I quite like to confront my work with a multitude of people who will probably each have a view as subjective and biased as mine on my game; that’s good, I’m not the center of the world and I’m not exceptional: what interests me is to get feedback from those who speak the language (native or learned) of the authors of D&D, Lord of the Rings, Warhammer Fantasy Ropleplay, Dune, the Lyonesse Trilogy, Demon Princes, The Shadow over Innsmouth and Inform (random examples of course…). It’s also part of my culture now, after all. The references are partially the same. So it’s up to me to work.
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I would encourage you to participate in IFComp, SpringComp, ParserComp, and practically any other competition that is frequent in this forum. The worst-case scenario is that the community has reservations about your game. The best-case scenario is that they share their enjoyment of it.
Intfiction is an especially welcoming community. Your games will generally be given a fair assessment. Whenever you put your artistic endeavors into the public sphere, there are always risks, but there are also rewards. Intfiction is generally a good place for useful feedback and reasonable discourse.
On a related note, I would also encourage you to request playtesters for your games before you submit them to competitions. Or really, before you release them to the general public. (And if you can find the time, contribute back and playtest other people’s games, too!)
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I’m sure that you’re aware of the French sub-forum here, so I guess that you also asked there.
I admit that used the term “monoculture” in a too broad context. (too long to explain the differences between the five strains of the anglo-saxon world…)
I prefer avoid delving in the OT about a renowned wargame author, suffice to say that IR is a great wargame, if was point-to-point based and not hex based (Roman, and ancient, strategy was centered on itineres, not terrain…)
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
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That’s been my experience as well. There’s plenty of us from non-English speaking countries hanging out without any problem. I’m sorry that Piergiorgio seems to have had a bad experience, but that is very much not the norm.
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Now I’m looking forward to De rerum natura: the interactive fiction! (Marvelous book, by the way.)
Edit: wait… or are you… a stoic?!
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You’ve indeed touched on a major influence in my life. But I’m trying to create a game, not a philosophical essay! 
Still, it’s clear that this influence affects the way I tell and stage stories. Doesn’t the title of the book you mentioned express the very foundation of any plot? 
To not dodge your question (I’m a master at going off-topic, so I’ll try to be brief — though this proves it’s going to be too long): I haven’t chosen between the Epicureans and the Stoics. Looking back and trying to avoid any chrono-centric thinking, I find that the Epicureans offer a rational and peaceful way of understanding how the world works. From there, the Stoics provide a relevant discipline of the mind that helps avoid metaphysical temptations while allowing us to live together in reality without spreading unnecessary suffering. However, I’m very wary of the modern neo-Stoicism trend in self-help, personal development, a.s.o., which I find rather superficial and would probably make Marcus Aurelius smile (or sigh).
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It’s interesting that you mention this, thank you for that. IRII and IRIII integrate this dimension because Roman provinces may or may not benefit from a road network depending on the period. Perhaps not in as decisive a manner as you describe, and you’re likely right.
However, in my opinion, one of the game’s interests is also to show the limits of this reasoning during local revolts or during massive migrations from Central Europe and Asia, involving peoples whose strategies differed from Rome’s traditional enemies, and for whom the type of terrain became important for dispersal and sustenance. With the application of a form of guerrilla warfare several centuries before the Hundred Years’ War (Du Guesclin vs. the English forces), the Roman army encountered problems that its declining logistical power could not solve. This phenomenon of shifting strategic assumptions can also be seen in the disastrous Russian campaign led by Napoleon: although he took Moscow, it was only in his mind that this should have led to the enemy’s surrender (an enemy who ultimately defeated him).
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I wanted to thank all of you for your advice regarding my request. All of it has matured in my mind, and I will follow a synthesis of your recommendations that aligns well with my project (As a reminder, I want to create a series of games set in the same universe, each of which can be played independently -with a complete story, therefore- but with narrative bridges connecting each story.)
I feel I owe you some feedback following your invaluable advice: I therefore plan to participate annually in Spring Thing and IFComp starting in 2025, if all goes well. Since the world model used in my games will generally remain the same, the feedback from these events will help me improve the foundation of my games in all areas: technical, narrative, and many others I may not yet imagine. Before Spring Thing, my first goal is to build a mini-tutorial in the form of a short story (a tutorial that introduces both the gameplay and the game universe), to test it and then have it tested, especially here.
I’ll need to check if I’m allowed to systematically include this same tutorial in each game, so that a new player can go through it directly within the game before starting an actual playthrough.
Alright, back to coding! 
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