Alright. So how do you sign up for this?
Also, if anybody needs an idea, here’s a 10-room map that I won’t be using:
http://bit.ly/xkQDsX
Please direct entry requests to textfyre.com/tenrooms/.
Keep the questions on the forum though…
David C.
Would it be acceptable to write the game in pure php/html (with no database or write permissions required)?
–gary
Is the focus here on pushing the boundaries of interaction between a game and a (possibly dynamic?) map, or just promoting the idea of a game limited in geographic scope that has a map a few clicks away?
With talk if Inform 7’s publishing system falling within the rules when you include an interpreter and a map file, it sounds like the latter, but I want to make sure: should participants focus on innovating how someone can interact with the work in the context of a modern web browser, or should they focus on creating a quality work bundled alongside a quality map?
Good question, Jeremy!
Although honestly, I don’t really care that much, to me this comp is just an opportunity to write something that hopefully will be interesting.
I’ve been thinking of writing something about a house, a bit inspired by George Perec’s La Vie: Mode d’Emploi. Of course, Perec has other types of constraints. And admittedly, what I’m doing now is not really that, it’s a much smaller thing and really something different. But I’m starting it off with one fixed boundary: that there are only ten rooms. That’s about it for me. If this is not what the comp organizer (David) was aiming for… well, boo hoo.
On the tech side though (for Inform 7), I am trying to to a dynamic little map on the side that displays where you are, and anybody else who wants to do this should be able to do something similar. My plan is to do it with just some javascript / html / css on the side that intercepts the status line to see where the player is.
See this thread for my first steps on this.
I would prefer a more traditional IF game using Inform 7, TADS 3.1, or Adrift’s web capabilities. Also, the intent is for a small game that fits on a single browser page.
David C.
I’m less interested in a dynamic map and more interested in simply having a holistic experience on a single browser page, but that doesn’t preclude someone from making the map interactive.
I have a lot of ideas for this comp myself and the main theme in all of them is to develop a “target” for people who may want to create small IF games, playable in a browser, that would be perfect for casual play. The map is one thing we can do to shorten that gap between starting an IF game and continuing to finish it. If we make the map interesting, people will have an innate interest in seeing all locations and discovering all of the secrets within…
Here is a puzzle…all of the hints are right here…can you solve it!?
David C.
Thank you for your response, David. I think I begin to see what you’re driving at: This contest aims to generate the IF equivalent of the light “filler” games a group of board game players might play for a round or two in between rounds of much lengthier board games. So we shouldn’t just restrict the geographic scope (10 rooms), but the overall length of the game.
I would hope that inherently, with only ten rooms and an obvious map, the scope of the game would be limited. But the idea is to strike a balance. To find the sweet spot where someone knows they can solve the game in a short period of time, and yet there are interesting challenges to make it compelling.
David C.
I had in mind a very traditional sort of game. On the other hand, I really should be focusing on refining my PHPIF system right now anyway. Maybe next time, after you’ve had a chance to see what PHPIF looks like.
–gary
If you missed it, I just made a new Parchment branch the other day that allows the Z-Machine to run code and to get a response back. Check out the example code to see how to use it.
<a class=“postlink-local” href="https://intfiction.org/t/parchment-quixe-javascript/3503/6