Winter TADS (and Zilf) Jam starts December 1, 2022

I am pleased to announce the Winter TADS (and Zilf) Jam that begins this Thursday.

I have a commemorative cup in mind for the winner and possibly commercial copies of Thaumistry for the entrants if I can figure out how to purchase them for third parties. (?)

So far, I have been unable to find a way to purchase promotional copies of Thaumistry. :frowning:

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By ZILF, that means a game with a Z-machine compiler (eg .z3, .z5, etc.), right?

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ZIL is the Zork Implementation Language the language used by Infocom in the last century. See Zarfā€™s Article. Zilf is the compiler based upon Zil developed by Jesse McGrew. See: Zilf Getting Started Page

You are correct, Z-machine games are descendants of Zil. If you entered a Z-machine game, it would not be excluded.

Thank you, Jeff

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Thanks, just needed clarifying. I hope I can complete an actual game in timeā–«ļø

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Sorry, but just for clarification: I assume this part refers only to Z-machine games which were written in ZIL and compiled by the ZILF toolset?

If so, then I think the wording ā€œZ-machine games are descendants of Zil. If you entered a Z-machine game, it would not be excluded.ā€, which also appears on the jamā€™s homepage at itch, might be a bit misleading. Since Inform 6, Inform 7 (if itā€™s a small game), and Dialog can all produce Z-machine games, too, people might think those are admissible (by way of being in the general family tree of the Z-machine).

As the intent of the comp was/is to promote TADS and ZIL, Iā€™d think that a general permission for all kinds of Z-code games would dilute the original idea?

Of course, it is your competition, and I donā€™t want to persuade or dissuade you concerning how to organize it; just asking for clarification.

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StJohnLimbo,

I totally agree with you. The TADS/Zil jam is about TADS/Zilā€¦

And, I was making a stretch for the particular post from MAX.

Earlier this year, we got into quite a debate about ā€œparser gamesā€ in ParserComp. Same issue.

Rather than discourage someone from participating and entering, I thought I would be inclusive and allow his game.

In the spirit of IF, I think it is OK. ??

My main intent is to promote TADS with Zil as an add on. Any participation will help with that cause.

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To be honest, I wasnā€™t 100% sure which system Max had in mind for his entry, given that he said ā€œI thought maybe making a game in ZIL could be a good side projectā€ in another thread, which might mean he also intends to use ZILF for the jam, while the question here in this thread could indicate that he is thinking about a different compiler, as long as itā€™s targeting the Z-machine. @SomeOne2, which system/language do you intend to use?

Absolutely fine, no worries.

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I intend to use ZIL, complied with ZILF.

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IMO, creating Inform games from scratch qualifies as ZIL implementation. Of course, that means Dialog games are fine only if Linus is the one submitting it, since heā€™s the creator and all.

I did do that, although itā€™s only in Choice game format, which is trivial to do in any language.

Edit: I mean Inform6, which is close to Z machine op codes, instead of I7, which is another whole layer of abstraction.

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I donā€™t fully agree. Itā€™s true that both Inform6 and ZIL language both align closely to the Z-machine opcodes, but a lot of the IF parts resides inside the libraries. That makes them quite different to code with.

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Means not using library, other than the one you make? Do you have another interpretation of ā€œfrom scratchā€?

I dont think the purpose of the jam is that you need to build your own library.

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Ah, neat! So, at least on behalf of Max, no exemption from the TADS-and-ZIL-only rule would be necessary.

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Feel free to use a simple library equivalent to ZIL. Iā€™m not comfortable with ZIL syntax, however, the logic of ACTION-OBJECT-INDIRECT is clear enough.

I suppose thereā€™s TADS, though you donā€™t really need complicated library for Choice IF or 2 word parser, for that matter.

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If I only have enough to qualify for a demo of what will be a larger game, is that still a valid submission?

I donā€™t know how much Iā€™ll have done when the window closes; Iā€™m starting it today, but Iā€™ve also been called a ā€œhigh-velocity coderā€ before.

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Complete games are preferred but it wouldnā€™t be excluded.

Iā€™m looking forward to your game.

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Thatā€™s excellent to hear.

I think I might work on enough of the game to make the primary ending playable. The alternate secret ending (which I think very few players would find anyways) will need a whole other set of puzzles, will take twice as long to make, and will increase the map size quite a bit.

I hope I can make it in time lol

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Something to keep in mind is that releasing a demo now would preclude you from submitting your completed game in other comps down the line, as most of them will only accept previously-unpublished games.

With so many comps around nowadays, you may want to consider submitting the finished, polished game to Spring Thing or ParserComp instead.

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Hm. This is a good point. I might do that instead. >>

EDIT: I mean, the plan wasnā€™t to submit the full version for a second comp; it was more to test the waters during a comp with the demo and then just post the full version whenever. I mean, Iā€™d test it before the comp, but reading the reviews for the demo would be interesting.

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