SNEEZE Comp Announcement

NOTE: Sorry, this was posted yesterday, but I accidentally screwed something up and I'm posting it again. Sorry if you lost a comment that you made!

To encourage development of more games, I've come up with a new comp, this one for CYOA games. After putting up a draft for commentary by the community, I'm ready to go ahead with this. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

SNEEZE COMP

 Deadline: September 30th, email to [myscreenname]93@gmail.com

The Name

Sneeze Comp is a play on words: Adult Choose Your Own Adventure

The Philosophy

SNEEZE Comp is a casual competition. The rules are designed so that people aren't killing themselves trying to win it. As such, the rules are loose, and we mostly do pinky swears and the honor system.

It's also supposed to be a fun competition. We encourage creativity, experimentation, and not taking things too seriously.

Rules

Small or medium games only, minimum 1,000 words of game text, maximum 25,000 words. Code doesn't count as game text.

Game should be complete. That is, you should be able to play from beginning to end, with no choices that are loose ends. UPDATE: By "loose ends", I mean unfinished choices, parts of the game that were obviously supposed to continue but didn't. If the game ends because the player puts it into a fail state (i.e. they die) then that's fine.

The game can be written for any interpreter, as long as it can be downloaded freely. That is, players shouldn't need to buy or sign up for anything to get an interpreter, so you couldn't write a Neverwinter Nights module for the comp.

The game must use a CYOA interface. That is:  a) All in-game actions should be controlled either by clicking or selecting a provided choice. So, no typing unless it is to select a choice.  b) The limitation does not apply to system commands (i.e. save, load, quit, undo, restart, options).

Entries must contain explicit sexual content with all characters depicted in sexual situations 18+. Games that have especially weird fetish content will probably not win, but are allowed.

(Optional) Game can follow the competition's theme. A broad theme for the competition will be provided, for example, possible themes might be "on a desert island", "damsel in distress", or "nurses". It isn't necessary to follow that theme, so if you don't like that theme you can still submit an entry, but voters are asked to take it into consideration when they rank the game.

Voting will be done by rankings. Each voter will be asked to rank the three best games, or in the case of less than five games, just the best game. Winners will be determined by an instant run-off vote.

If there are five or more games, any game that doesn't win first prize is viable to win an honorable mention. These include: Sexiest Game, Funniest Game, Best Writing, Best Implementation, Best Use of Theme, Most Original. Voters will be asked to give out the honorable mentions.

Some multimedia is allowed, but games are expected to be mostly text. You are responsible for providing attribution or obtaining licenses if the work is not your own. Absolutely no photographs of RL people! To give writers without access to expensive graphic suites a chance, please no images of sex. Yes, I like them too, but not all of us can sink a chunk of money into a good image program. UPDATE: Having an image of sex is discouraged but won't disqualify you. It is not in the spirit of the comp.

Game file should be 4 MB or less. Leeway can be if given the file-type is "naturally large" for a blank story file.

The game should be the original work of you and your co-authors. You are, of course, encouraged to recruit beta testers.

Whoever runs this competition can't submit their own entries.

By submitting an entry, you are stating you've read and understood all the above.

 This Competition's Theme

Out of the dozen and a half or so submissions for possible themes for the competition, I've used an RNG to pick from the eligible ones at random. If you want to submit a theme for a future competition, follow this link.

The theme that was randomly picked was:

Cyberpunk/Dystopian Future

Rogue AIs, virtual worlds, tyrannical governments, greedy mega-corps dominate public life. Some do what they will, the hackers, jammers and runners do what they must on the unforgiving streets. Think Blade Runner, The Matrix, Shadowrun, Neuromancer.

 SNEEZE Comp and Minicomp


This comp does not influence the Minicomp in any way, the Minicomp is still taking CYOA submissions as far as I know. The important thing is this isn't competing with the Minicomp. Not only that, I actively encourage people to participate in both, and if they have to pick one, they should pick the Minicomp.

In any case, if necessary, I'm willing to push deadlines so that people can participate in both the Minicomp and SNEEZE Comp. This is not a conspiracy to push CYOA out of Minicomp. This is, in fact, a conspiracy to make Adult CYOA more of a thing.

 Submissions and Deadlines

The deadline for the comp is September 30th. If the minicomp has a similar deadline, SNEEZE comp will be pushed back.

Submit your entry to [my screen name here]93@gmail.com with the game file, any readmes, and optionally, a text file with all the game text.

  F.A.Q.

Q: Is the Minicomp no longer accepting CYOA entries?/What happened to the minicomp?/You can't replace the minicomp!

A: I don't run the minicomp, and I don't want to detract from that venerable institution.

Q: What do you mean by "mostly text"?

A: Pictures, music and sfx should support the text, text should not support the multimedia. You shouldn't be clicking pictures, you should be selecting from a menu of textual choices.

Q: It's difficult to obtain word counts on my interpreter. How will you obtain the word counts for the game?

A: The 25,000 word limit is informal, and there's no need to send exact word counts unless serious questions are raised about the length of the game. It would be nice to send a file with all the game text, but not necessary.

Q: Will not following the theme seriously hurt my chance at winning?

A: It depends. An exceptionally good game that doesn't follow the competition's theme should be allowed to win, but the theme shouldn't be meaningless, either. Voters are asked to consider the use of theme when voting, so it depends on what they think.\

Q: What are my options for interpreters?

A: Some of the common interpreters are twine, choice script. You can also use traditional engines like TADS, Inform 7 and ADRIFT with the proper extensions.

A few words from GoblinBoy

Hi again,

Sorry to be monopolizing this blog :) Firstly, here is a picture of Penny from the 'new game':

 

Edit: a second picture:

 

and a third:

 

She and Karen are the main girls, mostly, and are opposites in many ways.

Also, for those of you wondering about my future plans I just posted a fairly long comment at ExLibris' Over-Analysing AIF blog. The maincontent of this post was:

...
As for my future here - I still haven't decided. I *should* quietly fade back away, but then I shouldn't have really posted in the first place. The fact is, writing colossal games with hundreds of pictures takes a lot of time. A *lot*. And the rest of my life was suffering as a result.
...
My reimagining is trying to whittle the plot down to a point where I could write a game in months rather than years, but currently the only way I can think of doing that is by removing all the key scenes which were the reason I originally wanted to write this game
...
 In the reimagining literally *none* of what I wrote before is in the current version of the plot. And the 'key scene that starts the game properly' has been relegated to one possible branch that you might do, but might not. In short, the game I think I *can* tell is very different from the one I want to. Which does not help me to get the enthusiasm to commit the next x months of my life to writing it.
...
at the moment apart from plotting I have not written a single word of a game.
...
So, I have been idly creating a few pictures of the characters that *would* be in the game if I wrote it. But I'm still thinking that I probably won't write it. But who knows, if I get the inspiration and a compact enough plot that lets me do what I wanted...

Or I could just write something entirely different. Or I could fade quietly away again. I still haven't decided.

You can skip over to his blog (it's a comment in the Make Love Not War post), but that is the gist of it.

Cheers!

GoblinBoy

Karen's sister Sarah

Aaannnd, here's a little picture of Karen's younger sister, Sarah. The scene(s) with her were the original inspiration for the plot of the game.

Cheers!

GoblinBoy

Hi again. Here's a world exclusive!

Hi again,

Here's a world exclusive! A picture of the main female character in the game that I am currently not writing. Make of that what you will.

Cheers!

GoblinBoy

Hello, this is GoblinBoy

Hello.

This is GoblinBoy. Just a quick post to let you know I am alive and well. I found an old drive containing bunches of my files that I had deleted. Below are a few previously unreleased pictures of Alison from the making of SD3, just as a little bonus for people.

Not played an AIF or anything for a very long time, but I just played Palmer's Emily: Sister Attraction. Gosh, that was good. Keep it up!

Cheers!

GoblinBoy

(April Fools) Pervert ASCII: Crisis

Today, Another Wannabe, Phinn and I are announcing a brand new upcoming rererelease of the popular Pervert Action: Crisis, to be titled Pervert ASCII: Crisis. In this new version of the game all the art will be entirely reimagined as ASCII art. Marvel at Kyoko’s spectacular body like you’ve never seen it before - represented entirely by lines and keyboard symbols! Think of the reduction in download times when images are replaced by text!

                           __.---.
                         ,' `     `-.
                        /            `.
                       /               \
                      |                 \
                       \     .'-.        \
                       (    ,'   `-..    \
                        \  /      9: `.   \
                        | (\  9:      /\   \
                        \  \`.     / /..)  )
                         \.````-..,.`   | /`-.
                       ,'               \/    `
                      /    ,          `.`   ,. :
                     /   ,' ||   ,.    |    `` '
                    /   /    \\  ``   ,-.____,'
                    |  |     | `.__,,'     |
                    |  | __../          (  \
                    | ,'              ,' \  \
                    :'           ,   '    \  \
                  ,'                  `-._ \ |
                ,'           ;;;;`        `|  \
              ,'            ,"".           \   \
        ____,'          _,-'    `._         \_\ \
     _,'  ,'         _-'   _,..   '-._        \_/`.
   ,-'  ,'        ,-'  _.-'    '''''` `-.__       |
   |    \      _.'.gan(____...--...___     ``   _/
   `._,-``...-'                       `''''''''`

Also, as a special bonus goal on my Patreon account - if I get up to $2000 I will upgrade all the art in Pervert Action: Legacy to beautiful ASCII images. Get pledging now!

Game Announcement: Marvel: Director, and request for Alpha Testers

The multiverse is collapsing. Heroes are missing. What is left of humanity is sheltered within one city and a few pocket universes. The only thing that seems to be stopping the collapse completely is you, the new Director of SHIELD. It's your job to find heroes, give them assignments, and fight off dangers, all while dealing with the new universe which scientists have dubbed a class-XXX.

This is my announcement for an upcoming game Marvel: Director (working title). I'm far enough along now that I'm confident the game will be released, though it could be a few months down the road depending on how fast I work on it. This is also a request for a few Alpha testers (I have the testers I need, thanks to everyone who replied. If you sent me an email and have not received a reply with the current Alpha version, please contact me again) willing to take a look at the game/offer suggestions as it finishes development. I have been working with SpiketheGoat who has been extremely helpful, but he is short on time and expanding the pool is probably a good idea.

The Erins 2010-13 - The Results!

The results of the Erins 2010-13 can now be announced!

There were 148 voters, which is a very impressive total given that this is the third major poll in a relatively short space of time. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to vote.

The winner in each category is listed below, together with honourable mentions (listed alphabetically) for anyone else who got a significant proportion of the vote.

2013

Game of the Year

Winner: Pervert Action: Future by BBBen

Honourable mention: Bad Sister by Another Wannabe, Return to Pleasantville by Lamont Sanford

Best New Author

Winner: Another Wannabe

2012

Game of the Year

Winner: The Tesliss Equation by GoblinBoy

Honourable mention: Peril in Pleasantville by Lamont Sanford

Best New Author

Winner: Lamont Sanford

Honourable mention: Gary Plume

2011

Game of the Year

Winner: Gifts of Phallius 3: The Valkin War by GoblinBoy

Honourable mention: Last Horizon: Director’s Cut by GoblinBoy, Pervert Action: Crisis by BBBen

Best New Author

Winner: Blue Satyr

Honourable mention: Archer, Rogue AI

2010

Game of the Year

Winner: Meteor by GoblinBoy

Honourable mention: British Fox and the Nationalist Conspiracy by Lucilla Frost

Best New Author

Winner: lightwing_2001

Honourable mention: LordYoni, Portmanteau

As expected, Game of the Year 2012 was the most tightly contested category, with Gifts of Phallius 3 edging out Pervert Action: Crisis by just a handful of votes. At the other end of the spectrum, Another Wannabe dominated Best New Author 2013 with over 80% of the vote.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Where did all these new games come from?

This will be a short post just to hopefully start a discussion, but I've noticed there have been a lot of releases recently. I don't remember a spontaneous busy period like this since... I don't know, maybe all the way back to 2005. Things were already going better than they had been, but then we got LLtL's project, followed by four games in this month so far. (By the way, is anyone keeping track of release dates these days?)

I have many questions and few answers about this busy patch. Is it just a coincidence? Is it a sign of more to come? Is the AIF author vacuum being filled? Has a big influx of new people been introduced recently? Can we find some way to ruin this again? Post in the comments if you have any ideas.

March Open Thread: Replayability

I've been reading through some old threads and noticed that talk about replayability of AIF games was pretty common. Most of the talk though didn't actually go into what made a game good to play multiple times, thus an open thread.

First: I don't want to imply by any means that a game has to be replayable to be 'good'. A good game might be great for just one play through, that shouldn't necessarily detract from the quality. I think though that many authors design for replayability for more of an emotional payoff (I believe I've seen both Palmer and BBBen discuss this). It takes a long time to design a game and it would feel better if it got multiple plays instead of just a single go.

Here are the questions:
In general, what elements makes you want to go back and replay a game? Quality, multiple paths, hidden scenes, something else?
Do you go back and replay games long after your initial play through?
What AIF game(s) have you played the most times and why?