IntroComp 2010:
Rules, Intros, and Voting
Last updated: July 7, 2010



***** IN CASE YOU MISSED IT PREVIOUSLY *****

The requirements of IntroComp are deceptively simple: All entrants must submit the beginning of a new, never before seen work of IF. This can be as short or as long as the author likes, so long as it is 1) a working, playable game and 2) interactive fiction.


***** VOTING AND JUDGING RULES *****

Authors may not vote.

Beta testers are allowed to vote, but only on games they did not test.

Everyone else in the entire world may vote on as many or as few entries as they like, on the usual 1-10 scale (10 being the best). However, they are asked to judge games with one thought in mind, and one alone: "How much do I want to play more of this entry?"

As of this year I will follow the example in rule changes as semi-recently embraced by the IF Comp: if you want to post your reviews during the voting period, feel free to do so. Hopefully this will energize the competition and result in more people playing, reviewing, and voting. Authors, however, may not discuss any of the entries in a public Internet forum during the voting period, nor may they canvass for votes. Once the competition has begun, authors should refrain from posting their thoughts on any entry until the deadline for voting has passed.

You're probably pretty interested in downloading the games. Here you go:

ALL THE GAMES IN ONE GIANT ZIP FILE:
- All the introductions (35.7mb)
- All the introductions for non-Windows users (28.5mb)

INDIVIDUAL INTRODUCTIONS:
- Adrien Saurat's Plan 6 from Inner Earth (42kb, Zcode)
- Doug Jones' For the Love of Ornery Blue Yaks (49kb, TADS2)
- Iain Merrick's Tourist Trap (121kb, Zcode)
- Kevin Jackson-Mead's Waker (355kb, Zcode)
- Lea Albaugh's A Fleeting Case of Self-Possession, or, Memento Moratori (273kb, Zcode)
- M. M. Kathrel's Closed Circles (230 kb, TADS3)
- Fiadotau and Bychkov's Peanut Orchestra (7.1mb, WIN exe)
- Oliver Ullmann's Fang vs Claw (514kb, Glulx)
- Robb Sherwin's Cryptozookeeper (25.6mb, Hugo)

To figure out what interpreter you need for what game, check out this matrix.

We'll allow until the end of the first weekend in August for judging.
Votes can be cast by visiting http://allthingsjacq.com/introcomp/vote.php

Results announced in the auditorium on ifMUD on August 14, 2010.


***** THE CLUBFLOYD TWIST *****

Immediately after the awards ceremony, we shall adjourn to the Toyshop & Floyditorium, where we will, as a group, play all the intros that will run on our bot, Floyd. If you're curious, Floyd can play games written in Hugo, ADRIFT, AGT, Inform (6 or 7), and TADS (either 2 or 3).

There is no requirement that your IntroComp entry be created in one of these languages, it just means that we won't be able to play it on Floyd.


***** PRIZES *****

There's money again this year... not that I've ever had to send anyone any money thus far, but in theory, there *is* money...

PRIZE RULES
1ST Place: $100
2ND Place: $60
3RD Place: $40
Honorable: $20

All values in US funds, minus any currency conversion fee that might be required. Void where prohibited by law. Some assembly required. No other warranty expressed or implied. Although the bag does not appear to inflate, rest assured oxygen will be flowing to the mask.

Oh, and in order to win you not only have to enter, but also finish your game. You will have one year (until June, 2011) to do so. No completed game? No money - and somewhere in the world, a fairy dies.

An explanation of the 'Honorable' category. Anyone who enters but doesn't place in the top three will fit into this category. We want everyone to have an incentive to finish their game, so the first Honorable to complete their game will receive the $20 Honorable prize, provided that the entry isn't incredibly buggy and just sort of slapped together. (Since the money will be coming out of my pocket, I have the final word on that bit. No questions asked, and no complaining. Submit your solid, finished game in the spirit of the comp and you'll get the cash; submit something you obviously wrote for a SpeedIF and I shall mock you and keep the $20 for the next person who finishes their game.)


***** OTHER MISCELLANY *****

My heartfelt thanks this year to Dan Shiovitz, who did a lot of work behind the scenes feathering IntroComp into the larger interactive fiction voting scheme of things. Thanks, inky!

Thanks also to Jonathan Blask and Sam Kabo Ashwell for HTML advice!
(They wanted more of the page to look like this!)


So, for updates, watch r.a.i-f, as well as at the IntroComp page on my site at http://www.allthingsjacq.com/introcomp.html


***** REALLY IMPORTANT: CONTACTING JACQ *****

ALL questions should be sent to my e-mail account. I am not a frequent visitor to rec.arts.int-fiction, so don't post questions there and then complain when I don't reply. :)

So, to reiterate:

ALL CORRESPONDENCE
should be done by e-mail to my gmail.com account:
jacqueline.a.lott


Please also note that I'm also sometimes in the wilderness (that's right, the wilderness, where Internet is but a twinkle in some grizzly bear's eye) for several days at a time, so if you don't get a reply right away, it probably means that I'm in the woods and will reply as soon as my hiking boots or a small fixed-wing aircraft bring me back to 'civilization.'

Want to know even more?
You can return to the main IntroComp page, read the FAQ, or view your account.