The 2005 Interactive Fiction Competition

   Introduction
   ------------

   What began ten years ago as an effort to encourage the development
   of short works of interactive fiction has grown into a competition
   involving some forty authors and over two hundred judges. Each
   year people from around the world write text adventures that can be
   played in two hours or less. In recent years the definition of what
   interactive fiction is has changed, as each year more games with
   graphics and sound are entered in the competition.

   Whether you've never played a text adventure before in your life,
   or you've judged in every competition since 1995, we're glad you're
   taking part.

   Welcome to the 2005 Interactive Fiction Competition.


   Playing The Games
   -----------------

   (Note: for the latest information and possible updates to games,
    please visit the competition web site at http://www.ifcomp.org/)

   You may play the competition games in any order you
   choose. However, if you don't think you'll have time to play all of
   the games before the end of the voting period, you are encouraged
   to play them in random order. That way, you will have played a
   random sampling of the games. You can do this using the game
   information and voting page at http://ifcomp.org/info/. The page
   has information about all of the games, and will list them in
   random order if you so wish.

   There are two types of competition games: interpreted games and
   platform-specific executables.


   Interpreted Games

   Interpreted games are written using a computer-independent
   language, and can thus in general be run under many different
   operating systems. To play an interpreted game, you need an
   interpreter. There are several types of interpreted games in the
   competition.

   TADS GAMES. TADS games are found in the tads2 and tads3 folders of
   the competition directory. The filenames of TADS games end in .gam
   (for TADS 2) or .t3 (for TADS 3), and they are run using a TADS
   interpreter. You can find TADS interpreters at
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXtads2Xexecutables.html
   and
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXtads3Xexecutables.html
   There are single interpreters that can run both TADS 2 and TADS 3
   games. If one exists for your operating system, use it.

   Z-CODE GAMES. The z-code games are in the zcode folder of the
   competition directory. The filenames of z-code games end in .z5 or
   .z8, and are run using a Z-machine interpreter. Z-machine
   interpreters can be found at
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpreters.html

   HUGO GAMES. The Hugo games are in the hugo folder of the
   competition directory. The filenames of Hugo games end in .hex, and
   are run using a Hugo interpreter. Hugo interpreters can be
   found at
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXhugoXexecutables.html

   ALAN GAMES. The ALAN games are found in the alan folder of the
   competition directory. The filenames of ALAN games end in .a3c.
   They are run using an ALAN version 3 interpreter. You can find one at
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXalan3Xexecutables.html

   ADRIFT GAMES. The ADRIFT games are found in the adrift folder of
   the competition directory. ADRIFT games run only on Windows
   systems. You can get the ADRIFT Runner at
   http://www.adrift.org.uk/



   Platform-Specific Games

   WINDOWS GAMES. The Windows-specific games are in the windows folder
   of the competition directory. They are playable only under Windows
   or under an emulator.



   Rating The Games
   ----------------

   Rate each game you play by giving it a whole-number rating from 1 to
   10. Larger numbers are better. Your rating must be based on no more
   than two hours of cumulative playing time. If, after playing a game
   for two hours, you want to keep playing it, you must give it a
   rating *and not change that rating later if you resume play*.

   You can enter your ratings as you assign them using the ballot page
   at http://ifcomp.org/info/, if you wish. You can also change
   previous ratings if you change your mind about a game.



   Submitting Your Ratings
   -----------------------

   Once you have played and rated as many games as you can before the
   November 15th deadline, you need to submit your ratings. You do not
   have to play all of the games to vote; however, you must play at
   least five games. There are two ways to vote. The first is to use
   the web-based interface located at http://ifcomp.org/info/. The
   second is to email your ratings the vote-counter, Mark Musante, at
   vote@ifcomp.org. You may submit different ratings, and only the
   last one you send in will be counted.

   If you choose to email your votes to Mark, use the following format
   for your email. In the subject line of your message, put "VOTE". In
   the body of the message, put the name of each game you are rating
   followed by its rating, with one game name and rating per
   line. Send your message as plain ASCII. Do not use HTML or send
   your votes as an attached non-ASCII file like a Microsoft Word
   document.

   Remember, you must vote before 11:59 P.M. EST on November 15th,
   2005. Votes submitted after that date will not be counted, so if
   you won't have access to the Internet around that time, be sure to
   vote early. You can always change your ratings at a later date.