Spring Thing2014
Or Fall Fooferall, for our Southern Hemisphere friends.

HomeRulesPrizesHistory

Home

The Spring Thing is an annual competition for interactive fiction (IF) computer games. It was started by Adam Cadre, who ran it during 2002 and 2003. After a brief hiatus, Spring Thing was revived in 2005.

On May 11, 2014, voting ended on the titles in competition. The results are below. Thanks to all the entrants, and thanks to all the voters!

Results
 
Place Game Author Avg. Std. Dev. No. Votes Prize Chosen  
1 The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost Briar Rose 6.50 2.57 18 $550 1 vote for 10 votes for 21 vote for 31 vote for 44 votes for 53 votes for 61 vote for 72 votes for 82 votes for 93 votes for 10
2 Surface Geoff Moore 6.44 1.42 18 $300 0 votes for 10 votes for 20 votes for 33 votes for 41 vote for 54 votes for 65 votes for 75 votes for 80 votes for 90 votes for 10
3 Through Time MC Book 6.10 2.45 21 $100 1 vote for 10 votes for 21 vote for 33 votes for 46 votes for 52 votes for 61 vote for 72 votes for 83 votes for 92 votes for 10
4 A Game of Life and Death Kiel Farren 5.86 2.77 22 $50 1 vote for 11 vote for 23 votes for 35 votes for 41 vote for 50 votes for 62 votes for 75 votes for 82 votes for 92 votes for 10
5 Bear Creek, Part 1 Wes Modes 5.82 1.59 17 Procedural novel 0 votes for 11 vote for 20 votes for 31 vote for 45 votes for 55 votes for 63 votes for 71 vote for 81 vote for 90 votes for 10
6 The Wyldkynd Project Robert DeFord 5.70 1.64 10 Cryptozookeeper 0 votes for 10 votes for 22 votes for 30 votes for 41 vote for 54 votes for 62 votes for 71 vote for 80 votes for 90 votes for 10
7 The Story of Mr. P. Hannes Schüller 4.94 1.61 16 1930s dossier 0 votes for 11 vote for 22 votes for 35 votes for 40 votes for 55 votes for 63 votes for 70 votes for 80 votes for 90 votes for 10
8 Weekend At Ruby's Liam Butler and Jackson Palmer 4.64 1.43 11 World Clock 1 vote for 10 votes for 20 votes for 33 votes for 44 votes for 53 votes for 60 votes for 70 votes for 80 votes for 90 votes for 10
9 The Adventures of a Hexagon Tyler Zahnke 2.19 1.50 21 Infocom novel 8 votes for 19 votes for 20 votes for 31 vote for 42 votes for 51 vote for 60 votes for 70 votes for 80 votes for 90 votes for 10

Note: The Bibliophile was disqualified from competition.


Downloads
 
All downloadable games in one archive  
28.7MB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
SpringThing2014.zip readme    
2 KB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
The Adventures of a Hexagon
by Tyler Zahnke
Play
Online
HTML
33KB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
Bear Creek, Part 1
by Wes Modes
Play
Online
Glulx
783KB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
The Bibliophile
by Marshal Tenner Winter
Play
Online
Glulx
1.6MB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
A Game of Life and Death
by Kiel Farren
Play
Online
ChooseYourStory
7KB*
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost
by Briar Rose
Play
Online
ChooseYourStory
The Story of Mr. P.
by Hannes Schüller
Play
Online
Z
373KB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
Surface
by Geoff Moore
Play
Online
Twine
5MB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
Through Time
by MC Book
Play
Online
ChooseYourStory
75KB*
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
Weekend At Ruby's
by Liam Butler and Jackson Palmer
Play
Online
Quest 5
20.2MB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror
The Wyldkynd Project
by Robert DeFord
  Alan
645KB
ST.net IF Archive IF Archive
Mirror

Platform Instructions

Alan: This system requires an Alan interpreter to be downloaded. Note that "The Wyldkynd Project" requires the latest Alan 3.0 Beta4. Instructions for downloading a compatible interpreter for your system can be found here.

Choose Your Story: Playable online. This platform requires a free account to save games in progress. (Downloads if any may include feelies or walkthroughs.)

Glulx: You'll need to download the story files for these games at the links above, and you'll also need a Glulx interpreter for your platform to play them. Gargoyle is a good cross-platform interpreter to run these stories. (Download)

HTML: Playable online in any web browser.

Quest 5: Playable online. This platform requires a free account to save games in progress.

Twine: Playable online. Note that "Surface" should play in all modern browsers apart from Internet Explorer, however Chrome and Safari are recommended as text and image fades may not display properly in other browsers.

Z: You'll need to download the story files for these games at the links above, and you'll also need a Z-code interpreter for your platform to play them. Gargoyle is a good cross-platform interpreter. (Download)

What to Do

If you're an author of IF, check out the rules. If this sounds like a good place to release your next game, feel free to participate.

If you're a player of IF, you're welcome to take part as a judge. We're also looking for people to donate prizes.

Beta testing your entry is encouraged! Authors and testers can connect at if.game-testing.org or in the "Game Announcements and Beta Testing" forum at intfiction.org.

In addition, you can read about the history of the Spring Thing, and find some cool games to download and play. And if you have any questions, you can email me at:

Current Status

May 12, 2014: The voting period has closed and the votes are being tabulated.

Special Thanks

The Spring Thing would like to thank the following people:

Adam Cadre, for starting the competition;
Greg Boettcher, for organizing and running it from 2004 to 2013;
Mike Snyder, for writing the voting program and for running a mirror;
Peter Seebach, for past hosting and technical help;
Stephen Granade, for occasional advice; and
the prize donors, for their generosity.

Purpose

Obviously, the general purpose of Spring Thing is to promote interactive fiction. More specifically, there are three aims that make the Spring Thing different from the annual IF Comp:

  1. To provide a place for promoting medium-sized to long works of interactive fiction.
  2. To provide some springtime relief to the dry season between the autumn deluges of the IF Comp.
  3. To encourage excellence in game authorship and discourage shoddiness.

Feel free to send questions or comments to: