The first annual Spring Thing, organized by Adam Cadre.

Winner:
Chip Hayes, Tinseltown Blues (Requires a Z-code interpreter)

(There was only one entrant in Spring Thing 2002.) .

You can download the most recent version of the game—and get more information about it—by clicking on its title above.

For the uninitiated: This game requires a Z-code interpreter. If you don't have one, click on the link to learn how to get one for free. here here

Rationale & Rules

Rationale

Every fall, immediately after the annual IF competition comes to a close, there are innumerable proposals about how to remedy perceived flaws in the system. One of these is to have a second comp in the spring, in order to reduce the number of games in the fall, and give people a batch of games to play at a different time of the year. Traditionally, once the subject is broached it's discussed to death, generating increasingly bad feelings. Usually the last exchange is something along the lines of, "Look, if you want to do this stupid idea, just do it!" "Well, I don't WANT to do it if THAT's gonna be your attitude!"

The big data point missing from these discussions is this: what would actually happen if someone were to run a spring comp? So let's try it and find out! The rules should look familiar to those acquainted with the fall comp, but there are a few differences, as this comp has slightly different goals. This isn't meant to be a big extravanganza with fifty titles ranging from the atrocious to the sublime and everything in between; instead, the ideal here is to have about twelve really good games for people to play at the beginning of summer. And away we go:

Rules

1. To enter the 1st Spring IF Competition, the would-be entrant must first submit an intent to enter. Intents will be accepted beginning at 12:01am EST on 01 December 2001. A maximum of twenty intents will be accepted, [1] and that acceptance will not become official until the would-be entrant submits US$5 to the prize pool. [2] This will not be refunded, even if the entrant decides not to submit a game. The number of intents accepted will be listed on this page and updated frequently; make sure that your intent is one of the first twenty submitted before sending money. This intent must include the working title and a brief precis of the game to be entered. The idea here is that you should have a specific game in mind that you're planning to work on between now and the deadline; no fair claiming one of the twenty spots thinking, "Yeah, I might want to enter something, if I come up with an idea and get around to doing it." After the twenty intent slots have been filled, other would-be entrants can get on a wait list if they submit a precis and a non-refundable $5 like a regular entrant, and if someone whose intent was accepted drops out, that slot will be filled from the top of the wait list. Those who do successfully claim one of the twenty spots or a place on the wait list may find that their idea evolves as they implement it; this is okay, so long as the organizer is alerted ahead of time. Otherwise, if a game does not resemble its precis, it will be disqualified.

2. Would-be entrants may only submit one intent to enter, and one game.

3. Games must be submitted to the organizer by noon EDT, 01 June 2002. Every game must be finishable by and comprehensible to the organizer. Authors must supply walkthroughs to their games such that the organizer can evaluate if the game is finishable; these walkthroughs need not be released along with the games, however, and authors should indicate whether their walkthroughs are for general release or for the organizer only. Games must not hang, crash, or generate errors of the [** Programming error **] or [TADS-1234: description of error] variety; the organizer will disqualify games which do not meet this requirement if the problem cannot be fixed immediately. [3] Games must be playable on at least Windows and MacOS.

4. After the games have been checked out by the organizer, they'll be released for judging. The judging period will be announced when the games are released, but will likely require judges to play about three games per week. Anyone who is not an entrant or the organizer may judge. Judges can play a game for as long as they want during the first 24 hours after starting it up, but once that time has elapsed, they can play for no more than four additional hours (spread out however they like) before scoring the game. Judges are of course free to score the game after playing for significantly less time if they wish. Games are to be scored from 1 to 10, 10 being best. Judges may continue to play a game after scoring it, but cannot change their score based on what they find later. (They may, however, change their scores for purposes such as normalization, if they wish.) Judges must play and vote on all games in order for their ballots to be counted.

5. Judges ARE allowed to discuss the games during the judging period, but are requested to clearly mark posts which discuss the games, for the benefit of those who want to avoid spoilers and having their scores influenced. Authors may NOT discuss the games during the judging period, neither their own nor their competitors'; if they see a need to correct a misstatement of fact in some thread or another, they should contact the organizer, who will relay the message. And in the interest of making sure that all games are thoroughly tested, beta-testers will not be barred from discussing or voting on the games they test.

6. Games must not be based upon works currently under copyright unless permission is obtained from the copyright holder. All entries must be freeware or public domain. All entries must be previously unreleased at the opening of voting. Authors may enter anonymously or using a pseudonym, but the names they normally use in the IF community will be revealed at the end of the judging period.

7. Monetary prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers, out of a pool of donations. The pool will be capped at $175. Prizes will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers according to the following ratio: 4:2:1. Assuming the pool reaches its maximum, this means $100 for first place, $50 for second, $25 for third. Some of this pool will come from those who submit intents to enter; some won't. If you're interested in contributing, contact the organizer (email below.)

8. The organizer will have final say on all judgment calls, but may consult others in making decisions (and, for the record, has extensively consulted others in formulating these rules.) The contact address for all Spring Comp-related messages is springcomp@adamcadre.ac.

Footnotes

[1] This might seem harsh, but keeping the number of games down is important here, especially in light of the last line of rule #4. So, please, don't submit an intent to enter unless you're really, truly planning to enter, have a specific idea that you've given serious thought to, and think your game will be really good.

[2] Yep — you'll have to pay to play, or rather, pay to enter. (Playing the games and submitting a ballot is free.) Apologies in advance for the hassle, especially for entrants from outside the US, but when this idea was floated people seemed to agree that, yes, if anything will cut down on spurious intents, this will. And $5 should be within everyone's means.

[3] Due to time constraints, these games will obviously not all be subjected to a thorough beta-testing by the organizer: arranging such is the author's job. Basically, the organizer will beat on them a while, mostly following the walkthrough but deviating from it from time to time, and if these egregious errors crop up, the game will be disqualified (if the culprit turns out to be the game and not a freak OS glitch or some such.)