Ectocomp 2021

Whoops, totally missed the opening date of this comp. Not certain if I’ll be entering this year, but I did the previous two years and enjoyed it. There’s a mini comp (must be written within 4 hours) and a second category for anything that takes you longer to write.

I really recommend this comp to everyone. It’s fun, friendly and can be done with a minimum time commitment :smiley:

So if you feel like participating in some spooky goodness, I recommend checking out the link below for the rules and details:

For more discussion on the intfiction forums: Ectocomp 2021 - Competitions - The Interactive Fiction Community Forum

Edit: For inspiration, you can check out previous years such as 2019 and 2020.

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Does not feel like a year has passed since the last one. Isn’t that the scariest part of the season?

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Oh yeah, totally! :scream:

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Hi everyone, the voting deadline for ectocomp has been extended. There’s still another 3 days to get your votes in. There are both parser and text based IF entries up there, so can pick which ever style you enjoy to play most. Many of the entries don’t have a lot of votes this year, so if you have time, please consider reading a couple and giving them a vote and/or a comment. Little comps like this need attention to keep surviving :slight_smile:

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People can seriously create a game in under four hours?

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Yes! I didn’t enter this year, but have the previous 2 with CSGs. A few other people from here have also written CSG entries that have gone into the petite morte category. They’re short games, but totally do-able. IMO the key is planning isn’t counted so use it to decide exactly what and how you want to write (think, plan, sketch images, research etc. Whatever you usually do when deciding on a story to write), try to make sure it’s manageable in the time available (or use a module style like I did last year where you can drop a scene if it’s looking like there won’t be enough time to write them all once you get started), reuse code whenever possible, set the timer and write :smiley:

Rules for clarity in case I’m not making sense here :slight_smile:

Games submitted for La Petite Mort should be written in 4 hours or less.

  • Any time spent planning, thinking, doodling, researching, etc does not count.
  • Any time spent writing words or code that end up in-game totally does count.
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I’m impressed. It’s hard for me to imagine writing anything in under four hours except poetry or microfiction.

What are the games actually like? I assume they’re very short, but are they fun to play?

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Yeah, last year I made a little character creation simulator that goes a bit off the rails before you finish. Almost exactly four hours to create!

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That sounds intriguing. Is it available to play anywhere?

Nope! :grinning:

Aww spoilsport :wink:.

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Are yours available to play anywhere? I want to see what kind of game can be pulled together in four hours by a person who knows what they’re doing.

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I wouldn’t say I know what I’m doing, but I do enjoy writing short IF for fun :smiley:

These are my two:
Raishall (I have a post comp build going on the forums here that I’ve spent more time on, but this is the original for the comp.)
Phantasmagoria

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Wow, these are absolutely amazing! You are hereby granted permission to say you know what you’re doing. You’re brilliant at it. I’m more than a bit awe-struck.

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Thanks so much @AletheiaKnights :blush: Glad you liked them!

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No, thank you! But also, you’re welcome.

I’m going to have to play Phantasmagoria again, see if I can get a better ending this time.

Raishall left me both satisfied and wishing it were longer. The world you’ve created promises to be fascinating.

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