It’s ectocomp time again! Entries are due at the end of October, so plenty of time if you want to put together a short game.
For anyone who does not have English as a first language, this may also be the jam for you 
ECTOCOMP is an annual competition for interactive fiction celebrating the SPOOKY MONTH OF HALLOWEENTOBER. Whether you celebrate Halloween, Day of the Dead, All Saint’s Eve, or just love ghost stories and creeping people out, this is your time to shine!
This year all participating languages on the same page on itchio. Since the beginning of this initiative to have several languages on ECTOCOMP, it has arisen from the motivation to unite and strengthen ties between international communities. Which was somewhat lost on its purpose because each language had a separate page. Thanks to the improvements in jam hosting on itchio, this year it is possible to do this in a slightly more optimal way. Let’s see if it works!
Initially the main languages are English, Spanish, French and German, and then there is a fifth option of “others”. But if any person or group wants us to add a language to the list, they just have to ask.
As always there are two categories over and under 4 hours to create. (Yes it is entirely possible to create a short CSG within the short game time limit! But you can use whatever coding you wish from bitsy to twine, as long as it is IF.) Remember, no generative AI is allowed in the short game category.
I’ve entered this jam a few times now, and it’s one of my favs. I’ve only done the short form category and it’s amazing being able to make yourself plan to have a finished game within a few hours. It’s good for practice and you get the satisfaction of having a nice community play your game at the end of it. (This is a friendly jam in my experience.)
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Ghostbusters, so if you’ve ever thought about making a spooky themed game, now is the time
See the main page for more details ECTOCOMP 2024 - itch.io
Or the discussion thread here Ectocomp2024 is live! - Competitions - The Interactive Fiction Community Forum
) before you hit the timer to start writing. It’s a little tricky but doable. Main thing is to keep it short and simple enough to viably finish in a few hours and not let scope creep sneak in. It really is a good challenge. We’ve had a few people from the forums complete games for ectocomp over the years but I get that it might not be what everyone considers fun 
