I’ve noticed that a lot of authors on the forum have a Tumblr page. I’ve also found some IF’s I’ve never heard of on there that I couldn’t see on the forum.
I have tried going through the IF rec list on there but I always get the “stop: classified” pop up that directs me to make an account. I’ve never had Tumblr and don’t know anyone who does so I’m unsure whether I should make an account just to view the IF’s and keep track of them.
Has anyone here made a Tumblr account just so they could discover new IF’s? Is it a good platform? I honestly didn’t know where to ask this.
As one of the authors what I can say is that tumblr is great for interacting with readers, getting feedback, questions, suggestions etc much, well, easier than on the forum.
For readers, I’d argue this brings the advantage of seeing what others think, and get a better sense of community?
I don’t like Tumblr all that much, but practically speaking, authors for some of the games I follow like to post on there more often, so creating an account is more a convenient thing
Yes, initially it was mostly to follow the authors of the WIPs I was already reading (especially the ones from Itch-io or ones where the author doesn’t use the forum often) but I also found some good new IFs in there.
It’s a big place for IF from what I have seen, but be cautious. Tumblr, for whatever reason, seems to be a place where the ratio of people who actually write compared to people who talk about writing but don’t actually do much of it is rather askew. I would advise readers not to get too attached to a lot of the stories they see over there. Some are too ambitious to ever actually exist, and others will just get updates every other year or so to keep luring people along as they squeeze them for Patreon and Ko-Fi cash.
Still, if you’re just using it to follow writers and their exploits, go for it. In the end, it’s not much different than any other social media platform. A lot of content, not a lot of depth.
I made Tumblr just to follow IF authors, and now as I write I do use it to interact with readers.
@hustlertwo is correct that there are a lot of authors who make introposts, but never publish a demo. Still, I do think its a platform for keeping up with authors, espically those who don’t have forum threads.
I did make a tumblr years ago to follow some WIPs.
But I absolutely hate using tumblr (it feels really grating and unintuitive for me), so I don’t really use it…
Oh I adore tumblr. It’s my preferred way of finding stories I might be interested in, actually. There’s so many demos out there nowadays that I’d rather read a blurb and see if it sounds like my thing and go from there rather than give everything a shot, I just don’t have the time to do that anymore. So I didn’t make a tumblr specifically for that but I do use my personal tumblr to find and keep up with stories that excite me.
I had Tumblr like a billion years ago, which was linked to my old email account. Which I deleted like a million years ago lol. I had to go thru hoops just to get that account back.
I had to revive it just for following IF works. I don’t do Discord, so Tumblr and Patreon are the only places I can get updated and find new things to waste money on read.
Had a Tumblr account for ages, not sure if I made it pre- or post purge these days I just follow various if and mostly twine if tags. Though I’d suggest that unless you’re after adult IF you’re better off browsing itch.io and filtering to “interactive fiction” plus whatever other tags you’re interested in.
Not much adult stuff gets surfaced by the itch browse filters so for that you really will have to crawl over Tumblr.
Another avenue for finding IF is https://if-whats-new.itch.io/ I think that team floats around here occasionally too.
I’m a big tumblr user–for private fan stuff, not professional game dev things. I haven’t interacted a ton with the IF community on there. I enjoy following @HarrisPS (here) and IF What’s New zine (here). Trawl through Interact-IF’s directory (here) for zillions of those little WIPs and rec lists.
What is true is that a lot of authors struggle financially, so the support does directly go into giving people the security to write to begin with.
What is NOT okay, though, are authors that charge absurd amounts of money for… nothing. Authors that post their 10 bucks tier stuff on their social media simultaneously, or, worse, who have you pay to be allowed to do their work for them.
I’ve seen a few that made it clear they don’t want feedback on their blog or forum, but accept it only from people on this and that patreon tier.
I made a tumblr several months ago with the express purpose of using it as a link to other interactive fiction. It can be very good for this, but that depends more on the user than anything. There are several archives, and a few newsletters, but the primary benefit of following IFs on tumblr is being able to see updates and interact with the authors.
I made a Tumblr when I realised that there were some fans of Creme de la Creme on there, and I’ve had a lot of fun using it. It’s a nice middle-ground between a blog (where it feels like there’s more of a need to be formal) and microblogging social media where there’s a lot of noise and you can’t post long-form thoughts.
Agreed with all the other comments about financial stuff, it’s best to do your homework thoroughly before spending money - good life advice in general, really!
The IF What’s New zine has lots of good stuff in, and includes a lot of IF outside of the style of CoG/CoG-esque Twines that are most popular on Tumblr, which I like seeing - I appreciate the variety. Interact-if has stopped doing new posts now, but there is a big archive of recommendations.
purge these days I just follow various if and mostly twine if tags. Though I’d suggest that unless you’re after adult IF you’re better off browsing