
                  The 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition

   Introduction
   ------------

   What began twelve years ago as an effort to encourage the
   development of short works of interactive fiction has grown into a
   competition involving some thirty authors and over two hundred
   judges. Each year people from around the world write text
   adventures that can be played in two hours or less. Since the
   competition started the definition of what interactive fiction is
   has changed, with a number of games now including graphics and
   sound.

   Whether you've never played a text adventure before in your life,
   or you've judged in every competition since 1995, we're glad you're
   taking part.

   Welcome to the 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition.


   Playing The Games
   -----------------

   (Note: for the latest information and possible updates to games,
    please visit the competition web site at http://www.ifcomp.org/)

   You may play the competition games in any order you choose. However,
   if you don't think you'll have time to play all of the games before
   the end of the voting period, you are encouraged to play them in
   random order. That way, you will have played a random sampling of
   the games. You can do this using the game information and voting
   page at http://ifcomp.org/info/. The page has information about all
   of the games, and will list them in random order if you so wish.

   There are two types of competition games: interpreted games and
   platform-specific executables.


   Interpreted Games

   Interpreted games are written using a computer-independent
   language, and can thus in general be run under many different
   operating systems. To play an interpreted game, you need an
   interpreter. There are several types of interpreted games in the
   competition.

   TADS GAMES. TADS games are found in the tads2 and tads3 folders of
   the competition directory. The filenames of TADS games end in .gam
   (for TADS 2) or .t3 (for TADS 3), and they are run using a TADS
   interpreter. You can find TADS interpreters at
   http://www.tads.org/tads3.htm and http://www.tads.org/tads2.htm.
   There are single interpreters that can run both TADS 2 and TADS 3
   games. If one exists for your operating system, use it.

   Z-CODE GAMES. The z-code games are in the zcode folder of the
   competition directory. The filenames of z-code games end in .z5,
   .z8, or .zblorb, and are run using a Z-machine
   interpreter. Z-machine interpreters can be found at
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpreters.html

   GLULX GAMES. The glulx games are in the glulx folder of the
   competition directory. The filenames of glulx games end in .ulx or
   .gblorb, and are run using a Glulx interpreter. Glulx interpreters
   can be found at
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXglulxXinterpreters.html

   ADRIFT GAMES. The ADRIFT games are found in the adrift folder of
   the competition directory. The filenames of ADRIFT games end in
   .taf. They are run using the ADRIFT Runner (for Windows), Gargoyle,
   or Spatterlight. You can get the ADRIFT Runner at
   http://www.adrift.org.uk/. You can find Gargoyle at
   http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/ and Spatterlight at
   http://ccxvii.net/spatterlight/. One of the ADRIFT games this year
   requires version 3.90 of the Runner, while the other requires
   version 4.0.

   ALAN GAMES. The Alan game is in the alan folder of the competition
   directory. The filename of the Alan game ends in .a3c. It is run
   using an Alan interpreter, which are available from
   http://mirror.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXalanXexecutables.html

   JAVA GAMES. The Java game is in the java folder of the competition
   directory. The filename of the Java game ends in .xbook. It is run
   using the instructions in the readme.txt file, and requires Java to
   be installed on your computer.


   Platform-Specific Games

   WINDOWS GAMES. The Windows-specific games are in the windows folder
   of the competition directory. For the most part, they are playable
   only under Windows or under an emulator.



   Rating The Games
   ----------------

   Rate each game you play by giving it a whole-number rating from 1 to
   10. Larger numbers are better. Your rating must be based on no more
   than two hours of cumulative playing time. If, after playing a game
   for two hours, you want to keep playing it, you must give it a
   rating *and not change that rating later if you resume play*.

   You can enter your ratings as you assign them using the ballot page
   at http://ifcomp.org/info/, if you wish. You can also change
   previous ratings if you change your mind about a game.



   Submitting Your Ratings
   -----------------------

   Once you have played and rated as many games as you can before the
   November 15th deadline, you need to submit your ratings. You do not
   have to play all of the games to vote; however, you must play at
   least five games. There are two ways to vote. The first is to use
   the web-based interface located at http://ifcomp.org/info/. The
   second is to email your ratings the vote-counter, Mark Musante, at
   vote@ifcomp.org. You may submit different ratings, and only the
   last one you send in will be counted.

   If you choose to email your votes to Mark, use the following format
   for your email. In the subject line of your message, put "VOTE". In
   the body of the message, put the name of each game you are rating
   followed by its rating, with one game name and rating per
   line. Send your message as plain ASCII. Do not use HTML or send
   your votes as an attached non-ASCII file like a Microsoft Word
   document.

   Remember, you must vote before 11:59 P.M. EST on November 15th,
   2008. Votes submitted after that date will not be counted, so if
   you won't have access to the Internet around that time, be sure to
   vote early. You can always change your ratings at a later date.
