Winners of the 2019 IFComp

You are locked inside an antebellum Southern mansion, alone, wearing only a chicken costume.

You’ve fantasized about this moment for years.

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Gods and monsters, blessings and curses, an island ruled by giant insects — and in their midst: you. Grief-stricken and bound by oath to obey the Queen’s newest divine decree, you will seek advice, encounter strange visitors, draw the attention of powers beyond comprehension, and surely make mistakes.

Before long, you will learn what it is to be holy — and perhaps what it is to be human.

So here I am, working the night shift, alone with her work.

Rule 2: the loot's evenly sliced.

There's only two rules.

Now listen up, fools!

We're pulling a...

.

Contains: vulgarity, lies, misanthropes, some drinking, unreasonable hopes, extravagant crimes, 100+ rhymes, and oodles and oodles of tropes.

But you're going to find out.

Poppet can be played online at: https://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/ajlplbgslemcmblxrbmdsq/poppet

Pack clues into your bag while exploring a living city in day or night. Pick your suspect, then close the case. Oh, and try not to part with your soul in the process?

Mother and her teenage son live on the edge of the world amid hot springs, steam, mountains, five-story houses and rusty freight robots. Their present is routine. Their future is under the strict control of Progress-program. Which also means routine.

Making their choice they seem to be on the horns of a dilemma. But it may also be a rare chance to escape the dull grey surrounding them.

If they could only find a way to use it.

The only thing you can't do is steer...

(Notes for online play: The ADRIFT webrunner is not designed for spacetime dimensions higher than the conventional 17. Minimize the map, which will be no help at all. For improved functionality, cooler fonts, an official soundtrack, printable character sheets, and a galaxy map, download the game).

Tonight, Lina has messed up (she contends some blame should go to her master for giving unclear instructions). Now Lina needs to figure out what all the magical items (A wavering wand? An everfire? A *gasp* cauldron?) in her master's house do and use them all to fix her mistake, before she gets found out!

(Remedial Witchcraft is a light, puzzle-oriented parser game.)

Armed with only your fists, who you've named Truth and Justice, navigate the rough-and-tumble streets of Saint City, where the denizens are as ruthless as they are sweaty and the similes are tight as a pair of new chinos, assuming a slim cut and maybe a slice of cake or two. Or paired with a tight belt. Hell even suspenders work, the point is they're tight. Will you be the new greatest detective strong guy, or will this city gobble you up like yesterday's potatoes? You decide in Saint City Sinners!

*This game is a comedy very much inspired by Clickhole click-ventures. If you like that style of absurdist humor (or similarly that of the Onion), this will be a good fit for you! In order to play with the music, play in Firefox or Chrome (not Edge) on a computer, with an internet connection. The game runs on mobile and tablets, but unfortunately there are bugs with the music and the background image, so I'd recommend using a pc.*

A puzzly adventure with the feel of a classic parser game carried in a point-and-click interface.

A tense conversation about love and guilt.

Explore the weird, until the sunken things come for you.

A choice-based and narration-focused interactive story. A computer or tablet is strongly recommended to play.

Honestly, the stakes are pretty low. It’s not like your decisions are going to shape the fate of a nation… right?

Keep an eye on your score—or don't!—in this multi-layered parser/choice hybrid. Casually explore the interactive scene, or tackle the full puzzle lurking underneath to reach the best ending. Available for the web (recommended) and as a traditional Z-machine story file.

One part utopian vision, one part exploration of what it means to be human, generously seasoned with humor, physics, philosophy, and an original musical score.

(Score composed and performed by the author.)

However sometimes that particular piece of advice does not always hold true.

Have all its fabled Eccentrics abandoned the city? And does that mean there's no one left to help you escape this dream?

A silly little IF puzzler. But can you solve it?

See what the reviewers are saying about Hard Puzzle 4!

"Inspired incompetence" -- CMG

"RIDICULOUS" -- Josh

"I’m reasonably sure it should be possible to finish it" -- Stian

"This game broke me" -- Mathbrush

"Pff, that wasn’t so hard" -- Linus Akesson

"I don’t see much appeal in forcing myself to push through these “intentionally bad” features of Hard Puzzle 4" -- evouga

"hugely, joyfully irritating" -- wisprabbit

Or rather, it would be a pretty sweet gig if the people venturing within your domain weren't as keen on all that as you are: you have seen things that cannot be unseen.

...or can they?

What could be worse than forgetting your own memories? Remember them again.

Update: browser playable version here https://daftgames.itch.io/rio-alto-forgotten-memories

The game offers three characters to choose from and a total set of 10 endings.

Explore the island. Talk to its inhabitants. Uncover the mystery of the storm that brought you here. Escaping alive is not as straightforward as it may initially seem.

Island in the Storm is the first full length game created with the IntFicPy engine. You can read about the engine at https://jsmaika.com/ifp_engine.php if you are interested, but the executable files included in the competition package (Windows & Mac) do not require any interpreter. The Python file is also included, for those who prefer that format.

What was supposed to be a couple of weeks of peace and quiet while the other students were home with their families gets disrupted, first by a lost wand, and then a lost housemate. It's up to you to unravel the mystery, learn some new magic, and save your housemate and yourself!

The downloadable version of this product was designed for the Linux operating system. Students on other platforms should use the "Play online" button.

Crystal Clear Communications, the world's leading corporate communications consultancy and makers of the Language Arts technology, is seeking talented Language Engineers to be a part of their growing workforce of problem solvers.

The successful applicant is organized and self-motivated, a team player with a passion for applying technology, creativity, and logic to the variety of communications challenges faced across the corporate world.

Previous experience desired, but not necessary. Crystal Clear Communications is an equal opportunity employer.

The dancing Imp has won. The Moon will finish its descent from the sky and crash into the earth. When it reaches the ground there will be nothing left.

You sit by a roaring firepit on a grassy overlook just a few miles from the citadel that will become the point of impact, alongside 4 of your best friends - Eden, Byth, Wyatt and Mel - enjoying the last of your lives.

You have FIVE minutes. Can you help your friends come to terms with the end?

Play as Henry as he struggles to make sense of his past and come to terms with it. Your decisions throughout the story affect Henry’s confidence and morality – choose wisely.

Old-school challenges are optional and can be enabled for a more challenging experience.

With permission, this game is a translation and an improvement of a Danish game from 1985 by Niels Søndergaard. Art work by Steffen Vedsted, also with permission. Music by Eric Matyas ( www.soundimage.org) in accordance with attribution-info.

ONLINE PLAY HERE: https://www.adrift.co/cgi/play.cgi?1528

Downloadable file playable on Windows (install ADRIFT 5) and Android (install Fabularium).

Impersonate mythological Greek figures (and Zeno!) and suffer eternal punishment in Hades in their place, for better or worse. Okay, it's definitely for worse.

You have refused to take the crown and the land of Nowhere has instead evolved into a republic.

A simple invitation to the capital city of Lost sparks an epic quest as forces from Somewhere threaten war.

Venture through twisted landscapes with only your faithful dog, and a dry sense of humour, for company.

A puzzle parser in the classic style.

Lord Bradford just passed away, and his inheritors are eager to get their hands on their inheritance. But there is a problem: the will is missing.

You are a young associate at the Twilight Brothers law firm. You got the assignment to visit the old mansion of the late Lord, and find his will. Because it has to be in there somewhere!?

Bradford Mansion is a classic parser based text adventure game. Runs on Windows (x64), Linux (x64) and MacOS (x64), in a console window.

You aren't the first child to be washed ashore on the island. Will you be the last?

This is my most experimental game so far. I hope you find something good in it.

(Made in RPG Maker 2000; Windows only.)

This game features a character-driven story, flexible gameplay mechanics, multiple endings and a lack of common sense.

Contains crass humor. And worse.

[Contains non-essential audio which does not work in browser.]

https://alan-beyersdorf.itch.io/abandon-them

//

What exactly happened during the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel? How do we separate the fantasy of the folklore from the realities of starvation and abandonment?

While often viewed as a fantasy story, my intention was to view this story from a psychological perspective.

If you were a character in their story, what sorts of choices would you make?

You can download an ADRIFT5 blorb and play the game online at this address: https://www.adrift.co/game/1531 Copy and paste this link into your browser - I hope you will enjoy the game!

English translation of "La miel más dulce", written for the Rayuela GameJam 2019. You can play the Spanish version here: https://thebit.itch.io/la-miel-ms-dulce

Quick note on the mechanics: rooms, map, things, text and encounters are randomized every time you compile the game!

NB: Alice Blue is intended to be run on a Linux system.

A tribute to an obscure early 2000s indie game. Can you guess what it is?

[Contains Audio and Video which is important to the game]

(WALKTHROUGH INCLUDED IN THE GAME)