The 2016 Spring Thing* Festival of Interactive Fiction * or Fall Fooferal, for our Southern Hemisphere Friends

How to Play Parser IF

Spring Thing features all kinds of text games, but two of the major divisions are between what are sometimes called choiced-based games (where you interact by clicking links) and parser-based games (where you interact by typing commands). To those unfamiliar with the parser, it can seem confusing or intimidating. Here are some resources for getting started: Emily Short's Welcome to Interactive Fiction overview (8-page PDF)

A handy reference card (created by Andrew Plotkin and Lea Albaugh)

You might also try a game written specifically to help newcomers get used to parsers, such as The Dreamhold (iOS version) or Bronze. Some parser IF comes in the form of a story file, which needs to be opened with a program called an interpreter, much like a .doc file needs Microsoft Word to open. Clicking on the story format (next to the download link) will take you to instructions for finding the right interpreter to play a particular game.

In the Main Festival

Play Evita Sempai Florencia Rumpel Rodriguez a.k.a Rumpelcita A woman in the fifties falls in love with an idealized version of a polemical political figure.



I made a game about family, duty, idealization and heartbreak. I'm a girl from Argentina who makes small games and maintains a game's critique bilingual blog with some friends.I made a game about family, duty, idealization and heartbreak.

Play Harmonic Time-Bind Ritual Symphony Ben Kidwell and Maevele Straw A musician's manic episode binds fiction and reality into a joyful union. The author's involvement with IF goes back to 1981, playing the Microsoft port of ‘Colossal Cave Adventure’ on an Apple ][+ as a child. During 2013, the author experienced a manic episode in which he perceived himself to be a character within an Infocom sci-fi game from an alternate reality. After discovering the Digital Antiquarian blog in 2014 and learning the post-1990 history of the genre, in 2015 the author and his creative partner began a project to create the game in which he had perceived himself as living. This is the result—a novel-length, story-focused game which attempts to share feelings of intense joy with the player.

Play Ms. Lojka Jordan Magnuson In Despair to Will to Be Oneself. A short game about ignorance, defiance, and freedom—or: self-knowledge, acquiescence, and fate.



Warning: includes depictions of violence/gore and flashing images.

Download Rough Draft Erica Kleinman Denise is an author struggling to finish a story by a deadline. Help her complete her story by making choices and avoiding writer's block. Part of a thesis project on interactive storytelling. Special thanks to my advisors Valerie Fox and Jichen Zhu for their assistance.

Play Shipwrecked Andrew G. Schneider A short story of above average adventure in the Endless Desert. Build the journal of a sailor lost in the Sandsea as he searched for both water and a path to publication. Playable in about 5 minutes.

Play Sisters of Claro Largo David T. Marchand A word becomes a sentence becomes a story about two sisters who become the world.

Play The everyday life of a Superhero is tough, do YOU have what it takes? Superhero Stress Michael Yadvish Being a Superhero in New York City is the most stressful job there is. Do YOU have what it takes to survive the day?

Play Tangaroa Deep Astrid Dalmady We know more about space than we do about the ocean. Isn’t it time to start changing that?

Play The Xylophoniad Robin Johnson The King of Anachronopolis has ordered you to end the Trojan War, slay the dreaded Bicyclops, and rescue a couple of inmates from Hades. A comic adventure set in Greek Mythology.

Play Three-Card Trick Chandler Groover You're going to perform a three-card trick or your name isn't Morgan the Magnificent.

In the Back Garden

Play Dead Man's Hill Arno von Borries Mutual slaughter in northern France, spring 1916.

Play Dr. Sourpuss Is Not A Choice-Based Game P.B. Parjeter I, Dr. Sourpuss, talking housecat and test administrator, regret to inform you that your multiple choice test has been misplaced. While I attempt to locate the missing SCANDRON marking machine, please occupy yourself with the fully immersive "101±98 Experiments with Citrus" science fair activities.

Play Famous Baby N.C. Kerklaan "Me make weewee!" An attempt at what Porpentine called, referring to her own game Begscape, a "bleak slot machine poem". In terms of form, it wound up being very similar to Begscape, except that it's over even faster and it doesn't allow for even the limited strategy that Porpentine's game did. In terms of content, there is no one to blame but me, and I'm not really sure what to say about it except: a) it was at least partially inspired by an episode of the Hollywood history podcast You Must Remember This about how Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were treated by MGM; and b) it probably reflects certain vague lingering anxieties and resentments from my childhood.

Play Foo Foo Buster Hudson Someone's been bopping the field mice on the head, and only Good Fairy, Senior Detective can find out who. A parser-driven noir adventure based on the interactive fiction of Ryan Veeder.

Play Fourdiopolis Andrew Schultz A sequel to Threediopolis. It has teleporters! This game wound up unavoidably hard. It's heavy on logic crunching, which is the reason I put this in the Back Garden, so people wouldn't feel obliged to play it. And I found the logical hoops you have to go through to solve it fascinating. I recognize they're not for everyone. Nevertheless, I attempted to make more of a story with it than ‘Threediopolis’

Play Nocked! True Tales of Robin Hood Andrew G. Schneider You are Robin of Locksley. Hounded from your home by the Sheriff of Nottingham, take control of your fate in this extravagant choose-your-own-adventure style role-playing game. Rob from the rich, rally the people, build a settlement, and battle the Sheriff of Nottingham for control of Sherwood Forest. This back garden submission is just a taste of ‘Nocked! True Tales of Robin Hood,’ to be released on iOS in the Summer 2016. Built on the new Disbound engine from Unmapped Path and the creators of Twine, ‘Nocked’ will offer a lush mobile IF experience.

View Rules Standoff Matthew R.F. Balousek A game about telling ridiculous stories together.

Platform Instructions

If a game does not have a "play online" link, or if you'd prefer to download and play offline, here are instructions for each kind of story format. HTML: Open the .html file in any modern web browser. Inform (Glulx): You'll need to download the story files for these games at the links above, and you'll also need a interpreter for Glulx. Lectrote is a good cross-platform interpreter, although for the game “Foo Foo” the author recommends Gargoyle. [format details] Inform (Z): You'll need to download the story files for these games at the links above, and you'll also need a interpreter for z-code. Gargoyle is a good cross-platform interpreter. [format details] Ren'Py: The .zip archive contains executables for Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. [format details] Twine: Open the .html file in any modern web browser. For offline play, note that the Chrome browser's default security settings will prevent some Twine games from running correctly: use a different browser for these, such as Firefox or Safari. [format details]

Ribbon Nominations