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So, there's this contest for interactive fiction called Spring Thing.

Personally, I'm using it as a deadline to get Paladin done. I'd love to have some company from the folks on this site, but I realize the entrance fee might put some people off. It's only $7, but some people may still feel like that's too much, or may not have access to Paypal, or whatever.

So, here's my challenge: Make a storygame, whether here or in Twine or whatever else.

If, on April 1st, it is:

A) 5,000+ words and/or 100+ pages/passages,

B) complete and playable through to one or more endings,

C) exhibits correct use of English spelling and grammar, and:

D) is NOT a series of CYS in-jokes or other random nonsense,

then I'll sponsor it and pay your entrance fee. ^_^

Certainly interesting, unsure if I'd be able to write a story like this in two months though :-(  (Seeing how I haven't been able to write for the past 6 months :P)

I think I'll try though... XD 

Awesome! And if you don't hit the deadline, you'll still have made progress on something. ^_^

Good luck Tan. :)

This is so gonna blow up in my face :P (But thanks for the support man)

And thanks Morgan! ^_^

And if you do succed, i promise i will read it, rate it appropiertly and leave a comment based off my experience of the game! :D

Thanks man ^_^

Which.. Will be the first time i ever do most of that stuff hehe :3

That's.... actually pretty nice of you. Hope a writer here benefits from this.

Really cool idea Morgan. It's awesome to hear that you are even sponsoring this. :)

CASH PRIZE POOL
(will be divided into a number of parts to be determined soon after competition begins; see below)

$200.00 US, donated by Greg Boettcher.
up to $700 US, donated by Kate McKee, based on how many games are entered:

• $100 for 3 games
• $300 for 4-5 games
• $500 for 6-7 games
• $700 for 8+ games

They really don't expect that many people to enter...

I HAVE A CHANCE!

:P

Yeah, the IF community is really pretty small at this point. Last year there were three entries.

I'll be curious to see if a bunch of Twine folks flock to the contest this year, since it seems to really be taking off. (Traditional IF is parser-based, where you type in commands). But again, by a 'bunch' I mean like 'half a dozen.' XD

I think I'll try.

Cool! FYI: "Games may not be based on works currently under copyright without permission from the copyright holder." So... no fanfic. ;P

I know.

Also, good luck Morgan on finishing Paladin. :)

Thanks! I have no idea what I'm doing, but it should be fun! XD

Has anyone ever tried NaNoWrMo? It's an annual writing competition each November than challenges competitors to write a 50K word novel in one month [in November]. All who succeed win, and get a paperback version of their manuscript. As far as I'm aware, the only requirement is to have 50K words by the end of November. There's no biases for quality, which make sense, since it's meant to be a first draft, and not a manuscript ready for publishing (doing that in a month would be virtually impossible). 

I'm actually contemplating participating this year, once November rolls around.

Morgan did, last year. Disappeared for a good couple of months. XD

I've never heard the 'winners get a copy of their manuscript' bit. I believe the actual prize for winning is the smug satisfaction of having written 50,000 words in a month. XD

In October 2008, the self-publishing company CreateSpace teamed up with NaNoWriMo to begin offering winners a single free, paperback proof copy of their manuscripts, with the option to use the proof to then sell the novel on Amazon.com.^[18] In 2011, CreateSpace offered winners five free, paperback proof copies of their manuscripts.

I'm not actually sure if this is still going on. I'd assume it is, though, which is completely legit. Wave the proof in people's faces, and be all "Bitch, I wrote a book!."

*blinks* Well, what do you know... Looks like it was two copies last year. That's really cool, especially since the coupon doesn't expire until June of this year, giving people time to actually edit and maybe have something worth printing. XD

It's pretty damn awesome, knowing you'll have a tangible copy of a book you've written.

By the way, did you win the competition, last year? If not, how close did you get?

Technically I think I hit 30k, but that was with a false start that I scrapped and restarted from. Didn't win, didn't finish it later, never want to look at it again... actually I'm pretty sure it was on my HD that died, with no backups, so... yay. ;P

Totally going to try again, though! XD

Wow, Twine is pretty good... :P

A moment of silence for our fallen comrade...

DAMN YOU MORGAN

ScH!

To be fair a minute did pass....

It did!?

EDIT: indeed.. ^^

MUAHAHAHHAHA! >:D

Ahem. I mean... yes. Yes it is. ^_^

Hmm, I think I may try to create something... After all, The Corroding would be way too large to put as a first game, so it's be good to have some feedback on my writing skills...

Of course, this comes down to how determined I am and if school work keeps low for two months :P but I'll give it a shot anyways...

Awesome! I look forward to seeing what you come up with. ^_^

Actually there is a game I started and haven't continued after a few pages cos life got too busy but I might just try and work on it and see how it goes. If I make good progress by end of Feb I'll register for it.

Can the game be made on this site though cos I dont want to make it somewhere else...

Looking at the rules, I don't see why not, but if you're really concerned, you could e-mail the Spring Thing organizer about it.

Glad you might be joining us! ^_^

Second semester of being stuck in academic facility...so I'm probably going to have little to no time for it.

Aw... :/

Be happy that I can co-GM for Liminal :D

I am! It may end up being us and like two other people, but I am. ^_^

I've got a question.

While the entry fee doesn't seem to be due until April.7th, an intent to enter seems to be needed by March.1st.

So wouldn't that mean we need to enter by March 1st?

You'll need to submit an intent to enter, yeah. I'll remind folks as the date approaches.

Alright.

For those wondering, it seems everyone that has entered has won a prize in the end, so I'd be less concerned with quality and more concerned with just finishing (if the prizes are your primary concern).

Realizing that I need a walkthrough, I've actually paused my game to start that up (it should help me determine my routes better anyway).

Think I might try to contact the people there about the rules. Would suck if a bunch of people started writing really awesome story games, only to be told that you need to use a specific site or program to make the game.

Good idea, Briar! Since none of us show the initiative! :P

Can I make the story about a secret love with a lesbian mistress who I fear?
....

........

If you say yes I swear to god I will make one

I believe that would fall under that category of 'CYS in-joke.' ;P

How would it be an in joke?

It would be romance </3

...is it in Twine? >:D

If I made it in twine would you love me?

FOREVER. OUR LOVE WILL TRANSCEND THE BOUNDARIES OF SPACE AND TIME AND HUMAN DECENCY. <3

>human decency

Never </3

FINE BE THAT WAY. I WILL TAKE SOLACE IN MY ONE TRUE LOVE... TWINE! <3 <3 <3

Its because you hit me.

YOU WISH :P

Why </3

Why you do this.

Vicious evil treacherous HEATHENS! Go burn in the hellacious heresy you call twine! BUUURURRRRN!

^^ This guy.

You guys have to much hate against Twine. lol

I actually don't have anything against Twine, I only say it because Morgan keeps bringing the bloody thing up.... T_T

Whelp, sorry about this Morgan but I won't be partaking in the Spring Thing. My work is swarming most of my time and I'm using my sleep time just to update my RP game so yea...

I'll cheer for you on the sideline if you're participating. ^^

Aw. Well, maybe next year!

I've actually got an idea for a story...

What does it have to be written on?

TWINE!

Ahem. Sorry. The rules don't limit it by platform at all. 'Interactive Fiction' is sometimes interpreted as parser-style IF only, but considering a CYOA-style Twine game won last year's Spring Thing, that's clearly not the case here. So yeah, whatever you want. ^_^

Me and a friend I got obsessed with the site (I showed him Endmasters work and he loved it) Might be writing a story together.

I think the title will be something like.

"Sphericals: Tale of death"
Or Tale of Necromancy.

Not sure yet.

YOU CAN'T DO NECROMANCY I'M DOING NECROMANCY

...I mean, awesome! I look forward to reading it. ^_^

Gotta get my friend on this site first, should happen tomorrow. Hopefully.

I'm participating. I'm going to finish a story that I have long procrastinated away.

It contains CYS in-jokes.

Awesome! As long as it's not nothing but CYS in-jokes. ;P

so one page of story and 100 pages of cys jokes.

Heres aman in my story

... Ehem... Where's the glorious mustache?

<Insert dirty joke about its location>

Armpit?

Toe Knuckles.

Okay, I checked with the guy and he says CYS is fine to host the game on. I think I'll giv it a try, but will have to work hard since I don't have any kind of head start. Also, for anyone who does want to enter, I think you have to send the guy an email to let him know you're entering before March 1st. Check the rules if you want to know more. 

Yeah, ya do :P

Maybe I will finish my work in progess 4 year project (At least I think) for this. Probably not but it is cool to see that competions are still going on. 

Yeah, but it's an Offsite Competition - just that you can use your work here apparently...

I'm not sure about that actually. I'm developing mine here, but there's always the possibility I'll have to switch it over to some other format (which wouldn't take too long), in order for it to be accepted. Most of the former entries are downloadable, and I doubt they'd want to make signing up to an external site required to judge these stories.

Or I'm wrong and Briar proved me wrong.

CURSE YOU BRIAR ROSEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

You can play CYS stories without signing up. And Briar got a thumbs up from the organizer.

BUT YOU SHOULD TOTALLY SWITCH TO TWINE XD

I downloaded it, but it doesn't really seem suitable for longer stories.

It could use some additional features in that area (and a bug fix), but I'd still choose it over any of the alternatives I've tried. But to each their own. ^_^

My guide to getting submitted.

1: Bribe Morgan with sex.

2: Die

Okay, just emailed the guy and I'm officially in. Now everyone excuse me for a month while I try to come up with something half decent. 

Woot! You can do it! ^_^

I'm going to win obviously <3

NOT IF YOU USE THE WORD SPHERICALS. XP

FUCK YOU I THINK ITS A GOOD IDEA.

Ok so planning was going well, then I got an xbox 1 and new games, and agreeded to a legendary play through of Halo ODST along with vidmaster challenges firefight....

a few too many distractions...

... So glad I'm a girl. 

Thats sexist <3

Kind of.

Girls can like Halo too.

(Actually they can't, no one likes halo)

Nah, I just have to hide all my still-to-play Dragon Age and Mass Effect games and I'm good to go! ^_^

Fuuuuuuuck I need to ask:

Xbox, Playstation or other?

Xbox. Got most of the best RPGs on there ^_^

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! I can ask for your gamer tag! It'll be like a date!! XD

If you played anything past Dragon Age: Origins. You might as well kill your self.

So, anyone have anything significant to update us on?

Personally I only have a couple new pages, but I managed to figure out how I wanted a certain encounter to occur, so I'm back on track.

Busy with school assignments (3 in the same damn week!) but after that I think I should be able to get some work done....

Am working really hard on my game but it's going to take awhile. Lots of scripting to be done ^_^

11 pages, though realize these are Morgan-pages ;) XD

Yay for folks making progress! I've realized my WIP is basically a mystery. I know nothing about mysteries. Should be fun! XD

A mystery to yourself or as in the genre :P

The genre. Which is not a genre I read. Which is unfortunate. Hopefully I can manage to make it interesting and solvable and not too obvious.

I love mysteries! ^_^

Especially horror or creepy ones! :D dark and gritty.

Don't worry she said.

I'll remind you before the deadline to submit your story she said.

I'm now done the first starting arc, and can now work on the four character arcs, which should go quicker since with the exception of some main events and lore, I get more freedom in writing them.

I'm waiting for the right moment. Too soon and everyone just goes 'oh yeah I'll do that later' and then forgets about it. ;P

...fine, fine.

HEY EVERYONE! If you're doing this 'Spring Thing' thing, then you have to e-mail the organizer to let him know you're entering. Specifically, you have to do this by March 1st, i.e., SOON. His e-mail is aaron AT springthing.net, replace the obvious word with the appropriate symbol and you should be good to go.

I have no idea what happens if you 'intend' to enter but fail to actually finish in time, but probably nothing good. So if you don't think your game is going to come together in time, I'd suggest holding off until the next IFComp.

I dunno either. Apparently they had a year where a bunch of people entered and barely anyone actually submitted though, so I doubt it's that big a deal.

You any further in your story morgan?

Ehhh. Not as such, no. >_<

I'm pretty sure that nothing happens and the deadline for entering is just there to give people time to finish their games. After all, the deadline for paying the entry fee is the same as the deadline for submitting the completed game, so if the game's not finished by then, you don't need to pay anything 

Actually, I emailed him on that. Here's his reply:

---

---

Very nice dude.

So basically they just want a vague head-count, and they're not worried about drop-outs. Cool.

Note that you need to get me something complete and playable by April 1st if you want to take me up on my offer. As far as I'm concerned, that leaves a week for testing and polishing.

...we'll see if I can hit that deadline myself at this point. >_<

Yeah, doubt I'll be able to get it in by then-- But, I'm happy with my game's progress nonetheless. At worst it'll be [hopefully] finished and then published on CYS ^_^

Cool, I'm glad it's going well. ^_^

God damn I love flow charts. I have no idea why mapping out the story in visio is so fun haha.

That's probably the main thing Twine has over CYS. How I'd LOVE to have that implemented here...

Damn I wish I hadn't set my goals so high. Nearly 200 pages in and I'm not even 1/5th of the way there 

WOAH WOAH WOAH, 200 PAGES?

Are these real pages or Twine pages?

*sincerely hopes these are Morgan-pages for my own sake

You only have 11 twine pages though don't you?

NUH UH! 

15

That's what, 3 CYS pages?

:P

Nah, more like 6.

:P

Sure thing Tan, sure thing.

I have about 300 pages planned.... and haven't written in a week. so have like only 10 written

Unless I do some major work in the next few days I wont make the deadline

Twine pages or CYS?

You realize I wrote most of Paladin on CYS first, right? And I'm sure if, say, Endmaster wrote something in Twine, he'd keep his style of thousand-word pages... XD

Alright, but your first 12 pages still only have as many words as my first two lol, and I consider the length of my pages to be pretty normal CYS length.

So I will treat the number of pages very very different depending on their source (unless the person claims they are writing long pages), given that by your length of pages, mine would currently being 312 pages long (when it's only 52 pages).

So yeah, I see a pretty big difference between the two haha.

CYS pages, mostly around the length of the ones in 'Rising Flames'

And you plan to write 300 pages of that?

Holy shit. I'd really suggest you change to a much much smaller project, unless you plan to enter this one in next year.

My point is that most people using Twine probably aren't writing shorter pages, so saying 'Twine pages' is kinda silly. :P

I dunno what the difference is between a real page and a Twine page, but since it's a mystery game, most of the pages are like two lines long 

Just submitted my intent to enter.

Also, my story technically fits your description now (even though the only ending is a bad one), so ha!

Woot! Glad someone's making progress! XD

Haven't even started, and I don't think I'll be able to :P

Aw. Sorry to hear that. :/

Maybe next time?

Maybe, if I'm not caught up in the dramas of teenage life :P I wish you all good luck!

aww too bad :(

On the other hand I'm also WWWAAAAYYY behind where I wanted to be but to put myself under pressure I just sent in my intent to take part e-mail.

now to write...

Submitted official intent. Now I just need to write more :-/

Good work!

DEADLINE FOR INTENT TO ENTER IS TODAY! GET YOUR E-MAILS IN IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!

Sent mine a couple days ago. I'm... actually really excited about this, much to my surprise.

Alright! Pretty excited, got the email from Aaron, hopefully I can finish it by April 9th. ^_^

Luckily, I planned mine out so even if i don't completely finish, I can still hand it in. Now that I've move on to doing the four arcs, if I do them one at a time I'll have something to hand in, even if it's not truly complete.

That being said I'm pretty confident I can at least get 3 of the 4 completed.

Lucky you. My game's made up of 5 chapters and I've not even finished chapter 1 

"There has been tremendous interest in the competition this year... if a significant percentage of authors who submitted intents submit a game, it may be the largest Spring Thing ever! (Help out the community, they said. It's just a little comp, they said.) April 9th should be exciting either way."

Damn, and here I was hoping we'd have very little competition :(

Lol. I think we ARE the competition 

That probably means... Hmm,  6 people tops submitted a game lol. They barely get any participants haha. (I'd assume) 

At their peak I think they got about 9. Last year they had 3, year before that was 4 or 5 I think.

You can look on the history tab and it says the results.

Still, I'd prefer less competition :D

Then again, looking at the winner of last year I feel pretty good about my odds haha.

Why? XD

But yeah, I was hoping to have little competition, oh well I guess XD

Pfffft!!

You should worry less about the competition and more about just finishing :P

That's what I'm worrying about 

Notice the past-tense :P

One month left.

Anyone here actually working on it? Personally I spent the last week focused on my driving test (which was stressful so I'm so happy I passed). Now I can get back to work though.

I was all excited and ready to get to work! ... And then I got really ill and spent the whole week trying to convince myself that I wasn't too sick to write... Didn't get much done 

Congrats on your driving test ^_^

Thanks ^_^

According to the instructor, only 20-30% actually pass on their first try, so it was a huge relief.

Nope!

Alright, I officially have one actual ending completed. As of now I could legitimately enter it into the contest ^_^

Of course, I'm going to try and finish as many of the other paths as possible first though.

Yay! Good on Killa for actually accomplishing something :D

Congrats man (on both the driving thing and this haha).

Unfortunately, this month has been filled with whole bunch if things that are taking up my time and energy, need to get back to writing :-/

Woot! :D

I take it no one else is actually working on this then haha.

Yyyyeah, I didn't even submit an intent to enter. Wasn't sold on my 'short' idea, didn't think I could finish one of my longer ones. *shrug* Maybe next year!

Ah, that sucks. What was your short idea anyway?

Also, I'm realizing that my story is more drama than anything, and as such doesn't truly fall into any currently existing category....

I'll have to let you guys determine what it should be once I open it to beta testing haha.

I'm supposed to be halfway through my story by now... I'm not 

How far along are you?

About 1/4 of the way through 

Well you still have over 3 weeks to submit it.

If it makes you feel any better I was also supposed to be halfway done my 4 arcs at this point, but im more around having 1 1/2 done.

A murder mystery in which you play the victim. I thought it was a fun premise, but it just didn't quite gel.

And there's always the 'Everything Else' category. ^_^

I'm also seriously struggling with the deadline atm... the next week will decide whether I make it or not

I suppose we still have time to scrap our big ideas, write something short and half decent and settle for 3rd place or something 

You scrapped it, Morgan? Damn it, what a pity. I love that idea.

Alright, I'm pretty close to being finished my second arc, which means I should start getting some proof-reading done.

Anyone willing to be a sacrifice?

Well, I think I'm giving up haha. Way too much stuff going on this month. Probably gonna convert it to CYS and then publish it here if/when I finish it.

What was yours about again?

Space hippies.

Oh my God, I'm done. My monster of a story is finally f*cking FINISHED! 1035 pages. xD I even finished the walkthrough and I did it... two weeks early? o.O ...

-.- More time to beta read. I'm sure that's how long it'll bloody well take to check the whole thing.

Wow, congrats.

If you let others know which story that is they'll probably help you lol.

Thanks, Killa.

Ah, actually, Aman already agreed to pitch in... but he was busy for a while and even without IRL responsibilities, it's still a lot to go through. I wouldn't mind having another beta or two on-board.

Ah, yeah that's right. I remember him saying that when I bought up my game and asked for proof readers haha.

Eh? I missed that post... well, personally I think the point of a beta is a fresh set of eyes. Well, fresh as in new to the material, anyway. When I can spare mine--preferrably after I've slept--I would be happy to give your story a once over if you'd like the help.

It wasn't posted here haha.

If you can sure, that'd be great.

Sure. Send me a link via pm? I'll check it out ASAP.

... Wow! I envy you so bad. 1035 pages? Good boy! ^_^

Thanks, Briar. =3

>_> Naw, don't envy me, I feel half dead after all the late hours I put into that beast. I am, however, relieved. As soon as the beta work is complete and the contest is over, I can finally move on to a new story. xD Which... I do not plan on being nearly as long. x_X God help me, though, because I am considering a sequel.

My story's been updated with another route (Ian's).

Yey ^_^

Interactive Fiction's website has to have posts approved by moderators....

I was wondering why it seemed like such an inactive forum haha.

Berka is not there? :P

Well, today's the deadline.

Anyone apart from Kiel and I able to meet it?

Clearly Briar has failed.

Yarp! But like Tan said, the deadline for the competition is the 9th, so in the very unlikely event of me actually finishing, I'll pay my own entry fee. ^_^

I wish you luck, Briar.

Isn't the deadline the 9th?

Deadline for Morgan's challenge, not for the actually competition.

xD To be honest with you, I already paid my own entry fee days ago. Though, if Morgan feels like reimbursing me, I certainly would not mind.

Way to go Kiel. Now I'm going to seem like a terrible person for trying to call Morgan on her offer :(

You're disgusting Killa. Get out.

HEY! ONLY WRITERS ARE ALLOWED TO BERATE ME, TAN!

... That hurts :(

>.>

<.<

BEST DAMN CHEST-INATOR!

CURSE YOU TANNNNN!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sensing an inside joke.

xD I would say I'm sorry, but I probably shouldn't lie.

Sent my payment.

I should be able to finish the whole thing over the weekend, and have some extra days to do final checks.

ADSADASFDSF I totally forgot about this, sorry guys. >_<

The actual deadline is TOMORROW if anyone still needs me to pay their way. And if you already paid 'cause I'm a ditz, PM me w/ your paypal and I can pay you back. SORRY ABOUT THAT. >_<

Well well well, look who finally came back :P