The Engine Jam is a month-long Interactive Fiction unranked jam for you to explore a new or unusual engine to create text-based games. As an offshoot of our previous Anti-Productivity mini-jam, the goal of this jam is to try something new!
So, pick up an IF engine you've never used before or a program not meant to create IF...
Get set...
And GO!
Constraint (pick one):
- New-to-you Engine: choose an IF engine you've not used before and create a game!
- For example, if you've only used Inform before, maybe try out Ink. Or reversely, if you're a Twine user, why not test out Adventuron?
If you don't know where to start, check out a non-exhaustive list of IF engines below!
- Non-IF Engine: in the spirit of the Anti-Productivity mini-jam, choose an engine or program that was never meant to create IF games in the first place.
- For example, any office suite (Word/Docs), state websites (HTML), quiz/survey systems, etc...
Other Rules:
- Games should not include any generated AI content (incl. Cover Image/Game Page). Entries using AI/LLM will be removed.
- The Jam is open to any program/medium, as long as the piece can be considered Interactive Fiction (i.e. the game is interactive, and its focus is on the text).
- The Jam is open to any language.
- The Jam is open to NSFW content, as long as you indicate it in your submission (in the Content Warning of the form).
- Spam or hateful content will be removed!
- During the duration of the jam and the two weeks following the deadline, the submissions should be free to play.
- You can submit up to 3 entries!
- You should aim for a 15-30min maximum gameplay.
Possible IF softwares:
Possible NON-IF softwares:
- Office Suites and Text processors:
- Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Sharepoint, etc.); Google Docs/Sheets/Slides, Google Forms, Maps, etc.; LibreOffice/OpenOffice, etc...; LaTeX...
- Static Sites:
- Raw HTML/CSS (no javascript), Github (presenting your game as a repository), Wordpress, MKDocs, Forums, Carrd
- Others:
- Contact the organizers if you have other ideas.
Share this Jam on Tumblr (#enginejam)- Join our Discord - Discuss on the IntFic Forum
At the end of the Jam, we will create an IFDB page for every entry. The IFDB, or Interactive Fiction Database, is an IF game information catalogue, creating a historical record of the IF landscape. You can also create this page yourself before the end of the Jam! Contact the organisers by dms for questions or if you'd rather not be included.
You can also opt-in to see your entry submitted to the IF Archive (the entry will be playable from its IFDB page) or submit it yourself!
