The leaves are changing, folks are putting up Halloween decorations… that’s right it’s IFComp season once again. Long time listeners to this show already know how passionate we are about the Interactive Fiction Competition. Now in its 23rd year, it’s the biggest event in interactive fiction and one of the highlights of our year. We’ve been covering IFComp annually since 2015. If you’re new to interactive fiction or IFComp check out some of our past coverage here.

This year the are 78 games vying for your attention and votes. We’ll be spending the next several episodes playing hand picked (and randomly picked) games, and sharing our thoughts.

If you play something in the comp you think we should cover, please let us know! We’re @_shortgame on Twitter, or you can use the contact form at our website.

Games discussed in this episode

• 00:08:39 Alias The Magpie by J. J. Guest
• 00:08:39 Animalia by Ian Michael Waddell
• 00:30:37 Dead Man’s Fiesta by Ed Sibley
• 00:36:10 LETS ROB A BANK by Bethany Nolan
• 00:40:42 Junior Arithmancer by Mike Spivey
• 00:48:24 Railways of Love by Provodnik Games
• 00:56:24 + = x by Chandler Groover

Other stuff:

• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
• A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock, #1) by Sherry Thomas
• Machine of Death – Wikipedia
• Analogue Super NT

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame

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Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash
• Shane Kelly – @8bitshane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl

• (00:00) - IFComp 2018
• (08:39) - Alias 'The Magpie' by J. J. Guest
• (18:12) - Animalia by Ian Michael Waddell
• (30:37) - Dead Man’s Fiesta by Ed Sibley
• (36:10) - LETS ROB A BANK by Bethany Nolan
• (40:42) - Junior Arithmancer by Mike Spivey
• (48:24) - Railways of Love by Provodnik Games
• (56:24) - + = x by Chandler Groover
• (01:03:02) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week?
• (01:19:03) - Admin and Outro