Fall Updates

Hi, text adventure fans! Hope you don't mind me gently poking you every once in a while with news and updates. A couple items this fall that might of interest:

• The 30th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition is live until October 15th, with dozens of brand new text games to try. Anyone can be a judge if you try at least five games (and most are pretty short). Classics from the 50 Years of Text Games book including Photopia and Violet were originally entered in IF Comp... which stories from this year are destined to be classics?

• The nonprofit Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation is bringing back its new microgrants program after a successful first year. The program awards small-value grants to projects that benefit an interactive fiction community through technology, tools, teaching, archiving, etc. I'm on the admin committee for the microgrants program again this year, and we would love to see more applications, or help spreading the word to more folks who might want to apply! Details here.

• My new project Downcrawl is coming to crowdfunding soon! This is a revised and expanded edition of my 2017 tabletop roleplaying game about building and exploring a weird, wondrous underworld together: a place so far from the surface that the sun and sky are only legends. Evocative prompts help you improvise stories of dangerous journeys, curious creatures, and strange underground empires. A just-in-time generation mechanic gives you only the details you need to continue your story, allowing your world to keep growing as you explore it.

  

  The new edition features new rules for solo or collaborative play, and an optional deck of prompt cards that makes sparking weird underworld adventures easier than ever. If you're into TTRPGs, you can sign up to be notified on launch day. (And there will be a cool perk for Early Bird backers!)
  
  I'll also be streaming the solo version of the game this Thursday at 5pm Pacific time. Bookmark the link if you want to see Downcrawl in action!

• The companion book to 50 Years of Text Games, Further Explorations, is still available for sale! Check it out for a svelte but stimulating tour through wordplay games, hacking sims, visual novels, one-room games, and other strange little corners of text game history.

• Finally, I'm pleased to announce that I’m now offering free copies of 50 Years of Text Games to public libraries, including libraries at public schools or public universities. I would love to see this book have a longer “shelf life” to help preserve the stories and histories of text games for more folks and future generations.
  
  How to participate? If you’re affiliated with a qualifying library and would like to request a physical or digital copy, I can send one directly to your institution. Alternatively, I can offer a code to let you purchase the book at cost to donate as you see fit. In either case, please fill out this Google form if you’re interested.

That’s all for now. Thanks as always and take care,

—Aaron