Winners of the 1996 IFComp
1st place
The Meteor, The Stone And A Long Glass Of Sherbet
Graham Nelson
Another day wasted as guest of the Empress, a wretchedly long tour of the breath-taking Boreal Falls, conducted as ever by the Lady Amilia. As if she weren't bad enough, an honour guard of soldiers, their breast-plates red in the setting sun, march ahead of the procession and protect you from seeing anything unrehearsed. It's a dog's life being an Ambassador.
2nd place
Tapestry
Daniel Ravipinto
You were born; you lived; you died. Not everyone gets a second chance to go back and change crucial decisions. You have been granted one and must go back to critical moral dilemmas; but do you change the course of your life, or daren't you?
3rd place
Delusions
C. E. Forman
A trip into virtual reality: all begins with debugging a VR system, but then things get out of hand. Who is Morrodox, what has he to do with your colleagues, and what is going on?
4th place
Small World
5th place
Kissing the Buddha's Feet
6th place
Fear
Chuan-Tze Teo
The world is suddenly such a frightening place. People are out to get you, and everywhere there is danger, lurking in the dark, even here, in your own home. Can you conquer your own fears before it's too late?
7th place
Maiden of the Moonlight
8th place
Wearing the Claw
Paul O'Brian
A traditional fantasy quest in which you and your village have been cursed with a slow transformation into various animals. The only way to stop the curse is to retrieve the Pendant of Elinor from the mysterious island of the Goergs.
9th place
Alien Abduction?
10th place
Aayela
11th place
Lists and Lists
A tutorial in which a genie teaches you the basics of a simplified version of LISP.
12th place
Ralph
Miron Schmidt
In this short excourse you play a dog. It doesn't matter what race, though it's probably a male dog (hence the name 'Ralph'). What matters is that you know you have buried a bone last year, which you now have to reacquire. The problem is, being a rather old dog, about eight to nine years old, your memory isn't what it used to be. The same goes for your nose, so you can't smell the bone through the earth. It seems you're on your very own.
13th place
Reverberations
Russell Glasser
Surely it is too much to expect for you, a mere pizza delivery boy and surfing fanatic, to foil the attempted escape of a notorious criminal from custody, avoid numerous murder attempts, find the gang the criminal belongs to and start up a romance with an attractive attourney?
14th place
The Land Beyond the Picket Fence
15th place
In the End
Joe Mason
Your best friend has just died, and life drags on miserably. Would death be better than this?
16th place
Piece of Mind
Giles Boutel
Piece of Mind is a short, humorous work which uses the first person "puppet" concept from Scott Adams and other early games and examines the possible causes and consequences of being so controlled by the player. On the way to insight into the protagonist's nature the player will come across some parody (X-Files, cheesy SF), some poetry (real and instant), and perhaps even the odd moral dilemma.
17th place
Phlegm
Jason Dyer
You've found it at last - the chest containing the Treasure of Phlegm. Now, all you need to do is get it down from the tree. A cannon could help, if you can find the tools necessary to fire it...
18th place
Sir Ramic Hobbs and the Oriental Walk
19th place
Stargazer
Jonathan Fry
The prologue to a much longer game, Stargazer features you as a young lad trying to escape the everyday routine of life underground.
20th place
Of Forms Unknown
Chris Markwyn
A game that starts off in a college room, soon to move on to other, stranger places. This game was influenced by Andrew Plotkin's "So Far."
21st place
Curse of Eldor
22nd place
Don't Be Late
23rd place
House of the Stalker
Jason Clayton White
An escaped serial killer is loose in the neighbourhood. Even worse, he might be in your house. Or was that smashing sound something to do with the cat?
24th place
Rippled Flesh
Ryan Stevens
You wake, as a balding, plump middle aged man, in what appears to be a house of horrors. How did you get here? What is going on?
25th place
Punkirita Quest 1: Liquid
Ryan Stevens
A wizard has done fiendish things to a village, and you have to find a way to stop him...
26th place
My First Stupid Game
The organizer of the 1996 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition was Kevin Wilson.