Winners of the 2019 IFComp

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1st place

Zozzled

Steph Cherrywell

Hotsy-totsy! It's 1928 and you're madcap flapper Hazel Greene, tottering around the city's finest hotel with a gullet full of giggle juice...until a gaggle of ghosts shows up to spoil the fun by turning every drop in the place into lousy, undrinkable WATER. Explore the beautiful Poseidon Grand Hotel, meet Barnaby Mooch the Magnificent Pooch, and get splifficated on a snootful of ectoplasm in this paranormal puzzle comedy.

Comedy/Supernatural • Two hours • Parser-based

This work also won 2nd place in the 2019 Miss Congeniality Awards.

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	8.39
Votes Cast	64
Standard Deviation	1.19

2nd place

Turandot

Victor Gijsbers

An operatic performance. A tale of atonement. A dating sim with a crocodile pit.

Romance • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.95
Votes Cast	62
Standard Deviation	2.17

3rd place

Chuk and the Arena

Agnieszka Trzaska

Fight in the Grand Galactic Tournament to get back your planet's stolen moon!

Space opera, comedy, puzzle • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.66
Votes Cast	41
Standard Deviation	1.82

4th place

Sugarlawn

Mike Spivey

With a loud "click," the door closes behind you. Finally!

You are locked inside an antebellum Southern mansion, alone, wearing only a chicken costume.

You’ve fantasized about this moment for years.

______________________

Two hours • Parser-based

This work also won 1st place in the 2019 Miss Congeniality Awards.

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.54
Votes Cast	57
Standard Deviation	1.57

5th place

Heretic's Hope

G.C. Baccaris

You are the only human left alive.

Gods and monsters, blessings and curses, an island ruled by giant insects — and in their midst: you. Grief-stricken and bound by oath to obey the Queen’s newest divine decree, you will seek advice, encounter strange visitors, draw the attention of powers beyond comprehension, and surely make mistakes.

Before long, you will learn what it is to be holy — and perhaps what it is to be human.

Drama • Weird Fiction • Fantasy • An hour and a half • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.51
Votes Cast	39
Standard Deviation	1.81

6th place

robotsexpartymurder

Hanon Ondricek

When suspects and witnesses are “property, not people,” how should those who seek the truth proceed? Date robots. Avert scandal. Bring protection.

Dystopian Erotic Murder Mystery Dating Sim • Longer than two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.33
Votes Cast	39
Standard Deviation	2.05

7th place

Night Guard / Morning Star

Astrid Dalmady

My mother made a deal.

So here I am, working the night shift, alone with her work.

Horror • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.22
Votes Cast	60
Standard Deviation	1.99

8th place

Limerick Heist

Pace Smith

Rule 1 is that no one gets iced.

Rule 2: the loot's evenly sliced.

There's only two rules.

Now listen up, fools!

We're pulling a...

Contains: vulgarity, lies, misanthropes, some drinking, unreasonable hopes, extravagant crimes, 100+ rhymes, and oodles and oodles of tropes.

Heist • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.16
Votes Cast	70
Standard Deviation	1.63

9th place

Poppet

Bitter Karella

A ragdoll awakes in an empty house. You're not sure how long you've been asleep. You're not sure where you are. And, worst of all, you're not sure what happened to the girl who once treasured you as her favorite toy.

But you're going to find out.

Poppet can be played online at: http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/ajlplbgslemcmblxrbmdsq/poppet

Dark fantasy • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	7.03
Votes Cast	32
Standard Deviation	1.70

10th place

Skies Above

Arthur DiBianca

Play minigames to get your airship flying, tour the skies, and see what mischief is going on up there.

Parser-based

This work also won 3rd place in the 2019 Miss Congeniality Awards.

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.81
Votes Cast	42
Standard Deviation	1.56

11th place

Dungeon Detective 2: Devils and Details

Wonaglot

The life of the world's first Dungeon Detective isn't exactly glamorous. You've spent many nights hungry, sleeping in the woods. But word is getting out, and the newest case has showed up at the foot of your bed in the first room you've rented in months. Like your other employers, he can scarcely believe you're a gnoll - something people say looks like a malicious hyena standing on two legs.

Pack clues into your bag while exploring a living city in day or night. Pick your suspect, then close the case. Oh, and try not to part with your soul in the process?

Fantasy-Mystery • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.74
Votes Cast	38
Standard Deviation	2.02

12th place (tie)

Dull Grey

Provodnik Games

An interactive drama in the traditions of Soviet fiction about choosing a profession.

Mother and her teenage son live on the edge of the world amid hot springs, steam, mountains, five-story houses and rusty freight robots. Their present is routine. Their future is under the strict control of Progress-program. Which also means routine.

Making their choice they seem to be on the horns of a dilemma. But it may also be a rare chance to escape the dull grey surrounding them.

If they could only find a way to use it.

Сoming-of-age, science fiction, everyday life • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.71
Votes Cast	65
Standard Deviation	2.09

12th place (tie)

Skybreak!
A Game of Adventure and Wonder

William Dooling

Skybreak! is a science-fantasy role-playing game of galactic proportions: explore distant stars, plunder alien ruins, hunt space pirates, collect beetles, slay gods, make out with sorcerers, and punch cosmic evil in its flabby, betentacled face!

The only thing you can't do is steer...

(Notes for online play: The ADRIFT webrunner is not designed for spacetime dimensions higher than the conventional 17. Minimize the map, which will be no help at all. For improved functionality, cooler fonts, an official soundtrack, printable character sheets, and a galaxy map, download the game).

Science Fantasy • Longer than two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.71
Votes Cast	28
Standard Deviation	2.37

14th place

Remedial Witchcraft

dgtziea

Lina is a first year student studying magic. Lina isn't doing very well at her classes. Lina is apprenticing for the Witch of Howling Woods because no one else would take her.

Tonight, Lina has messed up (she contends some blame should go to her master for giving unclear instructions). Now Lina needs to figure out what all the magical items (A wavering wand? An everfire? A *gasp* cauldron?) in her master's house do and use them all to fix her mistake, before she gets found out!

(Remedial Witchcraft is a light, puzzle-oriented parser game.)

Light, fantasy, puzzly • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.69
Votes Cast	65
Standard Deviation	1.59

15th place

Saint City Sinners
Find Justice or Die Punching

dgallagher

Hey you! Yeah, you! You think you have what it takes to be a detective? I mean a real, steel-oats-eating kind of detective that names your fists and barely cries at the end of Marley and Me? If so, prepare for the adventure of your lifetime!

Armed with only your fists, who you've named Truth and Justice, navigate the rough-and-tumble streets of Saint City, where the denizens are as ruthless as they are sweaty and the similes are tight as a pair of new chinos, assuming a slim cut and maybe a slice of cake or two. Or paired with a tight belt. Hell even suspenders work, the point is they're tight. Will you be the new greatest detective strong guy, or will this city gobble you up like yesterday's potatoes? You decide in Saint City Sinners!

*This game is a comedy very much inspired by Clickhole click-ventures. If you like that style of absurdist humor (or similarly that of the Onion), this will be a good fit for you! In order to play with the music, play in Firefox or Chrome (not Edge) on a computer, with an internet connection. The game runs on mobile and tablets, but unfortunately there are bugs with the music and the background image, so I'd recommend using a pc.*

Comedy • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.68
Votes Cast	44
Standard Deviation	1.52

16th place

Black Sheep
A cyberpunk point-and-click mystery brought to Twine.

Nic Barkdull and Matt Borgard

In the future, robots cater to man’s every want and need. That is, unless you’re a lowly line cook like Irene Turnsole. After Irene travels to her late father’s home, she discovers that her sister has gone missing and nobody is coming to help find her. Turnsole suspects the cultists of The Light of the Future, her own father’s extreme futurist corporation, but proving it isn’t going to be so easy. Irene soon discovers she has just two days to track her sister down before the cultists perform an ominous-sounding ritual. To solve the mystery, Irene must dig into the secrets of her father’s corporation, a world on the edge of the Singularity, and her family's own painful past – all before precious time runs out.

Cyberpunk noir mystery • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.63
Votes Cast	43
Standard Deviation	1.70

17th place

Frenemies
Or, I Won An Andy Phillips Game!

B F Lindsay

When pulling on the door just doesn't 'cut it'. A delightfully shameless and unforgivable one-room tribute to the games of Andy Phillips.

One-room short game/'locked' room • Two hours

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.53
Votes Cast	36
Standard Deviation	1.32

18th place

Pirateship

Robin Johnson

Who doesn't love pirates? Who, that is, apart from the British, the Spanish, the French, the Dutch, innkeepers, crocodiles, flying children, other pirates, merchant seamen with valuable cargoes of gold and rum, sharks, and SCURVY LANDLUBBERS?

A puzzly adventure with the feel of a classic parser game carried in a point-and-click interface.

Adventure, Puzzle • One hour

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.43
Votes Cast	53
Standard Deviation	1.56

19th place

The good people

Pseudavid

A strange story in a strange place.

A tense conversation about love and guilt.

Explore the weird, until the sunken things come for you.

A choice-based and narration-focused interactive story. A computer or tablet is strongly recommended to play.

Fantastic / Horror • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.41
Votes Cast	39
Standard Deviation	2.19

20th place

Under the Sea

Heike Borchers

Deep under the sea lies the wreck of the sunken galleon Santa Tortosa. On your quest to find its treasure you will discover uncharted places, learn new skills, and make scaly friends. But will the honorable Adventurers’ Society appreciate your report when you return?

Text adventure, mildly steampunk • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.36
Votes Cast	36
Standard Deviation	1.38

21st place

Very Vile Fairy File
A test of your wary wile.

Andrew Schultz (writing as “Billy Boling”)

Well, your name is Kerry Kyle, so you can't be the worst person to destroy the Very Vile Fairy File

Fantasy/wordplay • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.35
Votes Cast	46
Standard Deviation	1.76

22nd place

For the Moon Never Beams

J. Michael

Springtime, 1993. Prom night. A lonely road on the way to the big dance. This should be a magical evening, but your date suddenly seems distant and withdrawn. Is it something you said? Or perhaps something more sinister is going on...

Horror • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.33
Votes Cast	52
Standard Deviation	1.65

23rd place

Truck Quest
An Interactive Delivery Adventure

Donald Conrad and Peter M.J. Gross

You only need one low-budget truck (and one high-interest loan) to start your own delivery service. It’ll be an adventure, hauling military-grade narcotics to the megachurches of Bean Station and driving flammable poultry to the casinos of Inverness. Will your choices get vital shipments to the places that need them?

Honestly, the stakes are pretty low. It’s not like your decisions are going to shape the fate of a nation… right?

Contemporary Adventure • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.24
Votes Cast	49
Standard Deviation	1.57

24th place

Pas De Deux

Linus Åkesson

Striding into the spotlight, you smile as you look out over the crowd. It's a good turnout tonight. Now it is up to the Bournebrook Rill Community Orchestra and you, maestro Nevada Elmsbee, to deliver a spectacular performance.

Keep an eye on your score—or don't!—in this multi-layered parser/choice hybrid. Casually explore the interactive scene, or tackle the full puzzle lurking underneath to reach the best ending. Available for the web (recommended) and as a traditional Z-machine story file.

An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.16
Votes Cast	45
Standard Deviation	1.52

25th place

Faerethia

Peter Eastman

It seems as if nothing in this cynical world can be entirely good. Everything must have a dark side, a secret flaw, an ulterior motive. But Faerethia is the exception. This is the story of how it came to be.

One part utopian vision, one part exploration of what it means to be human, generously seasoned with humor, physics, philosophy, and an original musical score.

(Score composed and performed by the author.)

One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.15
Votes Cast	46
Standard Deviation	1.71

26th place

Enceladus

Robb Sherwin

There's a werewolf loose on the spaceship HMCS Plagoo!

Science Fiction • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.14
Votes Cast	36
Standard Deviation	1.81

27th place

Clusterflux

Marshal Tenner Winter

You have a new pet but it happens to be a talking mongoose. You have a new friend but she seems to have come from another place and time. And you have fun housemates but some of them have dropped off the face of the earth. Things have been kind of weird around here lately.

Weird Mystery • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.09
Votes Cast	45
Standard Deviation	1.76

28th place

Each-uisge

Jac Colvin

There is an old adage: When you hear hoofbeats, think horses.

However sometimes that particular piece of advice does not always hold true.

Fantasy • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.07
Votes Cast	42
Standard Deviation	1.79

29th place

Break Stuff

Amy Clare Fontaine

What better way to get over a breakup than smashing things?

15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	6.04
Votes Cast	53
Standard Deviation	1.83

30th place

Gone Out For Gruyere

B F Lindsay

"Just TRY getting me out of the way! HA HA HA!!" chortled the giant wheel of cheese, diminishingly.

Scavenger hunt/adventure • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.95
Votes Cast	42
Standard Deviation	1.57

31st place (tie)

The Four Eccentrics

Tim Wolfe and Caleb Wilson (writing as “Mild Cat Bean”)

This dream took an odd turn, somewhere. Why can't you wake up? And so much seems awry here: lost dreams are abandoned in the park, the local poetry trade is drying up, and nobody seems able to get into Night Town anymore.

Have all its fabled Eccentrics abandoned the city? And does that mean there's no one left to help you escape this dream?

Surrealist exploration • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.92
Votes Cast	26
Standard Deviation	1.62

31st place (tie)

Hard Puzzle 4 : The Ballad of Bob and Cheryl

Ade

In the BioDome after the Event, it's all getting a little bit desperate. And Bob isn't much help. He won't even let you use his stool. You know. For milking.

A silly little IF puzzler. But can you solve it?

See what the reviewers are saying about Hard Puzzle 4!

"Inspired incompetence" -- CMG

"RIDICULOUS" -- Josh

"I’m reasonably sure it should be possible to finish it" -- Stian

"This game broke me" -- Mathbrush

"Pff, that wasn’t so hard" -- Linus Akesson

"I don’t see much appeal in forcing myself to push through these “intentionally bad” features of Hard Puzzle 4" -- evouga

"hugely, joyfully irritating" -- wisprabbit

Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.92
Votes Cast	36
Standard Deviation	2.29

33rd place

Girth Loinhammer and the Quest for the Unsee Elixir

Damon L. Wakes

You are Girth Loinhammer, Dungeon Lord! It's a pretty sweet gig, with a gigantic trap-filled underground dungeon and a vast collection of torture devices with which to torment those who venture within your domain.

Or rather, it would be a pretty sweet gig if the people venturing within your domain weren't as keen on all that as you are: you have seen things that cannot be unseen.

...or can they?

Comedy • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.90
Votes Cast	52
Standard Deviation	2.05

34th place

Old Jim's Convenience Store

Anssi Räisänen

When you heard that Uncle Jim has left you his convenience store in his will, you were initially delighted. After all, you've always wanted to stand on your own, make your own money and get forward in life, and the store would provide a convenient platform for all that. Little did you know that the store holds a secret that will change your plans.

Half an hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.75
Votes Cast	55
Standard Deviation	1.19

35th place (tie)

Flight of the CodeMonkeys

Mark C Marino

You have one job: Correct the errors in the System code. It's menial work, but it pays the bills. Only, maybe you'd rather not... What are you? Just a CodeMonkey? Perhaps you could join the Resistance, or at least get an early vacation with a special friend... Warning: No parsers, no links. In this story, you'll be monkeying with the code!

Grim Humor Science Fiction • Half an hour

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.67
Votes Cast	42
Standard Deviation	2.10

35th place (tie)

Río Alto: forgotten memories

Ambrosio

Luis couldn't stop reliving that day, the very same day he decided to dig into Felisa's silences, into Juana's sadness, into Marta's lies, into Mr. Eustaquio's cowardice... into his own troubled life.

What could be worse than forgetting your own memories? Remember them again.

Update: browser playable version here https://daftgames.itch.io/rio-alto-forgotten-memories

Detective • Longer than two hours

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.67
Votes Cast	15
Standard Deviation	1.45

37th place

For the Cats

Lei

Your plan for a peaceful day out comes to a halt when you see a person selling cats on the pavement. The cats look sick and require immediate veterinarian help! It’s all legal, but it’s also wrong. You must find a way to save the cats.

The game offers three characters to choose from and a total set of 10 endings.

15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.63
Votes Cast	67
Standard Deviation	1.60

38th place

Out

Viktor Sobol

It's a wonderful morning, and you're ready to come out.

Slice of life • 15 minutes or less • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.54
Votes Cast	82
Standard Deviation	1.93

39th place

Island in the Storm

Rita Lester (writing as “JSMaika”)

A storm blows you course, leaving you stranded on an unfamiliar island. You need to repair your boat, so you can sail home, but you soon find that more lives than just yours are in your hands.

Explore the island. Talk to its inhabitants. Uncover the mystery of the storm that brought you here. Escaping alive is not as straightforward as it may initially seem.

Island in the Storm is the first full length game created with the IntFicPy engine. You can read about the engine at http://jsmaika.com/ifp_engine.php if you are interested, but the executable files included in the competition package (Windows & Mac) do not require any interpreter. The Python file is also included, for those who prefer that format.

Fantasy • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.39
Votes Cast	18
Standard Deviation	1.11

40th place

Iamb(ici)

Josée Cadaba (writing as “Jo Lourdez”)

Welcome to The Poetic Platform! Here, you can share, give feedback and view original poetry from and with other users. Rest assured that here at The Poetic Platform, we take your intellectual property seriously and that it is our highest priority to protect all original works from plagiarism as well as malicious commentary that could potentially damage a user's credibility. We hope you enjoy your time here at The Poetic Platform!

Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.36
Votes Cast	53
Standard Deviation	1.85

41st place

Winter Break at Hogwarts

Brian Davies

Spend a Christmas holiday alone in the world's most famous wizarding school...

What was supposed to be a couple of weeks of peace and quiet while the other students were home with their families gets disrupted, first by a lost wand, and then a lost housemate. It's up to you to unravel the mystery, learn some new magic, and save your housemate and yourself!

Fantasy • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.34
Votes Cast	38
Standard Deviation	2.08

42nd place

Roads Not Taken

Doug Egan

A lesson on finding one's path through the trees.

Slice of life • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.28
Votes Cast	29
Standard Deviation	1.53

43rd place

Summer Night City

ghoti

But even the most potent of prayers are prone to overuse, and my life, I'm sure, would sooner or later have been extinguished by my own hand. That the timing of their arrival precluded this fate came strictly as a relief. Wretched is he who must decide between painless extinction and tormented, protracted existence, and I was glad the choice was not mine.

Dystopian thriller • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.24
Votes Cast	38
Standard Deviation	2.15

44th place

Slugocalypse

Charlotte

Giant slugs have mysteriously taken over your town and they just keep on growing and multiplying. Can you escape from the slugs, find out where they came from, or maybe even find a way to destroy them? This game is replayable and has three different endings.

One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.23
Votes Cast	39
Standard Deviation	1.46

45th place (tie)

URA Winner!

Carter Sande

Scoring well on the Undergraduate Readiness Assessment is the key to college acceptance. This interactive digital guide contains practice questions and instructional materials for each section of the Assessment, and it's the only online resource officially recognized by the creators of the test.

The downloadable version of this product was designed for the Linux operating system. Students on other platforms should use the "Play online" button.

Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.17
Votes Cast	58
Standard Deviation	2.11

45th place (tie)

Mental Entertainment

Thomas Hvizdos

Your job is to talk to people. Interview three patrons of the 'Mental Entertainment' virtual reality entertainment center in Dayton, Ohio, and determine if they have a problem. Conversation-driven parser IF.

One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.17
Votes Cast	42
Standard Deviation	1.49

47th place

Language Arts

Jared Jackson

Are you a creative problem solver looking for career in an exciting and fast growing field? Do you seek out intellectual challenges that others are scared to face?

Crystal Clear Communications, the world's leading corporate communications consultancy and makers of the Language Arts technology, is seeking talented Language Engineers to be a part of their growing workforce of problem solvers.

The successful applicant is organized and self-motivated, a team player with a passion for applying technology, creativity, and logic to the variety of communications challenges faced across the corporate world.

Previous experience desired, but not necessary. Crystal Clear Communications is an equal opportunity employer.

Puzzle, Zach-like • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.14
Votes Cast	22
Standard Deviation	2.32

48th place

The Legendary Hero Has Failed.
The moon is crashing into the earth, can you help your friends come to terms with the end?

Cover art for The Legendary Hero Has Failed.

Tom Martin

The Legendary Hero of Time has failed.

The dancing Imp has won. The Moon will finish its descent from the sky and crash into the earth. When it reaches the ground there will be nothing left.

You sit by a roaring firepit on a grassy overlook just a few miles from the citadel that will become the point of impact, alongside 4 of your best friends - Eden, Byth, Wyatt and Mel - enjoying the last of your lives.

You have FIVE minutes. Can you help your friends come to terms with the end?

Grieving Fantasy • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.12
Votes Cast	58
Standard Deviation	2.03

49th place

The Mysterious Stories of Caroline

Soham S

Years ago, orphan Henry Smyth was saved off the streets when he was adopted by Katherine Kellner - only to run away a few years later. Now, he’s finally made a decent life for himself. His world is turned upside down when he finds out that Kellner has been arrested on the charge of being a pedophile. This knowledge brings impulsive decisions and repressed memories along with it.

Play as Henry as he struggles to make sense of his past and come to terms with it. Your decisions throughout the story affect Henry’s confidence and morality – choose wisely.

Drama • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.09
Votes Cast	34
Standard Deviation	2.03

50th place

The House on Sycamore Lane

Paul Michael Winters

Trapped in an old, abandoned house, you must solve the mystery that has cursed the house for a hundred years... and escape with your life!

Mystery • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.05
Votes Cast	43
Standard Deviation	1.68

51st place (tie)

Jon Doe – Wildcard Nucleus

Olaf Nowacki

Be Jon Doe, secret agent at MI5, and solve the mystery about the death of scientist Monsieur Edulard and his latest world-changing invention. A story with thrilling women, sinister villains and cutting-edge tech gimmicks. Be a hero, save the world, get the girl!

Mystery • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.03
Votes Cast	33
Standard Deviation	1.62

51st place (tie)

Planet C
There was no planet B - but there was planet C!

Mark Carew

Welcome to planet C and its small but growing colony of survivors from Earth. YOU are in charge of power generation, food production and limiting pollution. Land the ships carrying the colonists and technological upgrades. Grow the colony to two thousand people and complete the first phase of colonisation. But watch out – too much pollution and the weather throws a fit! YOU are in charge – good luck!

Speculative fiction • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	5.03
Votes Cast	30
Standard Deviation	1.54

53rd place

Treasure Hunt in the Amazon

Kenneth Pedersen and Niels Søndergaard

You have just received information about a legendary artifact in the Amazon. Will you be able to find it and return alive?

Old-school challenges are optional and can be enabled for a more challenging experience.

With permission, this game is a translation and an improvement of a Danish game from 1985 by Niels Søndergaard. Art work by Steffen Vedsted, also with permission. Music by Eric Matyas ( www.soundimage.org) in accordance with attribution-info.

ONLINE PLAY HERE: http://www.adrift.co/cgi/play.cgi?1528

Downloadable file playable on Windows (install ADRIFT 5) and Android (install Fabularium).

Adventure • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.88
Votes Cast	25
Standard Deviation	1.31

54th place

Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: The Text Adventure

Pippin Barr

You're dead, but you're not on Charon's list.

Impersonate mythological Greek figures (and Zeno!) and suffer eternal punishment in Hades in their place, for better or worse. Okay, it's definitely for worse.

Mythology • Half an hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.84
Votes Cast	61
Standard Deviation	1.81

55th place

Citizen of Nowhere

Luke A. Jones

The King, your father, is dead.

You have refused to take the crown and the land of Nowhere has instead evolved into a republic.

A simple invitation to the capital city of Lost sparks an epic quest as forces from Somewhere threaten war.

Venture through twisted landscapes with only your faithful dog, and a dry sense of humour, for company.

A puzzle parser in the classic style.

Fantasy puzzle parser • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.81
Votes Cast	37
Standard Deviation	1.43

56th place

Rip Retold

Hipolito

A twist on a sleepy old classic.

Fantasy • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.80
Votes Cast	64
Standard Deviation	1.68

57th place

Eye Contact
Have a conversation

Thomas McMullan

A coffee. A friend. Something to talk about.

Experimental • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.77
Votes Cast	77
Standard Deviation	1.68

58th place

Bradford Mansion

Lenard Gunda

A classic IF investigation/mystery set in an old mansion. What could ever go wrong in an old mansion?

Lord Bradford just passed away, and his inheritors are eager to get their hands on their inheritance. But there is a problem: the will is missing.

You are a young associate at the Twilight Brothers law firm. You got the assignment to visit the old mansion of the late Lord, and find his will. Because it has to be in there somewhere!?

Bradford Mansion is a classic parser based text adventure game. Runs on Windows (x64), Linux (x64) and MacOS (x64), in a console window.

Investigation, mystery • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.70
Votes Cast	30
Standard Deviation	1.64

59th place (tie)

Flygskam Simulator

Katie Benson

You made a pledge not to fly, but that doesn't mean your adventures are over. The bus journey from London to Hamburg looks simple enough. Just, you know, don't forget your passport, okay?

15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.69
Votes Cast	64
Standard Deviation	1.62

59th place (tie)

The Milgram Parable

Peter Eastman

Your job is simple: do whatever you are told, without question or hesitation. If you don't, people will die. Probably including you.

Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.69
Votes Cast	59
Standard Deviation	1.83

61st place

Valand

Ann Hugo

When you, a ten year old called Sam, fell into the ocean you expected to drown. Instead you find yourself on an island that's nothing like where you came from. The forests are vibrant, there's white sand beaches, and, well, there's magic.

You aren't the first child to be washed ashore on the island. Will you be the last?

Fantasy • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.61
Votes Cast	46
Standard Deviation	1.51

62nd place

Eldritch Everyday: The Third Eye
You didn't die in that [REDACTED]. But the fate in store for you makes you wish you had.

Cover art for Eldritch Everyday: The Third Eye

Naomi Norbez (call me Bez, e/he) (writing as “Norbez”)

The first in what will hopefully become a series of games, discussing life's various terrors. This one is about a car accident and post-traumatic stress--please read the content warnings before playing.

This is my most experimental game so far. I hope you find something good in it.

A real-life horrorshow • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.42
Votes Cast	38
Standard Deviation	1.90

63rd place

De Novo

cyb3rmen

Inspired by 1950s London true crime cases, De Novo is set during an era where capital punishment is still in practice, players are given the power to decide fate on who lives and who dies.

Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.27
Votes Cast	41
Standard Deviation	1.65

64th place

The Shadow Witch

Healy

It's a beautiful new morning. Time to work some evil into the world.

(Made in RPG Maker 2000; Windows only.)

Comic Fantasy • Half an hour

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.26
Votes Cast	19
Standard Deviation	1.45

65th place

Arram's Tomb
A Crypt Bludgeon Adventure

James Beck

The brave companions enter the old wizard's tomb in search of wealth and adventure. Many have done so before but no-one has ever returned. Direct barbarian, cleric, mage and thief towards great wealth and survival of the trials of Arram's tomb.

Fantasy • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.25
Votes Cast	51
Standard Deviation	1.67

66th place

Fat Fair

AKheon

A strange boy in backwater Finland wants to establish his own amusement park, or so it seems.

This game features a character-driven story, flexible gameplay mechanics, multiple endings and a lack of common sense.

Contains crass humor. And worse.

Comedy • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.13
Votes Cast	45
Standard Deviation	2.19

67th place

The Surprise

Candy Meldromon

An auto-biographical story

Slice of life • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	4.05
Votes Cast	58
Standard Deviation	1.80

68th place

Ocean Beach

James Banks

You are waiting for the end of day.

[Contains non-essential audio which does not work in browser.]

Symbolic • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.94
Votes Cast	36
Standard Deviation	1.58

69th place (tie)

The Ouroboros Trap

Chad Ordway

Stop me if you've heard this one before: You wake up alone in a room with no memories of how you got there and no way out. Oh, you have heard that one? Well, okay. Well, I guess you'll just have to trust me on this one. After all, what's the worse that could happen?

Experimental, Sci Fi • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.85
Votes Cast	41
Standard Deviation	1.52

69th place (tie)

Abandon Them

Alan Beyersdorf

//Edit 10/2: I’m having some issues with having a reliable file for Abandon Them. Until I figure out how to get the file more universal, I’m using itch.io to host the game. You can find the link here:

https://alan-beyersdorf.itch.io/abandon-them

What exactly happened during the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel? How do we separate the fantasy of the folklore from the realities of starvation and abandonment?

While often viewed as a fantasy story, my intention was to view this story from a psychological perspective.

If you were a character in their story, what sorts of choices would you make?

Folklore/Fairytale, Drama • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.85
Votes Cast	39
Standard Deviation	1.69

71st place

Meeting Robb Sherwin

Jizaboz

A slice-of-life adventure in Denver, Colorado.

Half an hour

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.79
Votes Cast	42
Standard Deviation	1.44

72nd place

The Call of the Shaman
The Adventures of Alaric Blackmoon - Episode 6

Larry Horsfield

Your bride-to-be, Princess Bronwynn, has been poisoned in a botched assassination attempt. The poison is a very rare one and you must travel to a far land to find the Shaman who is the only person who might know how to make the antidote.

You can download an ADRIFT5 blorb and play the game online at this address: http://www.adrift.co/game/1531 Copy and paste this link into your browser - I hope you will enjoy the game!

Fantasy • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.78
Votes Cast	18
Standard Deviation	1.55

73rd place

The Untold Story

Michael Pavano

After spending months alone in your Cabin after the sudden loss of your brother, you find yourself on an unusual journey through the home you once thought you knew in a desperate search to retrieve what you have lost. As you explore the old forest helping its inhabitants and hunting for your possessions, you may find something you never realized you lost...

Fantasy/Exploration • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.71
Votes Cast	14
Standard Deviation	1.16

74th place

Extreme Omnivore: Text Edition

Hazel Gold

You just got home and you're hungry as a dog. What smells so appetizing? Where can you find a snack?

Exploration • 15 minutes or less • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.68
Votes Cast	72
Standard Deviation	1.54

75th place

The Sweetest Honey

Mauro Couto

Anima is an unsure man, terrified by the idea of dying. But one day discovers that he cannot die. Instead, he wakes up from the beginning of the day, as if nothing had happened. ¿Will be Anima able to overcome his fear?

English translation of "La miel más dulce", written for the Rayuela GameJam 2019. You can play the Spanish version here: https://thebit.itch.io/la-miel-ms-dulce

"Magic Realism", "Drama" • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.55
Votes Cast	33
Standard Deviation	1.56

76th place

Randomized escape
A survival horror narrative fiction based on a randomized distribution of rooms, map, things, text and encounters.

Yvan Uh.

It is late night in the middle of this silent street. What did you come to find? You slowly stand up trying to remember where you are, and how you ended up here. Half asleep, you start walking. Maybe you'll find something of use in here. Maybe you'll find a reason to be here.

Quick note on the mechanics: rooms, map, things, text and encounters are randomized every time you compile the game!

Survival horror • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.43
Votes Cast	30
Standard Deviation	1.86

77th place

the secret of vegibal island
mass tourism individualised

Cover art for the secret of vegibal island

ralf tauscher

A tourist searching for total boredomness slips into an adventure and accidentally reveals the secret of a famous point'n'click adventure trilogy that never was. Maybe you want to visit "that island" again 29 years later, old enough to drink white russian wearing a bath robe. For your convenience I built a standalone lectrote app for linux-x64, windows, macos and linux-arm64 (yes, i am a pinebook owner) over at https://gnubox.org/tsosi-electron/ version 1.0 contains the identical ifcomp glulx file.

Comedy • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.29
Votes Cast	28
Standard Deviation	1.19

78th place

ALICE BLUE
an interactive memory

Chris Selmys

Everybody knows that narrative is an emergent property of consciousness, but the reverse is also true...

NB: Alice Blue is intended to be run on a Linux system.

Two hours

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	3.22
Votes Cast	9
Standard Deviation	2.10

79th place

A Blue Like No Other

Dan Cox

What color is desperation? Anger? How would you describe an arrested life? An unfulfilled story? What color might it be?

Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	2.91
Votes Cast	47
Standard Deviation	1.50

80th place

Bad Water

Waking Media

A surprising new spin on the "wander-and-wonder" game genre.

A tribute to an obscure early 2000s indie game. Can you guess what it is?

[Contains Audio and Video which is important to the game]

Experimental

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	2.87
Votes Cast	31
Standard Deviation	1.36

81st place

The Chieftain
Life of a Chieftain

LeSUTHU

In the middle of endless prairies, and dynamic mysteries that await you, you are a chieftain of a village you created. You control everything about the village from obtaining food, encounters with the unknowns of nature, and with interference with other communities in the game. The citizens of your village uphold your decisions with certainty and with loyalty, but it is up to you to make the right choices to sustain your village to strive on and respond to their trust in you. In this game, you will have to continue striving by obtaining necessary goods such as food, soldiers. Every day, you will be able to decide whether to go on a search, rest, or party, each option with their own pros and cons. You can also choose to do something for your town activity. It is important to realize your priorities and make your decisions based on that. You can also obtain luxurious good that has its unique characteristic. So the objective of the game? Survive.

(WALKTHROUGH INCLUDED IN THE GAME)

Turn based game • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	2.71
Votes Cast	38
Standard Deviation	1.50

82nd place

Lucerne

Dimitri Kaviani

Stricken with grief over the sudden kidnapping of her younger brother, one young woman must face her greatest fear and leave everything she knows, including her world, behind as she ventures into the depths of darkness on a mission to rescue her brother and redeem herself.

Dark Fantasy/Adventure • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score	2.63
Votes Cast	48
Standard Deviation	1.69

The organizer of the 2019 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition was Jacqueline Ashwell.

Winners of the 2019 IFComp

1st place

Zozzled

2nd place

Turandot

3rd place

Chuk and the Arena

4th place

Sugarlawn

5th place

Heretic's Hope

6th place

robotsexpartymurder

7th place

Night Guard / Morning Star

8th place

Limerick Heist

9th place

Poppet

10th place

Skies Above

11th place

Dungeon Detective 2: Devils and Details

12th place (tie)

Dull Grey

12th place (tie)

Skybreak! A Game of Adventure and Wonder

14th place

Remedial Witchcraft

15th place

Saint City Sinners Find Justice or Die Punching

16th place

Black Sheep A cyberpunk point-and-click mystery brought to Twine.

17th place

Frenemies Or, I Won An Andy Phillips Game!

18th place

Pirateship

19th place

The good people

20th place

Under the Sea

21st place

Very Vile Fairy File A test of your wary wile.

22nd place

For the Moon Never Beams

23rd place

Truck Quest An Interactive Delivery Adventure

24th place

Pas De Deux

25th place

Faerethia

26th place

Enceladus

27th place

Clusterflux

28th place

Each-uisge

29th place

Break Stuff

30th place

Gone Out For Gruyere

31st place (tie)

The Four Eccentrics

31st place (tie)

Hard Puzzle 4 : The Ballad of Bob and Cheryl

33rd place

Girth Loinhammer and the Quest for the Unsee Elixir

34th place

Old Jim's Convenience Store

35th place (tie)

Flight of the CodeMonkeys

35th place (tie)

Río Alto: forgotten memories

37th place

For the Cats

38th place

Out

39th place

Island in the Storm

40th place

Skybreak!
A Game of Adventure and Wonder

Saint City Sinners
Find Justice or Die Punching

Black Sheep
A cyberpunk point-and-click mystery brought to Twine.

Frenemies
Or, I Won An Andy Phillips Game!

Very Vile Fairy File
A test of your wary wile.

Truck Quest
An Interactive Delivery Adventure

The Legendary Hero Has Failed.
The moon is crashing into the earth, can you help your friends come to terms with the end?

Planet C
There was no planet B - but there was planet C!

Eye Contact
Have a conversation

Eldritch Everyday: The Third Eye
You didn't die in that [REDACTED]. But the fate in store for you makes you wish you had.

Arram's Tomb
A Crypt Bludgeon Adventure

The Call of the Shaman
The Adventures of Alaric Blackmoon - Episode 6