Winners of the 2019 IFComp

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1st place

Zozzled

Cover art for Zozzled

Steph Cherrywell steph.cherrywell@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Turandot

Victor Gijsbers victor@lilith.cc

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

Cover art for Chuk and the Arena

Agnieszka Trzaska @agat_writes irimion@gmail.com

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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for Heretic's Hope

G.C. Baccaris grimoirtua@gmail.com

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

Cover art for robotsexpartymurder

Hanon Ondricek @hanonondricek hanon.ondricek@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Night Guard / Morning Star

Astrid Dalmady @dastridly

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

Cover art for Limerick Heist

Pace Smith @PaceSmith pace@pacesmith.com

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

Cover art for Poppet

Bitter Karella @bitterkarella thenewmeat@hotmail.com

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

Cover art for Skies Above

Arthur DiBianca a_dibianca@yahoo.com

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

Cover art for Dungeon Detective 2: Devils and Details

Wonaglot wonaglot@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Dull Grey

Provodnik Games @ProvodnikG provodnikgames@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Skybreak!

William Dooling @theodidactus theodidactus@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Remedial Witchcraft

dgtziea dgtziea@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Saint City Sinners

dgallagher dgallagher757@gmail.com

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.

Cover art for Black Sheep

Nic Barkdull and Matt Borgard nicbarkdull@gmail.com

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 ragtimebill@outlook.com

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

Cover art for Pirateship

Robin Johnson @rdouglasjohnson robindouglasjohnson@gmail.com

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

Cover art for The good people

Pseudavid @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

Cover art for Under the Sea

Heike Borchers gnoogle@web.de

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.

Cover art for Very Vile Fairy File

Andrew Schultz @anandrewschultz blurglecruncheon@gmail.com (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

Cover art for For the Moon Never Beams

J. Michael frotzing@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Truck Quest

Donald Conrad and Peter M.J. Gross pmjgross@gmail.com

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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for Enceladus

Robb Sherwin @icecreamjonsey robb.sherwin@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Clusterflux

Marshal Tenner Winter marshaltennerwinter@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Each-uisge

Jac Colvin jacicgamebooks@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Break Stuff

Amy Clare Fontaine @fontainepen

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 ragtimebill@outlook.com

"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

Cover art for The Four Eccentrics

Tim Wolfe and Caleb Wilson thegreyhavens@hotmail.com (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

Cover art for Hard Puzzle 4 : The Ballad of Bob and Cheryl

Ade @psyhivegames mikepreston99@outlook.com

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

Cover art for 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 anssir66@hotmail.com

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

Cover art for Flight of the CodeMonkeys

Mark C Marino @markcmarino markcmarino@gmail.com

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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for For the Cats

Lei lei@actualroleplaying.com

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

Cover art for Out

Viktor Sobol viktor_sobol@mail.ru

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

Cover art for Island in the Storm

Rita Lester rita@jsmaika.com (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)

Cover art for Iamb(ici)

Josée Cadaba cadaba@sheridancollege.ca (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

Cover art for Winter Break at Hogwarts

Brian Davies brianmdavies@yahoo.com

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

Cover art for Roads Not Taken

Doug Egan dougegan2@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Summer Night City

ghoti summernightcities@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Slugocalypse

Charlotte @acatinhell charlotteblatchford@hotmail.com

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!

Cover art for URA Winner!

Carter Sande carter.sande@duodecima.technology

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

Cover art for Mental Entertainment

Thomas Hvizdos thohvi0194@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Language Arts

Jared Jackson jaredj@mac.com

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 @tomallanmartin thomasallanmartin@gmail.com

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

Cover art for The Mysterious Stories of Caroline

Soham S sohamaf30@gmail.com

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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for Jon Doe – Wildcard Nucleus

Olaf Nowacki @OlafNowacki ioa@gmx.net

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!

Cover art for Planet C

Mark Carew @MarkACarew mark_9000@hotmail.co.uk

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

Cover art for Treasure Hunt in the Amazon

Kenneth Pedersen and Niels Søndergaard kennethvpedersen@yahoo.dk

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

Cover art for Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: The Text Adventure

Pippin Barr @pippinbarr pippin.barr+help@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Citizen of Nowhere

Luke A. Jones @drlukejones luke.jones@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Rip Retold

Hipolito hipolito_gg@yahoo.com

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

Cover art for Eye Contact

Thomas McMullan @thomas_mac thomas.l.mcmullan@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Bradford Mansion

Lenard Gunda @Lenardg bradfordmansion@7hrsmn.net

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

Cover art for Flygskam Simulator

Katie Benson katie.benson11@gmail.com

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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for 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, he/they) @NaomiNorbez mninorbez@gmail.com (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

Cover art for De Novo

cyb3rmen @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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for Arram's Tomb

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

Cover art for Fat Fair

AKheon @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

Cover art for Ocean Beach

James Banks @banks10v24 banks@10v24.net

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

Cover art for The Ouroboros Trap

Chad Ordway @notChadOrdway chadordway@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Abandon Them

Alan Beyersdorf @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

Cover art for Meeting Robb Sherwin

Jizaboz jizaboz@hotmail.com

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 lazzah2000@hotmail.co.uk

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

Cover art for The Untold Story

Michael Pavano michaelpavano38@gmail.com

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

Cover art for Extreme Omnivore: Text Edition

Hazel Gold @hazelgoldblog a.hazel.blog@gmail.com

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

Cover art for The Sweetest Honey

Mauro Couto @MauroCouto7 mc.valiente95@gmail.com

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.

Cover art for Randomized escape

Yvan Uh. @UhlmannY yvan.uhlmann@gmail.com

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 @quadrofon ifcomp@tanebi.de

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

Cover art for ALICE BLUE

Chris Selmys @numinologist numinologist@protonmail.com

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

Cover art for A Blue Like No Other

Dan Cox @videlais

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

Cover art for 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

Cover art for The 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

Cover art for 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.