Programs

IFTF manages a range of programs in service to our mission.

To stay up-to-date regarding news about all the following programs, as well as IFTF’s future plans, please join our mailing list, read our blog, or follow us on Twitter.

Active programs

The Annual Interactive Fiction Competition

The Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (IFComp) is a yearly festival that invites the world to share, play, and judge new works from independent IF creators. IFComp has been running since 1995, which makes it the world’s oldest continuously operational exposition for noncommercial video games. It is free, open to the public, and held entirely online. Its website showcases past entries and winners, allowing visitors to experience the history of IF first-hand.

IFComp has operated since 2016 under the stewardship of IFTF, by way of its IFComp standing committee. The software, servers, and other resources that keep the competition running smoothly are supported by your generosity.

IntroComp

IntroComp is a yearly festival which provides a venue for authors to test narrative concepts, mechanics, and storylines for interactive fiction, gain feedback from audience reactions, and use that feedback for a potential future interactive fiction release.

Since 2023, IntroComp has been supported by IFTF, by way of the IntroComp standing committee.

The Interactive Fiction Archive

The history of the modern IF community — or, we should say, one major modern IF community — is preserved at the IF Archive. Since 1992, the Archive has provided a stable foundation for IF culture, including many open-source IF tools and ongoing traditions such as IFComp.

Since 2017, the IF Archive has operated under IFTF stewardship, by way of the IF Archive standing committee. IFTF’s IF Archive program also maintains a number of self-contained websites and documents of historical value to the IF community, such as the Inform 6 website, and the Treaty of Babel.

The Interactive Fiction Database

IFDB is a database of community sourced metadata, bibliographic information, and reviews of interactive fiction. Michael J. Roberts founded IFDB in 2007 with the goal “to make IFDB a one-stop shopping site for IF.”

Since 2021, IFDB has operated under IFTF stewardship, by way of the IFDB standing committee.

The Interactive Fiction Community Forum

The forum at intfiction.org has served as a center of community discussion since 2006.

Since 2019, the forum has been supported by IFTF, by way of the IntFiction Forum standing committee.

The Interactive Fiction Wiki

IFWiki is a community-maintained resource for the history and culture of interactive fiction. The wiki was originally set up by David Cornelson in 2004.

Since 2022, IFWiki has been supported by IFTF, by way of the IFWiki standing committee.

Twine stewardship and development

Twine is a free tool which lets creators of all skill levels make hypertext-based interactive fiction. Invented by IFTF co-founder Chris Klimas in 2009, it has grown rapidly in popularity and importance. Twine’s diverse userbase includes Hollywood studios, schools, and disadvantaged creative communities.

Today, IFTF’s Twine standing committee explores ways to provide legal and financial support to both the Twine project and its community infrastructure. We aim to ensure Twine’s continued high quality and free availability, without affecting any of the licenses or practices which have allowed Twine development to thrive.

IF and education

IFTF’s standing education committee promotes the teaching of IF in order to broaden its use beyond its cultural niche and to raise its profile in the gaming world.

NarraScope, an interactive fiction conference

NarraScope is a gathering for lovers of interactive fiction, narrative games, adventure games — all the forms of story-forward interactivity. Join our con mailing list for more news and announcements!

The event is managed by IFTF’s conference standing committee.

IFTF Communications

The standing communications committee serves to inform, inspire and engage our community through transparent communication about IFTF, as well as news and features from the wider world of interactive fiction technology.

Grants Administration

The standing grants committee manages the IFTF grantable fund. This fund is provided by the organization to support independent projects which forward IFTF’s mission.

Past programs

Accessibility Testing Project

Interactive fiction has always been an accessible medium. IF stories are primarily text-based and tend to unfold at a pace set by the player. Therefore, IF presents significantly fewer barriers for players with disabilities than most other kinds of video games. However, as IF creation and play technologies advance in new directions, accessibility doesn’t always receive the attention that it deserves.

In late 2016, IFTF launched a project to test IF software for adherence to best practices in user accessibility. The Accessibility Testing Committee ran a test program for popular IF tools and games, and reported its findings, along with a list of accessibility-improving recommendations, in mid-2019. (The program ended, as intended from the start, with that report’s delivery.)