The Beginner IF Jam is a game jam for people who want to try making an interactive fiction game in a low stress environment with no voting on games. More experience IF developers who want to try something new or experimental are more than welcome to join too!

What is Interactive Fiction?

Interactive fiction is a genre of games, usually text focused, where players take a series of actions to influence a story being told. This broad definition allows the medium to have many different forms. While people often associate the definition with classic text adventure games like Zork and A Mind Forever Voyaging and modern text adventures like Lost Pig, Hadean Lands, and Counterfeit Monkey, it can also mean games written in Twine like You Are Jeff Bezos and Excalibur, and games made with Ink such as Overboard and A Good Time.

While not the focus, tabletop games are also welcome. If you want to write a story with branching paths or an adventure game book like the ones you grew up with, go for it!

What Should I Use to Make My Game?

That depends on what you want to make! If you're looking to make a branching story where your decisions influence the outcome, you should check out Twine or Ink. If you're looking to make a more traditional text adventure, consider looking at Inform7, Adventuron, or PunyInform if you want to build it for old computers.

If you need help with a tool, feel free to ask in the comments or discuss the jam in the Adventure Game Club discord

Rules

• Previously started works are welcome but please do not submit anything that's been previously completed. This is a jam meant for people to dip their toes into writing interactive fiction. If you've released a game but want to do a revision or expansion of the game, that's fine too!
• The jam is unranked so even if you're an experienced IF writer, feel free to experiment and try making a game outside of your comfort zone.
• Feel free to charge for your work!
• Working in teams in welcome!
• It's absolutely fine to submit a work in progress and continue working on the game later.
• Any work that is bigoted will be removed from the jam.