
	Hi, and welcome to the 1997 Interactive Fiction Competition.

	This is our 3rd annual competition, and we have 35 games for your
enjoyment this year.  If you want to grab the entire batch of 35 games at
once, simply download evryting.zip and unzip it into a directory, being sure
to use the -d switch in order to preserve the subdirectories.

	If you wish to participate in the voting this year, your votes will
need to be sent to: ct@ecs.ox.ac.uk

	Votes received after Dec. 31st, 1997 will not be used.

	More information on the competition is available at:
http://www.ifcompetition.org.

	Thank you,
	Kevin Wilson




----------


Howard's Addendum


	To make this year's competition more accessible for people who usually 
play mainstream, commercial games, and not interactive fiction, I've collected 
the appropriate Windows (when available) and DOS interpreters for the 
competition entries.

	TheDOS interpreters are included in the \Interpreters subdirectory.  
The Windows interpreters, WinTADS and Winfrotz, have their own separate 
subdirectories under \Interpreters\Windows\.  Windows shortcuts should be 
made to the appropriate execuatbles in these subdirectories.

	WinTADS and WinFrotz run TADS and Inform game files, respectively.  
TADS game filenames have the .GAM extension, while Inform games have a .Z5 or 
.Z8 extension.  Other conventions exist, but these are the only ones found in 
this year's competition.  These games will be found in their appropriate 
subdirectories after decompressing the EVRYTING.ZIP file.  AGT, Alan, Hugo and 
Jacl subdirectories will also be created, but I have constructed and included 
a batch file to save players the trouble of figuring out how to use which 
interpreter with which program.  In a DOS window, run MENU.BAT.  This will 
provide easy access to the four entries not written in Inform or TADS.


---------------

	People who aren't running Windows 95 can still get the game files at
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/incoming/if-archive/EVRYTING.ZIP, while it's still unsorted, 
or ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/competition97/EVRYTING.ZIP after it's 
been filed away.  The front end for the competition, COMP97.Z5, is an Inform 
program, and it has a guide to the Interactive Fiction Archive (ftp.gmd.de), 
and tells you where to find all the interpreters for your platform.  But since 
you need an Inform interpreter to get it running in the first place, I've 
taken the liberty of copying the section on Inform:


Interpreters for Inform games can be found in:

ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/frotz/
--and--
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/zip/
(as well as in other subdirectories under ../interpreters/)

Interpreters exist for:

*  DOS -- DosFrotz232Std10.zip or frotzpl3.zip (frotz), or 
jzpc201g.zip or zip200.zip (zip)

*  Windows -- WinFrotzR44.zip (frotz), or winf_05.zip or 
wzip21.zip (zip)

*  Macintosh -- MaxZip-171.hqx, MultiAventures1.8.3.hqx, 
or ZIP_13_68k.cpt (zip)

*  OS/2 -- frotz201_std02_os2b7.zip (frotz), or zip4os2 
or zip4warp (zip)

*  Linux -- ziplinux.patch (source code)

*  Unix -- UnixFrotz232R1Std10.tar.gz (frotz) or zip.sh.Z 
(zip source code), zip-sgi.tar.gz (zip [MORE]IRIX), or 
xzip161.tar.Z (X-Windows)

*  Amiga -- Frotz222Std02Amiga8.lha (frotz) or 
AmigaZIP_V8.lha (zip)

*  Other -- Acorn_Zip2000_Std0.2.spk (Acorn Archimedes), 
atarizip.zoo (Atari ST), jzip.bebox.tar.gz (BeBox), 
jzipstb3.zip (Atari 16/32 bit), zipgs1.0a1.sea (Apple IIGS), 
FrotzCE12a.zip (Windows CE)


-------------

The front end program, Comp97.z5, is meant as an aid for players,
to help them play the games in a random order and to provide a
scorecard.  It is not really necessary to use it, but it does
provide some useful information about various aspects of
interactive fiction.

A final word of advice.  If you haven't played a text adventure
since Infocom disappeared, then try typing HELP or ABOUT when you
begin a game, as many games have an introductory text or menu to 
help out beginning players.  This is especially true of the competition 
front end, COMP97.Z5.  This program features an excellent help menu, 
which may not be readily available to new players.



-------------


For people who want to find out more about interactive fiction on the
Internet, or need more help with the competition entries, here are the
crucial online resources:


FTP resources:

- ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive

The Interactive Fiction Archive

This site is the repository of freeware interactive fiction-related material.  
Dedicated programming language compilers, manuals, interpreters, games, 
solutions and more can all be found here.


USENET Groups:

- rec.games.int-fiction
- rec.arts.int-fiction

These newsgroups are devoted to the discussion of interactive fiction.  
Rec.arts.int-fiction is generally used for issues directly related to
programming and design, while rec.games.int-fiction is for issues that
bear more on gameplay, especially requests for walkthroughs and hints.
There is, however, some overlap, and the same crowd tends to frequent
both groups.  People having trouble with this year's competition entries
should post to rec.games.int-fiction.


WWW / Mailing Lists:

- http://www.users.interport.net/~eileen/design/xyzzynews.html 
The XYZZY News web page, an online newsletter dedicated to text adventures.
This newsletter features all sorts of articles, from Infocom bug reports
to interviews with IF game designers to lists and bulletin boards.  The
web page also contains one of the most complete interactive fiction links
collection on the web.

- http://www.afn.org/~afn55673/spag.html 
The homepage for the Society for the Preservation of Adventure Games, 
another online newsletter.  SPAG is more review-oriented than XYZZY News,
and the editor, Magnus Olsson, is always looking for more reviews of
interactive fiction.




Howard Liu
h2liu@san.rr.com
