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[Derek]

This is a TIGSource TIGER Assault Interactive Fiction Competition.

What is TIGSource?  You're standing in it.

What is TIGER Assault?  TIGER Assaults are short competitions based around a particular theme.  The emphasis is on collaboration, sharing, and, most of all, the completion of projects.  I.e., it's an exercise in making small, tight, enjoyable/interesting games that can be played from beginning to end.  There are no prizes involved.

What is Interactive Fiction?  Interactive Fiction has a long and storied history that begins with the history of video games themselves.  Put simply, they are text-based games.  They have a strong cult following to this day, and I'll let Wikipedia explain the rest!

How do I make an entry for the competition?

You can use anything you want!  But here are some suggestions from Terry and Pacian:

As Terry mentioned, Inform 7 seems to have wide appeal to non-coding types.  On the other hand, people who know a little coding may (like me) find the idea of a natural language IDE thingy to be a bit intimidating.  If you know C++ or Java, TADS is your friend.  TADS2 is quite simple to use, I think, while TADS3 is a little scarier but has an enormous amount of out-of-the-box potential.

Start Date: Monday, December 10, Midnight

End Date: Monday, December 24, Midnight

Rules: Entries must be started and ended within the timeframe of the competition and must be made for the competition only.  Collaborations are allowed and, in fact, are welcomed.  The theme is "Winter" and/or "The Holidays/Christmas."

As usual, you may start a thread to track the development of your game!  Be sure to select the "Text the Halls" message icon to accompany your post.

Let's do it!

[Ivan]

Thank you!! This is going to be awesome!

[Average Higgins]

yay!

[Pacian]

What?  Text games?  Never heard anything so ridiculous.

Collaborations are allowed and, in fact, are welcomed.

I'd suggest that entrants should definitely consider sharing beta versions of their games among one another to test and criticise.

[Terry]

Excellent Now if only I didn't have to wait for 33 minutes before I could start

Also, I'd just like to add that Inform 6 is every bit as scary as TADS 3.

[BMcC]

Awesome -- I was looking for an excuse to write some IF! 

[Xander]

IF sounds like something a Code-nub like me could handle. If I can finish my work fast enough, count me in!

[BMcC]

Work shmerk, I say!

[Terry]

There are a few other options out there for people who find Inform or TADS tricky (and there is a bit of a learning curve to both, btw):

ADRIFT has a reputation as the easiest IF development environment. It allows you to construct your game through a straightforward menu system - might be the closest thing out there to an IF gamemaker.

HUGO is another reasonably popular one. It's supposed to be a good choice for graphical games, since it supports all sorts of audio and video formats.

ALAN is another one that's meant to be fairly easy to pick up. Like the new version of INFORM, ALAN programs are fairly easy and intuitive to read.

There are a bunch more available on the IF Wiki.

[Terry]

You really should just use INFORM though. Z-Code is the standard for this sorta thing

[apodysophilia]

I might give this a shot

[edit] Can it have graphics and music, As long as the gameplay is text based?

[Chris Whitman]

Mine is going to be a horrible rush job done over Christmas break, considering I have exams to worry about for the next seven days.

Still, good luck, everyone!

[skaldicpoet9]

Sweetness.

So this Inform is pretty code-lite then?

Because if it is I am so down with this...

[Radix]

Crap, I want to enter but I'm already in another time-consuming compo. Maybe I'll just see what I can shit out in a night.

[Xotes]

Heh, I've never coded in my life. Still, with Inform, I might pull something out. It'll suck, but it'll be a learning experience.