Spring Thing is an annual competition to highlight works of text adventure games and other literary works, also known as

Interactive Fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

. Adam Cadre, author of several works of

, including '' Photopia'' and '' Varicella'', announced the Spring Thing in 2001, both to promote works that would be longer than those entered into the Interactive Fiction Competition, and to encourage authors to submit works to the general public during other times of the year. It was run in 2002 and 2003, but Cadre did not host it the following year.

Greg Boettcher Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people * Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canad ...

picked up the slack, and hosted the Spring Thing from 2005 until 2013. {{As of, 2022, Aaron A. Reed runs the competition and has been doing so since 2014. As with the better-known Interactive Fiction Competition, works submitted to the Spring Thing must be released as freeware or public domain. Unlike that competition's limit of two hours per work, judges may spend as much time as necessary with an entry in the Spring Thing.

List of winners to date

*2002: ''Tinseltown Blues'' by Chip Hayes - the sole entrant in that year *2003: ''Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus'' by Dan Shiovitz and Emily Short *2004: No competition *2005: ''Whom the Telling Changed'' by Aaron A. Reed *2006: ''De baron'' / ''The Baron'' by Victor Gijsbers *2007: ''Fate'' by Victor Gijsbers *2008: ''Pascal's Wager'' by Doug Egan *2009: ''A Flustered Duck'' by

Jim Aikin James Douglas Aikin (born 1948) is an American science fiction writer based in Livermore, California. He is also a music technology writer, an interactive fiction writer, freelance editor and writer, cellist, and teacher. He frequently writes ar ...

*2010: No entrants *2011: ''The Lost Islands of Alabaz'' by Michael Gentry *2012: ''The Rocket Man from the Sea'' by Janos Honkonen *2013: ''Witch's Girl'' by Mostly Useless *2014: ''The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost'' by Briar Rose *2015: ''Toby's Nose'' by Chandler Groover (Audience Choice and Alumni's Choice) *2016: ''Tangaroa Deep'' by Astrid Dalmady (Audience Choice), ''The Xylophoniad'' by Robin Johnson (Alumni's Choice) *2017: ''Bobby and Bonnie'' by Xavid and ''Niney'' by Daniel Spitz (tie for Audience Choice) *2018: ''Illuminismo Iniziato'' by Michael J. Coyne (Audience Choice and Alumni's Choice) *2019: ''Among the Seasons'' by Kieran Green and ''The Missing Ring'' by Felicity Drake *2020: ''4x4 Galaxy'' by Agnieszka Trzaska, ''Hawk The Hunter'' by Jonathan B. Himes, and ''JELLY'' by Tom Lento and Chandler Groover *2021: ''The Weight of a Soul'' by Chin Kee Yong and ''Fish & Dagger'' by Grave Snail Games *2022: ''The Bones of Rosalinda'' by Agnieszka Trzaska and ''Fairest'' by Amanda Walker

External links

Spring Thing Home Page
Interactive fiction Video game development competitions

List of winners to date

See also

External links