ECTOCOMP 2016

Gather round, ghasts and ghouls, for the time has come once again, for ECTOCOMP!

This year there will again be two categories for entry. For those of you who enjoy a challenge, ECTOCOMP: La Petite Mort is for games written in three hours or less.

For those who don’t manage to complete their games in under three hours, or who would like to take a more relaxed approach to the competition, there will be ECTOCOMP: Le Grand Guignol. The two categories will be judged separately.

Remember! We are here to have fun, and woe betide any who take the contest too seriously!

The entries must have a spooky, supernatural, weird menace or horror theme, and may be serious or comical. Though this is a Hallowe’en competition, it is not necessary for your entries to be set on All Hallows’ Eve. They should be submitted by email to ectocomp[AT]gmail.com with the words ECTOCOMP 2016 and the entry category in the title.

Good luck! I will see you here again at the appointed hour of the DEADline: midnight on Sunday 30th October, GMT.

Yassssss! I’m pumped. Last year was so much fun I’m eager to take a crack at it again.

…Even if I never got around to finishing my post-comp release of last year’s game shhh.

Hurrah! I hope there will be a Grand Guignol this year, because I’ve already started poking at an idea for a slightly longer game.

Yes, rules will be as last year!

I’ve edited the opening post to add the rules. Please note the change of email address!

Jason

Niceness! I have an idea this time around, will try to participate unless real life intervenes somehow.

Oooh. I’m excited. I saw the calendar and was like “Oh! I gotta go look to see if the Ectocomp has been started”

So far we have four blood-curdling entries! Keep 'em coming!

I downloaded the judging rules from last year:

"The judging period ends at midnight GMT on 30th November 2015.

To judge, give each game a score from 1-10 (10 is perfection)
and if you can offer any written feedback, then write it in
the comments section. This year, because there are quite a few
entries, I’ve decided to allow half marks, or even quarter
marks (7.25) to allow for a finer grading system."

Is judging open to the public? Do you need to register in advance to judge? Are public discussions/reviews of the games allowed during the judging period? Thank you for eggsplaining.

Anyone can judge and you don’t need to register. It’s also totally fine, even encouraged, to discuss/review the games in public. EctoComp is super super relaxed in comparison to IFComp.

…which I think is what many of us authors need, really. IFcomp has been really fun, but it’s nice to have something where I can focus on an interesting idea instead of flawless execution. The only problem I had was… well, my IFcomp game was pretty spooky already, what with the ghosts and creatures and reality slipping, how was I gonna top that? I’m afraid making something more obviously horror themed would only make it less scary. “ho hum, black magic, ho hum hanged corpses. Must be Halloween again.”

…of course, I kinda like how much Halloween-stuff is about celebrating the spooky rather than be creeped out by it.

TFW I realize I have 7 days in which to make this happen and I still don’t know what I’m going to do. Ahhhhhhh.

I feel bad for y’all judging this, I might end up with something really weird XD

Ectocomp is usually the IFComp palate-cleanser that authors can use to take their minds off.

Also Glassrat - that’s what’s cool about Ecto - you got three hours, you can make a game. Weirdness usually ensues.

The weirder, the better!

I am particularly fond of the three-hour time limit because you can make completely weird stuff that probly no one will like and it’s still all good.

(See: Fish Dreams.)

This is my first message in this forum. Excuse my English, it’s not my first language -I’m Spanish.

I’ve send a little-little crazy interactive fiction for Ectocomp. This comp is perfec to try crazy ideas, especially in less than three hours category. This is my first (well, my second, but I’m still trying to publish the other) interactive fiction in English. I’ve published several IF in Spanish created with Twine, Undum, Inform 6/7, etc. I adore interactive ficion since my early days with ZX Spectrum and “The Hobbit”.

Hi everyone. The deadline for Ectocomp 2016 fast approaches!

So far we have entries from:

LE PETIT MORT

Santiago Eximeno
Peregrine Wade
Bitter Karella
Owlor
Lewis Blanco
Glass Rat Media
roboman
Brian Kwak

LE GRAND GUIGNOL

Chandler Groover
Pumpkin B. Parjeter
Hanon Ondricek

Let me know if I’ve missed anyone off!

Hey, I have an entry - but I’m emailing it to you now.

Edit: Sent - let me know if you didn’t get it.

Heya - I’ve just now sent you an email with my entry!

Will the entries come out later tonight (US time zones) or on the 31st? I’m ready to be scurred!