The End of IfComp 2026
The 2026 Interactive Fiction competition for this year (IfComp 2026) has officially come to a close. Participating was an exciting and fascinating experience.
Unlike most submissions processes where you really have no idea where you fell in relation to other entries, IFComp doesn’t leave you to wonder. Judged by interactive fiction enthusiasts who give each story/game a rating, each entry is ranked by its average user rating and then lives on the website (and in the Interactive Fiction Database) in perpetuity. Because of this, my ultimate goal was not to end up in last place.
My friends, I achieved that goal.
The streamed awards ceremony included a montage of all the games ranked lowest to highest, with special time and attention and accolades given to those placing in the top 20.
I got a little jolt of pleasure when I did not place last.
Or tenth from last.
Or twentieth from last.
My entry landed at 43 out of 71 — not in the top twenty, not in the bottom twenty, squarely in the middle twenty. It received some thoughtful reviews on the community forums, including one from a reader who really seemed to “get” what I was doing. For someone crashing new into a tight-knit community with no credibility, entering a game that was outside the established norms (Choose-Your-Own-Adventure and role-playing type stories dominate the space), I walked away feeling pretty good.
And now that the contest is over, I can release the full version of the story, which includes music. (Because I used AI software to produce the music, I could not include it in the contest, so the contest entry had lyrics only, no audio.)
I also enjoyed the opportunity to read more interactive fiction and learn more about this unique and diverse genre. I’m going to mention three of the stories I read that I particularly liked, all taking very different storytelling approaches.
This is a “slice of life” piece you experience as a person who has become obsessed with a new album. Decision points are mundane — are you going to listen to the album again, are you going to call a friend, are you going to play a video game? It brought me back to the time of my life when I was single, living alone, had a lot of discretionary time. Tension remains low throughout, making the experience almost meditative.
In this science fiction story, you play as a captain with a small crew visiting a “pleasure planet” in search of your lost memories. The writing in this one grabbed me right away. While the worldbuilding wasn’t a huge selling point, the character development was my catnip. I loved the way crew members’ backstories were revealed in the story and how the captain’s support (or lack thereof) of their autonomy drove the relationships. After many of the decisions, you get a status update telling you whether other characters approve or disapprove of your actions, which I found an intriguing mechanic. I didn’t play a lot of alternate paths, although I did play more than one ending. I wouldn’t mind revisiting it to see how it might have unfolded if I’d chosen paths that went against my better instincts.
A Triangle for Two by Naarel and A. Clearwater
I read this story on the last day of judging when I was looking for something I could read quickly between other obligations. It was an absolutely magical experience. It follows the relationship of three people — two of whom live in the same body. One of them, who is coded male, wants to tell his closest friend about the other woman who lives inside him. The woman does not want to be revealed, fearing her place in his life will be threatened if she is. The IF mechanics were used to really interesting effect in this one, mostly for “perspective hopping,” or “pronoun swapping,” but also in a few instances to allow the reader to “choose” which persona would be fronting. It could get disorienting at times but that felt an appropriate part of the experience. I wanted the story to go on longer and to know more about these characters, and the ending felt a little abrupt. But it was a worthwhile ride and definitely exceeded my expectations of what “one quick story” would yield.
Overall, I’m really glad that I took the plunge and tried something new. I look forward to exploring more of what this creative avenue and community have to offer.