Numbers are in on text adventures in 2013’s Interactive Fiction Competition

For the past six weeks the world of Interactive Fiction (IF) has seen a surge in activity with the advent of the 19th annual IF Competition, which has annually hosted what is considered to be some of the most creative modern text adventures.

This year's competition was very well received, with many of the thirty-five entries picking up glowing reviews within the IF community. The competition also provoked much discussion due to the noticeable rise of hypertext games, a category to which just over half of this year's entries belong.

The top three entries:

1. Coloratura (Lynnea Glasser) – Despite the prevalence of hypertext games, it was Glasser's uniquely surreal parser-based adventure that came away with first place.

2. Robin & Orchid (Ryan Veeder and Emily Boegheim) – Veeder and Boegheim are no strangers to the IF competition; in fact, Veeder won in 2011 with his entry Taco Faction. So it's easy to understand why this slice-of-life piece garnered second place.

3. Ollie Ollie Oxen Free (Carolyn VanEseltine) – VanEseltine has also previously authored for the competition back in 2010 and 2011. This game is most like her 2010 entry, One Eye Open, as both are grim stories that, rather coincidently, came in third place.

You can play any of this year's entries either online or by downloading them from the Interactive Fiction Database.