I have now played through and posted reviews for thirty-nine games in this year’s IFcomp. I understand that NOIR was withdrawn due to an issue with pre-comp release, so I am roughly halfway through this year’s official offering. I think that’s enough to get a snapshot of where games are falling in terms of my preliminary scoring:
My scoring system is based on five categories (story, voice, play, polish, technical) and while it may be arbitrary, I’ve tried to apply it consistently over the last few years. The scale goes to eleven because I award a “je ne sais quoi” point to some games that “have it”. So, yeah, it’s undeniably subjective.
Here are some observations based on the plot:
- There is a distinct tail of “above the cut” games. An abundance of great works in this year’s IFcomp — it’s a nice problem to have. Judges may have a hard time ranking one against the other. Some expansion of the scale at the high end may be necessary to help differentiate these entries.
- Games bunch up around a score of 7 in my system. I had originally conceived of 5 to mean the average entry. I think average quality has drifted up over the last few years. Next year, I might need to recalibrate and make these games the new 5’s.
- Only one joke entry so far, which is encouraging. Everything else warranted at least a three or so, as even the simplest game requires some effort and specialized skill to produce and drive to enter in IFcomp. A good number of these lower end games would have joined the pack of middle-scorers had they been proofed more carefully.
Here are my preliminary scores, sorted high to low, along with links to the reviews. I may massage the numbers slightly before final submission — sometimes they go up or down with a few days perspective.
| Harmonia | 10.8 |
| Eat Me | 10.6 |
| The Owl Consults | 10.2 |
| Absence of Law | 9.8 |
| Guttersnipe | 9.8 |
| Unit 322 | 9.6 |
| The Wizard Sniffer | 9 |
| Sea Monkey | 8 |
| 1958: Dancing With Fear | 8 |
| Just Get Treasure | 7.6 |
| Transient Skies | 7.4 |
| Insignificant Little | 7.4 |
| Fake News | 7.4 |
| Alice Aforethought | 7.4 |
| Off the Rails | 7.4 |
| The Cube In The Cavern | 7.2 |
| A Beauty Cold & Austere | 7.2 |
| The Wand | 7.2 |
| Deshaun Stevens | 6.8 |
| Domestic Elementalism | 6.6 |
| Fifth Sunday | 6.4 |
| Harbinger | 5.8 |
| Inevitable | 5.8 |
| Something | 5.8 |
| A Common Enemy | 5.6 |
| Behind The Door | 5.4 |
| Rainbow | 5.2 |
| The Dragon Will | 5 |
| A Partial List | 4.8 |
| Antiquest | 4.2 |
| Castle of Thread | 4.2 |
| Into Dark | 4 |
| Nightbound | 3.8 |
| Grue | 3.6 |
| The Adventure of Esmeralda | 3.2 |
| The Murder In Fog | 3.2 |
| Moonbase | 3.2 |
| Étude Circulár | 2.6 |
| Haunted P | 1 |
At the upper end, Harmonia and Eat Me are so close that they are effectively the same score — my system is not all that accurate or reproducible. Comparing them is going to be difficult, a real apples and oranges situation. Must ponder.