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The 2022 Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction!

* or Autumnal Jumble, for our Southern Hemisphere Friends

Playing the Entries

The 2022 Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction features forty-seven new interactive stories submitted by authors working across the spectrum of text games. Participants chose to place their stories in either the Main Festival, where they are eligible for a Best In Show ribbon and prizes, or the Back Garden, with looser entry requirements allowing for more experimental or work-in-progress titles.

Main Festival

Title	System	Length
Abate: Hide Behind the Curtains, by Rohan	Online Only	short
Another Cabin In The Woods, by Quain Holtey	Twine	short
Baby on Board, by Eric Zinda	Perplexity	short
Beneath the Stones, by Kieran Green	Twine	short
Bigfoot Bluff, by P.B. Parjeter	Inform/Glulx	short
The Bones of Rosalinda, by Agnieszka TrzaskaBest In Show recipient	Twine	full
The Box, by Paul Michael Winters	Kreate	short
The Bright Blue Ball, by Clary C	Inform/Glulx	short
Computerfriend, by Kit Riemer	Twine
Crow Quest, by rookerie	Twine	short
Custard & Mustard's Big Adventure, by Christopher Merriner	Adventuron	full
Digit, by Joey Acrimonious	Inform/Glulx	short
externoon, by nune	Squiffy	short
Fairest, by Amanda WalkerBest In Show recipient	Inform/Glulx	full
The Fall of Asemia, by B.J. Best	Twine	short
Filthy Aunt Mildred, by Guðni Líndal Benediktsson	Twine	short
fix it, by Lily Boughton	Twine	short
George and the Dragon, by Pete Chown	Online Only	short
Good Grub!, by Damon L. Wakes	Twine	micro
Graveyard Shift at the Riverview Motel, by Seb Pines	Twine	short
Half-Alive, by Bellamy Briks	Twine	full
Hinterlands: Marooned, by Cody Gaisser	Inform/Glulx	short
The Hole Man, by E. Z. Poschman	Twine
Hypercubic Time-Warp All-go-rhythmic Synchrony, by Ben Kidwell and Maevele Straw	Inform/Z	full
Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi, by E. Joyce and N. Cormier	Twine	full
The Legend of Horse Girl, by Bitter Karella	Inform/Glulx	short
Let's Talk Alex, by Stephanie Smith	Twine	short
The Light in the Forest, by Emily worm	Twine	full
Ma Tiger's Terrible Trip, by Travis Moy	Twine	short
New Year's Eve, 2019, by Autumn Chen	Dendry	short
Orbital Decay, by Kayvan Sarikhani	Twine	short
The Prairie House, by Chris Hay and Kelsen Hadder	Adventuron	full
Roger's Day Off, by Sia See & Jkj Yuio	Strand	full
A Single Ouroboros Scale, by Naomi Norbez	Twine	short
Super Mega Tournament Arc!, by groggydog	Twine	short
Sweetpea, by Sophia de Augustine	Twine
Thief of the Thousand Suns, by Dom Kaye	Twine	short
Thin Walls, by Wynter	Twine	full
Tours Roust Torus, by Andrew Schultz	Inform/Glulx	short
Wry, by Olaf Nowacki	Inform/Z	short
You, Me and Coffee, by Florencia Minuzzi	Bitsy	short

Back Garden

Title	System	Length
5e Arena, by Seth Jones	Twine	short
Confessing to a Witch, by HeckinRobin	Twine	short
A D R I F T, by Pinkunz	Inform/Glulx	short
Manifest No, by Kaemi Velatet	Twine	full
Phenomena, by Dawn Sueoka	Twine	short
The Wolf and Wheel, by Jason Ebblewhite, Angus Barker and Milo van Mesdag	Ren'Py	full

Archive of all 2022 entries (362 MB zip): [Download from itch.io]

Festival Readme and Changelog of updated games

Anyone is welcome to submit to Spring Thing. The organizer reserves the right to not show a submission they feel is inappropriate for the festival, but entries are not otherwise vetted, and their contents and opinions reflect the views of the original author, not the Thing as a whole.

How to Play Parser IF

Spring Thing features all kinds of text games, but two of the major divisions are between what are sometimes called choiced-based games (where you interact by clicking links) and parser-based games (where you interact by typing commands).

To those unfamiliar with the parser, it can seem confusing or intimidating. Here are some resources for getting started:

Emily Short's Welcome to Interactive Fiction overview (8-page PDF)
A handy reference card (created by Andrew Plotkin and Lea Albaugh)
You might also try a game written specifically to help newcomers get used to parsers, such as The Dreamhold (iOS version) or Bronze.

In the Main Festival

Play

“Stranded yet not alone, I wish to help my friends, and help myself to a bag of potato chips.”

Abate: Hide Behind the Curtains By Rohan

Online Only short comedy investigation highschool science fiction thriller mythology comic violence time loops Leaving the realm of darkness, you wake up among your peers working towards your first project in assisting the welcome ceremony play. Yet unforeseen circumstances in each one of your attempts bring you back to the beginning, can you find the culprit trapping you in this eternal cycle? Author's Comment: “In Abate, each of your decisions lead to a permanent change in the realm, where a redo of several events thus never occur the same way due to your influence.”

BEST CYCLE

TRAP

BEST SPICED

POTATOES

BEST

BEST FRIEND

Play Online

Play

Another Cabin In The Woods By Quain Holtey

Twine short audio music emotional low stakes Your estranged mother left you the house when she passed. And her piano... Author's Comment: “Hello! My name is Quain. Another Cabin in the Woods is only my second published game ever. Originally it was planned to be something else, but I think the end result (and I hope you agree) is an incredibly impactful story filled with emotionally charged moments. I hope you enjoy!”

FULLEST

CIRCLE

BEST

VOICE ACTING

Play Online Download (69.0 MB; Twine)

Play

Baby on Board By Eric Zinda

Perplexity short voice interface puzzle parser screen reader friendly You’ve got one job: get the baby to daycare. How hard could it be? Author's Comment: “Baby on Board is a parser-based puzzle game built on a new engine called Perplexity.

Perplexity does not use the standard “verb object” Interactive Fiction command structure. Instead, it explores using voice and full English as the interface. You can also use the keyboard if voice just isn’t working.

Imagine playing it using headphones as you walk your dog to get the basic idea.

It requires custom software to run (links below) which has also been designed to work with screen readers and sight impaired players.”

TECHNICAL

ACHIEVEMENT

BEST

SPEECH STORY

BEST GLIMPSE INTO

IF FUTURE

Play Online Cover Art Perplexity Overview Other Perplexity IF games by Inductor Blog

Play

Beneath the Stones By Kieran Green

Twine short escape-room-esque multiple endings cw: profanity cw: mild horror cw: death (no gore) Clumsy tourist Judy O’Brian has found herself in a hidden chamber beneath the famous Sky Stones — help her escape! Author's Comment: “Be wary using the Twine undo arrows to backtrack, for they’ll undo your choices. Look at the choices presented when you need to navigate back anywhere. Other than that, I hope you enjoy! Cover Art: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-rock-on-cliff-2418673/ (License: https://www.pexels.com/license/)”

LOOKIN' GOOD,

BABES

SPOOKIEST

ALTERNATE ENDING

BEST HAMMERESQUE

HORROR

Play Online Download (2.50 MB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Bigfoot Bluff By P.B. Parjeter Inform/Glulx short comedy puzzles sandbox Ten years ago you renounced Bigfootdom to become a paparazzi. Now it is your job to do an exposé on your reclusive sasquatch father. Welcome to Bigfoot Bluff. Author's Comment: “BIGFOOT BLUFF is an interactive fiction sandbox game. You do not need to solve every puzzle; once you reach 60 points will be able to photograph Bigfoot Senior and win the game.”

WEIRDEST

ENDING

BEST

PUZZLE SETTING

COOLEST

SYSTEM

Play Online Cover Art

Play

The Bones of Rosalinda By Agnieszka Trzaska

Twine full-length puzzles fantasy multiple playable characters The Bones of Rosalinda is a winner of the 2022 Spring Thing Best In Show ribbon.

“Hey, you! Skeleton lady! Can you hear me? You’ve got to pull yourself together and run before the Necromancer turns you into one of his minions!”

Rosalinda realised she wasn’t dreaming. She was in a dark cave, most of her body was missing and there was an agitated brown mouse yelling at her.

”O-okay,” she said. “How do I get out of this place? And... where are my legs?”

Her first day of un-life wasn’t going to be easy. Author's Comment: “The Bones of Rosalinda” is a fantasy Twine game with a world model, location- and inventory-based puzzles, and multiple playable characters.

BEST TWINE

IMPLEMENTATION

BEST

PUZZLES

BEST

MOUSE

Play Online Download (442 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

The Box By Paul Michael Winters Kreate short puzzles parser escape room You are a collector of rare antiquities, with a special passion for puzzle boxes. You've been searching for one particular box for a long time, but perhaps this box is better left unfound. Author's Comment: “The Box” is a puzzle-centric escape room style game and the debut of a new hybrid parser/link-based authoring system called Kreate. I wrote the game as a testbed for this new system. Parser fans can turn off the links entirely and never have to lift their hands off the keyboard. Choice-based fans can probably play 95% of the game with just their mouse. Most people, I hope, will like switching between the two depending on what feels right at the time. Please enjoy the game and the new interface and I look forward to your feedback.

OILIEST MEAT

AWARD

MOST

TINKERING

BEST NEW

DEV SYSTEM

Play Online Download (2.93 MB; Kreate) Cover Art

Play

“You wake up and your blue ball is missing...”

The Bright Blue Ball By Clary C

Inform/Glulx short kid-friendly for IF beginners animal main character hints included You are Max, a beloved golden retriever, and you have to find your bright blue ball with only your sense of smell and your wits amidst danger and peril. Author's Comment: “This is a short game aimed at IF beginners that I spent an embarrassingly long time on :) I wanted to give people a cute and easy game to focus on instead of the many stressful recent events that have happened (covid, the war, etc.) so enjoy playing it!” Play Online Download (695 KB; Inform/Glulx)

Play

Computerfriend By Kit Riemer

Twine The year is 1999. The place is Godfield, Louisiana: the tech capital of the world, where the sky bleeds acid and the mud boils in the bayou. It’s time for your state-mandated digital therapy. Author's Comment: “(2022, mixed media). not for individual resale. see readme for content warnings” Play Online Download (18.2 MB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Crow Quest By rookerie

Twine short urban crow comedy has artwork quest bad language fighting comedy violence satire short Eat, swear & try to take over the neighbourhood. Author's Comment: “My aim was to create a piece of high art to celebrate the intelligence, eloquence and sophistication of urban crows. Also (as this is my first Twine game) to learn some new things and get something finished. I’d welcome any feedback. (Content note: contains fowl language.)”

MOST

LAUGHS

MOST

BADASS

BEST

ART

Play Online Download (2.79 MB; Twine)

Play

Custard & Mustard's Big Adventure By Christopher Merriner Adventuron full-length comedy dogs light-hearted family-friendly puzzles parser Adventuron It’s the Little Pottlington Fête and the town is really letting its hair down on the sunniest day of the year! But a gang of crooks is planning to spoil the party and only Custard and Mustard, intrepid doggy duo, stand in their way...

EVILEST CAT

BEST

THEME TUNE

BEST DOGGY

PUZZLES

Play Online Download (9.00 MB; Adventuron) Cover Art

Play

Digit By Joey Acrimonious Inform/Glulx short AIF F/F erotic hypnosis food mildly kinky linear cw: coarse language cw: sexual content On a sweltering-hot summer evening, two friends walk and talk. And then some. Author's Comment: “For adults only. Digit is an interactive erotic short story in which the heroines taste forbidden fruits. Well, 'forbidden' might be an overstatement, but it sounds cooler that way. This is an experimental piece for me - both in terms of writing and design - and is much more of a story than a game. Enjoy!”

BEST BODY

AUTOEXPLORATION

TIE: BEST

STORY

BEST

ROMANCE

Play Online Download (892 KB; Inform/Glulx)

Download

“The world never felt very big to me. Even now. I don't know why. Maybe I'm trying to prove myself wrong.”

externoon By nune

Squiffy short semi-autobiographical casual no drama female protagonist On a whim, a woman, approaching middle age, decides to steal away to the Oregon desert to join a commune. Download (83.0 KB; Squiffy)

Play

Fairest By Amanda Walker Inform/Glulx full-length fairy tale quest merciful multiple endings parser cw:violence Fairest is a winner of the 2022 Spring Thing Best In Show ribbon.

Fairest is a winner of the 2022 Spring Thing Best In Show ribbon.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” you say dreamily, gazing into its sparkling surface…

“You know,” replies the mirror, “I can do a lot more than just reflect fair faces. O, how I long to leap off this wall! I want to meet princesses, witches, and wolves … to win a throne and become a hero! What say you?”

Well, what say you, adventurer? Author's Comment: “This is intended to be a game that can be enjoyed by newcomers to parser IF as well as veterans. It has a friendly parser and is almost puzzle-free. Based on an amalgamation of Grimm’s fairy tales, it has multiple endings with a play time of about 2 hours.”

MOST

ENGAGING

FINEST

PARSERCRAFT

TIE: BEST

WRITING

Play Online Download (3.53 MB; Inform/Glulx) Cover Art

Play

The Fall of Asemia By B.J. Best

Twine short experimental war refugees translation ⚔️ 💣 💥 💀 🏴 🏚️ 👪 ⛺ ✍️ Author's Comment: “Please be patient, as it may take a moment for the game and soundtrack to load. Best experienced on a full-screen computer with headphones.

The soundtrack is by Joel Matthys and was commissioned for this story. I created the art in Processing.”

MOST BEAUTIFUL

WRITING

TIE: BEST

SOUNDTRACK

BEST

MECHANIC

Play Online Download (2.54 MB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Filthy Aunt Mildred By Guðni Líndal Benediktsson

Twine short dark comedy bleak funny Filthy Aunt Mildred tasks the player with securing the financial future of the esteemed Bladesmith family by offering tea to a horrible old woman. Author's Comment: “Estranged family connections, murder and backstabbing, bizarre architecture and scandals have been staples of the Bladesmith family for decades. Please, make yourself at home while some of them are still alive.”

MOST DELICIOUSLY

HORRIBLE

TIE: BEST

STORY

BEST

DARK COMEDY

Play Online Download (153 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

fix it By Lily Boughton Twine short abstract mental health themes cw: shaking text effect cw: high contrast there are many things for you to do today
but first, there is a slight issue Author's Comment: “Welcome! Please fix it.”

MOST

PROVOCATIVE

MOST

EVOCATIVE

MOST

DISCOMFORTING

Play Online Download (364 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

George and the Dragon By Pete Chown

Online Only short has graphics visual novel fairy tale fantasy George would be the first to laugh if he knew he was going to end up as England’s patron saint. He can still save the village of Greymarsh from a dragon, though, with a little help from his old friend the princess. Author's Comment: “To play this game, you’ll need to create an account on tomatwo.com. This allows you to access your saved games from any browser. You will be taken to the account creation page the first time you play the game.”

PLUCKIEST

BLACKSMITH

Play Online Cover Art

Play

Good Grub! By Damon L. Wakes

Twine micro insects green comedy humour restaurant Good Grub! is a brief, comedic interactive narrative about insects as a sustainable food source. Author's Comment: “Though originally written as an entry for the greenstories.org.uk Interactive Fiction Competition, I hope Good Grub! will stand well enough on its own to give you a chuckle.”

FUNNIEST

DEATH

MOST SUSTAINABLE

EATING

MOST

APPETIZING

Play Online Download (244 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Graveyard Shift at the Riverview Motel By Seb Pines

Twine short horror paranormal multiple endings It’s the graveyard shift at the Riverview Motel and every room is booked. What will these peculiar guests and this strange night offer? Author's Comment: “There are 6 discreet storylines happening and that will unfold without your interference, but how you choose to interact with the guests will shape how your own evening goes.”

MOST

CREEPY

BEST

LAYOUT

MOST

MONSTERS

Play Online Download (888 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Half-Alive By Bellamy Briks

Twine full-length supernatural riddles hypertext narrative-driven fairly linear forgiving 2 endings cw:death The clock is ticking... Alfie is running out of time... Author's Comment: “Hey! It’s Bellamy and I’m back again! This project is a little break from comedy in my games and also my attempt to diversify and improve my writing. If you’re up for a semi-long game, a definitely-long narrative, and a (hopefully) cool ending, maybe you’ll like Half-Alive! (Ps: Click on About!)”

MOST INVENTIVE

PUZZLES

MOST

BACKSTORY

Play Online Download (470 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Hinterlands: Marooned By Cody Gaisser

Inform/Glulx short one room puzzleless mature cw: graphic violence Following a series of mishaps, a recruit from the Consortium Of Known Occupied Worlds is marooned on a tiny island on an unfamiliar planet; but the recruit is not alone - there is a Q’udzlth here!

TASTIEST

ALIEN CUISINE

SCARIEST

MONSTER

Play Online Download (1.15 MB; Inform/Glulx) Cover Art

Play

The Hole Man By E. Z. Poschman

Twine humor surreal nonsense philosophy deep issues puns cw: religion cw: death You’ve had your identity stolen — your WHOLE identity, body and all! But there’s a lot of friendly folks in this surreal world that might be willing to let you have their identity, if that’s what you really want...? Author's Comment: “This is what happens when I try to assign a little bit of my philosophy to every variant on a punning theme I can think of. Try to get all 12 endings for a special surprise!”

MOST

DREAMLIKE

BEST

WORLDBUILDING

BEST

ENDINGS

Play Online Download (1.39 MB; Twine) Cover Art

Download

Hypercubic Time-Warp All-go-rhythmic Synchrony By Ben Kidwell and Maevele Straw

Inform/Z full-length philosophical mathematical bipolar ultrafilters cw: mental illness cw: psychological trauma cw: teenage sexuality cw: breakdown of reality A project to use infinity to bridge fiction and reality shatters into delusion and trauma. Completion of a 9 year trilogy. Author's Comment: “This game is a summation of decades of work to understand how to work positively to reshape reality with artistic creativity. Unfortunately one of the primary authors, BenJen, tried to fix the problems of abuse and human sexuality with a misconceived mystical theatrical ritual rather than the science and mathematics she had been studying for so long.” Download (22.2 MB; Inform/Z) Cover Art

Play

Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi By E. Joyce and N. Cormier Twine full-length Everyone who’s anyone summers in France - which means master thief Lady Thalia is there too, attending garden parties by day and stealing masterpieces by night. Unfortunately, this holiday is less than restful, as she crosses paths with foes both old and new. Case your targets, steal works of art, and team up with your Scotland Yard nemesis in this puzzle-based Twine game. Author's Comment: “This game is a sequel to Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires, but can stand on its own.”

DASHINGEST

THIEF

ELECTRIFYING

MAGNETISM

TIE: BEST

STORY

Play Online Download (515 KB; Twine) Cover Art Guide/Walkthrough

Play

The Legend of Horse Girl By Bitter Karella

Inform/Glulx short comedy western puzzles Welcome to Santa Diablo, Texas, a tiny desert town held in the grip of fear by a corrupt judge and his gang of outlaws. No one dares to stand against these rustlers. No one, that is, until the fateful day that SHE came to town: a mysterious drifter with no name and her name is... Horse Girl.

MOST FUN

COOLEST PC

BEST

PUZZLEFEST

Play Online Download (3.42 MB; Inform/Glulx) Cover Art

Play

Let's Talk Alex By Stephanie Smith

Twine short autobiographical relationship cw:abuse A simulation of what it’s like to try and leave a relationship after emotional & mental abuse. Players confront their significant other about unhealthy behaviors, using memories to support their claims. Author's Comment: “This semi-autobiographical piece was created with the intent to illustrate to others how it is difficult to detect when someone is a non-physically abusive relationship.”

MOST

MEANINGFUL

MOST

INFORMATIVE

Play Online Download (1.98 MB; Twine) Cover Art Itch.io Page

Play

“If they throw you out, why would you mangle yourself until your empty husk can fit into a world that doesn't want you?”

The Light in the Forest By Emily worm

Twine full-length lgbtq romance supernatural slice of life cw: abuse A lesbian, haunted by an otherworldly light, tries to find people who will support her, while dealing with quite a lot, really. Author's Comment: “While much of the game deals with the impact of developmental disabilities, I didn’t want to explicitly say within the text which it was, since these experiences aren’t going to be confined to a specific diagnostic label, but I was mostly thinking of Autism or ADHD when I wrote it, as that is what I have first hand experience with.”

BEST

PROTAGONIST

BEST

LOVE INTERESTS

BEST

FLIRTING

Play Online Download (190 KB; Twine)

Play

Ma Tiger's Terrible Trip By Travis Moy

Twine short multiplayer online-only cyberpunk cw:violence The last time Ma Tiger’s children spoke was thirteen years ago. Now, with nowhere else to turn, she asks for their aid. Requires two players. Author's Comment: “Many thanks to Milo van Mesdag, whose game The Last Night of Alexisgrad inspired me to try my hand at multiplayer IF. I hope this inspires other authors in turn.”

HONORARY

VETERINARIAN AWARD

MOST

INNOVATIVE

Play Online

Play

New Year's Eve, 2019 By Autumn Chen

Dendry short dating sim slice of life social anxiety Social gatherings are not your preferred activity. But this one is obligatory, and it threatens to ruin you. Author's Comment: “NYE2019 is a slice-of-life/dating sim/social anxiety simulator about Karen Zhao, a senior in college who is home for winter break. It is a sequel to Pageant, my earlier game, but it is not necessary to have played Pageant in order to understand this story.

Two endings, many paths to arrive there.”

MOST ACHINGLY

TRUE TO LIFE

TIE: BEST

WRITING

BEST

CHARACTERS

Play Online Download (1.94 MB; Dendry) Cover Art Official Website

Play

Orbital Decay By Kayvan Sarikhani Twine short science-facts space disaster An astronaut’s life is wondrous; sometimes, space has other ideas. Author's Comment: “I originally intended this to be a Commodore 64 graphical text adventure. I’ve had the idea for a long time, but I’d only recently come across Twine while applying for the Spring Thing; essentially, it became a bit of a learning experiment. My main goal was to just have fun and hopefully inject a bit of realism to the ‘space disaster’ genre.”

MOST

METICULOUS

BEST

MULTIMEDIA

HARDEST SF

Play Online Download (11.1 MB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

The Prairie House By Chris Hay

and Kelsen Hadder

Adventuron full-length ghost story folk horror has graphics has music Canadian A student finishes their prairie field work but has to spend the night alone at an old house. Author's Comment: “My initial motivation for writing this was to make a pixel art horror game with switchable palettes - inspired by World of Horror by panstasz and The Horror of Salazar House by Maldo19. Kelsen is a local musician and artist who was the perfect partner to make the music and art for this game.

At first, I wasn’t sure what the story would be, but then I drew inspiration from my past scientific field work on the tall grass prairie in Manitoba, and some creepy experiences staying at field houses. I supplemented my knowledge of the local flora with historical research about Ukrainian Canadians who settled in the area and the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe presence on the land prior to settlement.

Finally, I steeped myself in folk horror film theory and classic English ghost stories. At the time of making this game, I had an obsession with the beautiful open mystery of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and an earlier viewing of the Canadian horror Deathdream (1974).

Hopefully I was able to convey at least some of my enthusiasm for all of the above into this game!”

PRETTIEST

FLOWER

MOST

EERIE

TIE: BEST

SOUNDTRACK

Play Online Download (42.6 MB; Adventuron) Cover Art itch.io game page

Play

Roger's Day Off By Sia See & Jkj Yuio Strand full-length graphics An adventure with time-travelling teapots!

BEST/WORST

PUN

BEST USE OF

TEAPOT

MOST

TIMEY-WIMEY

Play Online Cover Art

Play

A Single Ouroboros Scale By Naomi Norbez (call me Bez, he/they)

Twine short has graphics autobiographical religion legacy realistic fiction discussion critique cw: trauma cw: death Algie was a Twine developer. Now he’s gone, but one of his online remnants is in your hands.
(One last game, for now or forever. Time will decide which one.) Author's Comment: “A desperate game. There’s a more detailed Author’s Note along with Content Warnings in the game proper. I hope this does something good.” Play Online Download (1.19 MB; Twine) Cover Art
Poem 1: "Let There Always Be Light (Searching for Dark Matter)" Poem 2: "Bloom—is Result—to meet a Flower"

Play

Super Mega Tournament Arc! By groggydog

Twine short cyberpunk pixel art cw: mild violence TWO YORK CITY, THE YEAR 21XX

The Super Mega B.O.X.ing Tournament at the Super Mega Dome is your last shot to pay off your debt with the city’s most notorious gangster.

Do you have what it takes to fight your way to the top in this campy cyberpunk beat-em-up? Author's Comment: “This is my first Twine game and is designed for browsers with resolutions greater than or equal to 1260x720. Keeping the audio on is highly recommended, due to sporadic yet intentional musical accompaniment.”

AWESOME

COMBAT

BIGGEST

TWISTS

MOST

CAPTIVATING

Play Online Download (17.4 MB; Twine)

Play

Sweetpea By Sophia de Augustine

Twine Someone claiming to be your father is trying to break in. Following the eponymous Sweetpea is: a mosaic faced guardian angel, something wearing her father’s guise, and the detritus of life in their gently crumbling mansion. Author's Comment: “A choice based, narrative, lightly gothic horror romp.”

MOST EVOCATIVE

PROSE

BEST

HORROR

BEST

DEBUT WORK

Play Online Download (2.51 MB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Thief of the Thousand Suns By Dom Kaye

Twine short story easy Two Elizabethan-era friends embark on a simple treasure-seeking adventure and find something else Author's Comment: “I wondered what it would be like to mix my love of Interactive Fiction and Shakespeare.”

MOST

THESPIAN

BEST

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Play Online Download (137 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Thin Walls By Wynter

Twine full-length fiction slice of life surreal cw: contains occasional swearing A Twine novella about living in a shared house which isn’t quite what it seems. Author's Comment: “The cover art (‘Corridor Image’) was created by Latte1703 and can be found at Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence.”

SCARIEST

NIGHTMARE RUN

TIE: BEST

ENSEMBLE

BEST

ARCHITECTURE

Play Online Download (330 KB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

Tours Roust Torus By Andrew Schultz

Inform/Glulx short puzzles wordplay series These days you have to ask people to speak twice to hear them. But learning of a far-away Tours Roust Torus, you feel one last adventure calling. Do you have a piece or two of that old anagramming magic left? Author's Comment: “Sequel to Shuffling Around and A Roiling Original, but you don’t have to have played them. The same anagram theme.

I hoped this game was floating around, and it helped me shut the door (or get close to it) on the final releases of the previous two games. It originally sprung from an EctoComp game.”

LEAST MISDEALT

MEDALIST

MOST

SATISFYING

BEST COVER ART

(J.J. GUEST)

Play Online Download (1.79 MB; Inform/Glulx) Cover Art GitHub

Play

Wry By Olaf Nowacki

Inform/Z short comedy imaginary nudity A one and a half room slapstick miniature about subconscious erotic desires with three quite different endings.

MOST DECIDEDLY

FINAL CURTAIN

MOST

ADDICTIVE

BEST

COMEDY

Play Online Download (571 KB; Inform/Z) Cover Art

Play

You, Me and Coffee By Florencia Minuzzi

Bitsy short multiple endings has graphics puzzleless slice-of-life cw: mentions of past abuse Catch up with an old friend over coffee, discovering layers to your relationship that would otherwise be forgotten. Author's Comment: “I had the original idea for You, Me and Coffee back in September 2019, during a Bitsy workshop. I love Bitsy’s Gameboy-esque look and ease of use, so I wanted to try making a graphical interface for a branching story. I picked the game back up this year, trimming the (overly ambitious) idea into something more doable, to make You, Me and Coffee. I created both its art and story.

Note: You, Me and Coffee is controlled using arrow keys. Because of the way options are laid out, I recommend scrolling using up/down/left, rather than right, so as not to accidentally select an option while trying to scroll. It can be played on (some) mobile devices by swiping up/down/left/right in place of the arrow keys.”

CUTEST ART

MOST

SENTIMENTAL

BEST

TWO-HANDER

Play Online Download (119 KB; Bitsy)

In the Back Garden

Play

5e Arena By Seth Jones

Twine short gamebook RPG fantasy fighting 5e Arena is a pit-fighting game based on the rules of the RPG that’s synonymous with fantasy adventure. Choose the rank of competition, then battle against three foes back-to-back to win fame, gold, and perhaps more. Author's Comment: “I’ve written several digital gamebooks but ran into some technical challenges in how to handle combat. So, for this game, I wanted to go with a no-plot game that would allow me to focus solely on getting combat right for a solo RPG gamebook.” Play Online Download (2.01 MB; Twine) Cover Art Official site with current version

Play

Confessing to a Witch By HeckinRobin

Twine short LGBTQ+ has images & sound also cat female protagonist demo As a florist in a small village, you weren’t very hopeful that your confession to your witch friend would go well. But you DEFINITELY didn’t expect this... Author's Comment: “I had originally wanted to submit the full game to the festival but alas, life got in the way. I will be continuing this project as a text-based adventure with lots of original art in the future! Also my first Twine game, thanks for checking it out <3”

MOST

ANTICIPATED

MOST

INTRIGUING

Play Online Download (42.1 MB; Twine) Cover Art

Play

A D R I F T By Pinkunz

Inform/Glulx short They always go on about the stars, stunning vistas spanning the heavens. But now you’re here, and you see nothing but the sun in a black void. You don’t know how to turn away, let alone get home, and all you have is a fidget spinner.

You’re going to die in space and you won’t even see the stars… Author's Comment: “This is my first entry into an Interactive Fiction comp or jam. This was submitted into the back garden because I was not happy enough with my progress to submit it into the Main Festival. Keep an eye out for a post-comp version of this game. I will be starting on next year’s entry FAR earlier. Thanks for the learning experience and I hope you enjoy my game!”

NEWTONIAN

EXCELLENCE

MOST IRONICALLY

ATMOSPHERIC

BEST

PHYSICS

Play Online Download (1.99 MB; Inform/Glulx) Cover Art

Play

“Must stop myself from living out recursive horror, final fraying of the spiral edge rushing to infinity's diminuating embrace, must stop from flowing out of this body, for if I cannot find lie this truth, then I shall lie buried by the sermon.”

Manifest No By Kaemi Velatet Twine full-length cw: mature audiences Interactive novel. Weird, confusing, icy.

MOST INCANDESCENT

PROSE

TIE: BEST

WRITING

Play Online Download (857 KB; Twine)

Play

Phenomena By Dawn Sueoka Twine short experimental poetry surreal dreamlike cw: alien encounters cw: death cw: mild profanity Shifting stories about UFOs. An interactive poem.

MOST

EXPANDING

MOST

ALIENATING

Play Online Download (367 KB; Twine) Blog

Download (Win)

The Wolf and Wheel

By Jason Ebblewhite

, Angus Barker

and Milo van Mesdag

Ren'Py full-length visual novel dark supernatural hand drawn illustrations bittersweet surreal philosophical demo A collection of interactive vignettes from a town in the grip of darkness, mystery, and horror. As a demo for The Last Night of Lotosk, The Wolf and Wheel introduces you to the rural village of Lotosk two weeks after the sun stopped rising, taking scenes from the main game and tying them together with a short narrative unique to this demo. Author's Comment: “We’ve been working on The Last Night of Lotosk for just over two years now and we thought that Spring Thing would be the perfectly place to publish our first demo. The narrative of the main game is mostly an exploration of characters, but the focus in The Wolf and Wheel is the world, with the bulk of the demo taken up by what in the main game will be random event scenes. We’ve tied it all together with a connecting narrative of broken causation, self dissolution, and an emotionally manipulative wolf, all unique to the demo.

All illustrations are our own. Words by Milo van Mesdag, illustrations by Angus Barker, and programming by Jason Ebblewhite.

CW: Body horror, death, dismemberment, self harm, existential enquiry and mention of war.”

MOST PROMISING

WORLDBUILDING

BEST-DRAWN

PUB

TIE: BEST

ENSEMBLE

Download (Win) (101 MB; Ren'Py) Mac and Linux builds Cover Art

Platform Instructions

If you prefer to download and play the entries offline, or a game isn't available for online play, here are instructions for running each kind of story format on your local system.

Adventuron: To play offline, open the .html file in any modern web browser.† [format details]

Bitsy: To play offline, open the .html file in any modern web browser.† [format details]

Dendry: To play offline, open the .html file in any modern web browser.† [format details]

Inform: To play offline, you'll need to use the Download link on an entry's listing to get the game, and you'll need an interpreter that supports Glulx. Lectrote is a good cross-platform interpreter. [format details]

Inform (Z): You'll need to use the Download link on an entry's listing to get the game, and you'll need an interpreter for z-code. Lectrote is a good cross-platform interpreter. [format details]

Kreate: To play offline, open the .html file in any modern web browser.† [format details unknown]

Online Only: These games cannot be downloaded for offline play.

Perplexity: This game is designed for speech input via a standalone application for Windows, Mac, or iOS, and requires an internet connection to play. Visit the website link in the listing to download. [format details]

Squiffy: To play offline, open the .html file in any modern web browser.† [format details]

Ren'Py: To play these games, you must download a standalone platform-specific application using the links along the bottom of the listing. [format details]

Twine: To play offline, open the .html file in any modern web browser.† Some of this year's Twine games require access to online-only resources, and/or their authors chose not to make them available for download. [format details]

† For offline play of browser-based formats, note that some browsers' default security settings may prevent some games from running correctly: trying using a different browser if you have trouble playing one of these games offline.

Festival Ribbons

Players of the 2022 festival could nominate games for two kinds of prize ribbons:

A Best in Show blue ribbon, for Main Festival entries. The top two nominees each year win a Best in Show ribbon to display by their game. This year's recipients were:

The Bones of Rosalinda, by Agnieszka Trzaska
Fairest, by Amanda Walker

Audience Award ribbons, for all participants, which are suggested by nominators and can be anything they like: “Best Story,” “Best Parser Game,” “Personal Favorite,” “Alumni's Choice,” “Cutest Vampires”... you get the idea. Audience Award ribbons appear alongside their games in the listings above.

When the festival closes, the organizer curates Audience Award suggestions to cull anything not in the celebratory spirit of the Thing before sending them to each author. The author may choose up to three Audience Awards to display on their game. Authors may choose to opt-out of receiving Audience Awards.

After the festival closes, nominations also close and ribbons are awarded. The games will remain permanently available on the festival site and at the IF Archive, along with any supplemental material of the author's choosing (walkthrough, source code, etc).