For IFComp 2026, we are introducing a new rule addressing the use of generative AI.
The guiding principle is that judges and players should experience work created by humans. Accordingly, all player-facing content in IFComp entries, including cover art, must be entirely created by humans.
Authors may continue to use tools of their choice, including generative AI tools, for development assistance such as editing, debugging, accessibility support, research, limited translation assistance, or coding. Entries may not require judges or players to interact with external AI or generative services during play.
This rule was informed by results from the 2025 post-competition survey and discussion within the IFComp Committee. We thank everyone who shared their feedback; this post-comp survey received the strongest response we have ever had, and it helped guide the Committee’s deliberations.
That's the update! If you're interested in some of the information from the post-competition survey that helped inform the decision, keep reading.
Survey charts on the GAI use-case questions from the survey are shared below to give a clearer picture of the feedback we received. Alt text on these images provides the complete percentage breakdown.
And, finally, we asked "Which of the following best reflects the approach you think IFComp should take regarding GAI in entries? Think of this as the bottom line for a potential new Author Rule." These are the responses we received:
38.4% - Technical and editorial assistance only: GAI may be used for support tasks such as grammar, translation, brainstorming, or debugging. GAI may not be used to create text, art, or music assets, and entries must not require judges to interact with an external AI system to function.
32.2% - No generative AI: Entries must not include or rely on any GAI-generated material in any form beyond spell checking.
10.9% - Transparency only: GAI may be used for any purpose, but authors must disclose how it was used.
5.7% - Human-reviewed but with limits: GAI may be used for art, music, or code, but not to generate text or dialogue that appears in the final entry, and entries must not require judges to interact with an external AI system to function.
4.7% - Human-reviewed creative use: GAI may be used for any element (text, art, music, code), as long as the author edits all AI-generated text before submission.
3.3% - No restrictions: Authors may freely use GAI for any purpose (including text, art, music, or code) with optional disclosure.
The following responses were unique / 1 response each:
Transparency with ethical source requirement: GAI tools *trained on ethically sourced or open-licensed data* may be used for any purpose, but authors must disclose how it was used.
Technical and editorial assistance only. Debugging is a valuable service and people shouldn't be penalized for limited programming skills. I also would prefer either no AI cover art *or* an opt-in to allow AI cover art. This would be a tricky thing to add on the entry form, but ... ideally I'd like human-made art to appear and then, only if the judge opts in, AI art.
No generative AI use.
mix of transparency and limited: should be disclosed, but no live connection allowed
Live APIs and multimedia only: GAI may be used for supplemental multimedia assets (with disclosure) but not for text, *unless* the text is being generated in realtime in response to player input.
It shouldn't even be allowed to be used for spellchecking.
I would be equally happy with "Technical and editorial assistance only" or "No generative AI." The last two options to be clear.
I don't think IFComp should dictate what tools authors can or can't use for tasks like brainstorming or debugging; I’d consider that outside the purview of what the comp organizers should be allowing or disallowing. My preferred rule would be the second-to-last without the "may be used for" sentence and with banning translation: GAI may not be used to create text, art, or music assets, or to translate your writing from one language to another, and entries must not require judges to interact with an external AI system to function.
Full transparency for any use as well as a complete ban on external systems. If someone manages to create a stand-alone IFchatbot that fits into Glulx, I'd want to see that. ;)
Between Tech Only and No GenAI, with an emphasis on no exceptions for text.
The 31st Interactive Fiction Competition is now history! Results will go live on the IFComp Website at 7pm Eastern.
If you missed the awards livestream, it will be available for a few days on Twitch and will be permanently archived over on YouTube shortly.
Of course, we are already planning for the ‘26 Comp. Please provide your feedback on what went well, what could have gone better, what we should do more of, and what we should consider changing or leaving behind, by filling the Post-Competition Survey.
This year's survey is a little more important than usual, as we're seeking thoughts on the future of how we address the UK Online Safety Act, how much generative artificial intelligence should be allowed in the competition, whether or not you'd like us to continue the awards livestream, and highlighting some important new volunteer roles for those who are interested. Please check it out!
Thank you! Stretch Goal for the 2025 Colossal Fund
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, the 2025 Colossal Fund has already reached its $8,000 goal! We are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed so far.
As always, 80% of Colossal Fund proceeds will be distributed among the top two-thirds of IFComp finishers. This year marked the second-highest number of entries in IFComp history! That means more authors will receive a share of the cash prize pool, but with the funds spread across more recipients, each individual prize is a little smaller than we anticipated.
That’s why we’re setting a stretch goal of $10,000. Reaching this new milestone will boost the prize amounts.
If you haven’t yet donated and would like to help us reach our stretch goal, please visit IFComp.org and click the big blue Donate button. You can choose to be recognized on our donor page or listed anonymously. Every contribution, large or small, strengthens the prize pool and directly supports the authors who make IFComp possible.
As ever, the remaining 20% of Colossal Fund proceeds support the management of IFComp and other programs of the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, which you can learn more about here.
Thank you once again for your generosity, and for helping us celebrate the creativity and dedication of the interactive fiction community!
The 2025 Interactive Fiction Competition has officially begun!
For the next six weeks, players and judges around the world will be diving into this year’s crop of brand-new interactive fiction. We’re delighted to share that 85 entries(!!) have been submitted this year. We're excited to see so many authors tossing their hat into the ring.
As always, you don’t need to play every entry to be a judge. You only need to play and rate at least five entries to submit a ballot. Whether you’re a seasoned IFComp veteran or joining us for the very first time, we welcome you and hope you’ll find plenty to discover and enjoy!
What's New for 2025
You can now choose whether or not to see content warnings. Authors still provide them, and they'll be shown by default, but if you’d prefer not to see them (to avoid spoilers or for any other reason), you’ll find a setting at the top of the ballot that lets you hide them.
The Colossal Fund
We’re excited to share that this year’s Colossal Fund is already halfway to its goal! Thanks to the generosity of donors, we’re well on our way to ensuring a strong pool of prizes. If you’d like to learn more about the Fund and how to contribute cash (or other prizes), visit https://ifcomp.org/about/prizes
Our Awards Ceremony
As in years past, we will celebrate the conclusion of this year’s competition with a virtual awards ceremony, where we announce the results and recognize the authors. The awards ceremony will be held on Twitch at 4:00 PM Eastern Oct 18. To confirm what time the awards stream will be for you in your time zone, check here.
On the Topic of the UK's Online Safety Act
This year brings change for many authors and all of our UK judges: the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which restricts access to a wide range of content that could be harmful to children. We spent considerable time investigating whether a third-party provider could offer age verification for our UK users without us needing to retain sensitive information, but we were not able to implement a workable solution before launch. We are still pursuing that possibility, but it may not be in place until next year’s competition.
Until earlier this week, we thought we’d need to geoblock all entries for UK users. That was something we very much wanted to avoid. Fortunately, we were able to put in place a more limited, case-by-case approach. With 85 entries, over two dozen of which arrived after we learned of this option, it was not possible to thoroughly play every entry beforehand. Instead, we based initial geoblock decisions on a mix of author-provided content warnings and notes from our Curation Team.
Ofcom has published guidance to help organizations navigate the OSA, including exceptions to the law. At the recommendation of our attorney, we are utilizing their guidance to inform our decisions as we review entries. All authors whose entries were selected for geoblocking in the UK were notified and invited to discuss their entry with us if they felt their work was acceptable for all ages under the OSA. After reviewing additional text from entries, and weighing that text against exceptions provided by the OSA, we lifted geoblocks for several authors.
We do not love restricting content and we understand that many in the community are frustrated, but we are obligated to comply with the law for UK users. For transparency: as of the time of this post, 24 of 85 entries are geoblocked in the UK. It is possible that this number may shift slightly in the coming days as more authors reach out to us.
In response to a question we’ve already received, we do not intend to make a new Author Rule to address the OSA. It is a law external to the IFComp, and it does not affect all users. As case law develops, and as the broader internet learns to navigate the OSA, authors will likely get a clearer sense of what may or may not be restricted. We may also be able to implement age verification for users who wish to take advantage of it. Regardless, our preference remains the same: authors should write whatever they want to write to tell the stories that they wish to tell for the audiences they wish to reach.
Generative AI in IFComp
Another evolving area is the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI). The community remains divided on its role in interactive fiction, and the technology itself continues to change rapidly. Our stance for the past two years has been to require transparency but to otherwise allow GAI. On the entry form, authors are asked to declare most uses of GAI in their work. After last year’s competition, we expected to see a flood of feedback about AI in the post-comp survey. In reality, only about 10 percent of respondents mentioned it. Based on that, we kept the same policy for 2025.
We plan to use this year’s post-competition survey to float some ideas about new approaches on GAI in the competition, including possible rule changes, and invite your input. The survey will also include space for you to share rule ideas of your own. We recognize that it is unlikely that we’ll land in a place that makes everyone happy, but we’ll endeavor to do our best to find common ground. We intend to finalize decisions for 2026 by the end of this calendar year, so that authors have plenty of time to plan.
Anything we haven’t covered? Still got questions? Email us at [email protected]
Thank you in advance for judging!
– Jacqueline Ashwell,
September 2025
We are just a couple of weeks away from this year’s IFComp games being released. Are you looking forward to them as much as we are?? IT'S SO EXCITING!!
(Unless you’re an author who is furiously testing and revising and recompiling and testing and revising and recompiling and… Good luck, authors! You can do it!)
While we eagerly await the new games to come, we’d like to ask for your help with the Colossal Fund. If you already know about the fund and are able to contribute, please go to ifcomp.org and hit that blue “Donate with PayPal” button!
If you’d like more information first, keep on reading…
The Colossal Fund raises money for the cash prizes that are awarded to the top two-thirds of IFComp entries. We use 80% of the funds for that, and the remaining funds are used to provide support for the programs and projects of the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, including the Interactive Fiction Competition, the IF Archive, the IFDB, the forums at intfiction.org, and other projects.
This year, we are shooting for $8K.
We’re now accepting donations for 2025!
The donation button is live at IFComp.org. See your name listed on our donor page (or listed as “anonymous” if you prefer)!
Our fundraising deadline is October 15th - the last day of competition voting. 80% of the proceeds (~$6.4K if we hit our goal) will be distributed among the top two-thirds of IFComp finishers.
What does this mean for authors?
Because we’re dividing the money among the top two-thirds of games, the exact numbers depend on how many entries there are. If we have 75 entries, then we will divide the money among the top 50. If we hit our goal, that would mean that the winner of the competition will be offered a prize of $357, second place will be offered $343, third prize $329… and so on and so forth until 50th place, which will be offered $10. Our goal is to distribute prizes across a broad range of IF styles and ideas. Any game which does even moderately well is offered a decent prize. (If you wanna get nerdy, there's information about the formula with a link to a Python script here.)
How do I donate?
Please go to https://ifcomp.org and push the big blue Donate button.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes, to the extent allowed by law. (Consult a tax professional.)
Does the Colossal Fund replace the usual IFComp prize list?
Nope! These cash prizes will be in addition to the usual IFComp prize list. We do need more of those non-cash prizes as well! Please visit our prize page to see what objects and services others have donated, get ideas from donations given in previous years, and see how you can contribute.
How will the cash prizes be distributed?
Via PayPal or Venmo. (The IFComp entry form has a field for your Paypal address.) If you can’t accept PayPal or Venmo, we can mail a US check to a US address. If that doesn’t work for you, or if you wish to decline the cash prize, we will roll the money into next year’s prize fund, which means it will continue to support authors and IFTF programs.
Hello, everyone, and happy (slightly belated) start of July! With a new July comes a new season of the Interactive Fiction Competition!
From now through August 1st 2025, 11:59pm Eastern (23:59 ET), the IF Comp website will be open for authors to declare their intent to enter this year’s competition!
Final entries are due on August 28th 2025, 11:59pm Eastern, but you must register by August 1st!
If you miss it, there’s always 2026… If you register and then can’t complete your game in time, you may always back out of the competition and enter the game elsewhere or next year.
As with the previous iterations of the IFComp, authors will be allowed to participate as judges, vote, and review entries other than their own.
If you have any questions about the competition or its rules, you can contact us at [email protected]
In addition to entries, we are also accepting prizes to award contestants! If you would like to donate a prize for this year’s competition, you can email us at [email protected] — no prize is too humble or too grand.
If you would prefer to donate money, our Colossal Fundraiser will launch by August. Another announcement will be made then.
Thank you, everyone. We’re looking forward to another fun year.
We are looking for art for this year’s IFComp logo! We will pay a $250 commission.
Artists should express interest by sending us a link to their past work/portfolio via email: [email protected] by June 30 (incl.); the artist will be selected by the end of July.
More info:
We will request one rough draft for review / edit before the final logo is produced.
We must have the final art in hand by August 25th.
We will need three versions of the logo: one with no text, one that says ‘IFComp’, and one that says ‘IFComp 2025’.
The final image file will be created or scanned at 3600 x 3600 px, and the design should still be clearly legible when reduced for display at 250 x 250 px for the web.
If you incorporate a person (optional) we ask that you make the person’s gender ambiguous.
We ask that you integrate the IFTF logo into the art in some way.
The IFComp logo should imply / be inspired by the many genres of games people make.
We will also request an invoice from the artist that the includes the following terms:
The Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation has the right to use the image in whole or in part, in world-wide publishing, print, or on any merchandise for an unlimited time. The artists reserves the right to use or edit the work to be used in their portfolio. The artist will be paid $250 US dollars, sent by PayPal or Venmo, upon receipt of final image file. IFComp will cover currency conversion fees charged by PayPal.
If you are an artist thinking about making something for this year's competition (e.g. cover art or a game), the logo may not be or have an obvious reference to an entry submitted this year. We are still open to artists participating in any way, whether it be submitting a game or doing art for an author, in this year's competition.
Here are the last few years’ logos, just to give you an idea of what we’re looking for…
Please feel free to share this info far and wide - and with any great artists you know! The artist does not have to be part of the interactive fiction community.
The results of the 2024 Interactive Fiction Competition are now live on the IFComp Website!
If you missed the livestream, it will be available over the coming days on Twitch and will be permanently archived over on YouTube shortly.
Of course, we are already planning for the ‘25 Comp. Please provide your feedback on what went well, what could have gone better, what we should do more of, and what we should consider changing or leaving behind, by filling the Post-Competition Survey:
Hello! Thanks for taking this survey. We appreciate you.
We are so grateful to everyone who helped make this year’s comp happen. Thank you!
The end of the 2023 Interactive Fiction Competition is nearly upon us! We will announce the top 20 results via live stream at 4:00 PM Eastern on Today! Saturday, October 19th.
The stream will be held on Twitch. To confirm what time the awards stream will be for you in your time zone, visit this website.
We’re glad you’re here. If this is your first time joining us, welcome! If you’re already familiar with us, welcome back! Either way, we hope you have a great time and enjoy exploring some of the over sixty new games we have for you this year.
What's next?
Check out the games, now live at ifcomp.org
You have until October 15, 2023 at 11:59pm Eastern to vote.
You only have to play & rate 5 games to be a judge! (Yep, just five!)
We would love to expand the number of judges! You can help!
Talk about the competition on social media, and encourage others to check out all these new games. Consider playing with a friend or family member who is new to interactive fiction, talk about the games together, and encourage them to vote as well. Thanks!
We will do a post-competition survey to capture your ideas for improving the competition in the future, so if you have thoughts about improvements, please watch for the survey in October.
What's that, towering over the lofty pines? It's a Mastodon! Climb on its back and be guided through the forests of IFComp. And don't pay any mind to the sabertooth lolcats, they're harmless.
1 Post, 2 Following, 1 Follower · The Interactive Fiction Competition: since 1995, an annual celebration of new text-based games from indepe
In past Interactive Fiction Competitions, we have seen the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to create cover art and other assets for games, and we took the approach of contacting authors to ask them to credit the site that they had used to generate the art.
This year, we are asking authors to check one or more of these boxes on their entry form:
Artificial intelligence:
▢ Was used to generate my game’s cover art
▢ Was used to generate art, music, or other non-text assets used in my game
▢ Was used to generate text used in this game (use of spell check/autocomplete excluded)
▢ Was not used to generate cover art, in-game assets, or text used in my game
This information will be shared with judges, so they can make an informed choice during the voting period.
Note that Judge’s Rule #7 still applies:
Judges must make a good-faith effort to play, as intended, every game that they submit ratings for. Conversely, a judge who did not or could not make a good-faith effort to play a certain game must not submit a rating for that game. The competition organizers reserve the right to disqualify any ratings that appear to have been submitted under any other circumstances.
GAI platforms used to generate cover art, in-game assets, or in-game text must be credited within the game.
As always, we will welcome feedback after this year’s competition in our annual post-competition survey, which will be shared at the awards ceremony, in our news blog, and over various social media.
Hello, friends. We are just under a month out from this year’s IFComp games being released. SO EXCITING!! (Unless you’re an author who is furiously testing and revising and recompiling and testing and revising and recompiling and… yeah. Good luck, authors!)
While we eagerly await the new games to come, we’d like to ask for your help with the Colossal Fund.
If you already know about the fund and are able to contribute, please go to ifcomp.org and hit the blue “Donate with PayPal” button.
If you’d like more information first, keep on reading…
The Colossal Fund raises money for the cash prizes that are awarded to the top two-thirds of IFComp entries. We use 80% of the funds for that, and the remaining funds are used to provide support for the programs and projects of the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation, including the Interactive Fiction Competition, the IF Archive, the IFDB, the forums at intfiction.org, and other projects.
This year, as in prior years, we are shooting for $10K.
We’re now accepting donations for 2024!
The donation button is live at IFComp.org. See your name listed on our donor page (or listed as “anonymous” if you prefer)! Our fundraising deadline is October 15th - the last day of competition voting. 80% of the proceeds ($8K+ if we hit our goal) will be distributed among the top two-thirds of IFComp finishers.
What does this mean for authors?
Because we’re dividing the money among the top two-thirds of games, the exact numbers depend on how many entries there are. If we have 75 entries, then we will divide the money among the top 50. If we have $10K, that would mean that the winner of the competition will be offered a prize of $451, second place will be offered $433, third prize $416… and so on and so forth until 50th place, which will be offered $10. Our goal is to distribute prizes across a broad range of IF styles and ideas. Any game which does even moderately well is offered a decent prize.
How do I donate?
Please go to https://ifcomp.org and push the big blue Donate button.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes, to the extent allowed by law. (Consult a tax professional.)
Does the Colossal Fund replace the usual IFComp prize list?
Nope! These cash prizes will be in addition to the usual IFComp prize list. We do need more of those non-cash prizes as well! Please visit our prize page to see what objects and services others have donated, get ideas from donations given in previous years, and see how you can contribute.
How will the cash prizes be distributed?
Via PayPal or Venmo. (The IFComp entry form has a field for your Paypal address.) If you can’t accept PayPal or Venmo, we can mail a US check to a US address. If that doesn’t work for you, or if you wish to decline the cash prize, we will roll the money into next year’s prize fund, which means it will continue to support authors and IFTF programs.
Prizes are an important part of the IFComp. Since 1998, the Interactive Fiction Competition has every year distributed a variety of prizes to the authors of games that score well in the annual rankings. These prizes come from the IF community, and vary in shape, from cash to books to food to professional services.
If you would like to donate a prize for this year’s competition, you can email us at [email protected] — no prize is too humble or too grand.
Check out for more information on how to donate prizes, whether it be simple tokens or practical presents:
Need some ideas for prizes? Here's a list of previously awarded prizes. Or, if you would prefer to donate money, check out our Colossal Fund!
We are looking for art for this year’s IFComp logo! We will pay a $250 commission.
Artists should express interest by sending us a link to their past work/portfolio via email: [email protected] by July 15; the artist will be selected by the end of July.
More info:
We will request one rough draft for review / edit before the final logo is produced.
We must have the final art in hand by August 25th.
We will need three versions of the logo: one with no text, one that says ‘IFComp’, and one that says ‘IFComp 2024’.
The final image file will be created or scanned at 3600 x 3600 px, and the design should still be clearly legible when reduced for display at 250 x 250 px for the web.
If you incorporate a person (optional) we ask that you make the person’s gender ambiguous.
We ask that you integrate the IFTF logo into the art in some way.
The IFComp logo should imply / be inspired by the many genres of games people make.
We will also request an invoice from the artist that the includes the following terms:
The Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation has the right to use the image in whole or in part, in world-wide publishing, print, or on any merchandise for an unlimited time.
The artists reserves the right to use or edit the work to be used in their portfolio.
The artist will be paid $250 US dollars, sent by PayPal or Venmo, upon receipt of final image file. IFComp will cover currency conversion fees charged by PayPal.
If you are an artist thinking about making something for this year's competition (e.g. cover art or a game), the logo may not be or have an obvious reference to an entry submitted this year. We are still open to artists participating in any way, whether it be submitting a game or doing art for an author, in this year's competition.
Here are the last few years’ logos, just to give you an idea of what we’re looking for…
Please feel free to share this info far and wide - and with any great artists you know! The artist does not have to be part of the interactive fiction community.
Hello, everyone, and happy (slightly belated) start of July! With a new July comes a new season of the Interactive Fiction Competition!
From now through August 1st, 11:59pm Eastern (23:59 EST), the IF Comp website will be open for authors to declare their intent to enter this year’s competition!
Final entries are due on August 28th, 11:59pm Eastern, but you must register by August 1st!
That’s right… everything is one month earlier this year!
If you miss it, there’s always 2025… If you register and then can’t complete your game in time, you may always back out of the competition and enter the game elsewhere or next year.
As with the previous iterations of the IFComp, authors will be allowed to participate as judges, vote, and review entries other than their own.
If you have any questions about the competition or its rules, you can contact us at [email protected]
In addition to entries, we are also accepting prizes to award contestants! If you would like to donate a prize for this year’s competition, you can email us at [email protected] — no prize is too humble or too grand.
If you would prefer to donate money, our Colossal Fundraiser will launch by August. Another announcement will be made then.
Thank you, everyone. We’re looking forward to another fun year.
The results of the 2023 Interactive Fiction Competition are now live at https://ifcomp.org/comp/2023
If you missed the livestream, it will be available over the coming days at https://www.twitch.tv/interactivefictioncomp and is permanently archived over on YouTube at https://youtu.be/N8AxhLAoEMg
Of course, we are already planning for the ‘24 Comp. Please provide your feedback on what went well, what could have gone better, what we should do more of, and what we should consider changing or leaving behind: https://forms.gle/1gFEwhmFAaszB4Tx7
We are so grateful to everyone who helped make this year’s comp happen. Thank you!
PS - We made an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT during the awards stream: next year's IFComp is bumped up one month so that IFComp no longer overlaps with ECTOCOMP. If you are thinking of entering the comp as an author in 2024, your game is due at the end of August instead of the end of September! Plan ahead!
