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Play games from a list of Interactive Fiction titles selected by the People's Republic.

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August Meeting Post Mortem

Symon

The People's Republic of Interactive Fiction met on Monday, August 30, drawing our largest audience yet. Over a dozen members crammed themselves into our host's office space.

Once again, we had the honor of being (virtually) joined by Jason Scott, the director behind the exceedingly ambitious IF documentary GET LAMP. The DVD is now available, and one of our members passed his copy around for those eager to inspect the cover art and gaze at the lustrous, freshly-minted Zorkmid (no. 1842) that arrived with the DVD. Sales of the DVD are going well, and purchases are even arriving from overseas. Jason also announced his tour, JET LAMP, during which he'll travel the country to hold exclusive screenings and discussions about his film.

We also had the chance to play an experimental point-and-click adventure game, Symon, which was produced by one of our members, Clara Fernández-Vara, of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. Symon recreates the random, yet eerily orderly, atmosphere of dream logic. With procedurally generated puzzles and game-spaces, you never play the same game twice. Feel free to step into the dreams of the paralyzed protagonist while you play Symon online.

Jason McIntosh and Andrew Plotkin reported on their talk at the Boston Gameloop unConference during which they demonstrated the power and ease-of-use of Inform 7 by creating a small text adventure in front of their audience.

We rounded up the evening with a brief discussion of Interactive Fiction Month, scheduled to be held at Tufts University during October. We have heard little in terms of plans, but we do know that our own Nick Montfort will be giving a talk (title and content to be determined) on Thursday, October 14. Two days later, Nick will also be speaking at the Boston Book Festival in a panel entitled "The Future of Fiction".

As for our next meeting, the gathering has been tentatively scheduled for Monday, September 27, same IF-time, same IF-place. And don't forget to help Grunk find his lost pig on Sunday, September 12. Details below.

Help GRUNK find LOST PIG!

Lost Pig

The People's Republic of Interactive Fiction Presents: LOST PIG!

WHEN: Sunday September 12th, 2 - 5 pm
WHERE: MIT Campus, Building 1, Room 135

The as-yet-unnamed Interactive Fiction Playing group meets again to play LOST PIG, an interactive fiction piece in which we guide the orc, Grunk, to find his wayward pig. We'll go underground, solve puzzles, meet a grumpy gnome, and help Grunk wrap his tiny brain around basic alchemy.

LOST PIG took 1st place at the 13th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition in 2007, and won Best Game, Best Writing, Best Individual NPC, Best Individual Player Character at the XYZZY awards in the same year.

If you have not played interactive fiction (a.k.a. text adventures) before, this is your chance to learn the basics. If you already know how to play, come and experience how fun it is to play interactive fiction with a room full of people. So join the hunt and help Grunk spread the word! If you can't make it, you can still join us virtually since we will be broadcasting live on UStream.

Next Meeting

Our next general meeting is on Monday, August 30, 6:30 pm, in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233). Everyone and anyone is welcome to attend. Our tentative agenda is:

Once our group discussion has closed, several of us will be heading over to the CBC for food and drinks and general revelry.

ZORK Post-Mortem Now Available

Zork

An overview of our descent into the Great Underground Empire is now available. An audience of two dozen anonymous adventurers collaborated in mapping such memorable locations as the white house, Flood Control Dam #3, the Bank of Zork, and that insufferable maze. Visit our event page for photographs, stories, and a complete transcript of the game.

Summary of June and July Meetings

In this summary, we'll briefly cover two months of meetings, the first of which was held on Monday, June 28. We had the privilege of being joined (virtually) by Jason Scott, the mastermind behind the documentary GET LAMP. He gave us an update on his progress (still in production) and gave us access to an exclusive clip.

Several of our group described their experience at the @party. Our own Andrew Plotkin wrote a first-place entry for the event, an interstellar voyage called Hoist Sail for Heliopause and Home (which, incidentally, is also a product of our Grue Street initiative). Zarf also mentioned he was closing in on distributing his JavaScript interpreter of his Glulx spec.

We also received a report on the 4th International Conference & Festival of the Electronic Literature Organization. Aaron A. Reed read from his epic, Blue Lacuna, and we learned that our own Nick Montfort is now the president of the ELO!

Jumping ahead a month, we reconvened on Monday, July 26. We reviewed Jason McIntosh's The Gameshelf #8: Modern Interactive Fiction, a short and sweet exploration of the field we have come to love.

An hour or so was spent diving into several entries of the IntroComp, including a game written by one of our own.

And after coming off the success of our first Collaborative IF event, we started planning our next couple of events, soon to be announced. We were also excited to hear that one of our fellows is organizing Interactive Fiction Month at Tufts University. At least four events will span the month of October. Details certain to come.

ZORK Post-Mortem Coming Soon

Zork

Our public trek through the Great Underground Empire came to an end this afternoon. Over two dozen anonymous adventurers joined us in our exploration of those infamous twisty passages. A full summary, complete with transcript and photographs, will be available soon.

And don't forget that our monthly meeting is on Monday, July 26, 6:30 pm, in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233).

The People's Republic of Interactive Fiction Presents: ZORK

Zork

Come and play Zork, where it all started. We will be venturing together into the dungeons of the Great Underground Empire on July 25 from 2:00-5:00 pm, in Building 1, room 135. (Note room change.) Can't make it? Then join us virtually since we will be broadcasting live on UStream.

Inspired by Adventure / Colossal Cave, Zork was one of the first text adventure games, developed by a team of students at MIT back in 1977 on a PDP-10. If you've never played a text adventure game, this is your chance to experience the joys of playing through the command prompt by joining others in the adventure. If you're an old Zork hand, help us track down in-jokes and historic references.

Want to spread the word? Grab a flyer and post it on your favorite bulletin board (or perhaps stuff it in the mailbox of your local white house).

Next Meeting - Monday, July 26

Our next general meeting is on Monday, July 26, 6:30 pm, in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233). Everyone and anyone is welcome to attend. Our tentative agenda is:

We will also hold an IF Collaborative Play event on the previous day (Sunday, July 25th, 2:00-5:00 pm) at MIT 66-480 1-135. We will be playing and discussing MIT Dungeon (the original mainframe Zork) -- or rather Ethan Dicks's port of that game to the Z-machine. Experienced Zorkers and newcomers welcome.

Next Meeting - Monday, June 28

Our next meeting is on Monday, June 28, 6:30 pm, in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233). Everyone and anyone is welcome to attend. Our agenda is TBD. Check back here for more details.

Grue Street Met and Will Meet Again

Grue Street

Grue Street, our IF Writers' Group, met on Sunday, May 16. The verdict is in: The group was a resounding success, and it's been decided that we will hold another meeting, the second in what we hope will continue to be monthly meet ups. The next Grue Street is planned for Sunday, June 13, at 2pm at MIT room 8-119. More details will follow when the web site will has its own page dedicated to Grue Street (hopefully by the next meeting).

Summary of May Meeting

We met on May 3, 2010 at 6:30 pm, in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233).

Grue Street

Our initial discussion focused on the formation and coordination of two additional groups that would meet up outside of our monthly meetings. Nick generously volunteered to organize Grue Street, an Interactive Fiction Writers' Group, which will have its first meeting on Sunday, May 16. Details are available on our forum. Suffice to say, if you are in the Boston area and are authoring a work-in-progress, you should stop by.

In addition to Grue Street, an as-yet-unnamed group will gather on Sunday, June 27, to play IF together. A collection of games that might be played is being compiled. Feel free to contribute. Like Grue Street, details are available on our forum.

As if those new groups weren't enough, you will find several of us at both Readercon and @party.

We ended the meeting by spending an hour playing games from the TWIFcomp, specifically some of the winning entries and games that had been authored by our own members (at least one game fell into both categories).

Next Meeting - Monday, May 3

Our next meeting is on Monday, May 3, 6:30 pm, in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233). Everyone and anyone is welcome to attend. So far our agenda includes:

Around 8pm, we'll be heading over to the Cambridge Brewing Company for drinks, food, and additional discussion.

Summary of April Meeting

We met on April 12, 2010 at 6:30 pm. in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233). Here's the scoop on our meeting.

  1. One of our members solicited feedback for a delightful work-in-progress. Many ideas were presented and we look forward to seeing the latest version of the work in the upcoming months.
  2. We discussed our various experiences at PAX East, and pondered over the contents of four mysterious USB drives that were left behind in our hospitality suite. The contents of these drives, along with the original drive first mentioned on ifMud, form a puzzle that continues to vex the IF community. Feel free to download the contents of these drives and see if you can help the IF community solve the final pieces of the puzzle.
  3. We came up with several ideas on how to expand the group outside of our monthly meetings, including creating a writing workshop for IF authors. We also hope to participate in some upcoming cons. Stay tuned for details.

Our next meeting will be in May. Date and time TBD.

PAX East Is Over

PAX East may be over, but the memories will live on. The hospitality suite hosted by the People's Republic of Interactive Fiction was a great success. Long-times fans and newcomers to IF streamed in and out of the suite throughout the weekend, and we were even fortunate to have a few of the original Implementors stop by. We attended and hosted several panels, braved the labyrinth of lines, and hastily wrote several IF games. The festivities are encapsulated in a mash-up of blog entries, picture galleries, videos, and more, all of which can be found on the PAX East 2010 IFWiki page. A few, self-promotional highlights include:

Next Meeting

April 12, 6:30 pm. in Nick Montfort's office at MIT (14N-233). We have yet to develop an agenda, but after our activities, we'll be heading over to a local eatery for drinks, food, additional discussion, and more food (and drinks).

PAX East 2010 Hospitality Suite

PAX East 2010

The People's Republic of Interactive Fiction is hosting a hospitality suite at the Boston Back Bay Hilton, noon to midnight, from Friday, March 26, through Sunday, March 28. (Okay, on Sunday it'll only be until 4 pm.) You can find us in room 2305.

Events in the hospitality suite include:

PRIF members will also be taking part in two events on the PAX schedule:

More details for these events can be found at ifwiki.org.