The People’s Republic of Interactive Fiction convened on Thursday, November 20, 2025 over Zoom. Stephen Eric Jablonski, Hugh,, Josh Grams, Michael Stage, Matt Griffin, zarf,, Cidney Hamilton, Doug Orleans, David J Hall, and anjchang, welcomed newcomers and Monica Storss. Warning: What follows is probably not proper English, but just a log of notes from the meeting to jog people’s memories.
In general, topics covered IF preservation news (Zork!), new tools/experiments (Ink + Godot, Bitsy exercises), community jams (EctoComp), and ongoing debates about IP openness vs. protection in interactive fiction/narrative games.
Major News & Announcements
- Zork I, II, and III source code released under MIT Open Source License by Microsoft (in collaboration with Xbox/Activision and digital archivist Jason Scott). This includes the original Infocom ZIL code, docs, and build notes—great for study, teaching, and non-commercial use/play via modern tools like ZILF.
Link: https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11/20/preserving-code-that-shaped-generations-zork-i-ii-and-iii-go-open-source - Cidney Hamilton is back from London and recently released their first game/project: a bridge/integration called ink_popochiu (uses inkgd Godot plugin in GDScript to connect Ink narratives with Popochiu adventure framework in Godot).
Link: https://github.com/cidneyhamilton/ink_popochiu - Cidney’s work is currently in EctoComp 2025 (Halloween-themed interactive fiction jam on itch.io). Voting is open (as of your notes; check current status).
Link: https://itch.io/jam/ectocomp-2025
Games & IFDB Entries Mentioned
- Calliope: Short 1999 game by Jason McIntosh about a programmer battling writer’s block with trippy dream puzzles.
Link: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=7jxa2jr0tpccqll7 - Vespers: 2005 game by Jason Devlin, a plague-era monastery story with moral choices and suffering.
Link: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6dj2vguyiagrhvc2
People & Social/Media
- Monica aka@digitalpoetics on Instagram, Discord, and other “agitprop” outlets (likely for experimental/digital poetics/narrative work).
Industry/IP Discussion
- Many treat old games/code as effectively open source in practice, but companies vary wildly in handling legacy IP.
- Protective examples: Activision (historically strict, e.g., forced Al Lowe to cancel Leisure Suit Larry source code auctions over “shared code” concerns, even for obscure titles).
Link: https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-forced-al-lowe-to-cancel-his-leisure-suit-larry-source-code-auctions/ - More open: Microsoft (this Zork release is a notable first/big step).
- Exceptions that embrace old games: Epic, Nintendo (sometimes market/re-release them).
- Protective examples: Activision (historically strict, e.g., forced Al Lowe to cancel Leisure Suit Larry source code auctions over “shared code” concerns, even for obscure titles).
Narrative Engines & Tools Discussion
- Why so many engines? People love experimenting and building their own (e.g., Twine, Ren’Py inspire lots of creators).
- Mentioned projects/tools:
- Domino Club / Domino Gallery: Loose collective for anonymous game jams, low-tech/digital art, narrative-heavy work, ditherpunk, etc. (focus on DIY, remix, glitches, queer themes, etc.).
Link: https://domino.gallery/ - Related piece: “good writers are perverts” manifesto/essay by DOMINO CLUB (interactive “tape window” format arguing for embracing “sicko” creative impulses).
Link: https://dominoclub.itch.io/good-writers-are-perverts
- Domino Club / Domino Gallery: Loose collective for anonymous game jams, low-tech/digital art, narrative-heavy work, ditherpunk, etc. (focus on DIY, remix, glitches, queer themes, etc.).
- Yack script example (Ink-based dialogue system, from Grumpy Gamer’s DeloresDev repo—likely Thimbleweed Park-related dev work).
Link: https://github.com/grumpygamer/DeloresDev/blob/master/Scripts/Yacks/Sheriff.yack - Bitsy for game poems/tiny narratives: Limited text UI space; Pico-8 also noted for similar constraints.
- Anna Anthropy’s Itsy Bitsy Exercises (Bitsy teaching exercises for narrative design—spatial movement, dialogue, etc.; full details in devlog posts).
Link: https://w.itch.io/itsy-bitsy-exercises
- Anna Anthropy’s Itsy Bitsy Exercises (Bitsy teaching exercises for narrative design—spatial movement, dialogue, etc.; full details in devlog posts).
- Other platforms: Playdate handheld (crank + charger features).
Links: https://play.date/games/blippo/ and https://play.date/
Design/Systems Discussion Highlights
- Praise for a diagram-based approach (circuit-like, state-showing; “systems thinking”).
- Idea: Can you build a game directly from a diagram? Potential for hybrid narrative modes (pause navigation for decisions).
- Question raised: Handling state/history across geographical spaces (Metroidvania-style logic?).