Call for Submissions (Bonus Edition) for SPAG Issue #60 (Deadline: April 03, 2011)

Topics: New Mailing List, XYZZY 2010 and Other Reviews, IFC 2010 Interviews, PAXE 2011

-- New Mailing List --

Hi, all! Many of you are aware of the popular Previous Call for Submissions for SPAG Issue #60 posted a few weeks ago on the site, but not on the mailing list, as there was a temporary existential crisis involving not being able to contact our former mailing list administrator. BUM bum Bummmmm. The solution, alas, is going to have to be to switch to another list server, but it should be relatively painless! There's no way for us to acquire the current list of subscribers and migrate them all, so the good news is I won't inadvertently incur wrath by signing you up for a new service you did but didn't want. The bad news is in order to respect Jimmy's retirement from editorship (who's kind enough to send out this interim notice), we'll have to head over to the new SPAG Google Group and subscribe.

Woah, what's that entail? Well, for one, even though it's a Google Group, it's set to only publish e-mail, and normal users don't have permission to post or the ability to see other users' personal information, so it'll function exactly like the current mailing list. Second, while you do have to have a Google Account, you don't need a Gmail account and can use your current e-mail address.

--XYZZY 2010 and Other Reviews--

Huge congrats to Matt Wigdahl, who basically won the XYZZY 2010 Awards singlehandedly. . . . Not that he let that get in the way of "family" and "parental responsibility," and thus couldn't make it for the IF MUD presentation itself. Happily for us, Sarah Morayati will extract every remaining curious detail about Aotearoa and Matt's approach to game design, so I can't wait for that!

To recap from the aforementioned prior call for SPAG #60, most of the games nominated for XYZZYs this year were also to be found in the IF Comp, and thus have been reviewed. However, we have a few notable gaps to fill: The People's Glorious Revolutionary Text Adventure Game, by Taylor Vaughan; and, for the charitable and multi-lingual amongst us, the German works Allein mit Kai by Ingo Scharmann and Joana Markus, and Mariel by Michael Baltes. Thanks to Valentine Kopteltsev for his review of Gris et Jaune, by Steve van Gaal, a needed review from the earlier list.

Also, we're looking for reviews of the following three stand-alone releases:

The Art of Fugue, by Victor Gijsbers, Jimmy Maher, Dorte Lassen, and Johan;
'Mid the Sagebrush and the Cactus, by Victor Gijsbers;
Starborn, a short by Juhana Leinonen.

-- IF Comp 2010 Winner Interviews --

With congratulations again to IFC 2010 winners Matt Wigdahl, C.E.J. Pacian, and Colin Sandel and Carolyn VanEseltine, we're looking for interviews with Colin and Carolyn for third-place One Eye Open. I'm pleased to report Valentine Kopteltsev already has an extremely characterful interview with C.E.J.Pacian in the bag which you should feel at liberty to begin anticipating even now.

-- PAX East 2011 --

I'd love to hear from all interested parties who may be in attendance. There will be plenty to cover, from individual talks to panels to general atmospherics, observations of trends, the terribly cute and fragile still-ashen baby phoenix which is commercial IF, and mockery of our collective inability to get to bed before dawn when there's, you know, STUFF to discuss, etc. =) We'll want to get your thoughts and analysis on any relevant part of PAX/IF which catches your fancy.

-- Concluding Business and Other Opportunities --

Also, if you have a paper you're working on related to IF, or would like a forum in which to cover a technical issue, concepts in game design, story craft, or other topic (e.g., incorporating cultural differences in interactive fiction), send it in! If inspiration fails, drop by Planet-IF for leads.

Submissions should be in by the weekend of April 2nd and 3rd (extended a week from the prior deadline due to the list serv quest), which gives us a few weeks after PAXE 2010 to incorporate coverage. For the rest of it, earlier submissions are always appreciated! =) Thanks as ever to all contributors, and if you'd like to help but just aren't sure what to do . . . just ask, at davidm.spag SP@G gmail.com!

I look forward to hearing from you and getting everyone involved!

Cheers,

David