New Game: Who Iced Mayor McFreeze?
It’s that time of year again! IFComp – the Interactive Fiction Competition – is in full swing and my entry this year is Who Iced Mayor McFreeze?, a follow-up to last year’s Who Shot Gum E. Bear?. Both see you take on the role of Bubble Gumshoe, a street-smart broad with a hard sugar shell but a soft centre who’s also the finest private eye sniffing out mysteries on the syrup-slick streets of Sugar City.
Both are parser-based games (meaning you type “take key” or “smoke cigarette” or “eat Mayor” to do what you want to do), but I’ve tried to take on board feedback from last year’s event so this one takes a different approach to the actual mystery involved. I don’t want to get into exactly how the approach differs this time around – partly because I’m hesitant to offer commentary that might influence votes while the competition is being judged, and partly because I fear it might spoil the challenge for one of them – but early reviews seem to suggest this one is going down well for much the reasons I hoped. At least, I’ve seen a couple of people praise the new direction but nobody lament the departure from the old one.
On the topic of judging, it seems worth taking this opportunity to mention that if you want to get involved in the competition, you yourself can be a judge! All the important details can be found in the competition rules, but the key thing to know is that you only have to play five games (though you can rate more if you want). It’s not a matter of poring over all 75 of the things. So if you fancy checking out Who Iced Mayor McFreeze?, you’re a full 20% of the way to being a judge!
Damon L. Wakes 
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