Issue 45 of SPAG, the interactive fiction e-zine, is out. Among its highlights: a look at past IntroComp games, Paul O'Brian's reviews of Finding Martin and Glass, and Emily Short's review of There's a Snake in the Bathtub.
Filfre is Jimmy Maher's Windows z-code interpreter. It features integrated scrollback support and allows you to copy words from the game's text to the command line by double-clicking on them. Version 0.94 now supports Blorbed files and shows a game's cover art the first time you play a game.
The Hourglass Competition is actually the third ADRIFT Three-Hour Competition, in which authors must write a game using ADRIFT in three hours or fewer. If you want to enter, you have until 7 August 2006 to submit your entries to Woodfish.
MCDream is David Cornelson's minicompetition in which authors create a game based on a particularly vivid dream they've had. The first one ended with only one entrant: Dreadwine, by Eric Eve.
But do not fear if you missed the competition the first time around. David is holding MCDream II. Submit your entries to him by August 15th.
Inform 7 has generated new interest in rules-based programming for Interactive Fiction. Now Kevin Forchione has a T3 extension that provides rule-based hooks into the Action class's command processing stages. Support is provided for before, room, actor, action, and after processing.