The IF Archive has been hosting IF games since 1992. However, in the age of web-playable games, it’s run into a bit of a quandary: most of our games are not directly playable in a browser. This is particularly jarring for Twine games, which are HTML/Javascript pages to begin with.

Up until now, we’ve prioritized the needs of people browsing the Archive and downloading games for offline play. Our policy is that web-playable games should be uploaded as archived (zipped) packages. The sole exception is the annual IFComp, whose entries are available on the site in unzipped and playable form.

We’ve come up with a scheme to resolve this situation. With this plan:

• All games will be stored in archived form (so you can download any game with a single click).
• All web-playable games will have a “play it now” link.
• Untrusted script code in games will not be able to affect other games or the Archive itself.

We are now seeking proposals for implementing this scheme. Our intention is to fundraise to support this position, and so engagement of a contractor will be contingent on our ability to raise sufficient funds.

By the way, you’ll recall that a few weeks ago we posted a request for proposals for replacing Philome.la. This IF Archive scheme is a separate RFP! The two plans address related needs (both host Twine games), but Philome.la and the IF Archive are rather different services with different audiences. We would like to support both of them, if we can get the resources to do so.

The proposal deadline for the IF Archive plan is April 30th. The proposal deadline for the Philome.la plan has been extended to July 15th.