This is something I have decided to do to help myself actually finish one, simple game, because I have a nasty habit of making things complicated and getting stuck without completing things. I thought I would share it with all of you. I suppose you could "compete" with this idea, but I came up with it as a sort of "self-challenge."

Goal:
Create the text-adventure equivalent of a “micro-fiction” or “flash-fiction” short story (a complete story which is under 500 words). Try to make it as difficult and genuinely compelling as possible, without manipulating syntax or hiding key objects, etc.
Rules:
• Tell a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end
• No more than 6 rooms
• No more than 12 “take” items
• No more than apx. 1/4 of “take” items may be red herrings
• No illogical verb requirements (“shout at door” to make it open)
without contextual clues (a talking door which could hear you shout)
• No “hidden” key objects (scenery must be referred to somewhere)

Other Guidelines: These were rules I used to restrict/challenge myself for purposes of practice with Quest and general improvement of design skills. They may or may not be useful to you depending on your experience with quest and overall skill. They also have little if any importance to the idea of “competing” against others.
• No overly-complex game elements
• Create unique verbs whenever possible to replace “use”
• Do not “milk” tasks with over detail (putting on a belt should not also require buckling the belt)

Challenge accepted.

It's a slow week for me, so I should have something by tomorrow.

This is an intriguing idea. I've been so bogged down with other projects I'm working on that I'm falling dangerously behind on completing a game for my February One Game A Month challenge, so maybe this is just what I need to make sure I don't miss a month.

Okay, I knocked my submission out.
It turned out be... a lot darker than I initially thought it would. A lot darker.

You can play it here. Let me know what you think.

Wow, it's great! I love this colors. I think this could really be sent to the Spring Thing Competition.

But now I am stuck. I get "Everyone in the kitchen is yelling, and Rex is barking. It sounds really scary, but you could go in there if you were brave." but what next?

Edit: OK, I got it, it's a bug. You need an object to enter this room, but you can drop this object earlier in the game in this room, so you can't enter the room any more.

Then I get this message at the end of the game:
...
"Go play," he says.
You can go back to your playpen now.
Error running script: Only one wait can be in progress at a time.

And then there is a small bug, when the man who knocked at the door moves to mommys room with her and if you examine the kitchen again you see : "You can see Daddy's jinglies, the man who knocked, Daddy and Rex."

Ah and perhaps I would remove the sentence " The fence even has holes in it, so you can go through them!" It doesn't make sense because you can't use the fence or the holes in any way. Or just add some responses if you try to go through the holes.

This is the review I posted on the game.

* * * * *
A provocative look at the perspective of a young child in a dark world, this 'game' provides a lot more to think about than mere entertainment. A fine example of why video games ought to be more widely recognized as art.
Aside from a bug or two, my only complaint is having to go back and forth to get items because you can only carry one at a time. However, even that can hardly be called a flaw as it adds to the feeling of being in the role of the child, and there's not far to go anyway.
Impressive.

Wow, I can hardly believe my little suggestion lead to someone making that in about one day. And here I haven't even finished mine yet, lol.

I do agree about the fence though. I spent a fair amount of time trying to get through it. I also got myself "locked out" of the kitchen the first time, and of course the man still being in the kitchen is an issue. Otherwise, that was really cool, very intriguing, and surprisingly challenging considering it has only 4 enterable rooms and 5 takable items.

The blanket thing I knew about. I figured since it was such a short game an unwinnable state wasn't a terrible way to amp up the challenge (though I've always considered it a cheap way to induce challenge, puzzle creation isn't my strong suit, obviously.)

However, the other things you found were bugs, and I'll have to fix those. Thanks! I can't believe I didn't include scenery objects. I never do that. It's sloppy. (And the "Wait" error wasn't on my end... I'm guessing you used the web player)
Which leads me to respond to your other point: The day I finished a game I had been working on for months, Alex posted the post about the Spring Thing. I've been trying to get my friends to help me beta-test it, but we're all busy and text-adventures just aren't for everyone. So I'm still trying to make that an entry to the Spring Thing.

homeeman wrote:The day I finished a game I had been working on for months, Alex posted the post about the Spring Thing. I've been trying to get my friends to help me beta-test it, but we're all busy and text-adventures just aren't for everyone. So I'm still trying to make that an entry to the Spring Thing.

You're entering Spring Thing too? Good job, and best of luck!

sgreig wrote:You're entering Spring Thing too? Good job, and best of luck!

Same to you! I saw your entry from last year, and I really enjoyed it! I look forward another quality piece from you.

Well, here's my entry. It's nothing too crazy. Just a simple Zombie Apocalype action game where you have to make a run for the helicopter evacuation zone and not get killed. The game is called Zombie Death Gauntlet and you can play it at http://www.textadventures.co.uk/review/1080/.

Let me know what you guys think. I'm going to count this as my February 1GAM entry as my other projects won't be finished in time.

Alright, I finally finished it. Here it is:
http://www.textadventures.co.uk/review/1084/

I think I got most of the bugs out, but once again I have taken a simple plan and turned it into a labyrinth of possible errors. It's not too difficult actually, but I hope it's interesting. I think I forgot to turn off the hyperlinks before I published it too, so if you want more of a challenge, obviously, you'll just have to ignore them for now.

So I remembered this was a thing.

I liked your game, sgreig, particularly because it was challenging, despite its simplicity. I appreciate a good challenge, and your game certainly met that requirement.

Triangle, I can't beat your game. Your green foamy monster is immune to having collapsible wooden blocks thrown at it (my weapon of choice in most situations) and your rope is too spiky for the soft, delicate hands of an engineering student.

Thanks homeeman! I'm glad you liked it. It wasn't much, but it'd kinda fun to play as a quick diversion.

LOL, you have to defeat the foam before you can climb the rope. To do that, you must assemble a makeshift weapon. The green foam's weakness is a "high velocity piercing" weapon. Note that some things can be searched as well as looked at...

Fun Quote Of the Day: "Because I be, what I be. I would tell you what you want to know if I could, mum, but I be cat. And no cat anywhere, ever gave anyone a straight answer."

It was the "search" verb I hadn't thought to use. That was awesome! Very well done! I tip my hat to you, sir!