In the end, we decided to put the magazine on “indefinite hiatus,” which is the term genre magazines typically use for “closing down for the near future but we don’t like to say we’re closing down forever.”

There are a number of reasons for the hiatus, but mostly it comes down to the sheer amount of time it takes to manage a project like sub-Q, along with some changing life situations and new priorities (not in a bad way, fortunately!) that are going to make that time even harder to carve out than it already is.

As some of you may know, we had been in the process of transitioning the magazine from a for-profit entity to a non-profit this year, and were planning to run a subscription drive over the summer to put the magazine in the black. (Currently it runs a couple hundred dollars in the red with each issue, all of which comes directly out of the publisher’s pocket).

While I think we could have done well enough with the drive to keep the magazine going for a while longer, running a subscription drive and managing all the additional things we’d need to do after that operate smoothly as a non-profit organization would have taken a lot more time, so wouldn’t have really helped in terms of time management.

Will sub-Q come back in the future?

Maybe. (I certainly hope so!)

But only time will tell whether it does and, if so, what form it will take.

As for now, after our August 2020 issue sub-Q will be on indefinite hiatus.

That means we won’t be accepting submissions or publishing new content. However, all our existing content will remain up.

(If you’re an author and would like your work taken down from our site, please email me at stewart@sub-q.com and I can do that!)

Indefinite hiatus is sad, but!

August of 2020 also marks the 5th anniversary of sub-Q’s first content going online.

So, dang. Five years!

I’ve been here since close to the beginning, and it’s been a great ride that has absolutely changed the way I look at interactive fiction, writing, and life in general.

It’s thanks to our great community of authors, developers and artists, our fantastic staff, and our lovely readers that any of it could have happened at all.

So thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I would especially like to thank all the generous souls who have supported us on Patreon or through a subscription on our website at any point. Your help really made a difference. Thank you a fourth time!

Stewart
editor-in-chief, sub-Q Magazine

The post sub-Q is going on hiatus after August 2020 appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

The FAQ for the game also points to this indeterminate, fluid history. The text describes the game as an “RPG” but then a “gamebook”—not entirely the same thing! And this is borne out in the gameplay. The character creation involves 12 different attributes, and with a randomly generated character, you are often at the mercy of attribute checks, which happen nearly every page. There isn’t really any opportunity to alter a roll or add bonuses to things that are really important for you to accomplish, like you can in some RPGs. But at the same time, this is far more robust than even most online gamebooks. And if this had been released as a Choice of Games story, it would be considered irrevocably broken.

But there is something beautiful and haunting in the half-brokenness of this game. Though there are winning endings, according to the FAQ, in about twenty plays, I don’t feel like I’ve ever gotten close to one. But that rarely seems to be the point. It’s truly a game of exploration and using the huge lapses of plot, time, and space to create the feeling and texture of living inside of a fable. The writing is evocative and full of small moments of levity, and the choices presented to you have, at times, a staggering amount of breadth. This is where the craft of Age of Fable really shines—horizontally, not vertically.

 Of course this occasionally does have the feel of classic gamebooks like Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! series—both in their original gamebook form and in the later, exquisitely fleshed out mobile games published by inkle. But there are some key differences. In Sorcery!, the pacing is indeed jagged, but the narrative arc always seems to keep the larger story from going off the rails. In Age of Fable, there are no rails. Not really. There are recurring locations, but upon entering the main city of Karrakara, each time it feels as if the city is starting anew, with all the props and scenes hastily put back in their place.

Although I haven’t dug into the code of the game, the recurrence of locations feels capricious, which gives the whole game an uncanny, rather eerie feel between that of a “cave of time” style CYOA and a more artistic game that allows you to follow whims or make a series of illogical choices and not (necessarily) die. The art direction also lends to this feeling of unreality. Almost every page is illustrated, as are character avatars, but these are taken invariably from public domain(ish) images of works of art, or at least as a free game in 2006 would understand this. These can range from Renaissance art to watercolors to Internet-era fantasy art, but there is rarely consistency from one choice to another.

But the fact that this was, in all likelihood, a necessary-feeling design choice when the state of browser gaming was much, much different than it is today is beside the point. The jarring visuals manage to blend together once in a while, and the constraints of a rather touchy RPG make the whole endeavor even more absurd. Wherever you are, turn around and head toward the hills, or the ocean, or the desert, or Karrakara. Are you on a quest? You might be. But then again, maybe not.

But keep clicking anyway.

The post Once Upon a Time in the Age of Fable appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

So:
1. sub-Q Magazine is eligible for the Best Semiprozine award. (We have a high enough circulation and we pay contributors.) Unless something changes, that’s likely to be true in future years as well. We will keep you posted!

2. You can find a list of original interactive fiction we published last year in this post: https://sub-q.com/sub-qs-2018-in-review/ Each of the pieces of fiction we published in 2018 is a short story (under 7500 words) as well as being interactive fiction, so they’re all eligible for the Best Short Story award.

3. In addition to fiction, the post above lists all the non-fiction we published in 2018 (we had a regular column written by Bruno Dias in 2018 and several essays by Anya Johanna DeNiro). Each of these essays is eligible for the Best Related Work award.

4. We put out more than 4 issues of the magazine a year, so our editors are eligible for the Best Editor (Short Form) award. Our editors in 2018 were Stewart C Baker, Devi Acharya, PJ Anthony, and Natalia Theodoridou. Although Stewart is editor-in-chief, all of our editors work hard for each issue of the magazine, both in the selection of content and in working with authors to make final changes to pieces we select, so all of them should–in our opinion–be eligible.

Finally, we want to be very clear that we’re not trying to buy/encourage votes for sub-Q with any of this.

Vote for what you love! If that’s not us, we totally understand.

And a final final note on eligibility, from the Hugo awards website:

The 2019/1944 Hugo Awards are administered by the Hugo Awards Administration Subcommittee of Dublin 2019, and all decisions regarding the eligibility of works and the administration of nominations are exclusively the committee’s responsibility.

The post A Note on sub-Q’s Eligibility for the 2019 Hugo Awards appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

2019, huh?

We have a lot of fun things planned for this year–including the winning entries from our first ever game jam, and two new original pieces to join them in February, a few additional non-fiction columns every month, and the possibility of issue-wide cover art too.

But before we get all starry-eyed about the future, I’d like to take a moment and review the amazing games we published last year, in 2018! (If you’re eyeing this post with the new Nebula for Game Writing in mind, I’ve listed whether each piece is original to us or not, with its original publication date/place if it’s not.)

We were also lucky enough to publish an original essay on making interactive fiction by Bruno Dias every month starting in February, as well as several essays by Anya Johanna DeNiro. These essays have been a pleasure to read, and have given me a lot of insight into making my own fiction–whether it’s interactive or not–as well as reading/playing other people’s, so definitely check them out if you missed them last year!

January

January started the year off with a bang, with a piece from now-sub-Q-editor Natalia Theodoridou titled “All Those Parties We Didn’t Cry At.” Atmospheric and ponderous in the best possible way, “All Those Parties” will have you thinking about your own relationship with tears–and the people in your life.

Remember when we could cry at every little thing?

(Interactivity original to sub-Q, January 16 2018; prose reprinted from Daily Science Fiction, 2016)

February

Written by game designer, artist, writer, and budding digital xenobiologist Gareth Damian Martin and featuring the sounds of Paws Menu, February’s game was the meditative swimming game “Salt.” (If you like this one, check out Gareth’s upcoming In Other Waters.)

A game about swimming, thinking and the distant possibility of escape.

(Reprinted from 2017’s IFComp)

Our February “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias focused on determining scope for new projects.

We also ran an essay by Anya Johanna Deniro in Febrary which reviewed Emily Short’s “Pytho’s Mask” as an IF Romance.

March

In March, we brought you “Lost Ones” by Jac Colvin, an original piece that transports you to the watery realm of the Russalka. Will you try to fight your dreams? Or step willingly into them?

Sometimes even dreams can be dangerous.

(Original to sub-Q, March 20, 2018)

Our March “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias was all about branching–why to do it, and how.

April

April showers bring spring flowers. Another thing they brought us was “Nine Moments in Fairyland” by Hannah Powell-Smith, a short, sharp scattering of a game about catastrophe and the fair folk.

He wanted me to stay.

(Original to sub-Q, April 17th, 2018)

Our April “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias dug into testing, with suggestions and how to go beyond the basics.

May

The greatest threat to any system is its users.

(Original to sub-Q, May 15th, 2018)

Our May “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias was all about procedural generation.

We also ran a piece by Anya Johanna DeNiro in May which talked about interactive poetry and Andrew Plotkin’s “The Space Under the Window.”

June

In June, we went far beyond the bounds of any one world with Andrew Plotkin’s “Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home,” a parser-based adventure set in a faraway galaxy.

When you weary of everything in the world…

(Reprinted from @party, June 2010)

Our June “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias was part one of a 2-part essay on narrative design for writers.

July

July’s game, “The Hidden King” by dcsross, swapped out boundless space for confinement, as reality and fantasy blur. Is the narrator a lycanthrope? Just disoriented? Which is worse?

The city makes kings of wolves, and wolves of kings.

(Original to sub-Q, July 17, 2018)

Our July “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias was the second part of the narrative design essay.

August

“John Kills Jenny” by S Dean puts you in the place of a convicted murderer. Why did John kill Jenny, though? And will the form of rehabilitation he’s been assigned to by the court ever really help?

Every choice matters, so pick your options carefully.

(Original to sub-Q, August 14, 2018)

Our August “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias talked about scenes as a unit of structure in interactive narratives.

September

“Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since Last Patient Death: 0” by Caroline M. Yoachim was our September game. Take a chance and try to survive a trip to the clinic in this hilarious jab at Choose Your Own Adventure stories. (Don’t forget to read the FAQ.)

If this is an emergency, we’re sorry—you’re probably screwed.

(Reprinted from Lightspeed Magazine, March 2016)

Our September “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias talked about how, when, and why to adapt from other genres.

October

In October, we published “Queers in Love at the End of the World” by Anna Anthropy. You have just ten seconds to act in this essential piece of contemporary IF. How do you show your loved one you care?

Everything is wiped away.

(Reprinted from itch.io, March 2013)

Our October “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias returned to branching for a more in-depth look, with a focus on branching and then merging again.

November

November’s game was “Ocean’s Call,” the second original piece of interactive fiction we published in 2018 from Jac Colvin. This one takes a more sustained dive into the water than “Lost Ones,” exploring our connection with the ocean and what lies deep beneath.

The ocean calls… Will you answer?

(Original to sub-Q, publication date November 20, 2018)

Our November “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias also dove beneath the surface to look at character interiority.

December

In December, we published “Thanks for the Memories” by Erin Roberts. In a world where memories are bought and sold, what does it mean to remember yourself? What does it mean to even have a “yourself”? Can you regain it once you’ve lost everything?

Could you piece your life together one memory at a time?

(Original to sub-Q, publication date December 18, 2018)

Our December “Making Interactive Fiction” column from Bruno Dias talked about some of the benefits and drawbacks of interactive anthologies.

December also saw the completion of our first annual subQJam over on itch.io. We had 28 fantastic entries of very short IF on the theme of love, and will be publishing several of them in February.

You can check out the entries over on itch.io now, though!

2018, dang.

Phew–quite a year!

What was your favourite game? Your favourite essay?  Did you take part in our game jam?

Take a moment to think back and share your thoughts with us on Twitter,  Facebook, or Discord–we’d love to hear from you!

The post sub-Q’s 2018 in review! appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

This month on the 18th, we’ll be bringing you “Thanks for the Memories,” an original sci-fi piece from author and game writer Erin Roberts.

On the 25th, we’ll feature a guest interview with Erin, where she talks about her process for the game and IF in general.

And of course, next Tuesday, the 11th, will be our regular column from Bruno on Making Interactive Fiction, this time on the topic of anthology games. (New to that term? Check out Ryan Veeder’s Tales from Castle Balderstone, which took 1st place in the Grand Guignol category of this year’s EctoComp.)

February Issue Invited Authors

In other exciting news, I’m pleased to be able to reveal our invited authors for the #subQjam February issue!

Joining the two completed pieces of IF we select from our itch.io-hosted game jam, and the two proposals we select from our Submittable queue will be an original piece from Olivia Wood and another from Cassandra Khaw and James Persaud.

Read on to learn more about our intrepid contributors!

Olivia Wood works as an editor and writer both freelance and for Failbetter Games (Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies). She has written for the award winning narrative game Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, and is working on the next game of the BAFTA-nominated studio, the Pixel Hunt.

She was selected by BAFTA in 2017 as a Breakthrough Brit. Olivia works with clients to create narrative designs with strong story arcs and writes character-driven stories that marry human relationships to fantastical environments.

Cassandra Khaw is an award-winning games writer, an award-nominated author, represented by Michael Curry of DMLA, and a scriptwriter at Ubisoft Montreal.

James Persaud is a games industry veteran who has done programming for the likes of Paradox, Firefly Studios, Blue Byte, and Rovio. He tweets sometimes as @goffmog and is very fond of owls.

We can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with on our theme of “love”, and hope you’ll consider sending in a game or a proposal as well—if you haven’t already! You can find more information about our game jam and proposal queue here: https://sub-q.com/subqjam-2018-now-open/

The post Table of Contents – December, 2018 (Plus, author reveal for our game jam!) appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

The catch? All those submissions must be limited to 1000 words of prose, or 9 panels, put before the player. (Full rules and conditions can be found at either of the links above.)

Altogether, we’ll choose four pieces from four different author/artist/developers to run in our February 2019 issue at our standard rates.

Since today is November 15th, that game jam and the submission window for proposals are officially open! Both will close for entries at the end of the day (Pacific Time) on December 15th, and we hope to be able to make our final selections by early January.

Links for both the game jam and the proposal submission window are above, or you can click through below!

Game Jam: https://itch.io/jam/subqjam

Proposal Submissions: https://tinyurl.com/subQjam18

Our February issue will also feature a 1000-word-or-less game on the theme of “love” from two invited authors, to complement the entries we accept from the game jam and the proposal submission window. Those authors will be announced soon!

Excited yet? We know we are! We can’t wait to dive in to all the submitted games and proposals.

Got questions? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, itch.io, or by e-mailing stewart@sub-q.com

The post #subQjam Open for Game and Proposal Entries through December 15th appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

We have some exciting things going on this month, not least of which is our second game from author Jac Colvin, whose Russalka game “Lost Ones” we published back in March. This month’s game, “Ocean’s Call,” features a different kind of supernatural water creature, and one that’s just as steeped in mythology as “Lost Ones.” We can’t wait to share it with you!

Another similarity between the two games is that both are written in choicescript. Choice of Games has been generous enough to support us in publishing these games, and we’re happy to have them as collaborators on and sponsors of this month’s issue!

If you like what you see, you can find more (and lengthier!) choicescript games in their hefty online catalogue.

“Ocean’s Call” will go live on November 20th. (Can’t wait until then? Our Patreon backers already have access!)

We’ll also feature an interview with the author, Jac Colvin, the week after, and should have more content to announce as the month continues.

And don’t forget to check out subQjam, our first hosted game jam, which is taking entries of 1000 words or less on the theme of “love” from November 15th through December 15th! Two entries will receive publication in our February 2019 issue, with pay at our standard rates.

In addition to the jam, we’ll be taking proposal submissions to a limited-time themed Submittable window that runs during the same dates. Again, the plan is to publish two of the best of these in the February 2019 issue.

Finally, we hope to be able to announce around the start of the jam some solicited authors who will be rounding out that issue.

Don’t miss your chance to participate!

The post Table of Contents – November, 2018 appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

That unusual design choice is part of what gives the game such a forceful, compelling impact—a sense of urgency and hopelessness and hopefulness all tumbled into one. Several of the other games we have posted over the years have used hard limits to tell stories in a very small space.

JY Yang’s “Before the Storm Hits,” for instance, limits the amount of choices you can take before you have to leave Earth behind you forever. Chandler Groover’s “What Fuwa Bansaku Found” constrains the player in other ways, limiting the directions they can move in to a simple advance or retreat through the rooms of a single shrine. Caroline M. Yoachim’s “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since Last Patient Death: 0” limits the player to the letters of the alphabet—more or less.

Although the limits placed on these games might make storytelling more challenging, they’re all great examples of how constraints can drive innovation, generate new forms of creativity—and in the case of interactive fiction in particular—create some pretty neat gameplay in terms of choice-making and the structure of the finished work.

With that in mind, we’ve put together a little something new for all of you Interactive Fiction aficionados! I’m very pleased to announce the first subQjam.

subQwhat?

subQjam is part game jam, part special issue of sub-Q Magazine.

From November 15 to December 15, we’ll be hosting a game jam open to very short pieces of interactive fiction or sequential art on the theme of love. We’ll also be accepting submissions for interactive fiction proposals through our Submittable portal for authors new to the idea of interactive fiction.

The catch? All those submissions must be limited to 1000 words of prose, or 9 panels, put before the player.

Altogether, we’ll choose four pieces from four different author/artist/developers to run in our February 2019 issue at our standard rates, alongside two solicited pieces from special guest authors who will be announced on the day the jam starts!

How to Enter

Option 1: game jam

If you’re already comfortable creating Interactive Fiction, head on over to itch.io and sign up for subQjam.

You can create your submission with Twine, TADS, Inform, ChoiceScript, StoryLab, Quest, Unity, custom HTML5, or any other method, so long as it runs in modern browsers.

Enter your piece between November 15 and December 15 of 2018, and then vote on entries before December 30th. Out of all the entries, we’ll publish two: one of these will be chosen by the submitters and the other will be an “editors’ choice” selection, chosen by the editors and first readers of sub-Q Magazine.

(For full rules and conditions for the jam, check the jam page at itch.io!)

Option 2: submit a proposal

If you’re intrigued by the idea of writing interactive fiction but don’t feel like you quite have the skill set for it, or you’re intimidated by the thought of trying, we would love to see a proposal from you instead. Unlike the game jam, authors or artists submitting a proposal don’t need to have a completed piece of sequential art or interactive fiction for us to review. Instead, you’ll just need your completed prose or completed art, along with a proposal for interactivity that tells us how the piece would be made interactive.

For example, if your idea is a dungeon crawl through the inside of a demonic love hotel, you could send us your 1000 words of room descriptions, action descriptions, narration, and other prose, along with a summary of how those pieces would be put together to form a playable piece of interactive fiction. If you want to build a procedurally generated love poem locked room mystery puzzle, send us your vocabulary and your words, along with how those would be combined into an interactive narrative.

The sub-Q editorial team will work with the authors/artists of two selected submissions to turn the proposal into a finished work.

The portal for interactive fiction proposals will appear on our submissions page on November 15th, and will vanish again at the end of the day on December 15th. We aim to respond to all submissions by the end of December. So get those pens and keyboards ready!

Rules and Conditions

Regardless of whether you take part in the game jam or submit through our Submittable portal for proposals, the following rules and conditions apply:

• 1000 words of prose presented before the reader or 9 panels of sequential art. This means that there can be any amount of interactivity happening behind the scenes but the piece should only present 1000 words or 9 panels of sequential art maximum before the reader.
• Although entries should clearly meet the theme, all interpretations of “love,” whether they be platonic, romantic, filial, friendly, anthropomorphized versions involving esoteric relationships with abstract concepts, bromantic, etcetera. Non-heteronormative and aro/ace interpretations of our theme are especially welcome!
• To be eligible for publication, your piece must not contain torture; gore; revenge fantasy; ableism, racism, sexism, or any other kind of discriminatory content; excessive sex, violence, or profanity; child abuse; animal abuse; sexual assault; fan fiction; or erotica.
• All submissions must be previously unpublished original works.
• Final publication of the winning jam entries and/or proposal submissions is solely at the discretion of sub-Q Magazine. We reserve the right to ask for edits, tweaks, and other changes, and to disqualify winning jam entries and/or proposal submissions that we deem have not followed our rules and conditions.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this, drop us a line to stewart@sub-q.com, stop by our Discord server or the subQjam community page on itch.io, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.

We can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

The post Announcing Sub-Q Jam, a Game Jam and Limited Submission Window from sub-Q Magazine! appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

One of the reasons I like fall so much is the reaction that gathering dark pulls out of people. There’s a tendency to gather, to light fires, to celebrate life as a way of pushing back against the gloom. A tendency to push toward some kind of action that lets the world know you’re still here, still fighting.

That’s a message I think is very useful in times like ours, and this month’s game—”Queers in Love at the End of the World,” by Anna Anthropy—explores similar themes in a very tight space. The end of the world is 10 seconds away: how will you spend those last precious moments of time?

So here’s this month’s table of contents:

October 9th: Bruno Dias brings us his Making Interactive Fiction column, this time with a focus on bottle-necks and branching.

October 16th: Our game of the month, “Queers in Love at the End of the World” by Anna Anthropy.

October 23rd: Our monthly author interview, featuring Anna Anthropy and editor Natalia Theodoridou.

(P.S. We also hope to have a special announcement ready to go some time this month, so stay tuned for that!)

The post Table of Contents – October, 2018 appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.

So the first time I saw a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) book in my school’s library, I was excited. It was like the best of both worlds! I got to be in control of the characters, just like in a computer game, but I also got the engrossing word-joy of reading. Plus I could carry it with me and jump in whenever (it was a few years before Game Boy was a thing).

What wasn’t to like? I checked it out on the spot, took it home, and cracked it open, eager to dive in.

And then I died on page 2. And then I died on page 26. And then…  Well, you get the picture. And if you’ve ever played a CYOA book, you’re probably not surprised.

Whether or not you have any idea what I’m talking about here, you’re in for a special treat this month, with an adaptation of “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0” by Nebula- and Hugo-nominated author Caroline M. Yoachim (whose initials oh-so-coincidentally have the letters CYOA in them in that order).

“Welcome” puts you straight into the story—even if it doesn’t put U into the story—and, well…  It just has to be experienced, really. Anything I can say would just cheapen it.

Here’s what else we have for you this month:

September 11th: Our regular column from Bruno Dias, this month about recognizing and adapting ideas from other genres to interactive fiction.

September 18th: Our game of the month, “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0.” (Don’t want to wait? Patreon subscribers get early access to our games. Sign up for our Patreon.)

September 25th: An author interview with Caroline M. Yoachim.

The post Table of Contents – September, 2018 appeared first on sub-Q Magazine.