I am announcing this out loud

I am going to take part in the "One Game a Month" Challenge.  Details here: http://onegameamonth.com/

For my purposes, I am going to define "releasing a game" as
- a rough version of a game created from scratch
- a polished version of a previously released game
- a complete path in a partially completed game

My calendar of games:

January
Kitten Crusade
New GUI designed by Graph
Tighten up the story
Add some more plots

February
Villain of Villeins 
Turn Based Web game involving poor peasant farmers and tax collectors

March
NaNoRenO
A new game from scratch
Something Fairytale-ish

April
Ludum Dare
48 hour Challenge

May
Christian HO game
A hidden object game with Christian theme based on 24 hour comic I drew

June
Camp Renard
Finish coding for Dale's path
Add James' path

July:
???

August
Ludum Dare
48 Hour Challenge

September:
???

October:
???

November:
???

December:
Ludum Dare
48 Hour Challenge

Stuff I could work on:

You Don't Need to be Alone: Rewrite story completely, fix GUI, rename it to something sensible
The House that Bled Paint: Edit the story, fix the logic, split story in two
All Are Invited: Lots of editing, fix JavaScript bugs, finish the story
CRS Escape IF version:  Making a parser text version for no other reason except I can
Tiny World: Multi User version, framing story, new card types
Dot-to-Dot: I have a game mechanic, just need a game to go with it
Make a Game with Me: Make a game and blog all the steps I took to make it; encouraging other people to join in.  I might do this during NaNoRenO

Or any of my other games I've worked on.

My hope is that by concentrating on one game a month, I might actually make progress rather than be distracted/depressed by all my other unfinished games.

Susan

IFs I've played recently that I have enjoyed

I was writing this as a reply to a comment made by @Obsura, but I thought it might do better as a full post.

IFs I've played recently that I have enjoyed

Photopia by Adam Cadre
Author site: http://adamcadre.ac/if.html
Play Online: http://adamcadre.ac/if/photopia.html

Well worth downloading and playing offline just to get the graphics.

This one was a game changer for me.  It is a story that can only be told in IF but goes beyond what I'd read before.

Read the PHAQ after you play: http://adamcadre.ac/content/phaq.txt


Lost Pig by GRUNK as told to Admiral Jota
Play Online: http://www.grunk.org/lostpig/

This one is short and fun and hits all the things I like in an IF.  I never sat around trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.  The puzzles were clever and well thought out.




Violet by Jeremy Freese
IFDB page: http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=4glrrfh7wrp9zz7b
Play Online: http://iplayif.com/?story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifarchive.org%2Fif-archive%2Fgames%2Fzcode%2FViolet.zblorb

This one is SOOOOOO funny.  I love Violet's voice.  It took me a bit to get into the swing of the game. It is like a ridiculous movie where things just get stranger and stranger.  Not your typical IF.


The Play by Deirdra Kiai
Play Online: http://www.deirdrakiai.com/theplay/

This is more CYOA than IF.  It uses the Undum engine.  It is a story with surprising depth. Like a CYOA, you make choices as the story progresses.  Like an IF, you can pause and look at something with greater detail.



Please note: I have played some recently that I did not enjoy so much.  Most of them I was sitting around trying to figure out WTF I was supposed to do.  They were like a really bad role-playing session were the GM doesn't let you see your character sheet then opens with: "You are in a blank room, what do you do?"  I know nothing of the game world and nothing about my characters motivations.  My standard reaction now is "I sit down and knit." And proceed to Live-Action Role-playing by actually pulling out my knitting.

PS: Knitting at actual LARPs is really rather fun. NPCs that were a half my age couldn't understand why I didn't want to run around in the woods in the rain and would rather sit in the "Inn" and knit.