The mighty, infallible Snoother emerges once more into his sunlit arena of triumph. After the resounding success of his last entry, Beneath the Surface, he honours his colourful assortment of omnipresent fans by announcing his second involvement with Ludum Dare.

Okay okay. The more apt description is perhaps one employed by none other than Bertie Wooster: “like a fairly diffident snail poking its head out of its shell during a thunderstorm.” Ludum Dare is frightening, tense, thunderous. And I’m the nervous, timid sort who nevertheless can’t help but take on the challenge.

Plus, it was just so damn enjoyable and rewarding last time round. For once I actually completed a project, rather than them just being little Catholic embryos stranded in limbo. (Yes, I know the church reversed its policies to allow babies into Heaven. The church is compassionate like that. Just look at this current pope. He thinks I should be treated with dignity — well how nice of him! Just because you’re more liberal than Islam doesn’t make you moral. Rant over.) The game wasn’t too shabby either. Admittedly, I think it did a bit better than it should have because of its immediate shock value, but still, for my first compo I was (and am) pretty proud.

So I’ll be entering the compo again if all goes to plan, and once more I’ll be using Twine, a tool for authoring hypertext games.

Of the themes put forward so far, the following seem to furnish my mind with inspiration: Connected Worlds; No One Can See You; You Must Leave it Behind; Isolation; Love; The Other Side; This Happens to Me Every Day. I think it’s obvious that I tend towards the more narrative-friendly and potentially-emotive ideas. But that’s just my thing. I am, after all, a pompous-as-fuck hypertext author — albeit not a particularly good one.

Right. I’m excited about this. And actually, I can’t wait to see what others produce, perhaps even more so than seeing what I produce. Last time I played so many fabulous entries and had a wonderful time doing so. This time will doubtless be no different.

–Snoother