24.6. IFDB: The Interactive Fiction Database

| Chapter 24: Publishing |

| 24.6. IFDB: The Interactive Fiction Database

Once the story file has a home online, and a URL (that is, a web address) at which it can be found, it needs to be registered with IFDB:

> http://ifdb.tads.org/

the Interactive Fiction Database. Just as the IF Archive is a repository for games themselves, IFDB is a database containing information about them - titles, authors, locations, solutions, reviews, recommendation lists and more.

The name IFDB echoes the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), but in some ways it is also like the iTunes Music Store. For one thing, it's a shop-window for what's new, with cover art to catch the eye. For another, some interpreters allow players to browse IFDB directly and launch new games in a single click. This kind of integration is only likely to increase, so story files unregistered on IFDB are likely to be much less visible to players of the future. Promoting IF is all about pulling in impulse players -- people who are passingly interested, but might not try the game if there is any significant work involved is setting it up. This is what IFDB is all about.

IFDB is community-editable, like Wikipedia, though editors are required to create an account and log in first -- this is free, of course. A standard form is provided for creating a new record (accessible by selecting the option to add a game listing). More or less the same information that appears on Inform's library card in the Contents index needs to be copied over: there's space for the author name, game title, genre, and so on. IFDB will also ask for an IFID, a code identifying the game uniquely. Inform generates one of these automatically for each project, and it, too, is on the Library Card. It can always be found by typing VERSION into the compiled game and looking at the line that says

Identification number: //[some letters and numbers]//

The part between the // marks is the IFID. If there's cover art, that can also be uploaded, and good cover art makes a big difference to shop-window-appeal.

The download link should give the most stable URL available. If you have not yet uploaded your game to the IF Archive, you may do so by selecting the "Upload it to the IF Archive" link instead of pressing the "Add a Link" button. The benefits of submitting your game to the IF Archive in this manner are two-fold. One, IFDB will fill in much of the information required by the IF Archive for you. Two, the link to your game will not appear until the IF Archive maintainers move it to its permanent home in the archive, at which point the download link will be automatically updated and presented on the game page.

If you choose to upload your story file to the IF Archive independent of IFDB, then once the story file is safely up at its permanent home on the IF Archive, that is an ideal address to quote here. Otherwise, the URL of the work's own website is best. (Note that the IFDB entry can always be edited later, if the URL moves.)

Commercial works which aren't available as free downloads can be registered on IFDB just the same, and this is almost certainly a good idea.

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