JOVIAN_encounter 41 is a text adventure game, but instead of downloading it, you play it using an IRC client. To play, open your IRC client of choice and connect to the server "code.technomancy.us" (port 6667 without TLS or 6697 with TLS). If the server on port 6667 doesn't work, ports 6661-6666 also have servers running at this time.

If you don't already have an IRC client, here are a few that are known to work:

• weechat (terminal-based)
• hexchat (GUI-based, linux/bsd/windows)
• rcirc and ERC (included in Emacs)
• mibbit (web-based, click "server" to enter "code.technomancy.us")
• XChat Aqua (GUI for mac)

When you join, you will be prompted for a nick, which will be how you are referred to in the game. You can leave the password blank. Currently your progress is not saved if you disconnect and reconnect. Everyone joining gets a completely fresh game world, isolated from all other players, as this is a single-player game.

Tip: when a character says a word in [brackets], it means using that word in your reply will move the conversation forward in some way. Technically all you have to do is say that one word, but the game is more fun if you integrate it into a full sentence and make it feel like a real conversation.

In some clients (hexchat) there is a bug where running "/list" doesn't give a complete channel listing. You can say "/msg chanserv list" to get the full listing to work around that bug. There is a bug when playing with Pidgin where joining channels works but private messages don't work; you will need to switch to another client.

To my knowledge, this is the first game of its kind: a single-player interactive fiction story which is played over IRC. If you know of other examples, please leave a comment!

Jam rating disclaimer: while all the game-specific code was written during the period of the jam, this game is built on an engine which was begun last year for a different jam which I ended up not joining because I broke my hand.