Language and the Interface was part of the international conference “Digital Literary Studies” hosted by the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Coimbra, May 14-15, 2015. They showed off a number of text-based interactive works, including Galatea, 18 Cadence, and Facade.
The website offers extra background on all the exhibits shown, and links to many of them to play online. I was particularly amused by the underachiever’s platformer Nothing You Have Done Deserves Such Praise, which offers explosions and lavish compliments when the player manages to do things like falling off a ledge — but there’s a lot else to check out here, especially for those interested in interactive poetry and the less game-like relatives of interactive fiction.
Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling 
If only I could have someone in real life to lavish praise on me for the ability to constantly bump into walls! Thanks for the recommendation. There are so many different types of wish fulfilment.
*wanders off to design a game based on peeling lint off the dryer filter*
Felicity Banks