Photopia is a piece of literature by Adam Cadre rendered in the form of interactive fiction, and written in Inform. It is regarded as a pioneer in narrative-driven, rather than puzzle- or challenge-driven, interactive fiction, and is perhaps the most successful example of this genre to date. It won first place in the 1998 Interactive Fiction Competition.

Photopia has few puzzles and a linear structure, allowing the player no way to alter the eventual conclusion but maintaining the illusion of non-linearity. This gives horrendous and deeply felt weight to some of the story's motifs -- questions of free will and determinism. Photopia is thus effective in part because it subverts the expectation that one has upon encountering a piece of interactive fiction: that one's actions will have consequences.

Trivia

---

• Adam Cadre has stated that Photopia was heavily influenced by The Sweet Hereafter, a film that prominently features a babysitter and a bus crash.
• Adam Cadre submitted Photopia to the 1998 Interactive Fiction Competition pseudonymously. He felt that his previous game I-0 would inspire certain expectations in players, since in that game the player character is a young college student who could be instructed to undress. ^*

More on [ Photopia ]

Photopia - Twitter Search

RSS remains robust: (image credit HiMY SYeD / photopia) RWW posted an engaging piece just before Christmas on the ... http://bit.ly/6wRwC1
moreovertech (MoreoverTechnologies) Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:03:34 -0000
RSS remains robust: (image credit HiMY SYeD / photopia) RWW posted an engaging piece just before Christmas on the ... http://bit.ly/6wRwC1
Fluorescence and the Taxonomy of Material Affects / Photopia ... http://bit.ly/4qdYYr
BlackLightInfo (Paul H) Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:38:29 -0000
Fluorescence and the Taxonomy of Material Affects / Photopia ... http://bit.ly/4qdYYr
Photopia Day Two: Here's the Photopia wrap up. It ended this morning before 6:00am. Believe it or not, th... http://bit.ly/6iaINH #SBNEWS
Edhat (Ed) Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:29:10 -0000
Photopia Day Two: Here's the Photopia wrap up. It ended this morning before 6:00am. Believe it or not, th... http://bit.ly/6iaINH #SBNEWS

Subscribe to Photopia RSS feed