Photopia

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 weight to some of the story's motifs -- questions of free will and determinism.

Development

He 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. Years later, he dropped the pretense that "Opal O'Donnell" had written Photopia: "it started to bother me that v1.0 of the Phaq had lies in it."

External links

• Adam Cadre's website Adam is the author of Photopia.
• Interactive Fiction Competition '98 in which Photopia took first place.
• Photopia's entry in Baf's Guide to the Interactive Fiction Archive notes awards that the game has won, links to reviews, and provides links to the game itself.
• XYZZY News review of Photopia