That is so true, and a very beautiful thing to say, that we part of the chain of retellings. It is a tradition of me to use Photopia to entertain the younger ones that pass by my life, either my own daughters, cousins or offspring of friends, omitting the "real episodes" and using only the infantile parts of the game. I do that either playing the real game, or telling an interactive bedtime story version of it - committed from memory.
When time arrive, I remember them of the game and offer them to play the complete game, as I consider they are ready for the grown up experience. It never fails. It is a game that never fails. And it has played an important part on my near circle for several generations
Thanks for writing this – it’s the best analysis of what I think is the most important game in IF history. I was slightly worried you were going to omit it from your half century.
I occasionally play (if that’s the right word) ‘Photopia’ and it still works, even though I soon remember exactly how to proceed through it. The question of whether it’s a game or a work of fiction misses the point, I feel. It is a collaborative effort between the author and player; you fit the pieces of a simple machine together to form an emotional whole. It’s that process of construction that makes it satisfying.
Formally, it was an astonishing use of a medium, both rejecting and celebrating its conventions. The promise of being able to recreate “real” worlds with a natural language parser is impossible to keep, and ‘Photopia’ is up front about that. But that promise is still quite magical, which the fly “puzzle” (which is what I’d call it) joyfully demonstrates.
Cadre is a good writer, able to shift perspective from frat boy to young girl effortlessly while introducing some unsettling narrative tricks. But I have seen this criticised for its over-idealised portrayal of Alley – she’s smart! she tells stories! she loves science! – and I think that’s fair. I suppose he was just 24 when he wrote it, and his next game – ‘Varicella’ – although a more traditional piece of IF, could hardly be described as sentimental; in fact, it’s downright nasty (and well worth a look).
Anyway, thanks for this series – I downloaded Inform 7 again and a slew of games because of it 👍
That is so true, and a very beautiful thing to say, that we part of the chain of retellings. It is a tradition of me to use Photopia to entertain the younger ones that pass by my life, either my own daughters, cousins or offspring of friends, omitting the "real episodes" and using only the infantile parts of the game. I do that either playing the real game, or telling an interactive bedtime story version of it - committed from memory.
When time arrive, I remember them of the game and offer them to play the complete game, as I consider they are ready for the grown up experience. It never fails. It is a game that never fails. And it has played an important part on my near circle for several generations
Thanks for writing this – it’s the best analysis of what I think is the most important game in IF history. I was slightly worried you were going to omit it from your half century.
I occasionally play (if that’s the right word) ‘Photopia’ and it still works, even though I soon remember exactly how to proceed through it. The question of whether it’s a game or a work of fiction misses the point, I feel. It is a collaborative effort between the author and player; you fit the pieces of a simple machine together to form an emotional whole. It’s that process of construction that makes it satisfying.
Formally, it was an astonishing use of a medium, both rejecting and celebrating its conventions. The promise of being able to recreate “real” worlds with a natural language parser is impossible to keep, and ‘Photopia’ is up front about that. But that promise is still quite magical, which the fly “puzzle” (which is what I’d call it) joyfully demonstrates.
Cadre is a good writer, able to shift perspective from frat boy to young girl effortlessly while introducing some unsettling narrative tricks. But I have seen this criticised for its over-idealised portrayal of Alley – she’s smart! she tells stories! she loves science! – and I think that’s fair. I suppose he was just 24 when he wrote it, and his next game – ‘Varicella’ – although a more traditional piece of IF, could hardly be described as sentimental; in fact, it’s downright nasty (and well worth a look).
Anyway, thanks for this series – I downloaded Inform 7 again and a slew of games because of it 👍