Classic: Photopia

By: Paul Eres

On: June 4th, 2009

Photopia by Adam Cadre is probably his most famous interactive fiction. It was released in 1998 for an IF contest (which it won). I don’t play IF games that often because their puzzles can often be maddeningly obscure, but this is an exception, and is one of my favorite games — it’s not a typical IF game.

As much as I hate when others say this, Photopia is a game that it’s best to go into unprepared for, without knowing what to expect. Expectations can affect the experience. But I’ll at least say that it’s short, very well-written, that it involves only a single puzzle, and that it’s linear. If that isn’t your cup of tea, ignore this post. There are a lot of things about it which don’t make sense until the end. The nature of its single puzzle and its ending are the things people tend to remember about it.

Cadre’s other IF are worth checking out too — he personally feels that his best work is Varicella (also found on that same page), because it is a full world and Photopia is more of a short story, but Photopia is probably better for the casual IF user since it’s less difficult to get into.

TIGdb: Entry for Photopia

Posted in Freeware, Highly Recommended, Interactive Fiction, Unique / Bizarre | Tags: AdamCadre

http://www.dreamofwinds.com/lonely/ Mike

I wish it was classics week every week.
Benerhos

In my opinion, Jailbait on Interstate Zero is a much better game.
Paul Eres

haven’t tried that one yet — will eventually
crukid

I played Photopia years ago and I think of it as one of my most memorable IF experiences…definitely worth playing!
http://www.legalarcade.com Nathaniel Edwards

Don’t listen to Benerhos, Paul. Photopia is way better than I-0.
Benerhos

To each his own, I guess.
Paul Eres

to echo something i posted in the forums recently, i don’t really think of games as ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than other games, that’s kinda simplistic. any game is great if approached in the right way, and any game is awful if approached in the wrong way
torsion

I love these games, but I grew up with them. A random play through some of the XYZZY awards winners shows some amazing work. Are these still growing an audience or is it just old people like myself?
Paul Eres

hopefully posting it here will help grow the audience — i think they’re growing to at least some degree though, cause photopia was the first IF game i ever played, i didn’t grow up playing them
Maskfield

Oh god that was so sad.
Maskfield

In a good way, I mean. I wasn’t expecting to be sad after playing a game, though.
Ezuku

Ah, I played this before in the past. Amazing game, very moving.
marcel

im stuck. What do i do on the Red scene?
Paul Eres

in the red area, pick up the pod (just type ‘take’ on a certain area), then go back to the ship
Paul Eres

i think you need to type ‘go in ship’ or something too, after you have the pod, in order to get into it

(this is not the ‘one puzzle’ i mentioned — that comes later)
Paul Eres

also @maskfield, yeah, it’s more of a “sadlet” (zarathustra’s term) than a game, but i just said ‘game’ out of habit
what

When in doubt in the stranger scenes, just fly away.

9:05 was the best, though.
cm

All of that guy’s games are pretty great. I enjoyed Textfire Golf more than I like to admit. But… like… has anyone ever beaten Varicella without a walkthrough? Seriously, that thing is less a game and more a rubik’s cube.
Rats808

Wow.
Just wow.
…I agree with what Wendy says,why can’t we hear the rest?
someone

I’m enjoying it so far but the game telling me what some words mean is kind of irritating, eg “arresting means it makes you stop and look”. Is it written for children or is there some purpose to it?
cm

In the sections that do that, Ally is telling Wendy a story. So yes, they’re speaking to a small child.
evktalo

Thanks for posting this. It was quite wonderful. I’ve played 9:05 before, so Cadre’s games weren’t totally new to me – I’ve been meaning to check out more of them for years, so thanks for nudging me over the edge on this one.. It was easy to try out through the jnlp implementation.

someone: Yeah, there is.

–Eino
Paul Eres

yes, there is a very important reason that long words are being defined, you only find out later. as i said, there are things in the game that don’t make sense until the end.
Inigo

Is this the same Adam Cadre responsible for the MSTing of The Eye of Argon?
Paul Eres

yes, the same.
Sergio

I found this game incredibly depressing, but I suppose it was enjoyable or I am at least glad I played it. Thanks.
Paul Eres

i didn’t really find it too depressing, but if i discuss it i’d spoil it for those who haven’t gotten to the end yet :D
Sergio

Yes, I was trying not to spoil anything. I’d like to discuss it though…

I’d be interested to know, what did you find memorable about “the nature of its single puzzle”?
Paul Eres

i just liked the puzzle a lot, since it was unexpected — he discusses it a bit in his ‘making of photopia’ article here (about halfway down):

http://adamcadre.ac/content/phaq.txt
Paul Eres

i just re-read that phaq, it’s pretty great — it’s not to be read unless you finished the game first though!
Sergio

That was a great read… I especially loved the ending. There was one thing, though:

“The last thing I wanted was for players to spend half an hour trying to get Wendy to undress.”

What? I guess this is some reference to I-0, which I haven’t played, but it sounds pretty bad…
Jay

i was loking for htis game but i forgot the name! and there it is! great!
nicholas

this is excellent. I love how the stories click together. I think Steve Yegge should do IF.