Photopia

From IFWiki

Drama
Drama
Blue IF comp ribbon.png
IF Comp 1998
1st of 27
Two trophies.png
XYZZY Awards 1998
Best Writing and Best Story
Five white ribbons.png
XYZZY Awards 1998
Finalist - Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Individual NPC, Best Use of Medium
Photopia
a.k.a. Fotopia
Author(s) Adam Cadre
Publisher(s) n/a
Release date(s) Oct-1998
Authoring system Inform
Platform(s) Z-code, Glulx
Language(s) English, Spanish
License(s) Freeware
Multimedia
Color effects optional
Graphics none
Sound/Music none
Ratings
Cruelty scale Merciful

How It Begins

(The game asks if you would like color and instructions. Someone suggests: "Let's tell a story together.")

You are some dude regaining consciousness after a day on the slopes and too much alcohol. It's after midnight. You're in your car and carrying nothing. Your buddy Rob is driving, speeding down Montgomery Boulevard. Perhaps you want Rob to stop or slow down or find out more about those chicks you two hooked up with. But before you can do anything, you see a red light.

Now you're Wendy Mackaye, first girl on the red planet. You are at the landing site in your spacesuit. An orbiter blew up, scattering pieces of itself and stuff for a new colony all over the landscape. Your mission is to find any piece of that equipment that's still functioning.

Notable Features

  • There are multiple PCs. The story is told out of order through multiple viewpoints.
  • The game is highly linear; it also has many puzzleless sections and relatively easy puzzles in others, encouraging rapid advancement of the plot. It has been the focus of much discussion on linearity and difficulty within IF.
  • Some of the game is a story-within-a-story.
  • Each section is color-coded. The choice of colors is not arbitrary; each color fits its section in some way.
  • The game uses conversation menus when talking to the NPCs.

Versions

Competition Release (color)

Competition Release (black and white)

Z-code version 1.22

MS-DOS version 1.22

PalmOS version 1.22

Spanish translation version 1.23.1E

Glulx version 2.01

Russian translation

Links

General info

Reviews

Spoilers