Galatea

Galatea
Game
Main links	Play onlineDownload IFDB IF Archive
Published	2000
Credits
Author	Emily Short
Reception
Events	2000 IF Art Show Best of Show XYZZY Awards 2000 Winner: Best Individual NPC XYZZY Awards 2000 Finalist: Best Game, Best NPCs
IFDB rating	4 out of 5 (368 ratings)
Gameplay
Interaction style	Parser
Literary genre	Drama
Location	One-room
Language	English
Cruelty scale	Merciful
IFDB play time	8 minutes
Accessibility	Colour: none. Graphics: none. Sound: none.
Technical details
Authoring system	Inform 6
Format	Z-code
License	Freeware
IFID	ZCODE-1-000324-90B2, ZCODE-2-000825-D202, ZCODE-3-040208-2BC1
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Emily Short's first released interactive fiction piece, where the player interacts with Galatea, a statue of a beautiful woman in an exhibit. The "plot," as it were, revolves around getting to know Galatea's various reactions and behaviors to the different actions done by the player.

Notable features

• Most of the game is a rich implementation of conversation using the ask/tell system.
• Many different endings are possible. However, endings are not split into winning and losing endings; there is no score.
• The game is an interpretation of the Roman myth of Pygmalion and Galatea.

Versions

Release 1 (Competition release)

Date: 2000

• Galatea (Emily Short; 2000; Z-code 5).
  • Release 1 / Serial number 000324 / Inform v6.15 Library 6/7
  • IFID: ZCODE-1-000324-90B2
    IFID links: IFDB, IFDB cover
  • 2000 IF Art Show: entered in Portrait division; winner of Best of Show.
  • XYZZY Awards 2000: Winner of Best Individual NPC (Galatea). Finalist for Best Game and Best NPCs.
  • Download galatea.z5 from the IF Archive

Release 2

Date: 2000

• Galatea (Emily Short; 2000; Z-code 8).
  • Release 2 / Serial number 000825 / Inform v6.15 Library 6/7
  • IFID: ZCODE-2-000825-D202
    IFID links: IFDB, IFDB cover
  • Download Galatea.z8 from The Internet Archive.

Release 3

Date: 2004

• Galatea (Emily Short; 2004; Z-code 8).
  • Release 3 / Serial number 040208 / Inform v6.15 Library 6/10
  • IFID: ZCODE-3-040208-2BC1
    IFID links: IFDB, IFDB cover
  • Download Galatea.z8 from the IF Archive
  • Or download Galatea.zblorb from inform-fiction.org.
  • Note: Galatea was also published as part of the Electronic Literature Collection Volume One in October 2006. See the collection's Galatea page. The z8 file in that collection is a perfect binary match for Release 3.

Links

N.B. Many IF Archive games are temporarily unavailable in the UK.

General info

• Galatea - Galatea homepage.
• Galatea (archived) - at Baf's Guide.
• Galatea - at IFDB.
• Galatea (portal) - 2000's work at 50 Years of Text Games.
• Galatea - at Home of the Underdogs.
• Galatea - at Electronic Literature Collection Volume One.
• Galatea (computer game) - at Wikipedia.
• Examples of Interactive Fiction at inform-fiction.org, where Galatea has an entry.

Reviews

• Galatea - at IF Ratings.
• Galatea - at IFReviews.org.
• IF Art Show reviews by Sam Barlow, Ian Finley, Marnie Parker, and Michael J. Roberts.
• Review by Adam Cadre.
• IF-Review review by Jonathan Rosebaugh.
• Review by Dan Shiovitz.
• SPAG review by Duncan Stevens.

Spoilers

• A glimpse into all the various assorted endings featured on release 3. (Interactive Fiction Wiki)
• ClubFloyd transcript.

Note: To refer to this game from another page, you can type {{game citation|Galatea}}. This will display as Galatea (Emily Short; 2000; Inform 6; Z-code).

Date: 2000

Date: 2000

Date: 2004