Photopia

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Interesting story, not necessarily a great game, June 21, 2010
This is really more of a story than a game. It's interesting and it's compelling. But if you're looking for traditional IF gameplay, this might not be your cup of tea. Not a lot of choices to be made. But when it all comes together there it is intriguing.

Wow, May 20, 2010
I admit, I read the reviews first. I walked into this knowing that there would be little in the way of interactivity.

I've seen few IF games that are more IF, and less GAME. This is one, and it was done very well. Even switching amongst several POVs, the game ties it up nicely. Unfortunately, I figured out what was going on early, and tried to "defy fate", and found it was impossible.

The subject matter itself was varied. I found myself really interested in the space-travelling character, and found myself laughting at the things I took for granted about the character, only to discover that (Spoiler - click to show) she was an angel, not a human . The "other side" concerning Abbey, I found myself upset about, as the author clearly intended. It is a story that is told time and time again (Spoiler - click to show), the warning against drunk driving , but this one told it so well.

There are no puzzles in this game. The conversation is menu based and pretty straightforward. You can't NOT get through it, since it's more reading and less doing. Still, this is a wonderful attempt to use the medium of IF for storytelling, evolving it past the kleptomaniac adventurer puzzle solving that I see it in so much.

Definately worth a play, I mean read, I mean, definately worth looking at.

The pinnacle of interactive fiction, December 20, 2009
Photopia. Real name, no gimmicks.

Story: absolutely entrancing all the time, while the real life segments are better than the story ones; there's some classic Adam Cadre humour ("maybe when you're older" :-)), shame he lost that later, but the main focus is on emotionality, and it totally works! after the end I was like WOW!, and that happened only one other time with an IF game (I-0)

Some other authors who think this is "manipulative" should have a good look in order to learn how to create interesting and likeable characters! It isn't wrong to DREAM, is it...?

Structure: now this is where the game shines

It took me some time to figure out certain things (even though it's mentioned right in the beginning ("let's tell a story together")) - when I finally realized why the complicated words are explained - magic moment!

Interactivity: rather basic, but it's worth looking for every possible response from the game

Replayability: also rather basic, the first time you play it is obviously the best

so what makes this game one of the best of all times: the emotional involvement, the revolutionary structure, and the content that is great all the time, there is some magic in it that cannot be explained with words

groundbreaking

5/5

A Colorful Tale, November 5, 2008
"Photopia," is an intriguing piece that makes great use of color.

The production value of this game is second to none. Typically I am a fan of the elegant simplicity of the plain text interface. I have gone through this work in black and white and in color with the *.z5 file. But by far the best experience is through the blorb file. The use of color is one of the subtle additions to Interactive Fiction.

Through the years, IF has grown beyond mere text. Even in the '80's, Infocom experimented with sound and graphics. Contemporary IF has available high quality graphics, sounds, music, and even colored text.

Without a compelling story, all of the added effects won't make a mediocre game good. The added effects of "Photopia," take an intriguing game and bring it to the next level.

The skill level needed to enjoy this work is minimal. This would be a perfect introduction to IF, especially for those who are coming into the game from a more literary background.

All in all, this is a fine piece of IF that's a pleasure to play.

Not quite the masterpiece it's often touted as, but still well worth playing, April 11, 2008
This is easily one of the half-a-dozen or so most important games of the modern IF era. Importance does not always equate directly with quality, however. I played it again recently out of a desire to know how it holds up a decade later.

Well, it still plays reasonably well, although it's by no means without problems. Most of the complaints one can level at the game have been discussed ad nauseum by this point: it is minimally interactive (often little more than a short story with occasional > prompts), absolutely linear, and offers its player no plot agency whatsoever. Just the idea of a puzzleless work was quite bold in 1998; in 2008, it's old hat, and thus Photopia must completely live or die on the strength of its story.

That story is a pretty good one, but doesn't move me to the extent it does some others. From a purely literary perspective, it's a bit heavy-handed and emotionally manipulative. Alley, the teenage girl at its emotional core, is more of a sentimentalized geek wish-fufillment fantasy ("She's beautiful and charming and she likes science!") than a believable character. Still, and even if Cadre's literary reach exceeds his grasp a bit, the story is head and shoulders above the sort of fantasy or sci-fi pastiche that still marks most IF even today. And there is one moment when the story and gameplay come together beautifully, a moment that still stands for me as one of the most magical in all IF: that perfect guess the verb puzzle in the crystal maze.

"Momento" as Interactive fiction, January 13, 2008
I'm not a big fan of "puzzle-less" games, but I did enjoy this game. Really, I'd have to say it was more like a short story than a game, but it was quite a *good* short story. I'd encourage anyone who plays it to settle in to do some reading, and talk to everyone you can - this is not the time to go rushing to the end. I especially liked seeing the plot lines weave together, it starts out quite disjointed, but everything fits together so snugly by the end, it takes your breath away a bit.

Serious spoilage (really, don't click if you haven't played yet)
(Spoiler - click to show) The really Wow! part for me? In the crystal labyrinth, when you discover you can fly - amazing. That was great.

Interesting but disappointing, January 13, 2008
As one of the first "puzzleless" IF works I tried, I certainly found it very interesting. The scene changes worked well, and with one "wow" and several "ahh" moments, Cadre really is quite the storyteller.

However I found the work really a bit of a disappointment. It was very short, and ended far earlier than I expected. Some scenes were timed and I didn't expect to be given much freedom, but in the other untimed scenes I found the world under-implemented. Most objects had short boring descriptions which often were not even for the object I wanted. And some were not even implemented:
(Spoiler - click to show)Among the ruins of the power plant
The power plant is in substantially worse shape than the living quarters, and considering that those were completely wrecked, that's saying something. Though the fissionable materials were specially packaged to prevent them from exploding, the Geiger counter in your suit indicates that this area is still very radioactive. (I'll explain that part later. For now let's just say it's very dangerous and you should probably be moving along.)

> x power plant
Nothing like that seems to be around.

That said, it was still a worthwhile experience. If you don't expect a full world to play with, this story will give you a lot.

Excellent story-driven piece, November 9, 2007
I really liked this one. The juxtaposition of the two storylines, the non-linear time progression, the use of different voices — all excellent.

The main story is a moving one; but the moment that I felt was the strongest, in the sense that it made me stop and go "oh wow, oh wow, oh wow", actually occurred in the story-within-a-story. It was a small thing, but it really got across one of the reasons why I should care deeply about the main character.

Canonical, October 21, 2007
This is a work so hugely influential to IF development that anyone interested in the history of the form should try it: it experiments with non-linear presentation of time, menu-based conversation, and constrained game-play to support a specific plot. A number of its features look perfectly ordinary now, but were ground-breaking at the time. Photopia's particular form of menu conversation, for instance, was spun off into a library used in a number of other works.

How well does it work, beyond that? Opinions vary. Some people consider it the most moving piece of IF they've ever tried. I personally found it wavered between effective and manipulative, with the main character too saintly to be true. While it was worth playing, it is by no means my favorite piece of character-oriented IF story-telling.

Overwhelming, October 19, 2007
How could a game be exhausting when the puzzles are solvable?

I have not finished the game(yet?). I went as far as the school gym...
But having all these pieces of stories with no real solid link is overwhelming to keep in mind. The only attractive thing is the writing style...
There would be only two or three storylines, it would be nice, and maybe there is only three, who knows? THIS is the problem. (I must say I play with gargoyle, so I don't have the colored interface.)
Giving the fact that playing itself is not really fun I think I will give up.
But something wants me to continue, something wants me to see all the pieces come together at the end...
It is like suffering a long run to get a promised ice cream... but I am beginning to wonder about the taste of the ice cream.


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