Editing Photopia

{{Short description|1998 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
|title= Photopia
|image=Photopia computer game screenshot.png
|developer=[[Adam Cadre]]
|publisher=Self published
|designer=[[Adam Cadre]]
|engine=[[Z-machine]]
|released= 1998
|genre= [[interactive fiction]], [[Adventure game|adventure]]
|platforms= [[Z-machine]], glulx
|modes=[[Single player]]
}}

'''''Photopia''''' is a piece of literature by [[Adam Cadre]] rendered in the form of [[interactive fiction]], and written in [[Inform]]. It has received both praise and criticism for its heavy focus on  fiction rather than on interactivity.<ref name=xyz/> It won first place in the 1998 [[Interactive Fiction Competition]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ifcomp.org/comp98/ |title=4th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition |year=1998 |website=ifcomp.org |publisher= |accessdate=May 31, 2013}}</ref>
''Photopia'' has few puzzles and a linear structure,<ref name="playthisthing">{{cite web
| url = http://playthisthing.com/photopia
| title = Photopia: Taking the term "Interactive Fiction" to a new level.
| accessdate = October 30, 2008
| date = 2008-03-24
| author = Therum
| work = Play This Thing
| publisher = [[Manifesto Games]], Inc.
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20081013065546/http://playthisthing.com/photopia
| url-status = dead
| archivedate = October 13, 2008
}}
</ref> allowing the player no way to alter the eventual conclusion but maintaining the illusion of non-linearity.

==Development==
Adam Cadre has stated that ''Photopia'' was heavily influenced by ''[[The Sweet Hereafter (film)|The Sweet Hereafter]]'', a film that prominently features a babysitter and a bus crash.<ref name=phaq>{{cite web |url=http://adamcadre.ac/content/phaq.txt |title=Photopia Phaq, v2.1 |last=Cadre |first=Adam |authorlink=Adam Cadre |accessdate=June 2, 2013}}</ref>

He submitted ''Photopia'' to the 1998 Interactive Fiction Competition pseudonymously. He felt that his previous game ''[[I-0 (video game)|I-0]]'' would inspire certain expectations in players, since in that game the playable character is a young college student who could be instructed to undress. Years later, he dropped the pretense that there was a real "Opal O'Donnell" who had submitted Photopia for him, stating: "it started to bother me that v1.0 of the Phaq had lies in it."<ref name=phaq />

==Reception==
At the 1998 [[XYZZY Awards]], the game won in the [[XYZZY Award for Best Writing|Best Writing]] and [[XYZZY Award for Best Story|Best Story]] categories, and was nominated for Best Game, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Individual NPC, and Best Use of Medium.<ref name="ifdb">{{cite web
| url = http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=ju778uv5xaswnlpl
| title = Photopia
| accessdate = May 9, 2017
| date = 2007-10-21
| work = IFDB
| publisher = Michael J. Roberts. 
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20081024045537/http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=ju778uv5xaswnlpl
| archivedate = October 24, 2008
| url-status=live
}}</ref> In 1999, XYZZYnews gave the game a positive review, calling it an "amazing piece of work".<ref name=xyz>{{cite web |url=http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/magazines/XYZZYnews/XYZZY18.TXT |title=XYZZYnews - Issue #18 |last1=Barnwell |first1=Brendan |year=1999 |work=farchive.heanet.ie |publisher= |accessdate=May 9, 2017}}</ref> In 2007, [[Emily Short]] described the game as "hugely influential" and "ground-breaking."<ref name="ifdb" /> In 2012, while reviewing Winter Lake's ''[[Rat Chaos]]'', Short [[hyperlink]]ed ''Photopia'' as a game that "plays with [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]] not in the usual ways [...] discovering you have none."<ref name="Short 2012">{{cite web|last1=Short|first1=Emily|url=https://emshort.blog/2012/11/08/rat-chaos-j-chastain/|title=Rat Chaos (j chastain)|work=Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling|publisher=[[WordPress]]|date=November 8, 2012|accessdate=April 12, 2017}}</ref>

In 2015, the game won first place in the Interactive Fiction Database's "Interactive Fiction Top 50 of all time" contest.<ref name="ifdb" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IFDB|id=ju778uv5xaswnlpl}}
* {{moby game|id=/photopia|name=''Photopia''}}

[[Category:1990s interactive fiction]]
[[Category:1998 video games]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]