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(This analysis was first published in issue 52 of SPAG.)

Metamorphoses is instantly recognisable as a work by Emily Short. Many of her fictional worlds, including that of Metamorphoses, are distant and slightly surreal, described to us as if seen through a veil. These worlds are not our own; they are not even for fantastic or science-fictional version of our world: they follow different rules. What rules? The rules of the symbol, of order, of a totality of meaning.

Objects and people in these worlds do not appear in their individuality: they act as symbols of ideas and principles. And it are these ideas and principles, rather than the objects and people themselves, that dictate what will, can or must happen. There are no brute contingencies; the metaphysical reigns supreme, while the physical and the psychological are relegated to a purely supportive function.

(This analysis was first published in issue 53 of SPAG.)

It is now almost exactly a decade ago that Photopia was released, and in that decade it may well have been discussed more often than any other post-Infocom interactive fiction (with the possible exception of Galatea). All this discussion notwithstanding, the game has been consistently misunderstood; a theme, message and purpose have been attributed to it that it simply does not have, while its true theme, message and purpose (which are in many respects the opposite of those of the received reading) have gone unnoticed. This tenth anniversary of Photopia seems as good an occasion as any to attempt to change this situation.

(This analysis was first published in issue 53 of SPAG.)

Rendition, a political art game by nespresso, has already seen a fair share of discussion. It has no less than seven reviews on the IFDB, it has been featured on Play This Thing!, and it even has its own Wikipedia page--all that in spite of the fact that it cannot have taken the author more than a handful of hours to code it up. Rendition consists of a single, very sparse room, and its game play is incredibly repetitive. So what is all the fuss about? Why are reactions to Rendition so diverse that it gathers as many 1-star rating as 5-star ratings? And what does this game really achieve? If we want to answer those questions, we need to add some more discussion to the already substantial pile.

This analysis was first published in SPAG #56.

I - Introduction

"A wandering monster I —
A king of shreds and patches,
Of ballads, songs and snatches,
And frantic lullaby!