Blue Lacuna 2009
Blue Lacuna is a long-form work of interactive fiction (IF) containing nearly 400,000 words of prose and natural language source code, an explorable novel telling a serious story about the nature of choice and happiness.
The piece simplifies standard IF syntax with a unique interface: to advance the story, readers type highlighted keywords indicating objects of interest, directions to explore, or topics to pursue during conversation. It also understands a wide range of input, including vague commands like I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO or WAIT FOR A WHILE.
Also introduced is a reactive character, Progue, who evolves over the course of the story based on the reader’s interactions with him. The climax of the story and resolution of Progue’s character arc—whether he becomes a friend, a mentor, a lover, a sycophant, or one of eight other archetypes—is dependent on how the reader treats him in up to 70 distinct scenes and conversations over the work’s ten chapters.
The structure of Blue Lacuna is thus best represented not by a branching tree but a braided rope, with countless ways each reader may braid the threads of story into a personal and meaningful narrative.
Blue Lacuna is a free download for Mac or Windows machines. A paper describing the project is also available.
