Ultra Machina

"ULTRA MACHINA is a speculative “choose your own adventure” hypertext game that explores the concepts of fate and free will by challenging users to change the endings of stories they already know.

Inspired by the ""deus ex machina"" literary device, the game’s first iteration retreads the familiar myth of Orpheus, the famous Thracian musician with a voice so enchanting he could sway the hearts of anyone or anything that heard him. His victories as an Argonaut are all for naught when his beloved wife Eurydice suddenly dies, and though his quest into the Underworld to retrieve her almost succeeds, he falters at the last moment.

What would it take to change that fate? In exploring this question, the user exerts their own will upon the machinations of the narrative. Accompanying their narrative adventure is an ever-shifting audiovisual background, generated based on user choices to create a unique leitmotif of their journey. At the end, having in essence become part of the narrative though their participation in the game, the user is surprised with a character profile of their own, a final judgment of their choices and the success of their attempt at averting fate."