I wrote a little while back about the need for escapism in these trying times, and to help with that I’ve released a short “choose-your-own” text game.
There’s songs and robots, plenty to read, a world to explore and a mystery to be solved when you visit The Library of Last Resort.
I got the idea a couple of years back, when I was exploring the idea of interactive nonfiction and games where there was the opportunity for the player to surprise the author.
In an earlier incarnation, The Library of Last Resort benefited from the editing of the brilliant Adalya Nash Hussein, and advice from Gersande La Flèche & Rob Sherman. It uses Gersande’s code to create the in-game inventory.
It’s not polished, and I welcome feedback, but hopefully it will provide you with an escape when you need one. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a way to surprise me with my own game…
You can play The Library of Last Resort here, or check out my previous interactive piece, A Tear in Flatland.
matt finch / mechanical dolphin 
Very invigorating to find you still working on that project, and many thanks for the shout-out. I will hopefully be playing it for the first time today, and I’ll either send you feedback via email or possibly in the comments here.
Thanks again for making this and for the shout-out! 😀 Stay safe, Matt!
Thanks for helping to make it happen, Gersande – I’m grateful for the support you gave. You stay safe too!
I would love to read all the many paths through this story… I thought I found them all, but then saw this photo on Twitter and realized I am somehow missing things… perhaps due to order of events….. https://twitter.com/DrMattFinch/status/1254097916718993409/photo/1. Is the source code for your adventure available, so we can be sure we aren’t missing things?
Thanks for playing, Rebecca! Glad you had fun. I’ll put up a walkthrough in due course Rebecca, and will perhaps post the code further down the line. To find the “hot air balloon” ending, a few hints – run away from the robots and take the canvas, inspect your communications device when you receive it, go to the videogames room and play an appropriate song as the bard.
Also: if you’ve completed the game by the “regular route” and would like to post an image of the creature you met there to get the second part – feel free to use the contact form on this site if you don’t like using Twitter 🙂