AustLit

'Inspired by the possibilities of fiction, digital poetry and experimental digital art, All the Delicate Duplicates tells a complex psychological story through a combination of digital literature and experimental game formats. Developed by digital artists/writers rather than traditional game developers, All the Delicate Duplicates attempts to expand storytelling within games by including 3D elements spanning multiple time periods and incorporating animated and transitional texts, thus leaving the story wide open to multiple revisits and interpretations. The poetic, digitally born language called ‘Mezangelle’ forms a central part of All the Delicate Duplicates. Mezangelle involves constructing poetic phrases to extend and enhance meaning beyond the expected. As Mezangelle remixes the basic structure of English and code to create language where meanings are nested, players need to read, re-read, then re-read again in order to piece together a narrative. This article traces how All the Delicate Duplicates was initially conceived, the commission parameters of the project, the use of Mezangelle as a project story component, and overall reception.' (Publication abstract)