The Ice-Bound Concordance2016

The Ice-Bound Concordance is an award-winning indie game using combinatorial narrative technology, enhanced by a printed book unlocked through augmented reality. Inspired by the mysterious fiction of writers like Borges and books like House of Leaves, the story takes players deep into the frozen ruins of a sinking polar research base.

When a digital simulation of a long-dead author is created to complete his final masterpiece, a story of explorers trapped in at the end of the world, the player must help by exploring hundreds of permutations of his famous stories. By conversing with the troubled A.I. and rearranging his fragmented book, players decide how (and if) his book should end. A logic-driven combinatorial narrative system allows the player’s input to shape the story with far more fidelity than most story-based games.

The game works with the physical printed book “The Ice-Bound Compendium.” This full-color 80-page art book unlocks new levels and pieces of the A.I. writer’s past. Seen through the iPad camera or laptop webcam, the book’s pages come alive via augmented reality tech, with new layers of secrets inscribed onto its pages.