Conserving Hypertext Art

• Sarah Smith's King of Space
• Translated from Hypergate for the Web with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript
• 2022

Sarah Smith's King of Space is a hypertext novel begun in 1988 and published on the Hypergate authoring system in 1991 by Eastgate Systems, Inc. A unique example of early pre-web hypertext, it is a media-rich work consisting of 317 lexias and 25 different endings and involves numerous works of ASCII art produced by artist Matthew Mattingly, music composed by Michael Derzhinsky, and animations created by Mattingly, Bernstein, and others. Within the novel one can also find several puzzles that must be solved and games readers can play. The version featured in this exhibition is the 2022 Web Edition that streamlines the gameplay, offers full color images, a custom sound track, and 3D models of the characters and spaceships.