A Neuromancer Cyberpunk Video Game Was Almost Made By Timothy Leary

screenrant.com:

Timothy Leary is largely associated with his advocacy for psychedelic drugs, but Leary almost made a video game based on William Gibson’s , the novel that defined the genre which birthed . Leary was inspired by Gibson’s novel, and the transhumanist concepts of cyberpunk helped define the second, less remembered stage of Leary’s career as a public figure. The game that was ultimately released followed cues from Leary’s vision, but the original concept is still fascinating.

Timothy Leary, who Richard Nixon once described as “” took more interest in gaming than one might expect. While DLC is ambitious by today's standards, Leary’s video game was just as ambitious for its time. was conceived as a “,” where Gibson’s novel would play out as interactive fiction.

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As documented by Kotaku, the New York Public Library houses an archive of Leary’s works. These include discs containing the prototype for his video game, along with pages of notes that illustrate the scope of the project. The design paradigm of Leary’s is surprisingly modern, despite its mostly text-based interface. A fictitious AI offers a prompt for the player to increase their character’s “,” “,” “” or “.” The indie hit paid homage to tabletop RPGs, but its character creation options are also eerily close to those of Leary’s game, which was never completed.

The goals for Leary’s game were far more ambitious than the New York Public library’s discs and sample code reflect. Leary planned for the band Devo to provide an «adaptive soundtrack» and intended to co-author the work with William S. Burroughs. Grace Jones and David Byrne were slated to portray characters. Whereas has the star power of Keanu