Project update from Steven Dean · September 2026

A path back to Fantastic Prayers.

In brief

The original CD-ROM and its files are preserved. I began by rebuilding Walls That Speak in a browser to see whether this could work. Since then, I have disassembled the CD-ROM without changing its original files and got it running in an on my laptop. The disassembly and emulator took most of the past six weeks. This site brings that work together. I think we have enough now to make choices about what comes next.

A note from Steven

I started because I wanted to know whether we could experience Fantastic Prayers in a new way, in a browser. I took Walls apart first and rebuilt enough of it to test the idea. Seeing it work got me excited. It gave me a reason to look at the whole CD-ROM and begin a plan for bringing it back.

The emulator was the next step. The design document and the videos Constance shared for the 25th-anniversary Dia talk gave me references, but I needed to make my own choices inside the work: follow a path, wait, go back, and hear what changed. Getting the emulator to work let me navigate environments I hadn't visited in years and record the clips on this site.

This proposal is still taking shape. Constance, Tony, Stephen: tell me what I've missed or remembered wrong. I want us to decide what needs to stay true to the original and what might change in a browser.

Steven Dean

Work to date

What we have now.

The original runs again

The original installer works, and the CD-ROM opens and plays in an emulator on my laptop. It takes patience and isn't stable, but it lets me test paths through the released work and record them. That gives us a reference alongside our memories and what the intended.

The CD-ROM has been disassembled

I went through all 66 files without changing the originals. The images, sound files, videos, scripts, interactions, , logic, relationships, and unresolved questions are now cataloged by environment. I also created a for each file, so we can confirm none have changed.

Walls has a browser prototype

This was my first test: reverse-engineer Walls That Speak from the CD-ROM and rebuild it in a browser. Its images, sound, video, hotspots, and cursor behavior gave me enough proof to pursue the idea and develop this proposal.

Working browser prototype

Enter the walls.

Walls was where I started, taking one environment from the CD-ROM into the browser. The prototype is not complete; the Kitchen subsection is still to come. But it proved enough of the idea for me to keep going, and gave me a first measure of the work a reconstruction would take.

Experience Walls That Speak ↗

Inside the work

The scale of the work.

10Designed sections

12,687Embedded images

518Sound files

115Videos

What comes next

Three next steps.

Interactive excerpts

The recordings show a path I chose. An interactive excerpt would let you make the choices. I propose rebuilding one small part of each environment in the browser: a phone you can dial, an object you can turn, or a surface that responds with sound. These would be working pieces, not recordings or complete environments. They would help us test the reconstruction and understand the work ahead.

A proposal for funding

I will keep building out this site as a proposal we can share with prospective funders. It will bring together the history, the work completed so far, the excerpts, the scope, the costs, the timing, and the choices involved.

With funding in place, we could reconstruct the released experience using modern web browser technology. The aim is to stay true to its images, sound, timing, and interaction. We would compare the original running in the emulator with the code, design document, recovered , and our memories, and discuss the choices where they differ.

What I'd like to discuss next.

Constance, Tony, and Stephen: I am building this site first as a place for us to think together.

I'll keep fleshing out this proposal so we have something concrete to share with prospective funders. As it takes shape, I want to make sure it reflects what matters most to each of you and gives us a shared understanding of what we are proposing, what it will cost, how long it could take, and the choices involved.

All eight environment pages now have recordings. The design document has been organized into Markdown sections, ready for review before adding them to the site. The next substantial piece of work is the interactive excerpts. Fuller histories and contributor pages are also to come.

Explore Meet the ten sections of Fantastic Prayers → Experience Enter the Walls That Speak prototype →