In Memoriam: Star C. Foster

By: Derek Yu

On: December 16th, 2006

Shih Tzu writes:

“Star Foster, co-author of Slouching Towards Bedlam, ”http://www.phillyist.com/archives/2006/12/10/sad_news.php">passed away
unexpectedly on Dec. 10 at the age of 33.

Slouching Towards Bedlam took 1st place in the 2003 Interactive
Fiction competition and also went on to win several XYZZY Awards,
including Best Game of 2003. Although Slouching was her only
experience writing IF, she was active as an apparently prolific
blogger and writer.

If you haven’t played the (excellent) game, try it now in her memory!"

Posted in Community, Interactive Fiction

k

One of the best games I’ve ever played…

:*(
Fireblend

The link to the game is broken >_>
Derek

Sorry about that, I fixed it.
Gronka Lonka

She looks happy to me.
Xander

I think I’m going to sleep now. I started playing this earlier this evening and.. well it’s now 2AM. That was simply amazing, I’ve never played an IF game before short of the old Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and even then I didn’t know what I was doing. But here the entire point was to not know. A game where unravelling the mystery IS the game. That was just.. damn. Simply incredible.

If anyone has any recommendations over the past years I’d be awesome to check out a few. I think I’m gonna play through the 2006 finalists at least if I get the chance. She’ll be missed I’m sure, and good luck to her family.

‘Chaos treads the halls of Bedlam; her work is evident everywhere..’ – A nice quote from phillyist.com, it seems nicely ‘Pulse’ sized.
Teeth

Ya I tried this out too and was very impressed. I think the last IF (well, text adventure in this case) I played was Humbug (just after playing Jacaranda Jim). While not particularly great in terms of fiction or writing, they are great, and pretty funny. Try them out:

http://www.grahamcluley.com/humbug.html
http://www.grahamcluley.com/jim.html

Don’t forget The Hobbit as well, so awesome.
Shih Tzu

Xander: Some of my favorites over the past few years have been All Things Devours (science-fiction puzzler), Anchorhead (Lovecraftian horror), and The Moonlit Tower (fantasy). And of course if you haven’t played influential classics like Photopia or Spider And Web, you should check those out.
Xander

Ah, I’ve been playing a couple of Adam Cadre’s other IF games today, namely 9:05 and Shrapnel. They were both really good, 9:05 was short and smart and Shrapnel was just… so strange. I’ll definitely check out Anchorhead and All Things Devours after Photopia. I think when I’m done I might try ‘A Mind Forever Voyaging’. I know it’s back from the mid 80’s, but it sounds pretty interesting, although a little bit intimidating so I’ll start with what I’ve got. Thanks for the advice!
Shih Tzu

Yeah, A Mind Forever Voyaging and Trinity are both often cited as the pinnacle of Infocom’s artistry. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to play either of them (I only ever had the first volume of The Lost Treasures of Infocom, back in the day).