February 8, 2007
Dead IF Lies Dreaming
Joshua Birk of the blog Cathode Tan sheds some new, phosphorescent light on an H.P. Lovecraft story. His The Case of Randolph Carter is an AJAX hypertext, well-written and frequently engaging, designed to play out in nine different endings and to incorporate some elements of interactive fiction. One clicks to select words and actions rather than typing commands. While I don’t find the interface as appealing as the standard textual exchange of IF, those who aren’t fans of typing to their fiction may have a different opinion. Perhaps this tale will be of particular interest to some of those who reside in the eldritch birthplace of hypertext?
While we’re on the topic, I’ll use the excuse to mention some notable Lovecraftian IF: Dave Lebling’s The Lurking Horror (Infocom, 1987), Michael S. Gentry’s Anchorhead (1998), Gunther Schmidl’s And the Waves Choke the Wind (2000), and Santiago Eximeno and Guillermo Lafuente Moraga’s La Llamada de Cthulhu (2001).
February 8th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Thanks for the nod! More of the inside info on Carter can be found on the info popup at the site. I’m currently working on a roguelike design using web concepts, but will hopefully have a new IF piece later this year which builds upon Carter but has a revamped interface.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I enjoyed reading The Case of Randolph Carter (I have a soft spot for Lovecraftian stories). In 30 or 40 minutes of reading I found 4/9 endings, but felt a bit stuck after that.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Weird. This blog entry and the one here (http://www.bronsom.com/2007-02-07-dead-if-lies-dreaming.html) are almost the same. what could that mean?
February 12th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
It’s just Fancy Spam.