In 1993, a friend of mine wrote a computer game called WinDetective. It was an exercise for her in software writing, so she released it as shareware under an assumed name. It was based on the classic boardgame Clue. the object was to be presented with a number of clues, in the form of dranw cards, and using what you alone knew try to accuse the correct murder suspect before any other player did. In this version, the murder is committed on a starship, and all the clues and suspects are SF in character. You played against the computer.

I was given pretty nearly carte blance to design and name the cards, and even added another category. In the original game, Clue, you only have suspects, murder weapons, and murder scenes to help you complete your case. I suggested an additional layer of complexity, where you had to guess the motive as well, and added six motive cards to the complete set.

Of course, WinDetective became obsolete in a very few years, and I assumed it was forgotten. Not so! Apparently there is a little nostaglia for it -- there have been download sites for the game, and at least one discussion page that came to my notice. A few days ago, someone who still had WinDetective on his site contacted me about the source. I clarified a few details for him, and contacted my partner in crime. She gave permission for him to use the game as he wanted, and turned the copyright over to me. So WinDetective is not only going to be available as a freedownload, but the original art I did for the cards will be available as well.

Alas, in the original game, the software was so primative that the art was reduced to thumbnail size, and could only be coloured in 16 colours. The files I've posted to FA are the orginal B/W iniked drawings. I may post a few of the coloured game cards in my Scraps area, for comparison.

I think it must be obvious that I purloined the character of Capt. Yager from Chuck Yager, the American test pilot of the early jet-era. I drew him to look more like Neil Armstrong, however, since Chuck looks more like a used-car salesman from Mobile Alabama than a hero. Of course even heros can go bad.

Ms. Terrie may be my favourite in the batch. I don't know what more can be said other than she is programmer friendly and has many apps.