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After receiving
a Bachelor of Science from Caltech,
Stu moved to Massachusetts, willing to conclude his studies
with a Master of Science from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Stu did receive
his M.S., but little did he know on the day he joined MIT's
Laboratory
for Computer Science ("LCS") that he'd meet
people who'd move him as much to found
a company, be its secretary and treasurer and author books
you play along in.
This was indeed
unusual for someone with a very scientific background as Stu,
but as he already had worked as the editor-in-chief and business
manager for Caltech's campus
newspaper, he was well versed in the written word.
The first title
he eventually wrote for Infocom was "The
Witness" in 1983. Following the gigantic success
of Infocom's first mystery hit, "Deadline,"
the game became a hit as well, earning Stu the silver plaque
of the Software
Publishers Association and the award "best computer
adventure of the year" from Electronic
Games magazine.
Stu was then sent
to explore new lands for Infocom in form of a game aimed at
younger audiences. Working with famous writer Jim
Lawrence, who had experience in both adult and youth fiction,
the result became "Seastalker."
In a 1986 interview
with Zzap!
magazine, Stu was asked if he enjoyed his work and he answered:
"Yes, yes I do. It's funny, it's almost like a dream
fulfilled but up until a few years ago, I had no idea that
this was what my dream was because I had no examples to go
by." His testimonial to the great love he had for authoring
adventures was already given in the later famous "Implementor's
Creed," written in 1985.
The collaboration
with Jim continued in "Moonmist,"
but partly due to the restructuring Activision undertook after
their takeover of Infocom in 1986, it remains the last game
authored by Stu and 1986 also his final year as treasurer.
Stu had been
working on "Hitchhiker's Guide 2," but the game
was never finished and the heroes are up to today still standing
on the surface of the planet Magrathea.
After Infocom's
end in 1989 he started working for Thinking
Machines Corporation as a sales system analyst, but in
1994 returned to MIT as a systems engineer. He retired in 2006 and became an avid volunteer at the Arlington Historical Society.
Stu Galley passed away on August 2, 2018.
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