Thanks to its scope, Dwarf Fortress diaries trend towards being huge and epic undertakings . The Queen, by writer and game designer Ste Curran , is different, and it shows how dramatically the game's simulated stories can scale. It's touching and bittersweet. In fifteen minutes, it deftly encapsulates the drama, difficulty and abstraction at the heart of this frighteningly complex collection of ASCII. You should give it a listen.

Originally performed for games writing live event Reads Like A Seven , this recording of The Queen has been made available as part of an experiment in self-publishing. "If you enjoy it and would like to hear more," Curran writes , "please buy the downloadable high-quality audio file (it's £1, just so you know) ... If it gets more than 300 downloads I'll record INT#2, and work from there..."