New Gamebook Titles

I've been really busy in 2022, mostly writing for a mobile platform called Tales: Choose Your Own Story. It's a great, new(ish) app that I believe offers a lot to both readers and writers.

In early 2022 I put the finishing touches on Cat's Claw, a small 's' superhero who finds herself in a huge pile of captial 'T' trouble. As far as I can tell it's going well on the platform and as such is getting promoted by the app managers.

I'm currently writing the final episodes of Darkendore, a young-adult (kinda grimdark) tale about reapers, and what they get up to in their downtime, and their uptime I guess. In fact, it's pretty-much about what they get up to all the time. I'm loving writing Darkendore as I originally tried to get a grant from Screen Tasmania to produce it and was knocked back. But the first game company I pitched it to greenlit it immediately. Unfortunately, that means it's not set in Tassie now, but I love it anyway.

Tales has recently provided me with the cover art and also created some killer interior art and sets for the game. I'm very happy with the way Darkendore is coming together. Only have a few episodes to finish now. Got to get back to writing...

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New project

I've been working on a book of family-orientated children's stories, drawing on my experiences bringing up my kids as a single father. I asked AI to interpret one of the stories in art and it came up with this image (after a couple of dismal failures). It's actually a fair representation of the story. Now, to begin the daunting process of finding a publisher for this collection.

The Science of Fantasy Mapmaking

Aurealis #99 is out and it features a discussion between a geologist and a geographer (aka yours truly and the incredible Russell Kirkpatrick) about maps in fantasy novels. I really enjoyed writing this article with Russell for several reasons: first, I love maps and used do produce them as part of my job. Second, I like Russell and respect his work, and third, it's a super-interesting topic What I didn't realise when I first spoke to Russell about doing a piece together, was the depth of Russell's understanding of the politics and social infrastructure behind the act of creating a map. My experience of mapmaking has been limited to: 1) reproducing my favourite faux-medieval maps from movies and/or books via a combination of pain-staking precision and ad-hoc half-assery; and 2) the production of geological, geophysical and geochemical maps designed to aid in the discovery of economically viable mineral deposits. The two don't naturally go hand-in-ha...

Cuphead and Mugman - Legendary Couch Co-op

The more contracts I take in the game industry, the more I'm appreciating the nuances of game writing. And the more I appreciate the differences between straight fiction and interactive experiences, the more I'm blown away by the creativity of some people involved in producing video games. Cue the total, mind-bending insanity of Cuphead and Mugman . I have no idea how, or why, this game came into existence. No doubt I could search it and discover all the details I'd ever want and more, but I don't need to. Cuphead and Mugman is perfectly well appreciated simply by playing it. With visuals reminiscent of early Disney cartoons - or even early Popeye - this game is like no other. It looks amazing. It sounds amazing, and it IS amazing , but in this case it's not the graphics, story, or even the gameplay that really make Cuphead a great experience for me. It's the all-pervasive, persistent absurdity of almost every element of the game that has me entranced....

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