Updated 06/25/08
Not much chance for a restful summer I'm afraid...
Just as the academic year was wrapping up two colleagues at IU and I were awarded a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I'll be designing my first ARG since 1996 when they weren't even called that yet. It will run for eight weeks in the fall. Tramping all over the countryside testing real-world puzzles is certainly more fun than testing videogames!
This month I spoke and taught a workshop at DGXPO in Raleigh, North Carolina, home to over thirty videogame companies. Engine makers Unreal, Emergent and Icarus are based here, too. Longtime friend Brenda Braithwaite's talk was spectacular!
A week before DGXPO I attended the first Game Education Summit at SMU in Dallas, Texas. I learned a good deal, ate barbecue, and faced some incomprehension when I tried to explain the role of writers in videogames. More on this later...
Design on Londontown, our narrative-driven virtual world, progresses. We have a team approaching thirty now and are actively recruiting some more remote programmers and artists to supplement the local team for the vertical slice: The Crystal Palace and Hyde Park. Our public website is just beginning to peep out from under the covers. A placeholder can be found at: www.londontownworld.com . Expect much more by the end of the summer!
The design for the fourth commercial Agatha Christie game is complete; as is my tenure on Quest Atlantis and the virtual Congress project overseen by former congressman Lee Hamilton's Center on Congress, the first two grants I worked on since joining Academia in 2006.
The Wii version of And Then There Were None was released in February.
The third Agatha Christie game, Evil Under the Sun, was released last October. The most interesting design challenge was the player character. In this one the player directs the actions of Hercule Poirot's friend, Hastings, directing the actions of Poirot as he recounts the murder case in flashbacks. I know, I know, but it is much easier to play than it is to explain!
Updated 09/21/07
At last another update! And much to catch up on...
Evil Under the Sun, the third Agatha Christie game is scheduled to be released in October.
The design for the fourth Agatha Christie game, title still under wraps, will be completed next month as well.
Two weeks ago I was privileged to deliver the Writing Track Keynote Address at the Austin Games Developers Conference. It's title was Magic, Madness and the Muse.
Pre-production on Londontown, our narrative-driven virtual world slowed due to engine issues, but is picking up steam again now that I'm back from a two-month research trip to Key West for my next novel.
I continue to consult on two other virtual worlds at Indiana University : Quest Atlantis and the creation of a virtual Congress overseen by former congressman Lee Hamilton's Center on Congress and funded in part by a grant from CPB.
In May I was invited back to speak at fmx in Stuttgart, Germany. The topic was Word into Action: Adapting other Media. I also enjoyed consulting on interactive media projects again for sagasnet while I was there.
That was my second trip to Europe this year. In February I gave a talk entitled The Wellsprings of Emotion: Character, Story and Play at the Enjmin conference in Angouleme, France.
Next stop was Hanover, Germany for the inaugral Game Focus Germany conference where my topic was Report from the Frontlines: Adventure Game Design.
Finally last winter also saw the publication of Second Person, to which I contributed a short article. Whew! Updated 12/14/06
Here is a long overdue update so the current news will also be long...
Murder on the Orient Express was released just about a month ago. It's available from all major retailers, or you can buy it here.
"...the best adventure game of 2006."
"...a trip well worth taking."
"...a great presentation of a classic book."
And Then There Were None is also still selling well after over a year in release. You can find it at all major retailers, or you can order it here.
I have signed an agreement to design and write three more Agatha Christie mystery games for The Adventure Company/ DreamCatcher Interactive, and am currently working on the next one.
After doing some initial work for Hidden Path Entertainment on a Nintendo Wii game called The Great Wheel last spring, I will begin working on it again early in 2007.
I have just completed my first semester at Indiana University where I taught courses in screenwriting and game design. Next semester I'll be teaching another screenwriting course and a survey course on the videogame industry. I've been truly enjoying the experience so far!
My narrative-driven virtual world Londontown is finally in development. We hope to have a working prototype of the initial four zones running before spring 2007.
Paul Schuytema's new book, Game Design: A Practical Approach was published this summer with a short contribution from me. Publication of Second Person edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan, and containing a short contribution from me, is now scheduled for early 2007.
In September I gave a talk on Londontown , and appeared on a fun panel called Hollywood and Videogames: A Marriage made in Hell? at the Austin Game Conference.
Updated: 5/30/06
Production on our second video game based on an Agatha Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express, is in full swing. It is scheduled for release Fall 2006. The first game, And Then There Were None, continues to sell very well. (There's a link below to purchase it.) Discussions on the third title are already underway.
fmx/06 is a beautifully-run conference in Stuttgart, Germany. While it centers mostly on film and animation, games are fast becoming another area of focus. The PowerPoint slides for my talk, The Emotional Divide: Bridging the Chasm between Games and Other Media, are now available. Jordan Mechner (The Last Express, Prince of Persia) gave the keynote for the video games sessions. It was fun discussing games set on the same train with him.
The PowerPoint slides for my keynote address at the University of Florida's Second Annual Games Studies Conference, Differences that Bind Us: The Alien in Media and Next Door, are now available as well.
As soon as I can, I will announce the details of a storytelling project I'm working on for the Nintendo Wii.
Updated: 3/1/06
On 2/22/06 I delivered the design document for the second video game based on an Agatha Christie novel. 531 pages in four weeks! Still no official press release, so I can't talk about it yet. This time I'll be working closely with the developers through the entire development cycle.
I'm consulting on a fascinating MMO project being developed jointly by the graduate journalism and architecture schools at the University of California at Berkeley. It's a recreation of 7th Street in Oakland, CA and the jazz and blues clubs that flourished during the 40s and 50s. Here's a link. They are using Character Development and Storytelling for Games as their textbook.
Also using the book as their textbook is Stephen Jacob's class on game design at Rochester Institute of Technology. I spoke to them on February 17th via voice chat .
Which leads up to this: I'm pleased to report that Character Development and Storytelling for Games is now in its second printing. This gives me a chance to correct a couple of embarrassing errors that crept into the first printing.
Upcoming speaking engagements include the keynote address at the Second Annual University of Florida Game Studies Conference next month, and fmx/06 in Stuttgart, Germany in May.
Publication of Second Person, the new book on interactive media edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan that I contributed to, has been pushed to Fall 2006.
Finally, I first heard of this a few weeks ago on NPR's All Things Considered. Those of you familiar with modular storytelling will know why I'm delighted with Mozart's Musikalisches Würfelspiel, a minuet composed of pre-written measures of music (176 possible Minuet measures and 96 possible Trio measures) that can be cut and pasted together in an order determined only by the rolls of two six-sided dice. Want to create your own midi modular minuet? Here's a link. Thanks, Wolfgang!
Updated: 1/4/06
The new year is starting with a bang with several new projects either in progress or in the works! Here are the ones I can talk about:
I've been hired to design and write a second video game based on an Agatha Christie novel. While I've already begun work on it, details will have to wait until there is an official press release.
The first game in the series, And Then There Were None, is currently available from Amazon.com through this website. Use the link on the left. Or buy directly from other online sellers, or from any game retailers, including Wal-Mart and EB Games.
"With a sterling script, fascinating characters, superb voice acting, beautifully detailed graphics, and sensibly practical puzzles, it ranks among the best adventure games of the last couple of years."
"The game can and does go beyond the novel, and it does so brilliantly...a real triumph."
I'm very pleased to announce that I've accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position at Indiana University. I'll be teaching game design and writing and screenwriting starting this fall. As well as continuing to design commercial games, I'll be able to pursue some more personal creative projects, including books and a narrative-driven MMO. It's past time to prove it can be done, and be successful.
My book Character Development & Storytelling for Games continues to be used as a textbook or required reading at a growing number of university game design programs including those at USC, Carnegie-Mellon, Rochester Institute of Technology and Worchester Polytechnic. Click here to order a copy!
I'm contributing to two new books out this year. In addition to Second Person mentioned last month, I've also written a short piece for Paul Schuytema's new book, Game Design: An Interactive Experience.
There are two other projects on the near horizon. More details on these as they develop.
The News Archive contains previous news stories published on this site.
