Welcome to the Void!
Last week, over at voidpunk.com, I revealed what I’ve been working on for the last several years.
It’s a multi-project endeavor which, at this time, encompasses one novel (not yet published) and a tabletop/pen-&-paper RPG (in progress). To be expanded into more novels and, hopefully, an indie game a few years down the road.
Most of what’s up with Voidpunk will be posted there, as laid out in my initial blog post Welcome to the Voidpunk Universe. But for my video game plans in particular, a few words here under this category.
Why not start right away with a video game? Against the backdrop of my biography, which includes co-founding an indie developer studio in Hong Kong, teaching university-level game design courses, and publishing a game design textbook, this might come as a surprise to some.
However, there are three good reasons not to start with a video game:
- First off, I’ve always been a writer, even if I wrote different things most of the time, including mystery. Thus, starting out with a novel seems perfectly natural to me.
- Then, there’s still Covid-19 out there, and committing to an intense team project under these circumstances would be unwise, to say the least.
- Finally, it’s good industry practice to publish other media products that sell in order to establish your own IP before you pitch a related video game to a publisher. It lowers the publisher’s risk and strengthens your case to keep your IP. Win-win!
As most of you know, my current professorship is at 50%, which leaves me time to do other things. Last year, I faded out or cut off all freelance writing gigs and guest lecture jobs—with one highly valued and exceptionally enjoyable course set that I’ll love to keep—to focus on creative projects within my Voidpunk universe.
So that’s where it’s at.
Finally, if you like my posts here on between drafts, you might also like my Voidpunk blog for future posts on these projects!
If you have something valuable to add or some interesting point to discuss, I’ll be looking forward to meeting you at Mastodon!