Hello all! Today, we have another post, from randy Cook, who is an author of two gamebooks (so far...). He comes here to tell us about his great work. Here are his websites etc. if you want to get hold of him...
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RandyACook
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CastleDarkholm
Tell
us about yourself.
Well you can find me conveniently located
eight miles east of the middle of nowhere, and then you take a left. I have been employed as a factory worker, the
Operations Manager of a major software company, a Public Accountant, a Chaplain,
oh and a writer and programmer of software and ePubs. I am not sure, if I have a broad range of
experiences to draw upon or if I just have commitment issues. I currently live in the mid-western portion
of the United States with my wife, Regina (a published poet herself). I have three grown sons and a dog. (Sorry cat
owners)
What
was the first gamebook that you ever read?
The Third
Planet From Altair by Edward Packard.
I picked up that book when I was young and it opened up a completely new
world for me. While growing up in rural
Kansas provided for a wonderful childhood, it did not offer a great deal in the
way of first hand real world adventure.
This book offered not only a good read for an adolescent mind it also
offered a way of participating in the adventure in a manner that most other
linear books did not. I gave a nod to
Mr. Packard and the gift he gave me back then when in my first book, The Vortex, I attributed those
responsible for the creation of the trans-dimensional Portals to the alien race
of Altarians, a slightly modified form of the name of the Altair star system
from that early book. Many of my own
works include obscure (and sometimes strange) references to such things that
contributed to my own unique view of the world.
What
is your favourite gamebook?
That is easy, my favorite gambeook is
whatever book I happen to be reading at the moment. Every gamebook has great elements and not so
great elements. There are so many
notable ingredients from so many different books, that to pick just one as
being a “favorite” would be a dis-service to all of the others.
What
spoils a gamebook for you?
First would be bad formatting. When the page or paragraph layout is not
conductive to the flow of the story, it creates a barrier to the enjoyment of
the work. The second thing might sound a
bit old fashioned, but excessive use of profanity for me distracts from the
story. Now do not get me wrong, there
are moments when a well placed explicit word has great value for its shock
effect, but when over used, it simply acts as an obstruction.
What
makes a gamebook stand out for you?
Good and entertaining writing. A picture might be worth a thousand words,
but words put the picture in context.
Where
did you get the idea for Castle Darkholm?
From my fear of things that go bump (or bite)
in the dark. Castle Darkholm began its life (or maybe I should say un-life) as a
Dungeons & Dragons adventure module that I wrote. I then discovered adventure games and morphed
it into a computer text adventure game.
After I had written, The Vortex,
I began thinking that it would be an interesting challenge to make Darkholm into a digital ePub for
eReaders and tablets. 3671 pages and
over 4000 hyper-links later it was done.
Castle Darkholm is dedicated
to my middle son Zachariah. My kids have
always been a major source of inspiration providing my life with a definite
sense of adventure and excitement.
How
did you get your idea for the Vortex?
My oldest son, Michael, gave me a Nook
eReader as a father’s day present. After
playing with it for a while, I concluded that an ePub would make the near
perfect format for delivering a CYOA style book. After working with the layout for a bit, I
decided on a subject matter that centered on the pretty classic concept of exploring
an abandoned alien city. Throw in a
galactic calamity to destroy the universe and the story just revealed
itself. I dedicated this first book to
Micheal since he is the adventurist explorer in the family (he is a US marine).
What
is the hardest thing about writing a gamebook?
Beta testing!
There are so many different devices out there (Nooks, Kindles, Nexus,
iPads, etc) and each has their own nuisances when it comes to rendering
pages. While the idea of write once and
publish on many devices sounds great in theory, the actual practice is
sometimes messy. What might look fine on one device could look terrible on
another. Lots of beta testing is needed
to produce a consistent product across multiple device platforms.
What is the most exciting thing about
writing a gamebook?
That would have to be seeing the virtual
world of your gamebook come to life as a working prototype. You spend so much time considering plot
development, doing layout and writing content that the moment it becomes a
functioning work, it becomes very real for the first time as a
writer\designer. Of course all of the
beta testing and revisions that follow are not so exciting, but it still does
not diminish that initial rush of adrenaline that comes when you can actual
move from location A (the Castle Foyer) to location B (the Castle Main Hall)
for the first time. At least until you
realize that location B somehow became the Castle Water Closet and your virtual
torch has morphed into an empty tube of toilet paper.
What
advice would you offer to someone who is writing gamebooks?
Before you even think about touching a
keyboard and coding, work out the major story arcs in your mind (lots of notes,
flowcharts, maps, and chicken scratch are mission critical). Once you have the big picture in your mind,
the smaller details will almost write themselves. Also, find some excellent people to work with
on the areas that are not your strengths.
I have had the great fortune to work with some top talent such as
Cynthia Celeste Miller of Spectrum Games who is an excellent Graphic Designer,
Jeremy "Kinsei" Daniels a wonderful artist, and Demian Katz of
Gamebooks.org who has some amazing editorial skills.
What
advice would you offer to someone who is writing gamebooks for electronic
media?
Do not let yourself become restrained by the
chains of imagined paper. Although the
basic concepts of game play remain the same for both physically printed and
electronic books, many of the constraints imposed on a printed book no longer
apply. Things like the necessary
tradeoff between the per page printing cost and story development are no longer
relevant. My last ePub, Castle Darkholm, has well over 3000
pages and would simply not be possible as a printed book (and still be cost
effective to bring to market). I am a
firm believer that you must capitalize on the strengths of a medium and exploit
its weakness.
What
plans does eGenesis Media have for the future?
Our next interactive title scheduled for
release is Metal Wars 2027. An adventure set in a dystopian future where
humankind is on the run (again). Metal Wars, like my other books, is
dedicated to one of my sons, this one is for Christian. While we are committed to continuing to
provide innovative ePubs to our readers for all devices, we are nearing
completion of a full featured development environment for creating and
publishing web-based adventure games. We
are also working to develop mobile app versions of our titles for android, IOS
and Surface devices. Both the apps and
web-based gamebooks will include new levels of user interactivity that will
push the idea of interactive fiction to a new level.
What
is your wish for gamebooks?
My primary hope for gamebooks is that they
will be able to reach a broader audience.
The entire genre, be it CYOA, FF, text adventure game or some hybrid
in-between has so much great potential that I would love to see more people
have access to them.
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RandyACook
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/CastleDarkholm
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