One of the projects I’m working on for Kaos War: Rise of the Fallen is an online comic. I just finished the storyline for the first of three 60 page installments. Next will be going through cell by cell and writing out details and dialogue. This first book will follow Coridan, an assassin in the Order of the Crimson Hand. While not everything in the story will appear in the game, the intent is to acquaint readers and players with aspects of the game world. The story and lore of Kaos War is expansive, stretching out over thousands of years and across many races – both ancient and new. This will be a good way to ease people into the mix, grasping onto concepts like reincarnation being real (and broken) and how that now affects everyday life for a player character.

The secret project I’ve been working on is on hold for the time being. I’ve already got the storyline notes all completed. I just need to organize them all into the right order and then flesh out the dialogue. It seems we’re waiting on paperwork to move forward. Should be exciting to work through the full process though.

I haven’t been able to do any work on my manuscript revision. You’d think being home all day would give me lots of time, but then again you’re probably not a parent if you thought that! I have a four year old daughter who only goes to school for about four hours a day. So, after picking out clothes and making breakfast and making lunch and doing hair and dropping her off, I have a few hours to get some work done while it’s quiet. The rest of the day isn’t so conducive to writing.

Being a writer isn’t writing all day every day either. Or maybe it is, and I’m doing it wrong. Sure, once you have a completed outline and know every facet of the story before you start, you can sit for many hours and write all the way through. Prior to that, I spend a lot of time thinking. It can take days before a story gels in my head enough to form a coherent story. During that time I take notes, jotting down every cool idea, plot twist and character interaction I might want to use. Then a final piece hits and the whole thing clicks together. Writing tires me out though. So I play video games in between all that.

I played some City of Heroes recently, on a ten day trial, which reminded me why I quit. Seriously, what is with developers so out of touch with the people who play their games? After four years, you haven’t realized that your game progression is TOO GOD DAMN SLOW? Let me reiterate, if all there is to do in your game is to kill NPCs (seriously, who pvps in CoH?), you can either make that part VERY interesting or you can cater to the reason people play CoH in the first place: to feel like a hero/villain. Player power needs to be upped even more, so that heroes and villains can take on three times more enemies than they do now. Experience gain needs to be upped three to four times more than it is now, shooting progression through the damn roof. Why? The greatest draw to CoH is character creation, trying out different builds and making new personas. What prevents players from doing that? It takes months of painful gameplay to reach 50, and most everyone I know quits in the 30’s. They’d rather make a new character than flog themselves to max level.

OK, enough ranting on that one. CoH has a lot of potential, even now, but the game is limited by short-sighted developers (or whoever is in charge). Other than that, I’ve been talked into trying Age of Conan on May 20. It does looking promising, and I don’t hold a grudge against Funcom for the launch of Anarchy Online. Mostly because I wasn’t there for it. I did play AO much later on and enjoyed it, but I ended up quitting because game progression hit a brick wall without a good group or guild. I picked up the RTS Sins of a Solar Empire. Haven’t opened it yet though.

The web-based game I’m developing with some friends is coming along nicely. I’ll probably work on it some more today. The sooner I finish the design doc, the sooner we can get this ball rolling. It has many elements of other web-based strategy games (I shudder to call them MMOs), but I’m trying to include other facets I don’t see – mainly a mix of RPG and true diplomacy. The economy I’m trying to shape will be more than trading resources. I’d explain more, but I don’t want to give away secret sauce to would-be competitors!

Back to writing now. The new website for Kaos War is supposed to be online tomorrow. I’ve already gone through the lore going live and rewrote some summarized descriptions for each race. I’d like to create a sort of online encyclopedia, or at the very least explanations for key points of the game. We’ll have to see how that goes.

I have a stack of new fantasy novels I could read… We’ll have to see how that goes too

So I created a social network at a site called Ning. It’s basically the internet version of word-of-mouth. People can create their own social circles about whatever topic interests them, then others can join their little group. Those members can then see what networks the other members belong to and choose to join those as well. Sounds like an old shampoo commercial, right? Yes, if you know that reference, you’re old.

I got an email from my friend Bob Nelson over at Anthology letting me know my books will be available now at their online store. The price is the same as Amazon or Barnes & Noble, which always annoyed me. Print On Demand may be great for seeing your manuscript in book form, but it truly sucks for sales. In any case, Bob lives close to me, so I’ll be providing the books he sells. That means I’ll do a customized autograph if you order one. After all, a signed book made out to your child or friend (or yourself!) is a great gift right? RIGHT?

Aside from my super-secret project for Kaos War, I’ve been designing a web-based Role-Playing / Strategy game, where players become mercenary commanders struggling to build an army and conquer the realm. It’s sort of a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, but without all the fluff and pretty graphics. A friend of mine, Rob Barr, will be doing all the programming. We’re not devoting a lot of time to making this right now, so don’t expect to see it anytime soon. It’s just fun to design something I’d like to play. Hear that? I’m not just a writer, I’m a game designer! Did I mention I designed the Quest system for Kaos War?

I’ve already stated (or did I?) that I canceled my five World of Warcraft accounts. Yes, I had five. Don’t ask. I tried out Hellgate recently with some friends. To be honest, I expected a lot more from the guys who made Diablo 2 and was thoroughly disappointed. I don’t know if there were time or money constraints, but Hellgate should have been a much better game. I subscribed and canceled in less than a month. Feel free to contact me, Flagship Studios, if you want to know why your game isn’t the massive success it should be and how to make it better.

I picked up an old castle sim, Stronghold 2, for just a few bucks and had some fun with that. I really enjoy building, whether its a base or a character. That’s what draws me to role-playing games (RPGs), the character progression. Story is great and all, but most people don’t realize that story isn’t about the events; it’s about the characters.

By the way, I went to see Ironman. I see lots of movies but rarely go to the theatre for it. This was probably the best comic adaptation ever. Everything was well-done, from writing to acting, effects to finale. Take note movie-makers, great movies are not explosion after explosion or dazzling effects with characters no one cares about. There’s a reason the movie industry is losing to video games.

Enough rambling. This is why I don’t get enough work done!