Category Archives: Comics

Every Game Is Its Own Medium

In traditional media–films, television, novels, comics, etc.–a creator usually assumes a level of familiarity with his medium of choice on the part of the audience. As a filmmaker, you know your viewers expect a movie to run around two hours. That helps you pace your scenes, as the audience will have an instinctive sense of how far through the story is. If your protagonist appears to die ten minutes into the movie, you know your viewers will be wondering “how will she survive?” and “when will she come back?” rather than sitting confused, trying to figure out if the film is over already.

Similarly, a novelist needn’t worry about readers assuming each page is a self-contained unit, as if it were a scene in a play. Basic literacy comes with a knowledge of the existence of section and chapter breaks. Novels may vary dramatically in length, form, and viewpoint, but certain fundamentals remain the same. Continue reading →

A Short Update

I’ve been remiss in updating the blog over the past few months. The dry spell will end shortly as I begin a new multi-part game writing series. In the meantime, a few personal notes and links:

  • My short story “One Thousand Levels Down” was published in Star Wars Insider 151, available on newsstands and in electronic format.
  • BioWare announced Shadow Realms, a multiplayer action RPG. As I was Lead Writer in the very early days of the project, I’m both excited to see it reach the public eye and interested to see how it’s changed and evolved since my departure.
  • Marvel Comics announced that my Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist comics will be among the comics reprinted in STAR WARS LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION: THE EMPIRE VOL. 1.
  • I continue to take on new video game projects (and continue hammering away at old favorites) which I can’t yet talk about. Sorry. I’m hoping to mention some soon.
  • Lastly, I’ve become enamored of the CRPG Addict blog, in which one dedicated player is working his way through virtually every computer role-playing game ever published. It’s a fascinating history of the genre.

A Small Update

It’s been ages since my last post, and it’s going to be a while more before my next “real” update–life and work have been busy, and I’m going to be traveling with intermittent Internet for the next several weeks.

Hoping to get back to a semi-regular schedule upon my return. In the meantime, a few bits and pieces:

I’ll be attending New York Comic Con from October 10th through 13th. Not currently planning any signings or events, but feel free to say “hi” if you see me on the show floor or ping me via e-mail or Twitter if you’d like to meet up.

Game Update 2.4, “The Dread War” is coming out soon for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Quite a lot of the writing for the planet Oricon is my work–my first (though not last) work for BioWare as a freelancer instead of as an in-house employee. It’s short and focused (and leads into the update’s Operations), but I think fans of story-based content will enjoy it.

My third Dragon Age comic book miniseries, Dragon Age: Until We Sleep is out in a lovely hardcover edition. The trilogy is now complete and bookshelf-appropriate! My latest Star Wars comics (the two-issue miniseries Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist) have also been collected in Star Wars: Purge–a trade paperback that also includes stories by John Ostrander and Haden Blackman.

That’s it for now. Once again, forgive my sporadic posts, and I’ll try to get some new content up after NYCC!

Forthcoming Project Roundup and Convention Appearances (February 2013)

A few folks have asked what I’m working on currently. Unfortunately, non-disclosure agreements prevent me from saying much–I’m actively doing more video game writing and having a grand time of it, but I can’t go into details yet. Non-video game projects (some creator-owned, some not) are in a similar boat or still in the exploratory phase, and I’d rather not announce anything without a firm publisher commitment.

But I’ve still got some items in the pipeline. Here’s a handy list of things that will be out shortly: Continue reading →