Frostbite in the Sahara

I'm right in the throes of testing the digital versions of the first four Infinite IF books, so no time right now for that big post I've been meaning to do on how most videogames get interactive storytelling all wrong (Jurie Horneman has been blogging about that), nor the other one on how I'll adapt Blood Sword for the 21st century. Instead, I've been working up this sketch map for Heart of Ice to serve as a guide for the IF series artist, Bruce Hogarth.

What's wrong with Leo Hartas's original map, you may be asking? Nothing. In fact, as that one is in colour it's what we'll put into the ebook. But Bruce is working up black and white art and maps for the print editions of the books. Hence this sketch of mine, put together with the aid of Google Earth.

In other news: Roxlou Games's mouthwatering game concept Unwritten made its Kickstarter target. Guide your own tribe across the tundra, creating the defining stories of their oral history as you go. Think Cave of Forgotten Dreams meets strategy gaming with a dance and a song by a shaman to help it along. Seriously, this does look like interesting and original interactive storytelling (or story creation, rather) and shows that Kickstarter can actually fund some genuinely 24-carat original concepts.