OK, that took a little longer than I thought. Finishing the Vulcanverse gamebook series, I mean. I expected to tie up the saga last summer, but I didn't reckon on how complex it would be to pull together the threads of hundreds of quests spanning almost three-quarters of a million words and over 6000 sections.
But the finish line is in sight at last. You see me there with the typeset proof copy of Workshop of the Gods. I have checked all the logic (with the help of John Jones, without whom this Gordian knot would never have been cut) and now I just have to sort out any typos and the book will be ready to go on sale.
I think this might be the first open world gamebook series ever to be completed. (Eagle-eyed readers will correct me if I'm wrong.) Now if anyone has $100 million spare, I'll make the movie.
Congratulations! I'll buy it as soon as its available. 6000 sections... truly amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carlos. It was certainly exhausting work, but Jamie and I are proud of the end result. There are some spectacular Easter Eggs in there, including two surprise bonus adventures for players who picked up a certain sand-filled contraption.
DeleteI've been waiting for book 5 to restart my adventure. Did most stuff in book 1, then moved to book 2, but got a bit stuck, so, decided to start again from the beginning but on book 5. (meanwhile I got the other 2 books), I really enjoyed what I played in book 1 and 2, very excited to play all this in one go!
ReplyDeleteStarting in book 5 will make a difference as it means your family home is right there in the city and you know most of the key landmarks from your childhood.
DeleteOh, so it'll be like an easy mode start? Where you know all the basic stuff (like, where you need to go, what you should do? Don't want to write any spoilers).
DeleteAlso, I commented here before on how I create Gamebook trailers, and I know you must be bored of me saying you this, but, this time, just wanted to share 2 trailers I did recently:
Lone Wolf - The Huntress Trilogy - https://youtu.be/CGYjZUyWVEs?si=isq7BGA5fv2vClaz
and DestinyQuest Raiders - https://youtu.be/SW_2UnrVbTQ?si=1iR2nT2fmsAIxybU
No need to apologize, it's always good to see book trailers and reviews.
DeleteStarting in VV book 5 isn't exactly an easy mode option. You will already know the major landmarks in the city, so you can travel direct to them, but anyone arriving from another region only has to walk around the city once to build up the same list of landmarks.
If you grow up in the city you also get a couple of extra multi-part quests that your aunts and uncles give you. I included those because some players have said Notus and Boreas in particular are too sandbox -- they prefer to be given a goal rather than pick their own. The starting quests in book 5 steer players towards the major quests in those other books.
Still throwing down the gauntlet, Dave? How can you truly *finish* an open world anyway? I'd better read Vulcanverse soon. Maybe when I've finished writing my series...
ReplyDeleteSooner than that, I hope, Martin, given the implied Catch-22! People often refer to Fabled Lands as unfinished, but if the rest of the series existed it would simply mean it covered twice the territory. There are very few quests in books 1-7 that can't be completed for want of books 8-12, and no sense in which the story (or rather, each player's story) would need the other books to complete.
DeleteVulcanverse is a bit different, though. Each of the first four books features three main quests (the labours) and the player needs to do all twelve to progress in book 5. Half of book 5 (about 850 sections) is open-world, the other half is the endgame sequence to which all the main quests, not to mention quite a few side-quests, have been pointing. So in the sense that you finally get to oppose, ignore or join in the subjugation of reality by the series' Big Bad, the Vulcanverse is finished. But that's because it's really semi-open-world.