The Prestige

And behind this curtain...

“Every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts. The first part is called the pledge, the magician shows you something ordinary.”

-The Prestige

History is the same way, through the writing left at the time and archaeology unearthed by historians, we are able to discover what happened, the pure solid facts. We might be able to see what the people of that era did, with an idea on how they might have lived and what tools they had but is this really true life? Is this really seeing what their lives were all about? Can we truly think like they did, and understand what they do?

“The second act is called the turn, the magician takes the ordinary something and makes it into something extraordinary.”

-The Prestige

Next came the novels, the work of historical or even true fiction. These stories take the truths gleaned through historical artefact and theory and turn it into something understandable, something that we can relate to. We begin to see the people living their lives in our minds eye, we begin to become attached to the people and characters of that era. This is what I have done with the Vinland book, I have taken the world given to us by history and transformed it into something real. The bones in the ground now mean something to us, the small combs found at nearly every Viking grave come to hold new meaning. The people  begin to come to life, each with their own ambitions, vices and virtues, they have in a word become human; but none of this is really tangible. We cannot touch this world, we cannot change it, we cannot live in it.

“Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out.”

-The Prestige

Then comes virtual media, or more specifically computer games. Suddenly we are a step closer to living the life of a Viking, to bringing the struggles, the woes, the glory, and the wonder of this lost age to life once again. We can now walk among the Vikings, we can interact with them, we can see the world through their eyes, with their ideals and impressions. The hopes and fears of the common man become real, the desires and eccentricities of kings become important once more.

“You want to be fooled.”

-The Prestige

Books have always been a very important facet to humanity, either through revealing the thoughts of those long dead, or by providing a glimpse of glorious worlds forever lost to us, or on idea of worlds which never even existed, they are an important aspect of remembrance, else the personal triumphs of those who came before us would have been lost to time. However they have that one essentially fault of the written word; once on paper it cannot be changed. Through the dynamism of digital media, we are able to tell numerous stories with a visual representation of how things would have looked, better yet we are able to interact with the tale, to change and mould it depending on our desires, and it is this ability to change things which allow us to really get to grips with how things were, to understand what it was that drove these enigmatic people. After all, the best way to learn, is by doing; and until humanity develops a time machine which will allow us to live among our ancestors in person we will need to settle with being fooled by an animated digital image.

And so, may I present to the world, the new computer game studio Zatobo. This is a company I have set up with some very talented people from across Europe, the name itself meaning “Storyteller” in Japanese. This in itself should give you enough of an idea of what I am hoping to achieve with this enterprise. First, I start by writing books, this creates the foundations of a new world and now add in the games, which brings it to life. The first project we have begun is “Arctic Assault” in which you take the role of the intrepid explorer, Leif Erikson, and must work to get him safely to the fabled lands of the west, to his destiny, to Vinland.

Buy Vinland: Arctic Assault, our first release now with the button below!


Find out more at Zatobo.com
Discover the latest development details at IndieDB
Follow us on Facebook and @Zatobo on Twitter.

Curtains courtesy of Pixel77.com

I'm plotting against you...

...I’m an author, it’s what I do.

Or at least, that’s what the slogan on one of my new t-shirts says. I love t-shirts... and cargoes.... and plotting... and apparently ellipsis’ too.

Anyway! I hope that all my lovely readers had a spectacular festive period, and have since recovered from hangovers and indigestion. For myself the end of the year was a time of reflection, thinking on what I had achieved and what I have hoped to do in 2012 (other than watching loads of the Olympics, obviously!) 2011 was generally a good year for me; I finally graduated with my masters (only 9 months late, Brighton!) and began work on the Vinland book while taking over as lead designer for Prophesy of Pendor. Do you guys do the same? How has the past year been for you? What have you learnt? Achieved? What do you hope to do for 2012?

Work on Vinland the book has slowed somewhat since the bustle of NaNoWriMo (explained last month), though I have some interesting possibilities lined up for this year which branch out the franchise. I really want to talk about this now, but I am sworn to secrecy for another week or two but believe me, once things are formalised and official you guys will be among the first to hear of these exciting developments. On the book itself I have reached the 80,000 word mark and while my initial aim was 100,000, I think I will be surpassing that so my latest estimate is around 120,000. Hopefully once my current project has settled somewhat then I will be able to get back to the writing, as Leif and the others are beginning to feel a little neglected.

So in essence 2012 for me, at least at the moment, looks to be another year filled with creative projects which fully test my abilities as a designer, a writer and someone who is self employed and therefore lacking a boss yelling at me. This way of life suits me rather well, I can get things done when my night-owl impulses allow though I do admit the temptation to procrastinate can be overwhelming at times; still it’s nothing compared to the efforts required to avoid this while writing dissertations and essays... this writing I actually enjoy doing. There honestly is nothing quite so thrilling as being able to create worlds and bring life to them through characters you see sketched out as a series of personality traits and watch them slowly mature as the story grows.

(Image courtesy of the Austin Powers films)