Speaking on Games x Comics at PAX Online today

Today’s the day! I’ll be joining a host of other talented folks to speak about writing for games and comics in the virtual experience of PAX Online! Watch the stream, then join us on Discord for a Q&A to get the last ounce of value from our lovely and fearless panelists!

Games x Comics – Complimentary Mediums?

When: Today! September 17, 2020, 1pm PST
Where: PAX Online

Games and Comics have an overlapping audience in spite of their differences. Interactive vs. passive consumption, moving vs. static images – but what are the traits they share that draw people to both? What are some of the similarities and differences in how they can be used to tell their stories, and how can the two be used to boost each other within a franchise?

PANELISTS
Cade Peterson [CEO, MidBoss], JJSignal [Creative Director, MidBoss], Sina Grace [Comics Writer (formerly MARVEL, currently IDW, Archie Comics, BOOM! Comics, PT), freelance], John Barber [Editor-In-Chief, IDW Publishing], Mary Kenney [Writer, Insomniac Games (Video games: MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES and THE WALKING DEAD: THE FINAL SEASON)  (Comics: READ-ONLY MEMORIES and MY LITTLE PONY)], Anne Toole [Writer, HORIZON ZERO DAWN (game and comic), CURSE OF THE PHARAOHS (ASSASSIN’S CREED ORIGINS), and HALO: LONE WOLF (comic), freelance], Sam Maggs [Writer, video games and comics (Comics: MARVEL ACTION: CAPTAIN MARVEL; TRANSFORMERS: GALAXIES. Video games: SPIDER-MAN: THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS; RATCHET & CLANK: RIFT APART)]

Congrats on THE WITCHER’s 76 million viewers – but not of the game

Netflix’s THE WITCHER apparently reached 76 million viewers in its first month of release, making it Netflix’s biggest premiere ever. Congrats to everyone involved! And, in an abundance of clarity, I was not one of them 😆 I was one of several credited writers on the first WITCHER video game along with my then writing partner Sande Chen.

Why do I feel the need to clarify? Because this week a friend reached out to me and asked, “Aren’t you rich yet?”

Alas, no. The games and series are both based on best-selling novels from Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. To him go the glory and the spoils. You can see bits of Eastern European mythology seeping in that make the Witcher’s world stand out. While the games offer more of a sequel to the books, the Netflix series adapts the books themselves.

The popularity of the Netflix series has been a boon to the games, however. WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT (also no affiliation), just recorded its highest number of players ever, despite being released in 2015. I guess to CD Projekt Red and Steam go some of those spoils.

Days Gone wins Best Storytelling Award

DAYS GONE, the survival horror game I wrote for, won for Best Storytelling at the Golden Joystick Awards last month. As a PS4 exclusive, DAYS GONE also won Playstation Game of the Year.

I contributed some early development writing, including developing the lore and jargon of the Ripper cult. Check out images from the book (art by various — I can’t draw) below.

From the Playstation website: “At its core, Days Gone is about survivors and what makes them human: desperation, loss, madness, betrayal, friendship, brotherhood, regret, love—and hope. It’s about how, even when confronted with such enormous tragedy, hope never dies.”

If you haven’t played DAYS GONE yet, maybe now’s the time. Nothing says the holidays like fighting for your life!

 

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine? On XBox, PS4, and Switch

So apparently the water tastes like wine on consoles today! I wrote a story for Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, an award-winning game about traveling and telling stories in a folkloric Depression-era United States. If you like supporting indie games or new approaches to game narrative, this game is for you! If you hate all those things, check it out anyway, you monster. You’re sure to find something you like.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is available today on XBox One and Nintendo Switch. You will be able to crank it up on Playstation 4 starting Monday, December 2nd. Of course, it continues to be available on Steam, Itch.io, and GOG for all you PC dreamers. Check out the trailer while you’re at it.

 

Arrr! Writing for Conan the Pirate

It’s Halloween! Time to dress up as a pirate! Maybe even… Conan the Pirate? I contributed to this Modiphius sourcebook for Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of. It’s a tabletop RPG that allows you to sail down the coast of the Western Sea to discover Shem, Stygia, and Kush and engage in some daring-do. The book can inspire you to write your own adventures using the 2d20 system set in Conan’s world.

Want to know more? Here’s a write-up from Modiphius’s site:

The Hyborian world is home to many dangerous people, and none are more ruthless or dastardly than its pirates, the scourge of the high seas. A menace to civilization itself, these seagoing bandits have their own ways, customs, and traditions, and Conan the Pirate explores pirates and the pirate world.

Detailed within these pages are the countries up and down the coast of the Western Sea — proud Zingara, wealthy Argos, the western reaches of Shem and Stygia — as the setting for pirate-based campaigns.

With this volume, CONAN characters can embark on campaigns of piracy, plunder, and high adventure! So, unsheathe your cutlass and ready yourself for a boarding action, to seize plunder and glory for your captain and fellow buccaneers!

So check out Conan the Pirate for Halloween — or any time you feel like an adventure!

Cool & Collected: Halo comics & D&D adventure get hardcovers

Two projects I contributed to are debuting this month with a new look. First off, Dark Horse is collecting the HALO: LONE WOLF comic book mini-series I wrote into hardcover.

Spartan Linda-058's skills in are called upon for a treacherous solo mission. Issues #1-4 of the series are collected in HALO: LONE WOLF: https://t.co/5FO07pczFX

From creative team @amely, @theinkpages, Kieran McKeown, Dan Jackson, and @cjwardart. @Halo #halo pic.twitter.com/9BPg2DQNLD

— Dark Horse Comics (@DarkHorseComics) June 13, 2019

Click here if you want minor spoilers for individual issues 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Not to be outdone, Lion Forge is collecting its monthly publication of D&D resources and adventures into ROLLED & TOLD: VOLUME 1. I wrote one short adventure for their Halloween issue entitled “Maigret’s Traveling Carnival.” The collection holds many more great adventures where that came from, so players should definitely check it out.

"Rolled & Told is a modern love letter to the print role-playing magazines of days gone by. [… it] should make its way to not only your comic collection but your gaming table as well." Thanks for the review @MajorSpoilers! https://t.co/vYa8x0s5mF

— Lion Forge (@lionforge) June 11, 2019

If you want to gaze upon beautiful art, enjoy an adventure or two, AND own a book you can use as a tray (no judgment), you are in luck. The hardcover collections of ROLLED & TOLD: VOLUME 1 and HALO: LONE WOLF are available now!

Writing on DAYS GONE

DAYS GONE, the PS4 exclusive survival horror game, came out last month. I had the opportunity to write some early content for this game, set in the exquisite mountains, high desert, and forests of Oregon. The people of Bend Studios did an amazing job on this game. I spent about three months up there and even enjoyed riding around on a bike in the Cascade mountains. Spoiler: It’s more fun in-game, partially because IRL I felt like I was going to fall off, and also because it was cold!

If you’re interested in environmental storytelling, immersive ambient conversations, and a cult at the end of the world, check out DAYS GONE. Also, if you like killing zombie-like freakers while riding a bike like a boss, check it all the way out!

 

HALO: Lone Wolf comic out today!

New year, new comic! If you love you some science fiction set on distant planets, or enjoy the Halo video games, check out Halo: Lone Wolf. I wrote this four-issue comic book series from Dark Horse and 343 that starts with issue one today! You’ll find it wherever fine comics are sold.

Halo: Lone Wolf follows Spartan Linda-058 alone on a covert mission. Her skills in infiltration and marksmanship make her perfect for the high-stakes mission to end the threat posed by a wanted scientist on a distant planet. With only an ONI-assigned AI at her side, Linda must fight through both the dregs of the Covenant and the hostility of a lost human settlement to stop the rogue scientist in his tracks.

The newest entry in the Halo comics franchise is written by Anne Toole (Horizon Zero Dawn, The Witcher) with art by Kieran McKeown (White Canvas) and JL Straw (Back to the Future), colors by Dan Jackson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Call of Duty: Zombies), and covers by Christian Ward (Quantum Age: From the World of Black Hammer, Young Avengers).

Want a preview? Preview away here!

Post-apocalyptic games panel at PAX West

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we can’t wait to play it. If you’re at PAX West this Sunday, I’ll be speaking on a panel with a bunch of other fantastic creators to discuss the appeal of the post-apocalypse in video games. If you can’t wait for the end of the world, join us on Sunday for a sneak peek 😉

Why We Love the Apocalypse
When: Sunday, September 2, 2018, 10:30AM-11:30AM
Where: Sphinx Theatre (Sheraton) in Seattle, WA

Why do we like playing like it’s the end of the world? With so many games set when society crumbles and the worst side of humanity (or inhumanity) takes over, what is it that draws us back to games set around an apocalypse? Join writers and designers from games like State of Decay, Horizon Zero Dawn, BioShock and Shrouded Isle as we talk about what goes into a good apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic game, why we like making them, and what new dark and upsetting places we want to take players next.

Who: Richard Foge [Design Director, Undead Labs], Tanya X. Short [Director/Designer/Writer, Kitfox Games], Jordan Thomas [Designer & Writer, Question], Anne Toole [Narrative Designer & Writer, The Write Toole], Richard Rouse III [Director/Designer/Writer, Paranoid Productions]

Horizon Zero Dawn nominated for Writers Guild Award!

Horizon Zero Dawn‘s writing team earned a Writers Guild Award nomination! The announcement marks my second nomination; the first was for THE WITCHER. HZD has made quite a splash, winning Best Narrative at the Golden Joystick Awards and the Golden Calf at the Netherlands Film Festival, among others. Horizon joins nominees from such projects as HANDMAID’S TALE, GLOW, and GET OUT. Read on to see all the Videogame Writing nominees!

Can I get a hell yeah? https://t.co/FfXkewTuJE #HorizonZeroDawn #WGA2018 @amely @deeeeewarrick @betterthemask pic.twitter.com/7TQrQ75eTq

— Jess Wyeth 👩🏼‍💻💙 (@shethulhu) January 11, 2018

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, External Writers Anna Megill, Hazel Monforton; Lead Narrative Designer Sachka Duval; Arkane Studios-Bethesda Softworks

Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow, Written by Cas Ruffin, Patric M. Verrone; TinyCo

Horizon Zero Dawn, Narrative Director John Gonzalez; Lead Writer Benjamin McCaw; Writing by Ben Schroder, Anne Toole; Additional Writing by Dee Warrick, Meg Jayanth; Guerrilla Games

Madden NFL 18: Longshot, Written by Michael Young, Adrian Todd Zuniga; Story by Michael Young; Tiburon/Electronic Arts

For a full list of nominees and other awards info, check out the list here.