GAMES YOU'LL NEVER SEE PT1

true <img src="/assets/0000/0234/ATP-WildWest_large.bmp" alt="game graveyeard1" width="529" height="360" />
I was just going through my old hard-drive and tidying up some things, and stumbled across my portfolio of computer graphics work. There’s a ton of it, from 12 years working as a computer games artist and designer. The last three or four years I worked mainly in designing and rapid-prototyping game proposals. It was a small team, me and a programmer…and our job, well…it doesn’t get much better than this really, our job was to think up really cool ideas for games, and speedily produce a quick, vaguely playable sample of it. That would then be taken to a big game publisher and we’d pitch the idea to them. So I thought, it might be interesting to any readers out there who do partake in a little gaming to see images of some games that oh-so-nearly went into full production, but for some reason didn’t. Who knows, any one of these games might just have gone on to become a huge hit, another Assassins Creed, another Call of Duty, another Halo. 
These three images were from a proposal based on the old 70’s movie WestWorld. The movie was based on the idea of a holiday vacation world populated by robots that you could safely ‘kill’ for fun. But…as is always the case with disaster movies, something went wrong and damaged their circuits and made the robots turn on their guests. Great film! And a good starting point for a game idea. So, we designed a game where you play a maintenance tech guy armed with some gadgetry, whose task it was to rescue theme park guests whilst fighting all manner of robotic foes from different history theme zones; gunslingers, knights, orc, dragons, aliens. We had some cool zones like ‘Horror Zone’ and ‘History Zone’ and ‘Movie Zone’ (movie zone was cool, because there’d be loads of vaguely recogniseable cameos…eg: Laurel and Hardy robots, Terminator robots etc etc). Anyway, I knocked up a some damaged cowboy robots models some maintenance bunkers and drafted in some extra artists to hastily throw together a wild west street and my programmer partner wrote enough code that you could wander around have a simple gun fight with them….and quite a cool gimmick of the game – target a robot and directly control it, for a limited time only. (The yellowy image shows what you’d see from the eyes of a controlled robot). That was basically the cool gimmick – controlling anything from robot rats to robot dragons. We pitched it, and this one, nearly….oh so nearly got greenlit but the publisher in question finally declined. 
Sigh
Anyway…I’ll post another screenshot from a game that never got made soon. alex scarrow, timeriders, computer games

2010-03-03T17:20:36Z

Alex blogs about computer games he designed, that never got made. 17 games-you-ll-never-see-pt1

2010-03-03T17:20:36Z

2010-03-03T17:31:59Z

true <img src="/assets/0000/0224/ALEX-BLOG-week3_sales_large.jpg" alt="alex-blog week3 sales figs" />Well, it’s been out for 3 weeks and we’ve just had the sales data in. Wonderful news, it’s still climbing the charts! This week it’s climbed 12 places to NUMBER 40! Okay, okay…I know that doesn’t sound spectacular, but when you consider the Children’s Book chart is a mixture of picture books, annuals, hardbacks and paperbacks, perennial classics like the Hungry Caterpillar and The Gruffalo, and of course the Twilight Saga, then, in actual fact, it’s a lot better than it sounds!
Also, for me it’s a first to have three week-on-week sales figures that continue an uphill trend. My normal form is to have a great opening week, only to slide slowly out of the charts the second and third weeks. So this is really, really good news.
If there are any fans reading this. A big thank you from me to you for giving TimeRiders a go. And, if you have enjoyed it…please tell your friends about it. It’s word-of-mouth like that which will keep the book in the shops.
In summary then. Yayyyy!!!!! alex scarrow, timeriders

2010-02-23T17:01:01Z

Sales figures for TimeRiders show the book climbing up the charts! Wahey! 16 timeriders-book-sales

2010-02-23T17:01:01Z

TIMERIDERS BOOK SALES

2010-02-23T17:20:43Z

true <img src="/assets/0000/0219/ALEX-BLOG-Leona-Scott_large.jpg" alt="Blog-Leona-Scott" />My army of nieces and nephews are busy out there promoting TimeRiders to their school friends, their college friends and work colleagues. But, as is so often the case, when they say something like ‘Oh….and the writer happens to be my Uncle Alex’, they get the usual disbelieving ‘yeah, sure..r.ight, whatever.’ Which has been the typical response for Leona, my eldest neice, and her fella, Scott, both of whom I owe a big hug and kiss for their tireless plugging of my books.
Anyway…they were over to visit this weekend and after dinner my wife took this snap so that I could shove it up on the blog thus allowing them both to direct disbelieving mates to this page. So, if you’re one of those disbelievers…look closely at the piccie. Do you see? There’s Leona, there’s Scott, see? And the bald guy in the middle, is me, Alex Scarrow (or Uncle Alex if you prefer) and yes, I’m the chap who writes the TimeRiders series (and adult thrillers; October Skies, Last Light, Thousand Suns…plug, plug).
So there! Stick that in yer pipe and smoke it! Nyah, nyah, nyah. 
Lol. Just kidding. It’s okay, dude. It’s understandable. Not everyone you know is going to have this, like, unbelievably cool Uncle who’s writing this time travel series that’s going to be an ENORMOUS success! ;-) 
  scarrow, timeriders

2010-02-21T11:14:51Z

My nieces and nephews have a problem convincing their friends their uncle is the writer of TimeRiders. Sigh. 15 no-one-believes-me

2010-02-21T11:14:51Z

NO ONE BELIEVES ME!

2010-02-21T11:34:26Z

true <img src="/assets/0000/0214/ALEX-BLOG-Editing_large.jpg" alt="alex-blog-editing" />So, today’s the day I begin the two week process of going through the 1st draft manuscript and tidying everything up. Now, many writers I’ve spoken to seem to find this bit the tedious bit, they much prefer the freedom and excitement of tapping out that first draft, and the later tidying-up to be the real chore.
Me? I love doing 2nd draft work. I really do. I love taking a page of rough writing and polishing it, honing it, stripping away the dull bits and knowing what’s left on the page is just the good stuff. A similar thing to painting really….I’m one of these painters that wants the canvas filled very quickly, everything in the composition blocked out roughly and approximately then, going in with a finer brush and putting those lovely little details and flourishes in.
So, I’m now at the little-brush stage. A chance to put those nuances in, those whispered little clues in the background that you’ll think nothing of at first, but realise later were hugely important and were staring you in the face all along!
More than anything, though, it’s at this stage that I learn a little more about my main characters. This is the draft in which they speak to me; reveal their quirks, their insecurities, their worries.
So, here we go then. Coffee’s steaming on my desk. I have my wife’s notes, my editor’s notes….my own mental notes.
Let the work begin….
 
nb: Just after I published today’s blog, I noticed you can read some of the type on the screen! I’ve just been reading through it…and I think I’ve managed not to reveal any big spoilers there! timeriders, alex scarrow

2010-02-15T13:19:17Z

Alex readies himself to begin editing and tidying up TimeRiders2: Day of the Predator 14 editing-timeriders2

2010-02-15T13:19:17Z

EDITING TIMERIDERS2

2010-02-15T13:23:41Z

true This afternoon was an interesting experience; a discussion panel on the subject of ‘The Future of Teen Fiction’. On the panel, Patrick Ness, Mark Walden, myself and Rebecca Clee – an editor over at Spinebreakers. I think the conclusion of the discussion was that it’s an impossibility to try and predict the trends in teen fiction. As Patrick quite rightly said ‘who could have predicted the success of the Twilight Saga, or Harry Potter even?’There was lengthy discussion on the impact of ebooks and the iPad, the concencus being, these things really probably won’t make a huge impact on the novel-consumption habits of people. 
It was also a fantastic opportunity to see the faces behind the short stories I’ve been reading for the competition. What incredible talent lies out there, waiting to become the writers of the future! After pictures were taken of the winners, it was off to a reception upstairs; wine and canopes and polite conversation…where I spoke at length to a bright young lad called Sam who I’m almost certain has a great future as a writer ahead of him.
Then, back on the train to Norwich. Home, perchance to sleep. 
And then tomorrow….the work on TimeRiders3 begins. Ta da!!! 
  LSE Literary festival, scarrow, timeriders

2010-02-11T22:53:57Z

LSE Literary Festival Panel 13 lse-literary-festival-panel

2010-02-11T22:53:57Z

LSE Literary Festival Panel

2010-02-11T22:53:57Z