Orson Scott Card dreams outloud about the “Ender’s Game” video game franchise.
It’s nice to know that there’s nobody more interested in creating a series of Ender’s Game video games than author Orscon Scott Card himself. During an interview with FileFront’s Gaming Today this past July, OSC talks about his own gaming addiction, and outlines his ideas for creating a series of video games in the Enderverse.
That’s right. Multiple games.
We’re especially heartened by the level of detail OSC includes as he unspools a long list of game types he would like to see made, and the concerns he has about making sure they stay true to the potential these games will play in the evolving world of “video game as storytelling vehicle”. OSC definitely seems to “get it”.
From the exceptionally long and detailed interview :
“OSC: Part of the deal with Warner Brothers was for them to develop the many videogames that are possible from the book, without waiting for the movie. They never fulfilled that - which was the only part of the deal with Warner Brothers that actually made me angry. Movies are hard to make - but to make many good, profitable Ender’s Game games is a no-brainer.
Don’t look for one “Ender’s Game” game. Look, instead, for games bearing the Ender’s Game brand.”
Now we’re talking. While reading along while OSC outlines a number of game types, I felt a chill run down my spine (honest.) This is the most elaborate description of OSC’s vision for any Ender’s Game video game that I’ve read yet, and it’s encouraging. The right studio and development process (I’m imagining that Bungie’s experience developing and testing for Halo 3 with Microsoft Labs would be a good model to base it on, but we might like to see that crossed with a “Matrix: Path of NEO” interface) could make Ender’s Game a breakthrough game- one that evolves the way we “see ourselves” in the story during online game play.
OSC continues to describe his daydream vision, describing games based on the Battle Room and/or Battle School, the three Formic Wars, parallel storyline games based on the Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow series, the Mind Game/ Fantasy Game concept, a Hive Queen “sims” game, and finally a “post-war war game” that takes place immediately following Ender’s “victory”. He specifically remarks that “the Battle Room game would be the most popular and yet the cheapest to develop each module for, so we’ll certainly start there, though I think the First Formic War will also be a terrific and popular game. We’ll see what happens.”
It’s a long (but welcome) interview for those of us who have daydreamed of what an Ender’s Game video game might look like:
Source: http://news.filefront.com/gaming-todays-exclusive-interview-with-author-orson-scott-card/
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