JAMES SWALLOW

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Games

Your Universe Awaits

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No Man’s Sky is here!


Today’s that day the hype becomes real and the gateway to a galaxy of 18 quintillion explorable planets opens; I’ve been fortunate enough to write some of the lore for No Man’s Sky, contributing key text to the game itself and writing “Ashes & Iron“, an original short story for Adventures In No Man’s Sky, a pulp SF collection that comes packaged with the game’s Limited Edition release – and I am hugely excited to have been part of this ambitious new gameworld.

Check out my earlier posts about working on the project Here and Here.

You can pick up No Man’s Sky on the PS4 in the ordinary or Limited Edition versions Here, via Steam for the PC Here, or get the exclusive Explorer’s Edition Here.

Writing Under No Man’s Sky

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August is going to be a packed month for cool videogame releases (certainly for me!), and it kicks off next week with the arrival of No Man’s Sky, the hotly-anticipated science-fiction exploration epic from Hello Games.


I’ve talked about NMS previously, because of my involvement with Adventures in No Man’s Sky, an original fiction collection published by Dark Horse Comics that comes packaged with the game’s PlayStation 4 Limited Edition collection.

 
 
I was lucky enough to be invited to contribute to the lore of the NMS universe along with famous artists like Angus McKie and Dave Gibbons.I got to write a short story called “Ashes & Iron”, for which Dave has drawn some fantastic illustrations in the style of the old classic SF pulp magazines like Galaxy, Astounding and Amazing Stories.
 
But what I haven’t talked about until now is that I was also invited by Hello Games producer Sean Murray to join his team and contribute some writing to the game itself.

The universe of No Man’s Sky contains many mysteries for players to unravel and much to explore – I am reliably informed that the game contains 184446744073709551616 planets. As much as that number looks like I just mashed my hand on the keypad, I am assured it is accurate (!)

I got to write a little of the material that intrepid explorers will find in abandoned locations across these myriad worlds, as well as lore that will peel back some of the unknowns around the strange phenomena known as the Atlas – and I can’t wait to get in there myself and start visiting some alien vistas.

No Man’s Sky is out on PS4 on August 9th, and PC a few days later. Check out the official website here.

New Book(let) Day: No Man’s Sky

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New book day is always the best day!


Check out the cover art for Adventures In No Man’s Sky, an exclusive anthology featuring the comic strip “Cargo” by industry legends Dave Gibbons and Angus McKie, and the prose story “Ashes & Iron” by me…
 


Adventures In No Man’s Sky will be available as part of the No Man’s Sky Limited Edition release for the PlayStation 4, and you can learn more about that Here.

You Are Hearing Me Talk…to BAFTA Guru

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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have been doing a lot over the past few years to make videogames an important part of their organization, and most recently there was a whole day of games-related events as part of the BAFTA Guru program – as the official site Here says, “Guru is bursting with advice from the best creative minds in the industries so whether you’re an actor, a games developer or a cinematographer, we’ve got something for you.”


I was pleased to be part of the Guru Live event last month, where I took part in a panel called “The Storytellers”, along with Meg Jayanth (80 Days) and Rob Yescombe (The Division), hosted by Guy Cocker, where we talked about the various challenges of writing for interactive media. You can click on the panel below or go Here to listen.

 
BAFTA Guru have now put up all the audio recordings from the games day and you can check out the rest of them Here.

DEUS EX MANKIND DIVIDED 101 Trailer

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August rolls ever closer, and with it comes the release of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the next in the landmark Deus Ex game series; I worked on the script and story for DXMD, and you can hear some of that in this new trailer – six whole minutes of hero Adam Jensen laying out the themes and scenario around the events of Mankind Divided. (Warning: some story spoilers in here for a few early plot elements).
 
 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is out on August 23rd of Playstation 4, XBox One and PC platforms – as will my new Deus Ex novel Black Light, which acts as a bridge between the end of the previous game Human Revolution and the beginning of DXMD.

You Are Hearing Me Talk…About Star Trek & Videogames

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I’ve been busy on a bunch of writing projects over the past couple of weeks, so I’ve been slack on posting some new bits up here on the blog – to redress that balance, here are some linkys to a few interviews I did last month…


First, check out episode 142 (“Star Trek Vs. Godzilla“) of Trek FM’s Literary Treks books and comics show, where I talk with Dan Gunther and Matt Rushing about my new classic Star Trek novel The Latter Fire. Click here to stream the show.

You can also find me talking about Star Trek, games and a bunch of other stuff on episode 229 of the G & T Show live podcast from the start of the show to the 1:45 mark. Click here to listen.

And lastly, I’m here discussing videogames (specifically the recently released mmo-shooter-rpg hybrid The Division) on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Game On show. Click here to listen.