{"id":644,"date":"2014-06-11T13:16:46","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T05:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benjamincheah.wordpress.com\/?p=644"},"modified":"2014-06-11T13:16:46","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T05:16:46","slug":"updates-and-a-recruitment-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/?p=644","title":{"rendered":"Updates and a Recruitment Call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keepers of the Flame<\/em>, the first full-length novel in the\u00a0American Heirs<\/em> trilogy, has passed the first round of edits. The manuscript now stands at around 121350 words, about 215 A4-sized pages. Currently I’m sourcing for cover artists, editors and beta readers, and raising funds to pay\u00a0the development costs. There may also be some minor changes to the manuscript, so the word count is not firm yet. I’m hoping for a Q4 2014 release, though late Q3 is an option.<\/p>\n

For newcomers,\u00a0American Heirs<\/em>\u00a0is a\u00a0military science fiction\/post-cyberpunk set in a North America recovering from global collapse, when\u00a0the Apocalypse is a distant memory and humanity is getting back up on its feet.\u00a0Keepers of the Flame<\/em>\u00a0is a direct sequel to\u00a0American Sons<\/a>, <\/em>taking place a year after the climatic battle to save the Republic of\u00a0Cascadia, what was once called the Pacific Northwest. As the Combat Studies Unit hunts down the remnants of the terrorist group the Sons of America, \u00a0the SOA strikes back, hoping\u00a0to\u00a0burn down the New World and bring back their idea of America.\u00a0On the other side of\u00a0the continent, a new American empire\u00a0expands into the ancient\u00a0American heartlands — and into a Cascadian enclave. Confronted by\u00a0threats foreign and domestic, Cascadia must steel itself for a war unlike anything it has ever experienced in its short history.<\/p>\n

And as the flames of war\u00a0grow brighter and hotter, a machine god awakes…<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

With\u00a0Keepers of the Flame <\/em>mostly sorted out, I am ready to announce my next project: an independent video game in collaboration with\u00a0local musician Ryuu Shun Hayashi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tentatively titled\u00a0Odyssey<\/em>, it is a space opera role-playing game trilogy\u00a0\u00a0that\u00a0puts the players in the boots of Cory Bates, a team leader for\u00a0the Strategic Services Command of the Terran Empire. We are working on the first episode, tentatively titled\u00a0Odyssey: Remnants of Terra. <\/em>In the\u00a0Odyssey\u00a0<\/em>universe, the Terran Empire is locked in a brutal decades-long war with the Free Star Alliance. Now,\u00a0the Terran Empire faces the threat of\u00a0rebellion on the Fringe World of Bellaphon. Bates and his team, assigned to the prototype starship Imperium<\/i>, are tasked with the local militia in putting down the insurgents. But the mission goes terribly wrong, the Imperium<\/i>\u00a0suffers critical damage, and they are\u00a0stranded in space\u00a0for over a hundred years in cryogenic suspension. When the\u00a0crew revives, they find\u00a0themselves in a corner of the universe that has forgotten the Empire and the Alliance. They decide to set a course for\u00a0Old Earth, to find out what happened and make their way home.<\/p>\n

But first, they need to repair the\u00a0ship. Without trade goods, fuel, supplies, or indeed anything that can be used as currency,\u00a0their only option is to sell their guns to the highest bidder. And in so doing, they will change this part of the universe, and themselves, for better — or for worse.<\/p>\n

We are using RPG Maker VX Ace as our development platform. Our current goal is to produce the prologue, which\u00a0covers the mission to Bellaphon. It will be a free demo to\u00a0represent the game, and attract investment and talent.\u00a0Features include <\/span>decision\u00a0<\/span>branches and multiple endings<\/span>;<\/span> persistent choices that last throughout the\u00a0<\/span>series<\/span>;<\/span> and\u00a0gameplay that rewards strategic thinking, tactical planning, resource management and combined arms.\u00a0<\/span>Progress is smooth, and we expect a Christmas release date.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

For my novel, I’m looking for beta readers who\u00a0can read\u00a0hard military science fiction aimed at the American market. While I have cover artists and editors in mind, but I’m open to quotes from\u00a0Singaporeans as well.<\/p>\n

As for the game, there is a critical need for a capable digital artist.\u00a0RPG Maker is geared towards ‘classic’ RPGs like Final Fantasy;\u00a0the chipsets are suited for a high fantasy setting, not a high-tech one. We need someone who can create custom 16- or 32-bit chipsets, concept art and promotional graphics for a sci fi environment. We prefer people based in Singapore so we can meet in person, but there are no real restrictions on nationality or location. The prologue can still go ahead without custom art, but with the art it would be a better representation of the game’s overall vision.\u00a0Odyssey<\/em> is running on a shoestring budget; we cannot\u00a0at this time offer upfront payment, but we are open to profit-sharing with the possibility of future work.<\/p>\n

If you think you can help out, drop me an email, and we can\u00a0see how\u00a0if we can help each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Latest work updates: Keepers of the Flame has finished the first round of edits, and I’m embarking on a video game project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33],"tags":[46,57,151,258,341],"class_list":["post-644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-updates","tag-advertisement","tag-announcement","tag-gaming","tag-recruitment","tag-writing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}