App of the Week: The Impossible Line

This week's app is a game called The Impossible Line by Chillingo. If you play games on your mobile phone, you've probably already heard about this game. It's highly addictive and you may find yourself playing it for hours. It's a total time sucker. Consider this your official warning.

The object of the game is to draw a line from an arrow to a target while avoiding obstacles. Easy enough, right? The catch in this game, however, is that as soon as you tap your finger to begin drawing a line -- the obstacles disappear and you must rely on your memory.

This feels a little like walking through your house in complete darkness except you keep bumping into walls! Naturally, the puzzles get more challenging as you progress.

I love playing this game on the subway during my commute. I have a personal rule about not spending real money on games though, so I can only get so far with the power-ups. (The only time I broke that spending rule was for Can You Escape? and that was an accident... eh-chem). 

The only issue I have with The Impossible Line is their use of advertising. I completely understand the need for monetization in mobile games. I worked in the industry so yeah, I get it. It's essential for most apps. The difference with The Impossible Line's ads is that they are absolutely non-stop and actually become distracting from the chalkboard gameplay. Also, the ads are never about anything I'm even remotely interested in purchasing. In fact, if you watch this gameplay video by lonniedos, you'll see how truly invasive the ads really are:

I would definitely appreciate The Impossible Line more if their ads were less frequent and more organic. That said, I will probably keep playing, at least until I can get beyond some difficult levels.

What's your favorite mobile game right now?

9mm Earns 4 our of 5 Clicks from One Click Mac

9mm just got a fantastic review from One Click Mac and they mention story! WOO-HOO! Here's an excerpt:

"I have commented many times in the past about Gameloft's inability to tell a good story. Take a glance at Eternal Legacy, Fast Five The Movie: Official Game or Dungeon Hunter Alliance and you'll see what I mean. In 9mm, everything changes. Your action-packed tale of torment and anger is well written and, most importantly, well voice acted."



"In all, 9mm is worth it for the asking price if you are looking for a creative and diverse campaign. The multiplayer is a great addition, but too new to be of any value in its current state. It's moody, it's brash and it's Gameloft's most impressive Mac narrative yet."


Click here to read the full review, and buy your copy of 9mm from the App Store!

Also, 9mm was just nominated for Pocketgamer's Readers' Choice Awards!

Midnight Pool 3 Wins Silver Award from Pocketgamer!

My latest project, Midnight Pool 3, just won a Silver Award and a score of 8.0 out of 10 from Pocketgamer.


Game Reviewer James Nouch writes, "I mean, how much narrative justification does anyone really need to play a bit of 8-ball?

But while their presence might not be necessary, that isn't to say these additions aren't welcome. Midnight Pool 3's story is an endearingly ludicrous one, in which every dispute is decided with billiard balls, and every narrative beat takes place next to a felted table."

Here's a trailer that shows you some gameplay:



You can purchase Midnight Pool 3 now on your mobile phone. Yay!

Yes, I Can Write Filth.

I recently completed writing a very gritty game called 9mm which is set to debut this week at E3. 9mm is the story about a group of bad cops who do whatever it takes to keep the streets clean, even if that means breaking the law. Based loosely on Southern California (where I lived for 5 years), the game features gangs, a ton of violence, and all the characters have some serious potty mouths. This is definitely not a game for kids.

That said, it was an incredible collaboration with a designer named Damian who works out of a studio in another country... I can't say which. :-) Damian went to film school too, so we were really able to brainstorm and talk story well, a luxury I don't always get at my job. He happens to be a big fan of American action popcorn movies (and loves Sylvester Stallone), so we had some pretty hilarious conversations about eliminating "the cheese with which oozed" from the game. We were also very active with both the voice-over casting and recording processes which was SO great. (We're usually taken out of the loop at that point).

Don't blame me for all the cussing- this is what they wanted! :-) Check out the trailer below.




9mm is scheduled to be released any day now for Android, iPhone, iPad and iTouch devices.

A Writing Career?!

I recently came across Roni Loren’s blog post (by way of Gabriela Lessa’s blog) about all the various responses writers often get from people when they reveal that they are actual writers. This got me thinking about all the insane comments my whack-a-doodle mother has said to me over the years.

(no, that's not really my mom but it may as well be. she's just as loony)!

Here are just a few examples of her isms:

While I was attending graduate school for screenwriting: “What do you do besides watch movies all day?”

When I moved to Los Angeles: “Do you live next to a famous person?!”

When I became a copywriter: “I don’t get it. Do you write legal stuff?”

(In my mother’s defense, I actually get that question a lot).

When I started working in social media: "What is a Twit? I don’t understand how Tweeter works? If I go on Facebook, can I meet a man?"

When I began writing video games: “What kind of games do you write? Do you write Scrabble? I play a lot of Scrabble. Can you get me free Scrabble?”

…and our latest conversation (via phone last night) went a little like this:

MOM: Have you ever written a mystery?

ME: Yes.

MOM: You have??!

ME: Mom, you know I have.

MOM: Oh. You mean a game. I’m not talking about a game.

ME: No, I’ve written mystery stories other than games. You’ve read some of them.

MOM: I have? Well, I don’t remember. Anyway, I think I want to write mysteries as a hobby.

ME: Uh… okay.

MOM: But I want twists and turns and red herrings and stuff. How do you do that?

ME: Well, first you need a cast of characters.

MOM: Oh. But I want twists and turns.

ME: You still need characters.

MOM: But how do I figure out who committed the crime?

ME: What? What are you talking about?

MOM: How do I solve it? Do I start from the end? How will I know who did it?

ME: What? Just start with characters, okay?

MOM: Oh, okay. I need motives and weapons too!

ME: Decide where you want the story to be set.

MOM: Oh, I know that. In my office.

ME: Okayyyy…

MOM: We have a lot of interesting characters there! They say there’s nothing more interesting than real life!

ME: Actually, they say the opposite. Real life isn’t interesting enough. Things based on real life sometimes get dropped from the story, so be prepared for that.

MOM: Oh, but writing is such a good hobby. Don’t you think it is?

ME: Uh, yeh. That's what you've been telling me my whole life.

MOM: It's not a career. It's just something fun to do!

ME: Mom. I gotta go.

[scene]

Vampire Romance Wins Silver Award from PocketGamer!

yay! the review i've been waiting for finally arrived and i must say that i was pleasantly surprised. Vampire Romance received a score of 8 out of 10 and was honored with a Silver Award by PocketGamer!

kudos to the team!

why was i worried? well, the team's overall direction was to really play to the "twihards" (a.k.a. fans of the film and book series twilight). as a writer, this was a challenge because i wanted to create fun, original material that would warm any vampire fan's heart but develop a story that might actually stray from all the supernatural material that's already out there.

that said, the reality of the project (and let's face it, life in general) is that we had a lot of different people to please and we had to work together as a team towards one, uniform goal.

luckily for us, pocketgamer's reviewer seemed to understand our mission. (and oh yeah- he called my story "strong writing")!

yippee for me! :-)

vampire romance is available on regular mobile phones, including the blackberry! (note: not the iphone, sorry). find it in your cell phone's content area and play it today!

Get your fang on!

finally, the mobile game that i began working on over a year ago has been released! introducing Vampire Romance!


...and yeah, for some reason i couldn't grab the logo from gameloft's website, so the one above is from a different site.

anywho, it's for the mobile phones (not the iPhone...yet) and is geared mainly towards girls- tweens or young teenagers. there's all types of supernatural beings in your high school and a whole romance story evolves! plus, your choices in conversations determine how the plot changes and there's a whole "mad libs" element where you have to type in words to finish sentences! it's fun. :-)

here are some screenshots for you to enjoy:

Where Did The Year Go?

greetings readers!

so, i haven't written in a couple of months because i've been super busy working and writing like crazy and o-m-g... where did the year go? my birthday's around the corner and soon it will be 2011!

i must admit that 2010 has been a pretty awesome year for me. i had steady freelance work to keep me afloat (so grateful for that) and i finally moved into a 2 bedroom apartment for a (drumroll please) HOME OFFICE!!!! *sigh* my dream! i'm still organizing the room, so expect some great photos sometime soon. let's just say that my walls are two-toned and i'm surrounded by inspiration. it's actually part office/part craft room and i can't tell you how much more productive i am with an entire separate room to myself!

i'm also super excited to announce some of my upcoming projects but unfortunately, everything is still confidential at the moment so i can't say much. :-( i will tell you that one of my games (remember the cupcake post?) is finally coming out in january and i can't wait for players to sink their fangs teeth into it!

i've also been working pretty hard on my children's book manuscript which i hope to finish by the end of the year.

so... stay tuned. more announcements to come soon!

Oregon Trail Makes IGN's Top 25 List...Again!

i realize that i keep talking about video games. i DO write other things. :-) but well, video games have been making a lot of news lately!

for example, a game i wrote last year called Oregon Trail (published by Gameloft) was just named one of The Top 25 iPhone Games of the Year by IGN for the 2nd year in a row! if you haven't checked it out yet, download it on your iphone or ipod touch now! it's fun, it's quirky and well, i'm pretty proud of the funny dialogue in it...especially samuel morse's! (little known fact: i'm a daughter of a ham radio operator and was taught morse code around the same time i learned the alphabet).

here's a colorful screenshot for you to enjoy:

why, oh why?

video games and bad writing.

they seem to go together like a big funky, crunchy, uber cheezy bowl of mac & cheese, right?

well, a friendly coworker of mine came across this video from The Escapist and it pretty much sums up the issues i go through while writing games. in fact, if you're in the video game business, this video should be, like, required viewing... or something. :-)

Life is a Popularity Contest!

and that's the object of my latest video game: high school hook ups!

admittedly, this goes against a lot of my morals. :-) when i was in high school, i was most certainly an outcast and pretty proud of it too. i didn't care about befriending the cheerleaders or the jocks, but this game makes all of that plus more fun- i swear! you even get to go to prom! also- the art is so cool in this game by a talented artist...really different from some of gameloft's previous ones. check out a few screenshots:

you get to play a male or female and you'll meet all kinds of characters that you need to try to impress...including the mean principal. it's a branching dialogue game with a ton of choices for the player, so you really have the chance to direct the outcome of the game!




*sigh* i heart teen angst.

high school hook ups was just launched today and is currently only available on sprint. in the next few days/weeks, it should be available on every u.s. and european carrier! stay tuned...

Chuckles for Shrek!

one of the iPhone games that i completed writing recently got released! very exciting! it's called shrek forever after and yes, it's based on the film. ign apparently reviewed the game in may, but i just noticed it today! journalist/reviewer, levi buchanan, gave the game a 6 out of 10 mainly due to technical issues, but he made a point to say this:

"The writing in Shrek is also good; there are many chuckles in here."

and that right there, folks, made my day. :-) it's pretty rare for writing to be mentioned in a mobile game review-- so i'm pleased as punch!

you can read the entire review here, or pick up the game in the app store and try it out for yourself!

Iron Man 2 Makes Top 5 Games on iPad!

my very first iPad game and it made jkOnTheRun's top 5 list! woo-hoo!

admittedly, i wish the game was better received by the press, but i'm well aware of all the production problems we went through (both in pre and post) and i'm just extremely proud to see it sell so well.



For the full story, click here.

Just call me Avril!

so, i've been writing stories since i was a kid, screenplays too...and okay, now video games. but song lyrics? not quite. as an in-house game writer, however, you're sometimes asked to take on projects that may not necessarily be your cup of tea.

believe it or not, i've co-written original lyrics for songs in a few different video games, including American Popstar: Road to Celebrity (DSi) and Gangstar (iPhone). last week, i finished more song lyrics for an upcoming driving game. i'll talk more about that once it's released.

in the meantime, here's a verse or two from "Oh Mama," one of the songs i wrote for American Popstar. my direction? think "cry me a river" by justin timberlake...


Why were you
Holding back on me
About daddy?
You knew I had a dream
But you kept the reality
Away from me, oh.

Now you say
My goal is in my blood
Running through my veins.
You knew I had a dream.
Mama, you could make me scream.

Oh mama...oh mama...
Oh mama...oh mama...you are my family.

Bet you didn't think
This day would come
Smashing down, no.
But don't you realize
My love for you
Will never change, oh?

ok, i won't bore you with anymore. :-P hey, i never said it was shakespeare! you can hear the whole song in the game which is available on Nintendo's DSi.

The Best Video Game Stories Ever!

last spring, i was asked to teach a video game writing class at my undergraduate alma mater, american university in washington, d.c. unfortunately, enrollment for the class was too low and as such, it was canceled. :-( as i was preparing to teach, however, i came across a great article featured over at gamesradar about the best video game stories ever. any guesses?

Read the whole article here.

Move over Cooking Mama!

let's get something straight. i am totally not a chef. i'm actually a pretty darn good baker, but that's as far as my skills go. which is why i admittedly cringed when i was assigned to write the first ever 3D cooking game called Pocket Chef. it's available now on the App store for the iPod and iPod touch.


unfortunately, there's no "host" in the game so i wasn't able to come up with all those funny cooking jokes that i've been saving up in my repertoire. instead, i was asked to clean up the tutorials quite a bit and write the recipes themselves. i didn't get to choose which recipes were used, but i did my best to keep them simple and sweet.

here's a trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS4UplCgDYs

also, just got word from hq that they're running a contest! lucky entrants have the chance of winning an ipod touch and a pocket chef apron. details about it can be found here.

My Hero is Pissed!

let me explain.

my boss got a computer virus at work. he backs files up in a drive that we writers share. eventually, i got the computer virus. then, i spread it to half our office. this ridiculously annoying virus has plagued me for the past 2 weeks. our IT department has been working furiously to remove it and i've been moved to 2 different temporary computers since. one had no internet and no microsoft office. the 2nd had no internet and no sound...but eventually got both. mind you, most of my files were not backed up because guess what? our back up drive at work has been down for the past 3 months. somehow, through this entire mess, the IT department was blaming me for my issues or just making me feel guilty in general. in their defense, they've been very stressed by all the viruses going around. still, this insanity has made me lose my mind a few times at work which, frankly, is not like me at all. long story even longer-- that virus spread to my ipod and has now infected my personal computer too.

anyway, the point of this post is to explain how it's affected my work, not my mood. every writer is influenced by various things while they're writing and it's been a struggle to continue writing my VERY URGENT project when all my months of communication about the game were lost and my files were missing for 2 weeks.

the project is super uber confidential so i can't say much about it. what i will say is that it's based on a comic book and my comic book hero is pissed. he's angry at all the other characters (even his buddies) and as a result- he keeps yelling at people and trying to fight them. at the end of the day, i review the stuff i've been writing and laugh at how unbelievably bitter my so-called hero is. he has a massive chip on his metallic shoulder. and then, yes, i spend the last few hours of my day rewriting him so that he's not so angry at the world. after all, what does he have to be so angry about? he doesn't have a computer virus!

The Game is Afoot!

i'm super excited because the video game i recently wrote got a great review! it's called sherlock holmes: the official movie game and it's available on your cell phone now. note: it's not on iphones (that's the warner bros. game).


Pocketgamer gave it an 8.0/10 and a Silver Award! Take a look!

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobile/Sherlock+Holmes:+The+Official+Movie+Game/review.asp?c=17579

Welcome!

welcome, lovely readers!

right now, i'm procrastinating. and it's all related to a video game story for work. i can't say much, so i'll just give you a visual and you can try to figure out the rest.


cute cupakes, eh?

more coming soon!