Gaming

The Life of a Novelist

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I began playing an awesome indie game called The Novelist by Orthogonal Games. This game was probably one of the ones I wanted to play the most.

Check out the first video here.

Playing the Novelist was like getting a look at a real life author with family problems. It can show that each choice we make can make some people happy and others disappointed.

You play as a ghost-like being that stays in a house. This house gets occupied for the summer by Dan, Linda, and their son Tommy. Dan is a writer, Linda is an artist, and Tommy just wants some time with his parents. All three of them have choices that need to be met that will disappoint the other two.

I think this game will be one I replay after I beat it to see what all the other choices cause. It’s a brilliant game and I encourage all gamers and writers to play it!

Remember to keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

Type:Rider, an adventurous colon.

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I posted the second video of the second level of Type:Rider. I learned even more about the history of typography and writing. It’s insane how much a game can teach me that my English classes in high school failed to cover because of curriculum. Oh how I hated standardized testing.

Watch the video here.

The second level was the Gothic level. As it did in the first level, the art in the background just amazes me as I jumped around as the colon. I’m a huge fan of history, literature, and art. Ironic part is I am taking a Humanities class that encompasses all of that. I even used my first video as a reference for a discussion post. Video games and education! WOO!

Type:Rider is a game developed by Ex Nihilo and published by BulkyPix and Plug In Digital. It’s a brilliant indie game that I hope my videos spread that awesomeness to other possible gamers.

I’ll play it through till the end.

Remember to keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

H.P. Lovecraft Games

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My first H.P. Lovecraft game that I played for PlayingWithWords was an indie game made on GameJolt, by Cloak and Dagger Games, called The Terrible Old Man. Of course it was based on the short story by Lovecraft himself.

Watch the video here.

The first interaction with H.P. Lovecraft was probably the huge geeky icon that is Cthulhu. More specifically, my cousin was explaining the entire concept of the tabletop game Call of Cthulhu. It blew my mind that there was so much behind another short story.

I’ve got several Lovecraftian games in line up for PlayingWithWords, so I hope fans of his readings will stick around to see them!

Remember to keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

PlayingWithWords

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What is PlayingWithWords? It’s a YouTube channel based on bringing together the common ground between gaming and writing. There are dozens, if not hundreds, games that are based on writing, writers, authors, books, short stories, poems, etc. My goal is to bring entertainment for gamers, writers, and readers.

You can watch my introduction here.

As an author of two books, I not only draw my inspiration from the obvious (reading), I also gather it from video games. I’ve played video games for as long as I can remember. Even before I started writing short stories in kindergarten, I was playing my N64.

I never really hear about authors playing video games, at least mainstream ones. I know writing is always number one priority for writers, but you can’t really get inspiration if you are always writing, can you? If there are others out there, I want to show them that video games are a great way of getting inspired and be entertained, outside of books.

I know gaming takes time, as does writing. Personally, gaming can easily take over most of my free time. So with PlayingWithWords gives me short bursts of gaming and commentary that give me the inspiration to write more.

I love being a writer, and I will always be a gamer.

Remember to keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

(YouTube) First writing game is up! Type:Rider #1

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Uploaded my first Let’s Play! It’s the game Type:Rider which tells the history of writing over the years with different cultures.

The game is fun so far. Loads of reading, so hope you enjoy my terrible reading out loud skills!

Check it out here and subscribe for future Let’s Plays and games about Writing, Reading, Authors, Writers, Books, and more!

Links

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_mFACZ5rdM

Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMkCXJrSslJYgafXkJrE9wA

PlayingWithWords (YouTube Channel)

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I’ve started a YouTube channel that is going to be based on vlogging and gaming. The key to this channel is it has a “theme” of sorts. I plan to only do let’s plays on games about writing, reading, writers, books, and authors. The theme can be stretched broadly over those subjects, but my main is goal is to give entertainment to those people into writing, reading, and gaming. No author I know has ever mentioned playing video games as a pass time, probably because writers don’t have that time to.

“Keep writing” are the two words that I see plastered all over writing groups on social medias. The thing is, what if one draws inspiration from not just writing? I, for one, love to read and play video games to gather most of my inspiration. Sometimes, it’s hard to force myself to write when I don’t know where to even go in my stories. So yeah, I may take more time than most writers to finish a piece of work, but at least I have a hell of a good time doing it.

Subscribe to my channel here.

Videos coming soon!

Keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

Nimble Writer on Steam Review

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“I wrote my first two novels with Microsoft Word. Once I saw that there was a Word Processor on Steam, I was sold. I did my research, comparing other reviews and comments about other Word Processors. For the price, it isn’t bad at all. Already getting into my third novel using Nimble Writer and I love it.
Plus, achievements. As a gamer, I love achievements. I think it’s cool to have a goal set in mind, and achievements are there as a reminder of those goals. The words-per-day based achievements were a great idea. Stephen King has been said to write 10k+ words a day, while others I have actually met in person say about 5k+. The achievements show me how far I can get into writing, even if it’s just part time. I would love to see more achievements come out too! Perhaps like use Nimble Writer everyday for a week, or something.
Regardless, it’s much better than Microsoft Word, in my opinion.”

Add me on Steam here.

Writing in Steam!

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I have discovered apparently that Microsoft Word is the “worst” word processor to use for writing. Many articles state that fact. For the longest time I’ve been using word, for my first two novels, on my 4 year old laptop. My gaming computer didn’t have a decent Word so I figured my laptop could be my writing computer.

One day, on my gaming computer, I was looking through the Steam sales. I immediately saw the word “writer” and my eyes fixated on it. Nimble Writer. A Steam based word processor. I thought to myself, “Well, I’m in Steam most of the time anyways.”

Nimble comes with Steam Acheivements(always a plus in my book) and is distraction free. You can open all your documents from within the program, no extra windows needed. You can even export your files/stories to wordpress and others. I know other word processors have that cabability but Nimble is cheap, and in Steam. I think it’s a perfect processor for Steam users who are also writers.

I’ve messed about in the program a few times and love it. It’s simple to use.

Trangia Prison now on Steam Workshop!

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I made a prison on The Escapists map editor for the Steam Workshop! It’s based on the prison from my first novel, Elements of Lightning, as much as I could make it.

“A Protector enforced facility recently taken over by one of the President’s advisors, Ragnosk Lokar. It’s a place where the Elementalists and Elementless go when they get out of line. It wasn’t originally designed to be a compound, but once Ragnosk took over, it’s almost like he needed to keep something out, instead of in.”

Get the novel here in paperback and ebook: http://amzn.to/1NAHgSX

I’m actually using my second Tumblr! (AKA links, links everywhere)

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I have two tumblr blogs set up. One is my popular DisneyTronBlog with almost 700 followers! (I don’t know if that really is a lot or not)

The other is a blog I made when I converted the first one to a Tron-based blog. It’s where I’ll post more personal stuff, like my poems, Alan Wake stuff, writing related pictures/posts. and non-tron things. Doctor Who pictures/gifs and other BBC shows will be shared on to there as well. It’s easy to find too. It’s just BrandanChapman. I’ll post my blog and journal updates on there as well.

If you’re a fan of Tumblr, this would be an easier means as to follow me, if you lack a Facebook, DeviantArt, Twitter, or even Google+. You can follow me just about anywhere online! If you like games, I like to stream on Twitch. I’ll post any of my decent streams on Youtube. I want to also start making vlogs. More to come on that. I may even read my book prologues for videos.

You can also get my books here, for the readers out there.