In my post “coming out” (for lack of a better term) as a ‘Breadtube Leftist‘, I mentioned the book ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’, a sci-fi dystopian horror by Harlan Ellison.

Well guess what nerds, that short story got adapted into a video game with direct input from the creator, while also being canonical to the original text! So, in the spirit of things, here’s a few of my favorite books that deserve gaming adaptations!

The City Watch (Terry Pratchett) or Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer) series: Film adaptation? What film adaptation? There’s no film adaptation in Ba-Sing-Se, leave me alone! Jokes aside, I really enjoyed the books and the way magic functions in Artemis Fowl is ripe for gaming-mechanic parallels. I haven’t read the City Watch novels, but I’m lead to believe they’re similar in places despite focusing on more ‘adult’ themes of racism and sexism. Shaun’s mentions of Monstrous Regiment (What If An Entire Regiment of Mulans) and Snuff (The Literary Equivalent of a diss track on JK Rowling’s house elves) have sparked my interest, and I’ll be sure to give the books a try.

Ready Player One (Ernest Cline): Okay, this is an easy one! The book about folks in a VR metaverse going on extravagant adventures with famous characters from anime, film and gaming? You could probably lift the existing mechanics from many pre-existing racing games, actions games and puzzle games, string it together in ghost train ride fashion and Bob’s your uncle!

Ikigami is a manga series by Motoro Mase that follows multiple episodic storylines of characters in a strange unique dystopia. To grossly oversimplify: A selection of people between the ages of 18-24 get injected with a Death Pill that will Death Kill them at a preset time and date (unknown to the injected). This is with the encouragement of getting people to live their best life and accomplish as much as possible before dying. I think this is a brilliant idea for some kind of indie roguelike, where the player can just up and die at random with each death and have to utilize multiple “lives” in different ways. Maybe mixed with a permadeath system for good measure.

Hell’s Underground series by Alan Gibbons: I’m no horror aficionado, but considering I started this book with the second in the series by accident, THEN read the first one and still had a brilliant time, I think there’s plenty to work with here! Without spoiling anything, there are some supernatural elements to the horror that make it ripe for both The Last Of Us-style action-horror and Outlast-style running and hiding.

What books would you like to see put to the world of gaming? Comment down low folks.

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The post Books That NEED Gaming Adaptations! first appeared on Get2Gaming.

AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.

The End.

As I sit here, with a copy of Terry’s Pratchett’s Reaper Man on my desk, it is with great sadness that I say goodbye to one of my heroes. Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series of novels, passed away this Thursday 12th March 2015, aged 66. It is reported that he passed away in his home, surrounded by his family, “with his cat asleep on his bed”.

Sir Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2007, however he continued writing, completing his final book this summer. He completed over 70 books during his lifetime.

Larry Finlay of Transworld Publishers’ told the BBC that he was “deeply saddened” by the new of Sir Terry Pratchett’s death and that

“In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: He did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention.

Terry faced his Alzheimer’s disease (an ‘embuggerance’, as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.”

While Sir Terry was an open supporter of assisted suicide after his diagnosis – stating in the past that he wanted to go at a time of his own choosing – a source has reported that he passed away of natural causes, surrounded by his family.

Sir Terry’s books have given me great comfort and entertainment throughout my adult life, often giving me food for thought amidst the (many) great laughs. The news of his passing, and the format in which it was delivered left me choked up, thoughtful, even teary-eyed. But while the news is sad, something about the circumstances of it somehow seems fitting, appropriate. This, paired with the Discworld books pragmatic approach to Life and Death, offers comfort, for we must remember:

“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away…” – Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett

As always, I recommend the Discworld to everyone that will listen, and will continue to do so. His books approach life with such great humour and wit. Let us celebrate his life and works. Do you have any favourites? What do his books means to you?

The t-shirt that Terry Pratchett wore to conventions: pic.twitter.com/9KJvIpakBc

— Jason (@NickMotown) March 12, 2015

Many thanks for all the kind words about my dad. Those last few tweets were sent with shaking hands and tear-filled eyes. — Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) March 12, 2015

“I meant,” said Ipslore bitterly, “what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?”
Death thought about it.
CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.

The post No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away…: Discworld Author Sir Terry Pratchett Passes Away, Aged 66 first appeared on Get2Gaming.