Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 163

How To Lose Money In Video Games

A reader emailed to ask that since I’m self-publishing audiobooks if that meant I was going to start self-producing video games based on my books.

Not just no, but heck no!

Audiobooks are expensive. But video games are much more expensive and infinitely more complicated – you have to hire developers, programmers, artists, sound people, music people, QA people, and then the inevitable time fixing and patching bugs. All of that is enormously expensive.

Actually, a funny coincidence – right now I’m listening to the audiobook SODA POP SOLDIER, a LitRPG book written by Nick Cole and narrated by Guy Williams, and one of the book’s subplots is a fantasy writer who invested all his money in an MMORPG based off his books. Except costs escalated, and he had to borrow money from bad people to keep the game afloat, and he eventually wound up in hock to an organized crime syndicate who use the game as a backend for various illegal activities.

Now, winding up in debt to the Futuristic Cyber Mafia is an extreme case, admittedly, but the underlying account of video game developers losing a lot of money is pretty accurate.

There are many, many, many, many stories of video game developers who went bankrupt. It is a very difficult way to make money. How difficult? Let’s put it this way. There’s no way I would ever invest in a restaurant.  Something like 90% of all new restaurants fail, and fail hard. However, if someone forced me to choose between investing in a restaurant or a video game developer, I would still invest in the restaurant. As difficult as the restaurant business is, a restaurant probably isn’t going to go out of business because of a technology change in the new generation of XBox consoles. Or for that matter, video games depreciate hard. If you can sell a new game for $49.99 in 2014, you won’t be able to to that in 2019.

So, no, I’m not going self-produce video games.

FROSTBORN: THE BROKEN MAGE now available in audio!

I am pleased to report that FROSTBORN: THE BROKEN MAGE is now available in audiobook, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills.

An author’s opinion of his own work is always suspect. Yet THE BROKEN MAGE is one of my favorite books, because I love a good dungeon crawl game, and THE BROKEN MAGE is one massive, giant dungeon-crawl.

You can get the audiobook at Audible, iTunes, Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Amazon AU.

-JM

Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday: FROSTBORN: THE BROKEN MAGE

It’s Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday! This week’s excerpt is from FROSTBORN: THE BROKEN MAGE.

The audiobook version of FROSTBORN: THE BROKEN MAGE is literally going to come out any day now, so it seemed like a good time to have an excerpt from the book. THE BROKEN MAGE was one of my favorite books to write because it’s essentially one giant dungeon crawl, and I do enjoy a good dungeon crawl game.

You can read FROSTBORN: THE BROKEN MAGE at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, and Smashwords.

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“I think,” said Mara, opening her eyes, “we might have another problem.”

“Oh,” said Morigna, watching the flames. “Just the one?”

Power blazed before Mara’s eyes, invisible to the gaze of most mortals, but sharp and harsh before her Sight. The ancient glyphs that ringed the Vault of the Kings were shields of frozen light, implacable and invincible. The flow of elemental power from Antenora to the wall of flames seemed like a stream of fire. The mighty wards around the golden doors to Dragonfall blazed like a net of solid light, magic unlike any Mara had encountered before.

All that was secondary to her attention right now, though.

The song in her head kept getting louder.

“The Traveler?” said Ridmark. He had spent most of the last hour watching the curtain of fire, but his eyes kept straying back to the gates to Dragonfall.

“Yes,” said Mara. “He is very near.” She concentrated for a moment, trying to make sense of the peculiar sensation. “Within two miles. Maybe less than a mile. I suspect all the solid rock and the glyphs are disrupting his aura. But he is almost here.”

Arandar gave a shake of his head. “The last time were caught between the Mhorites and the Anathgrimm, we were almost killed.”

“Perhaps they will do us a favor and kill each other off,” said Jager.

“We kept saying that in the Vale,” said Morigna with a sour scowl, “and it never seemed to happen. One suspects the Traveler and Mournacht shall join hands in brotherly amity to first kill us, and only then try to slay each other.”

“Why?” said Arandar.

“Because, Sir Arandar,” said Morigna, “of the essential perversity of the cosmos. Why else does every damned thing always seem to go wrong?”

There was silence for a moment.

“That is actually a good theological argument,” said Caius, “for the fallen nature of the world…”

“If we live through this, we can debate theology later,” said Ridmark.

-JM

SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN progress update

I had wanted to get to 67,000 words of SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN by today, but I actually just passed the 70,000 word mark. Progress!

70k words in…and I still haven’t reached the halfway point. Like I’ve said, this is going to be a long book!

Avengers Endgame: How To Write a Compelling Villian

I read an unintentionally amusing article about AVENGERS ENDGAME where the writer was trying to convince himself that Thanos was actually the hero of the movie. (“Sure, he’s a genodical maniac, but his policies are good for the environment!”) Laying the article writer’s moral myopia aside, it occurs to me that AVENGERS ENDGAME provides an excellent example for fiction writers about how to create a truly compelling and charismatic villain.

(This post contains no spoilers for the movie.)

It is easy to see Thanos as a hero because he does in fact possess many heroic virtues. He is physically brave, extremely intelligent, and a formidable fighter. During the movie, he outfights or outwits nearly every single one of the protagonists. He also has a clear vision and goals, and is willing to pursue his quest regardless of any obstacles he faces. He is charismatic, and able to convince others to follow him. Thanos regards events with calm stoicism, and proceeds from both success and failure with the same equanimity.

All these qualities are admirable in and of themselves.

However! Here is the critical point. Thanos possesses heroic virtues, but what does he do with them? A quote from CS Lewis’s SCREWTAPE LETTERS will illuminate the problem:

“To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue. What would Attila have been without his courage, or Shylock without self-denial as regards the flesh?”

Thanos is a villain because his virtues have been twisted in the service of his evil goals, namely, the murder of half of all life. His charisma is employed to bring others to help him in his wickedness. He affects a calm and rational demeanor, but when he gets seriously angry, the masks slips, and it is easy to see that what drives him is Pride on a Lucifer-esque scale. He claims to want to destroy half the universe to save the other half, but what he really wants is to prove himself right, and to have the surviving half of the universe be grateful to him for it. And when thwarted, he has a vicious cruel streak that emerges, and he revels in the destruction and ruin he causes. All his positive qualities are used only to bring harm and destruction.

That is the key to creating a really compelling villain. Make the villain someone who would under other circumstances be admirable, or even heroic, but have all the villain’s virtues be turned to an evil end.

If you want to make a contemptible villain, make him a coward, a liar, a hypocrite, or a traitor. But if you want to make a compelling villain, give him admirable qualities, but have him use those admirable qualities for an evil goal.

-JM

Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday: MALISON: DRAGON CURSE

It’s Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday! This week’s excerpt is from MALISON: DRAGON CURSE.

The idea behind the MALISON series is simple. Usually, in a fantasy novel, only a few people have magic. But in MALISON, everyone has magic. For that matter, magic overuse causes transformation into an insane dragon, which goes on a homicidal rampage before getting enslaved by a dark elven lord.

It’s been fun to write the series and explore the implications of that idea.

MALISON: DRAGON CURSE is available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, and Smashwords.

###

“My father?” said Tyrcamber, and to his annoyance, the resentment steeped into his tone. “I am the youngest of six sons. My father is more interested in his heir and my sister than anything I do. He is more interested in marrying me to some suitable noble than in anything else I must do.” He shuddered. “I hope he doesn’t saddle me with some buck-toothed cow of a woman.”

“So long as she has a kindly heart,” said Rilmael, “that would be better than marrying a woman with a fair face and a rotten soul.”

“You’re thousands of years old,” said Tyrcamber. “You can say those things.”

Rilmael blinked and then laughed. “That is correct. I can remember what it was like to be nineteen…though it’s been long enough that I must concentrate very hard. A worthy duty and a good wife at your side? There are worse ways to spend a life. The first Emperor Roland thought the same.”

“But he was the first to become a Dragontiarna,” said Tyrcamber.

“Yes,” said Rilmael, his expression going distant. “He was. It wasn’t something he sought, wasn’t something he desired, but it happened nonetheless. The first Dragontiarna and he saved his nascent Empire from destruction at the hands of the dark elves. He was horrified by the transformation, but he bore up under his abilities nonetheless, for he thought it his duty to defend his people.”

“He hated it?” said Tyrcamber, uncertain whether or not to be angry. He had always heard that the first Emperor had nobly embraced the power of the Dragontiarna, taking the power into himself to defend his vassals and subjects.

“Intensely,” said Rilmael. “Remember that he was born on Old Earth. He had never seen magic, let alone a dragon of any kind. But he bore his duty well.”

Tyrcamber frowned. “Why have I never heard this before? The histories I heard said you appeared to our ancestors when they reached this world, and you taught them the Seven Spells and how to resist the Malison. I never heard that they panicked and slew each other and succumbed to the Malison. Or that the first Emperor wished that he hadn’t been a Dragontiarna.”

“History is like that,” said Rilmael, his voice quiet. “It has been…mmm…seven hundred years since your kindred arrived on this world and founded the Empire? Yes, seven hundred. Think of how many generations have come and gone since then. The first Emperor and the founding of the Empire of the Franks must seem like a myth to the humans living today. Yet your ancestors were men of flesh and blood, and I saw them and spoke with them.”

Tyrcamber watched the Guardian, again feeling a chill as he thought of that vast span of time. His childhood felt as if it had been a very long time ago, but as Rilmael had pointed out, he was only nineteen. Seven hundred years, to have met and spoken with the first Emperor and the founders of the Imperial Orders…

“Why are you telling me this?” said Tyrcamber at last.

“I think a significant destiny may lie before you,” said Rilmael.

“Destiny?” said Tyrcamber, surprised. “Is there such a thing? Or does God guide all our fates?”

“I honestly don’t know,” said Rilmael. “But consider this. The Sight allows me to glimpse something of the true nature of time. The past is like a carven statue, fixed and unchanging. The present is a burning flame, constantly changing and altering. The future is the shadow cast by that flame.” His silver eyes seemed to weigh Tyrcamber. “And I look at the shadows of your future, Sir Tyrcamber, and I see that for good or for ill, you will change the course of the Empire.”

-JM

 

MALISON: DRAGON UMBRA now available!

I am pleased to report that MALISON: DRAGON UMBRA is now available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Google Play, and Smashwords.

The Empire struggles for its survival against the dark elven hordes, and a new ally might mean victory or destruction.

When the umbral elves offer to side with the Empire, Sir Tyrcamber Rigamond is sent to the Imperial Free City of Falconberg to help guard the Emperor’s ambassador.

But in the corrupt city of Falconberg, the treacherous politics of the merchant-lords might be more dangerous than the umbral elves themselves.

And an ancient enemy might rise from the dust of the past…

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-JM

SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN progress update

Now over 30k words into SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN.

While writing today, I was trying to type “Dragon Knight” but my fingers kept turning it into “Ragu Knight.” So, naturally, I had to make this picture.

-JM

SEVENFOLD SWORD PART IV available in audiobook!

I am pleased to report that SEVENFOLD SWORD PART IV, an audiobook bundle containing both SEVENFOLD SWORD: SORCERESS and SEVENFOLD SWORD: SERPENT for over 23 hours of listening enjoyment as excellently narrated by Steven Brand, is now available at Audible, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, and iTunes.

SEVENFOLD SWORD: SORCERESS, as you might recall, ends on something of a cliffhanger, so it’s neat that the audiobook lets listeners continue right into SERPENT. I figure that will reduce incidents of road rage.

SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN now underway!

I am pleased to report that I am now 10,000 words into SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN, the final book in the SEVENFOLD SWORD series.

It’s going to be a long book, definitely the longest in the series (32 chapters planned). I think it’s going to take me all of May to write it, so likely it will come out towards the end of June.

Watch this space for updates!

-JM