Aaron A. Reed's Blog, page 5

Subcutanean: Final Days to Back!

Friends, we’re in the FINAL DAYS of crowdfunding for my latest project Subcutanean, a novel where no two copies are the same. If you’ve already backed, I’d love your help spreading the word. And if you haven’t, this is your chance to reserve your own uniquecopy!

Back Subcutanean Now!

About the book: Subcutanean tells the story of two friends who find themselves trapped in an endless basement that seems to multiply everything: architecture, emotions, even people. Its endless tunnels and empty...

Subcutanean: An Excerpt

In this excerpt from Chapter 10 of Subcutanean, Ryan (short for Orion) has gotten lost in the depths of a fractal basement underneath his house, which he and his friend Niko call Downstairs. They’ve realized that different parallel universes connect through its miles of hallways and empty rooms. Downstairs seems to multiply everything: architecture, emotions, even people.

After becoming separated, Ryan eventually finds Niko again, but slowly realizes this is a different Niko: one who’s been lost down here for a far, far longer time.

Niko...longer time.

Nikoeven people.After

Intentional Collapse: Plausibly Human Randomized Text

Here’s an interesting problem: say you’re writing a video game with a conversation tree, with many moments where the conversation might continue in one of several different ways. Normally, the decision of which path to take is driven by the player: they choose an option — presumably the one they find most interesting — and the line of dialogue that responds to it is duly triggered. But what if the system, not the player, had to pick the most interesting way for the conversation to continue? What strat...

Subcutanean Bonus Rewards and Social Goals

Subcutanean, a horror novel where no two copies are the same, has gotten off to a fantastic start on Indiegogo, getting to 70% funded in its first four days! Some reviews have also started to appear in the wild: Jason Dyer says “While the plot begins as a slow burn, the horror and suspense start to multiply to be about as intense as anything you could read.” Carl on Goodreads says it’s “not a gimmick… everything in this novel is deeper than it first appears,” and also posted the lovely image below. You can start readin...

Subcutanean Pre-orders Now Available!

Subcutanean, a novel where no two copies are the same, is now available for pre-orders on Indiegogo.

Still from the crowdfunding video.

If you’ve been following the project via my design posts (and it’s not too late to start), you already know some of what to expect: a horror novel written with procedural text that’s different for each new reader. The campaign page has some new reveals, including a book trailer, side-by-side diffs of the same scene i...video.

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Why I Made Subcutanean

The Subcutanean campaign goes live on Indiegogo tomorrow, October 29th. In this moment before the ride begins, I wanted to reflect on why I made it.

I’ve always loved underground places. One of the first books I read for myself at an early age was The Hobbit, and I remember the journey down to Goblin-town gripping me with an unforgettable mixture of fear and fascination. When I first played Adventure on my grandpa’s Apple II, the notion of getting to go explore an underground world myself was incredibly alluring. (This experience would,...made it.

I’ve

When to Not Trust Dynamic Text

My upcoming novel Subcutanean is written such that each time it’s regenerated for a new reader, hundreds of moments of textual variation get collapsed down into a single possibility. If you’ve written dynamic text before (for games, maybe) you’re probably aware that this isn’t as easy to get right as it might first seem. Errors both tiny and tremendous can easily appear. Some of the more insignificant ones around punctuation or spacing show up in the output like typographical mistakes:

great. I’ll see you at the store.
Have fun!....mistakes:

great.

Subcutanean Design Posts

An index to all of my design posts about Subcutanean, in chronological order. I’ll keep this updated with new posts as they go live.

Subcutanean: A Novel Where No Two Copies are the Same
Today I’m pleased to officially announce my next project: Subcutanean, a novel coming to print-on-demand and ebook formats that changes for each new reader. No two copies are ever the same.Subcutanean,

New Directions in 2020

A quick break from wall-to-wall Subcutanean coverage to talk about a professional/career development: as of this month and hopefully throughout 2020, I’ll be focusing full time on game writing and consulting as well as pursuing my own projects, including some new digital games!

I’m stepping down from my full time position at Spirit AI, though I’ll still be involved in an advisory role. I’ve had an incredible three years there working with some of the most talented people around, and still believe in our mission of using con...digital games!

I’m

Read the First Two Chapters of Subcutanean Right Now!

My new novel Subcutanean is a queer horror story that changes for each new person who reads it. Very soon you’ll be able to order your own unique copy on Indiegogo (get notified when the campaign launches on October 29th!). But to tide you over, I’m excited to announce that I’m releasing the first two chapters of the book online — well, one version of it, at least —today on three fiction sharing sites, with more chapters to come:

WattpadRoyal Road [approval pending]Tapas[image error]WattpadRoyalto come: