The Nathanomicon

Why did I write Necropolis PD, and how did Crunch Time almost destroy my writing debut? Necropolis PD , my debut novel, will release in a few short weeks, and I’ve been thinking back a lot to how the book came about, and why I decided to write it. I’ve always wanted to write books. As far back as I can remember I was writing stories. After school I was drawing comics, playing role-playing games with friends, creating adventures in my mind and on paper, and I was reading voraciously, anything in the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres. In high school and college, I wrote in my spare time. I managed to write a single published issue of a comic. I submitted a few short stories to magazines. I started work on creating a role-playing game with some friends. I ran numerous role-playing campaigns, both around the table and with friends online. And in the back of my mind, I was putting together ideas for books I would someday write. In the summer before my senior year of colleg...

With the release of my debut novel Necropolis PD only a few weeks away, I thought I’d talk about the processes that brought the book to life, or at least some of the influences that played a hand in its creation. The first topic I’ll discuss is how my experience in game design factored into the creation of the world of Necropolis PD. I’ve been designing games professionally for over 20 years. I’ve helped make computer games, console games, first-person shooters, platformers, massively-multiplayer online games, role-playing games and more. When designing a world for a game, it’s important to keep in mind that as the designer, I am responsible for defining all the rules of the world. As the designer, I am teaching the player how they can interact with the environment. If I want them to jump, I have to show them how high and how far they can jump, if they can double-jump, if they can grab onto ledges and pull themselves up. This has to be consistent from level-to-level, I can’t su...