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My Works
Following are examples of my written works.
Following are examples of some of my work as designer and studio founder of Dolphin Entertainment, LLC.
Status: Complete. Seeking representation and publishing.
Synopsis: "Drifters: Origins" is written from a Christian conservative viewpoint and presents a more realistic view of what space faring civilizations would be like than the utopian or atheistic views present in most fiction. It follows the story of Tarvin Dracken, who joined the CorCent Military Academy with the dream of gaining experience and one day following his family’s footsteps by taking to space at the head of his own sanctioned mercenary team. Before even the first day of class, fellow cadets latch onto him because of his family’s history of acting as peacemakers in dangerous areas of space. Their goal is to recruit him to lead them as a team in the greatest sports event on Corinth, the Grand Tournament Games. Even as they learn and grow as a team, they are unaware of Tarvin’s true family legacy and the adventures that lay ahead that are more than they ever would have imagined.
More information will be made available on a page dedicated to the Drifters series and at the request of agents and publishers via the contact button.
Drifters: Origins
Tales From the Magic Realms
Status: Complete. Seeking representation and publishing.
Synopsis: In another realm, apart from our own, rests a special world where magic flows freely and has been granted to the inhabitants of the world as a gift from their creator. This magic allows for great feats of building and building, and even warfare. When misused, it can be used to craft unspeakable things and twist the very being of things and people into horrid abominations or even bodiless phantoms.
The stories within this collection stretch from before magic was even known and include tales of pirates of incredible power ruling the seas like kings and queens, of a reclusive Werewolf, the adventures of a strange band of misfits traversing the stars on a far-too-small-for-the-crew ship and more. This book consists of short stories that are but a small sample of what has been gleaned from the archives of the Lore Keepers, and many more stories are yet to be told.
Razmataz Rigamoraz!
The Things People Do
Status: Complete children's book manuscript. Seeking representation and publishing.
Synopsis: "Razmataz Rigamoraz!" Have you ever said words just because they are fun to say? In "Razmataz Rigamoraz! The Things People Do" you follow the adventure of the curious Alien Visitor as he explores Anytown to find out what the people there do. “Razmataz Rigamoraz! The things people do” is a children’s educational picture book manuscript written so that a catchy rhythm surfaces when read out loud. It covers a variety of jobs that will entertain and fascinate children include baker, mechanic, teacher, and more.
The Death of a Dragon
Status: In progress.
Synopsis: The Death of a Dragon is the exciting novelization of the first short story in Tales From the Magic Realms and follows the adventures of a young thief as he finds himself in an unlikely position to kill the dragon that had been destroying cities for all of known history. As exciting as this is, it is only the start of his adventure as he finds himself taken under the wing of a master swordsman and is started on a journey to be the first human to wield magic.
Drifters: The Grand Tournament Games
Status: In Progress
Synopsis: "Drifters: The Grand Tournament Games" picks up exactly where "Drifters: Origins" ended. While "Drifters: Origins" what about beginning and where characters came from, "Drifters: The Grand Tournament Games" will continue to build on the events, friendships, and rivalries from the first novel while also introducing new ones. The focus of the novel is on Tarvin and the team that formed around him as they launch themselves back into the Grand Tournament Games.
Through the course of their journey the team will face new challenges, but the greatest of all may be Tarvin's own sister who intends to earn her way into the same academy so that she can outdo her big brother in competitions.
The goal of the author is that, by the completion of this book, enough vehicles, weapons, characters, etc will have enough statistics written for them to provide the foundation for a video game adaptation.
The Adventures of the Gray Guardian
Status: In Progress.
Synopsis: "The Adventures of the Gray Guardian" began as a purely episodic story for my blog designed with the dual purpose of both entertaining through an original superhero narrative while also teaching about how to write good fiction. I have since revised the existing installments into a single manuscript with the end goal of it being published as a graphic novel in which each chapter of the comic is followed by written lessons building off of the comic. It follows the adventures of Gray Guardian, the premier hero of the Durnett City Hero Association as he works to discover what has been compelling people regular people to begin committing bizarre but mostly harmless criminal acts such as ensuring that no pool goes underutilized or robbing stores in an attempt to find a mint condition 1973 penny.
More About Dolphin Entertainment, LLC.
I officially founded Dolphin Entertainment, LLC. around the time I graduated from college with the goal of creating a game studio that would go on to focus on diverse and innovative titles. I began designing the concepts for some of these titles as early as grade school, and I may yet develop one of these into a future novel. To go about meeting my goal, I recruited a variety of talented people who were willing to participate in building the studio as an initial labor of love like has been done with many other independent video game studios in the past. Unfortunately, this task was made more difficult by changes in United States labor laws that put a cap on how many hours part-time employees could work, making it more difficult for them to earn enough for a living while still making time for a side-effort.
This led to many people joining the effort, only for their financial situation to force them into getting additional jobs or full-time employment that didn't allow for them to continue working on Dolphin Entertainment, LLC. Even so, I continued developing new game concepts and working on video game design documents up until I closed the studio to become an author. Despite no longer running a video game studio, I still wish to share a glimpse at some of what I worked on; however, I still do hold out some hope of one day seeing some of my game ideas made by a trusted studio, so I will withhold much about them and their actual names.
Tank Wars
Background: Tank Wars was the final project that was in development at Dolphin Entertainment, LLC. The base game was to be a team-based multiplayer online top-down tank combat game featuring a wide variety of unique tanks, weapons, secondary weapons, levels, and power ups. To go along with this, I had planned out a rough publicity campaign featuring two characters, a fourth-wall breaking general and a hapless colonel trying to put pieces back together after the general's antics. The overall plan for the game was to build it out and expand it into the realm of e-sports with player vs. environment gameplay as well features commonly found in massive multiplayer online role playing games.
I personally drew the concepts for each tank, weapons, and other assets; while credit for the models goes my team. Work on the project ended when I reached the point that I could no longer juggle the risk of constant turnover on the team, difficulties associated with a team spread between three continents, and the other responsibilities that I had in my life at the time. The ending of this project marked the end of the studio as well as the start of my pursuing writing as a new career path.
Mine Maze
Background: Mine Maze was one of the first titles I began designing but it proved to be too ambitious for the amount of time team members were able to contribute due to the new economic climate. The project was regrettably shelved when our lead programmer found full-time employment at a video game studio that would not allow him to work for another studio.
Mine Maze was to follow the story of two miners who were sealed inside by the accidental triggering of an emergency hatch over the mouth of the mine. With communication to the surface cut off, the only means of escape would be for the two miners to venture down to the bottom of the U-shaped mine and up to the second opening. Along the way they would have encountered other trapped miners, dangerous obstacles, and increasingly bizarre hazards and creatures.
The Fluff
Background: The Fluff was a game that I was jointly designing with my wife. It was to follow the the court magician of a kingdom and her fairy assistant as they sought to free their kingdom from an evil wizard and his army of food-themed minions. The gameplay would have featured simple, fun levels with a focus on encouraging exploration and solving simple powerup themed puzzles.
The Grand Tournament Games
Background: The Grand Tournament Games was the game design effort that ultimately led to my transitioning from being a game designer to an author. The Grand Tournament Games is the very same thing mentioned in both of the Drifters entries above and is a massive simulated combat tournament that takes place, game-wise, in massive rooms where any type of imaginable landscape or scenario can be made a physical reality. This game was to be our first AAA quality major title and our first full-fledged entry into the esports arena and put us in direct competition with games like PUBG and Fortnite.
It was during the crafting of lore for this game that I found myself becoming immersed more and more in the work of writing even as the stress of trying to keep the studio effort moving rose to all new levels. I found that I enjoyed the lore-crafting so much that I began work on writing a prequel novel for the game, and the rest is history.
Daylight
Background: Daylight was to be our studio's second major release and our first entry into the real-time strategy genre. It was to feature three factions as they vied for dominance in a post zombie apocalypse landscape. Each one was to have their own unique strengths and philosophies leading to entirely different styles of play for each faction. All of this was to be anchored by a singular plot that would have run through the entire game which would be shared both through gameplay and movies in between missions.
Even while the studio has fallen, I fully intend to raise this game concept up as a novel at some point in the future.