SMAC novel: author's comments
michael ely
Some of this info was posted earlier, some of it is new. This is
basically a "post-mortem" on the SMAC novel, how it came into being,
and a little info about it.
First, a few general notes:
I worked on the design of Alpha Centauri, so I'm pretty familiar with
the game world. Although the backstory of SMAC was conceived mostly by
Brian, I worked on the quotes and the movies, as well as some of the
design.
The novel is different from all of those things. It's not a retelling
of any part of the game story. Rather, it’s a new story about the early
years of settlement, as Pravin Lal tries to build a great base to serve
as an inspiration for the new world, and then what happens to that base
as the tensions between faction leaders conspires to destroy it.
A lot of the story focuses around a protracted battle around this city,
the kind of battle that has taken place a hundred thousand times in a
game of SMAC when you "piece-slide" your military units in to an
opponent's base. The book explores what really happens to the people in
that base, as well as the early machinations between faction leaders.
For those that know the game world well, the book is based on "classic"
SMAC, with no factions from Alien Crossfire and very little emphasis on
aliens. People who have played the game will probably pick up on
several little SMAC-isms scattered throughout the book that hint at
various game mechanics.
Finally, the book tells a self-contained story, but hints at the next
book, which will revisit the factions in about 70 years and tell the
story of Yang's rejoining of the settlements.
How did the book come to be? Basically, Pocket Books learned about the
rich backstory of Alpha Centauri and decided to do a series of books on
it. I submitted sample chapters and they liked them enough to ask me to
write the whole book.
While writing, I discovered firsthand some of the challenges of writing
a novel based on a game world. The game backstory is based on seven
fairly one-dimension characters that land on a strange new world and
immediately divide into ideological factions. This backstory is
necessary to set up the game, but is not very realistic in a lot of
ways. In the book I tried to soften the conflict by having several of
the leaders near each other and interacting frequently, while the rifts
between them grow more slowly.
For those that pick up the book, I hope you enjoy it. It's not the most
hardcore sci-fi (I don't expect a Hugo nomination in the near future),
but I think it's a good story about a strange world that you've already
visited in your gaming life. And dare I say it makes a great stocking
stuffer?
For those that have read it, I welcome comments at
bookth...@yahoo.com. For those that haven’t read it, there is a
sample chapter on the Firaxis site, www.firaxis.com.
thanks!
michael ely
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Asa
: I worked on the design of Alpha Centauri, so I'm pretty familiar with
: the game world. Although the backstory of SMAC was conceived mostly by
: Brian, I worked on the quotes and the movies, as well as some of the
: design.
Great game, great book, thanks a lot ! :)
Asa
Dreamshadow
You did an excellent job breaking the advance of technology up over
the years. I can't wait to see Yang's story, but the Hive is my
favorite faction, so I'm biased. When will it be released?
You did dissapoint me on one point. But I won't post it in a public
forum and give a way a major plot point.
Dreamshadow
On Wed, 13 Dec 2000 17:23:44 GMT, michael ely <bookth...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
AcK!
>
>You did an excellent job breaking the advance of technology up over
>the years. I can't wait to see Yang's story, but the Hive is my
>favorite faction, so I'm biased. When will it be released?
>
>You did dissapoint me on one point. But I won't post it in a public
>forum and give a way a major plot point.
Now is the book like what I see here:
http://www.firaxis.com/smac/images/graphicnovel.swf ?
So is this a comic book, or a novel, or a "graphic novel?" Is it just 48 pages
like it says on the website, or is that just a sample of the full size?
TTYL
... Ithinkmyspacebarstoppedworking.
krup...@yahoospa.com
remove "spa" to email
michael ely
That's not the novel. You can find the novel on Amazon by searching for
the title Centauri Dawn. It's a 288 (or so) page paperback.
Hope you check it out and enjoy it! You should also be able to find it
at your local bookstore.
michael
AcK!
>Hi Ack
>
>That's not the novel. You can find the novel on Amazon by searching for
>the title Centauri Dawn. It's a 288 (or so) page paperback.
>
>Hope you check it out and enjoy it! You should also be able to find it
>at your local bookstore.
Oh - phew. I plan on looking for it soon: I review books for The Varsity (the
campus newspaper of the University of Toronto http://www.varsity.utoronto.ca/
<shameless plug>), and they can hook me up with new books, so I'll see if I can
get a copy that way...
BTW, I think I'm not the only person who would be mislead by the flash
presentation on the website: it might be a good idea to clearly point out that
the book isn't just like the pseudo-comic book found online.
TTYL
... Smart bombs have bad days too.