An Assassin in Orlandes
A few years ago I wrote a gamebook for those new-fangled iPhones, called An Assassin in Orlandes. Check out the Gamebook Adventures website for more details. I even had a little mini-interview posted on the publishers' site at Tin Man Games!
iOS
Overall, the adventure has been well received, and I'm both proud and somewhat embarrassed over the praise it has garnered. (Even the owner of the company recently rated it as his favourite of the series so far!) A Lite version is available for those who want to "try before you buy". Its success is in no small way also down to the Finnish "magician" Pirkka Harvala, whose moody illustrations complement the text perfectly. Oh, and if you are having any troubles finishing it, Tiffany Sherrum (better known as TangoBunny) has posted up a walkthrough on GameFAQs!
Android and Kindle Fire
In fact, it seems that An Assassin in Orlandes was so popular that Tin Man Games have ported it over to Android, as well as the Kindle Fire.
PC and Mac
As of July 2012, versions of An Assassin in Orlandes for desktop PC and Mac are now available from Desura.
New: From February 2015, both An Assassin in Orlandes and Curse of the Assassin will be available for desktop computers via Steam.
Even Newer: An Assassin in Orlandes was published for real in book form on 19th May 2016 by Snowbooks! Buy it from Amazon or your favourite book retailer today! Curse of the Assassin to follow soon!
Curse of the Assassin
A sequel was requested, and I honestly had no idea what to do with it, since everything was resolved so neatly at the end of the first, but I brainstormed a few ideas and something special began to coalesce in the depths of my fevered imagination...
Curse of the Assassin follows on from the end of An Assassin in Orlandes, picking up the story about a year later. In contrast to the first adventure, you begin this one full of the joys of spring, until you chance upon a funeral procession and discover the sad truth that the deceased is someone to whom you were once very close. Angered by the callous way in which your best friend was slaughtered, you set out to discover the identity of the murderer. Your discoveries will lead you back into your past, to the start of your life as an adventurer. Only the bravest, most cunning and skilled will discover The Curse of the Assassin!
As an experiment in both intricate plotting in a branching narrative and in improving my own writing skills, Curse of the Assassin in quite densely written, as gamebooks go. For many, this is a good thing, and they've commented on how much they enjoyed it. Others have complained that there is too much to read. I can only point out that the oeuvre is the gamebook, so if you don't like reading, maybe Curse of the Assassin isn't for you.
It is available on iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and PC.
Check out the Gamebook Adventures website for more details, a preview movie, and some reviews.
An Assassin in Pawlandes
What many do not realise is that a print version of An Assassin in Orlandes is also available for cats. In order to document this phenomenon, I am posting images here to prove that cats love fantasy gamebooks.
Pippi |
| Pippi says that 8 out of 10 cats prefer An Assassin in Orlandes. |
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| © 2016 Neil Rennison |
Moz |
| Moz just loves curling up with a good book. He says that An Assassin in Orlandes is purrfect reading. |
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| © 2016 Ali Davis |
