I’ve just finished another chapter of the project I can’t mention – well, I’m not sure I should call them chapters. I’ve been referring to them internally (and will probably title them) as “Acts”, probably because they fit into a five-act structure, and also because they’re all really, really big.
As in, the one I just finished was 120 000 words, which is longer than any single chapter I’ve ever written.
Another update this month, but not a very eventful one. I’m still working on that project I can’t talk about. It’s probably got some of the biggest chapters I’ve ever written. The last one was well over 100 000 words, and I think this one’s going to be at least as long.
Needless to say, it’s taking up all my time right now.
As some of you may know, I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the past as a writer for Burden of Command – an upcoming WW2 tactical RPG which follows the (real) battles of a (fictional) infantry company of the (very real) 3rd Battalion, 7th US Infantry Regiment through North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany from November 1942 to the very end of the war in Europe.
Some of you may also know that it’s been taking a very long time in development. I was hired to work on it in the middle of 2016 when it was already in early production – and I wrapped up my writing work on it last summer. During that entire time, I’ve seen it go through production, expansion, re-iteration, polish, and eventual playtesting, with me involved mostly in writing and scenario design, but with bits of UX and gameplay design here and there as well.
Over the years, quite a few people (my dad among them) have speculated about when it’ll actually be coming out, which is a fair question given that the game was first announced sometime in 2017. Well, now they have an answer. After years of development and months of intensive playtesting, Burden of Command will be out sometime in between this December and next February.
I know this isn’t a release date as much as a release window, but that window being relatively soon means that the game is more or less in a state of completion. Luke (the lead developer) has been pretty adamant about not pushing the game out before it’s ready, so we can be fairly confident that it’s just about ready now, with the rest of the time remaining just to make sure.
I will not lie, this game has a lot of my best writing in it – including some stuff which I’ve been really excited about showing off. A serious, historical narrative means I was able to tackle a lot of serious historical themes and subjects without having to veil them behind a fictional setting. I put a lot into the main campaign, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of it.
It’s been an interesting past two weeks over here, in between the heat wave (I managed to get heat exhaustion last weekend), spraining my wrist, and a bunch of other stuff all happening at once. I’ve been pretty occupied.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not still writing. I’ve gotten in about 30k words already this month, and I’m probably going to write 30k more before the month’s out.
I might also have some interesting news to share about another (already announced) project pretty soon too.
Another busy month. I’m still working on the project that I can’t talk about, although that might be changing soon. I’ve been talking with the publisher about getting some stuff in order which could lead to an official announcement. I don’t think I can mention any more than that though.
I’ve spent another month working on the project which I’m not allowed to identify – at least explicitly. Needless to say, it’s taking up almost all of my working time, and it’s proving to be pretty big – both in the sense of what it might end up being and in the sense that it’s probably going to clock in at a pretty hefty word count.
That being said, I suspect there are a few things I can say about it that might give you some hints as to what it’s about without violating my NDA:
1: It’s interactive fiction (which might seem self-evident, given what I normally do for a living)
2: It’s different in a lot of ways from anything I’ve written before.
3: It’s licensed work – which explains the NDA.
Obviously that’s not a lot to go on, but it should give you some idea of what I’m working on – at least until I’m able to reveal it for real.
Another month, which means more work on the project I can’t talk about yet. I’ve finished the first Act (out of five) now, which means I should be on track to finish up sometime around the beginning of next year, barring unexpected delays, personal crises, or scope creep.
After that, Wars of Infinity is probably on the docket, though I obviously can’t guarantee how long that will take.
Still working on that project I can’t talk about. Now that outlining’s done, I’ve started working on it in earnest, with the prologue just finished this morning.
It should be a less expansive project than Lords of Infinity was, although that’s not really saying much. It does at least mean that it’ll probably only a year or two before I finish up with it and start on Wars of Infinity – although it’ll still be a while before I can reveal what it actually is.
New year, still working on the new project I can’t talk about.
I’m well over 100 000 words with it now, although the Phase 2 skeleton isn’t quite finished. However, almost all of the mechanical skeleton for the main story is about done, which means I only have the last branch of the last chapter and the epilogues (there will be multiple endings, and they will be quite different, based on your choices throughout the story) left to do before I can take a step back, make some revisions, and then start filling in all that placeholder text.
Hopefully, somewhere around that point, I’ll be allowed to break NDA.
Paul Wang 