Book 1 Project: Fan Experience

My idea for the novel, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, is to create a sandbox-style action-adventure video game based on the novel, named 11/22/63: Time Apocalypse. The gameplay would be similar to that of The Simpsons: Hit and Run, which is among my personal favorite video games. You play through seven levels, each with seven missions, as Jake Epping, the book's protagonist. In the spirit of it's inspiration, 11/22/63: Time Apocalypse includes missions like driving to Harry Dunnings' house to save him from his abusive father, trying to navigate through the time portal, and, of course, beating Lee Harvey Oswald to his intended victim, John F. Kennedy. Also within the game are several unlockable cars, costumes, and collectables to keep people playing long after they've defeated the final boss.

Numerous memorable quotes from the novel will be portrayed in the game's cutscenes, for example, "'Yeah, but what if you went back and killed your own grandfather?' [Al] stared at me, baffled. 'Why the [expletive] would you do that?'"(King 61) When Jake asks close friend Al Templeton if going back in time and killing his grandfather would cause his present self to disappear. Also, '"If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples. I'll love your face no matter what it looks like. Because it's yours.” (King 580) after Sadie Dunhill survives her husband's attack by mutilating her face with a knife. The quotes will be important to be used not just to move the plot along, but also to throw a bone to people who read the book, they'll be like 'Hey, I remember that from the book," and they can tie the story in the video game to the story of the novel. I believe it would be much more enjoyable than if the game just moved from station to station. As the book says, "Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke and a story's just a story,” (King 40) My goal is to make the game more than simply following along with the story; I want to make it an experience.

I think that this idea will work, because, like I said in the previous paragraph, because it will expand the popularity of the novel itself, as well as get a lot of people to play the video game. Nowadays, a movie rarely goes by without getting a video game made about it. This works well for the movie and video game industries, because fans of the movie get something else to be excited about, and the lifespan of the movie grows. The video game industry is helped, because, hey, there's a really good video game out based on an already popular movie. You can't tell me that no one's going to buy that video game.

In conclusion, 11/22/63: Time Apocaypse will be a sandbox-style action-adventure video game, thoroughly following the events of the novel. Memorable quotes of the book will also be included in the game, and this idea will work because it will create a very visual experience for fans of the novel, who will be able to live out their imaginations and traverse through the story as Jake Epping. The game will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo 3DS, to allow the maximum number of people to enjoy the video game. It will be available at all major video game retail stores, and online at 112263Timeapocalypse.com.

What is a Book?

 

A book is a memory. Not in the sense that books are an archaic medium that should be forgotten along with telegraphy or smoke signals, it's that they are more capable of holding memories than digital media. Take, for example, the game program. You know, those magazine-like books that you get at football games, baseball games, what have you. They contain information, stories, and interviews unique to that game. Personally, I love to collect those because it gives an opportunity to reminisce about your experience with the game, it causes you to feel a great sense of uniqueness, because you were at that game. You had a personal experience.

 

At this point, you may be thinking that I'm going to use this to trash digital media for the remainder of this post. That couldn't be further from the truth. Actually, I think that books like game programs should be available digitally, since they seldom are these days. Not without good reason, as well. Because the main value of the programs come from the personal experience of the game, most would buy them at the stadium, in print form. But, what if a disaster strikes? Say your house burns down, and your program collection, which quite possibly could be vast, is completely ruined. Now, programs are extremely rare after the event has passed, which is why it's so important to buy one at the game. Sometimes, you can find them available on the team/track's website, but most of the time, probably not. So, there you are, a lifetime collection completely evaporated, with no way to completely restock your collection. Even if you get your collection insured, the most I've seen a program go for was five dollars, and many times they're free, so a collection of, say, 25, would only be worth about 60 dollars.

If the programs were available through digital media, this conundrum wouldn't happen. You could still get the unique feel of the program because, like I said, you were at that game, and you had a personal experience. You wouldn't have to worry about losing a collection in a fire or flood, because the copies would always be there. This is why books are memories, no matter what form they come in.