Tag: cubus

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Steam Highwayman Moble App Corrections

I’ve been in contact with Cubus Games recently and I’m happy to share that they are again working on the Steam Highwayman app, which they originally released back in 2021. I was very happy to partner with them in producing a full digital adaptation of Steam Highwayman, as Jordi and Quim are great at what they do and have a real interest in gamebooks and interactive fiction.

Cubus’ Steam Highwayman app – looks great!

However, despite a fabulous quality of design, the difficulties of translating such an ambitious gamebook into a digital format, with the hundreds of variables that Smog and Ambuscade uses, meant that the resulting app was buggy and struggled to take off. It’s been hard to find the time to hunt and correct mistakes in the intervening few years – on my part, because of a steady stream of young children arriving, the need to earn a living and the other gamebooks I’ve been trying to write, and on Cubus’ because of their need to produce profitable software to keep their business growing. But the time has come to do justice to the project, and I’m reaching out because I would love to have help from any of you who did purchase the app or would be interested in a digital version of the Steam Highwayman adventures – I appreciate that that’s not all of you.

I’ve created a new buglist spreadsheet to share with anyone who wants to contribute in the interests of getting the app to its best possible state. One of the difficulties is that when correcting a physical gamebook, passages are easily identified by their number, but in an electronic format, this is one of the paratextual details that is removed… So how to identify a passage with an error? My simple solution is to identify the passage by the first three written words.

People frequently ask me whether there is an electronic version of Steam Highwayman available, and I normally explain that, firstly, the large amount of interactivity prevents a simple pdf conversion, and secondly, I’m very wary of pdf piracy and, thirdly, a full digital conversion would do better. So my hope is that now Cubus are able to devote time to improving the app, with your help (and some more hard work from me), the app could soon be in a state that allows people to really enjoy it. I have no hesitation in recommending Cubus’ other work – for example, I’ve really enjoyed their adaptation of Dave Morris’ Necklace of Skulls. Cubus also find great artists and musicians to work with; I love Ramon Sole’s theme to Steam Highwayman, which Cubus have been good enough to allow me to use. It really captures a sort-of Sunday afternoon tv serial vibe – just the right side of cheesy, melodramatic, adventurous and catchy!

Cubus’ Necklace of Skulls app

Another treat about Cubus is their commitment to regional culture. The app of Steam Highwayman was in part funded by a grant to translate new works into Catalan, and I think the Steam Highwayman would certainly approve. Self-determination and independence are very much part of the brand… Perhaps one day there will be a Cornish translation of Princes of the West, which is coming to Kickstarter in July.

So if you bought the app and wanted to see it in a better state, or have never had a look but like the idea, please join in using this link. The app is available on the Play and the Apple stores. Otherwise, do watch out for more posts here on my site. I have a few more things planned to share with you before I launch the Kickstarter for Steam Highwayman: Princes of the West in July…

  • Writing an open-world gamebook – a how-to series
  • Creating an open-world gamebook map – an analysis of Legendary Kingdoms: Pirates of the Splintered Isles
  • Creating the maps for Princes of the West
  • Earlybird rewards for backers of the July Kickstarter – watch out for this one!
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On the Road – Coalgas and Water

In my very first iteration of Steam Highwayman, which was formatted in Twine (and a bad build of which can be found here), I included two trackers that each counted down from 100, subtracting 1 for each passage you read labelled as a location.  They were, of course, the fuel tank and the water tank of your Ferguson, and I hoped that a minor part of your roleplay as a dangerous villain astride a steam-powered machine would be the need to refuel and rewater it.

I’m not pretending that micromanaging a multiplicity of trackers is necessarily a great fit for a gamebook.  A good eurogame with its coloured cubes, or an extended solo roleplay campaign might benefit from them, but there was clearly a tension between needing to track a fuel gauge with its tiny increments and maintaining any kind of narrative flow, so I abandoned a fuel-and-water-tracker when I moved into paper.

The thing is, I’ve always wanted to include it, as the thematic elements are so strong, and the need to have a good supply would clearly be a real restriction on any outlaw trying to survive under the noses of the authorities.  So far, in volumes I-III, I’ve always let the reader assume that this minor matters are entirely under control, a bit like their need to eat or use the toilet.  Such things can make good narrative content, but not necessarily good gameplay.

But recently, as you’ll know if you’re following along, I’ve been thinking about specific and generic journey encounters.  What sort of events, I’ve wondered, should be happening again and again, in an extended campaign, as you ride up and down the roads of Cornwall and Devon?  Bad weather?  Absolutely – that was an easy one.  And then it came to me…  rather than accurately track how far a reader has travelled, as a computer could, this was the place to thematically introduce the need to refuel, or the consequences of running out of water.  This is where the tiny need to refuel or rewater could interrupt, annoy or reward a reader, deepening the simulation and using some of the ideas I had previously.  Some time ago – I think it was in Highways and Holloways – I introduced the customisation of the pump and filter – and there are one-off places to use it.  But it was intended to be something that would allow you to regain water on the move, and now it can.  Likewise, the enlarged fuel tank might help in MOTORING rolls (its main use to date), but it could also extend your range before needing to buy coalgas.  The need to buy coalgas and find water give you more reasons to visit freight yards and forges, more opportunities for conflict and reward.

So I’ve planned out repeating (generic) encounters for low water and a lack of coalgas that can populate the empty roads and journeys.  I’ll need to add a couple of tweaks into the adventure sheet (!), but other than that, the mechanics are all in place.  And hopefully, without becoming boring.

To give you a taste of what it might read like, here is the low-water encounter, formatted in Twine, for old-times sake.

Post-script: The Cubus app of Steam Highwayman: Smog & Ambuscade is in fact written in twine and compiled from there into the very attractive-looking game they produced.  It was the difficulties with exporting a paper gameplay (with its reliance on the reader’s ability to fill in gaps and act in character) back into a digital, computerised format that revealed and created the bugs that plague the app.  One of my long-terms aims is to work with Cubus to squash and fix all those bugs – some of which are minor, but some of which need input from them which is beyond me – and to see the app re-released in a much more playable, rewarding version.

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SH App available… Visits to Basingstoke…

September has been a fairly busy time. I spent two very pleasant Saturdays selling Steam Highwayman at the annual Essextraordinaire near Maldon and at an event new to me, Cobbles and Cogs at Reading Milestones Living History Museum. Catching up with friends in the steampunk community at each was a real joy – as it was to have a stall with a fine display of three volumes of the Steam Highwayman adventures, my Seekerman velosteam model and the recently-produced A2 maps.

All the while, my friends at Cubus were working away on the release of the Steam Highwayman mobile app, which launched at the end of the month and is now available for iOS and Android. I’ve been having a go myself when I can and really enjoying what they have brought to the project.

I’m teaching full-time again this year, though, so have very little time for writing currently. Instead I’m preparing lessons for 10-year-old children, marking their work and keeping up with school requirements. At home, my two little children are growing fast too and need their own attention.

Instead of directly working at new books, then, I’m working on marketing my existing work and increasing sales. Perhaps you’ll come across an advert for one of my books on the social platform of your choice!

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Steam Highwayman App Launches 30 September

Cubus have now given me a launch date – that’s right! The new promo trailer and the page on their site can give you a lot more info.

The app has been made under license, so I haven’t had much direct input (other than writing the book…). This is ideal because, 1) Cubus make great apps, 2) I trust them with my work and 3) I’ve been crazily busy.

There is still an opportunity to playtest before then: if you’re keen, use this link to get your name added and grab an early download.

I hope this is all particularly exciting for any Spanish Steam Highwaymen out there – or Catalan! The app will be available in three languages!

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Steam Highwayman Coming to Mobile this Summer!

My latest update (number 37) is now live on Kickstarter.  It gives some tasty stats about how far along the fulfillment track I am (with some much-appreciated help…)

But then it veers off, like an over-powered iron-framed velosteam on a narrow country lane, into announcing this.

Steam Highwayman will be available as a mobile gamebook app this Summer 2021.