Home
Archangel Issue 0 Teaser 
About Me16 Psyche
Category: Writing Games Tags: 16-Psyche Asteroid Inviolate GVoid-----
When Geoff Pell approached me back in August last year to ask if I would like to write the story for Inviolate, I was given a lot of leeway to change things around if I thought it was an improvement. Originally the game was set on the surface of a planet, which came with its own issues to resolve. Was it around another star system, how would the space travel work in the context of the game and so on. Given the distinct air of cyberpunk surrounding the project — not least that it’s a retro-style game circa 1995 or so — a distant planet felt to me like a different flavour of SF.
I thought an asteroid within the solar system might fit the bill better and so, being an inveterate astronomy nut, I didn’t try to invent one wholesale but come up with an actually existing one. Something large enough to have plenty of space to run around in, large enough to plausibly contain secrets. Sure, making one up would be more flexible, but a real one is something to riff off of.
I suppose that this kind of fiddly detail isn’t truly needed. But I recall back in the day the raw astonishment when I pointed out to one of my DMA colleagues that Wolf 359 — the setting for a major battle in Star Trek the Next Generation — was a real star.
Wikipedia had a list of top ten largest asteroids and 16 Psyche immediately jumped out at me. I mean, c’mon, a game set around the concept of a Brain Bank and a real world asteroid of 200km diameter called Psyche? How could I resist? That it wasn’t like other asteroids, in fact somewhat unique in possibly being an exposed planetary core, was a further delicious fact. So, so good for the backstory. My suggestion was thankfully accepted and I built on that.
We’re set on an obscure object floating around near Jupiter. A fact not essential to enjoying the game, but a nice detail if you were looking. Now no longer so obscure. Today — 4th January 2017 — to my utter delight, NASA announced that they were planning a mission there!
Not to give away a spoiler or anything, but I hope they don’t drill too deep.
Don’t want to wake the thing up.
Categories
Writing
Alan Grant • 16 Psyche • Proof Mode • I Am Freelance • The Circle is Complete! • Bit Patterns Redux • An Intrepid Update • Hammond’s Law • Edinburgh Book Festival • NaNoWriMo Crash and Burn • What is Science Fiction Anymore? • Blogging from Anywhere • NaNoWriMo has Stopped! • NaNoWriMo has Started! • NaNoWriMo • Why I Shouldn’t Skip PE •Moviemaking
Intrepid: Echoes • Intrepid Release Day • Where there’s a Sea… • The Stone unturned: Friday’s Shoot • The Stone Unturned • Come for the Cave, Stay for the Dead Whale • Where There’s a Sea • Lorraine Kelley Visits • And so it Begins •Intrepid
Bit Patterns Redux • Epistemology pt 3: How I founded a Star Trek Club • Intrepid Release Day • An Intrepid Update • Silicon Heaven • I’m Not in SciFi Now!!! • Where There’s a Sea • I’m Making a Movie! • I’m on Telly! • Holiday Coming Up •Whimsy
Windy OpSec • Wildly Improbable • Cyberpunk 2020 • User Interface • Lemmings Plushies • I Have a Bacon Number of 4! • Carl Sagan Sings! • So What Happens if I Say Yes? • Enchanted Picture • Twitter • Bob Exists • Currying Favour… • Convenience Reduction Measures • Buses • Music and Lyrics • Proof of Concept • Basic Assumption •Miscellaneous
A Long Overdue Update • Update from the Maemo • Overpackaged • Adventurous Scots • Light Aircraft Crash • A Wikipedia Upgrade • Too Tasty for Geeks • Microsoft Surface • Spooks Series 7: Episode 2 • The Satellite Dish • Cardiff • Deliveries • No More Intrepid Blog • Erk •Science Fiction
Alison Rowat and the Licensed Imagination • Bit Patterns Redux • An Intrepid Update • Hammond’s Law • Banks’ Law • Intrepid: Sisters • Arthur C Clarke • What is Science Fiction Anymore? •DMA Design
Public Appearances • Babbling On • Play Expo Blackpool • Grand Theft Auto Begins • Where Does the Time Go? • On No! • A Short Video History of DMA Design • • Newly Appeared Lemmings Graffiti • First Shots from GTA Drama • An Interview and a Repost • Lemmings Plushies • Bill Paxton Talks GTA Game Changer • Tweet from Brian Baglow (@flackboy) • Check This Disk! • The GTA Making-of Drama • Lemmings Merchandise is Go! • DMA Lives! • Project MyWorld • A Lemmings Conversion in 36 Hours • BBC Radio Scotland • You're definitely over the hill when... • Grand Theft Auto (via Gameswipe) • The Circle is Complete! • Epistemology pt 2: The Story of Hired Guns • Epistemology Pt.1: How I Co-Founded DMA Design • Lemmings II • DMA Design Office Tour • Kid Kirby • GTA Remembered •UFOs
Public Appearances • Rational Explanation Unlocked! • Seeing Shapes in the Cloud • The Scottish UFO Casebook • Naming those Pesky Flying UFO Objects • 
Post Tags
GTA
Bill Paxton Talks GTA Game Changer
Tweet from Brian Baglow (@flackboy)
You're definitely over the hill when...
Lemmings
Lemmings: Can You Dig It? Guardian Review
Lemmings: Can You Dig It? Released
A Short Video History of DMA Design
Newly Appeared Lemmings Graffiti
Hired Guns
A Short Video History of DMA Design
A Lemmings Conversion in 36 Hours