Chronicles of Craddock: 2023

Looking back on the year that was, and ahead to the year that will be.

Welcome to the 2023 Chronicles of Craddock, a semi-yearly blog in which I look back at my writing year that was, and offer a glimpse into what I'll be working on in the new year.

These blogs are as much a writing exercise for me as they are a detailed report for you, my readers, and a way to offer a glimpse into what goes into my writing behind the scenes. If you’re interested in what I was up to last year and the years before, click here to read past installments of Chronicles of Craddock. With that said, fix yourself a drink, sit back, and enjoy.

Looking Back on 20 Years

Before we reflect on 2023’s projects and look ahead to this year, I want to acknowledge the significance of 2024 to my career. As of this month, I’ve been a full-time writer for 20 years. That’s a huge milestone. Ask any writer, and they’ll tell you it’s difficult to make a go of it as a part-time passion project, much less a career.

I’ve got a ridiculous slate of projects slated for this year to celebrate. Before that, I want to share some trivia and statistics from the last 20 years.

My career started in January 2004 when I accepted a pro bono job writing for mygamer.com, a now-defunct website that covered gaming news and reviews. Since that time, I’ve written for publications both online and in print, and not only pubs focused on video games. Some of those publications are, in no particular order:

• IGN

• Shacknews

• VICE Gaming

• Paste magazine

• EarthTechling

• Games Radar

• PlayStation: The Official Magazine

• The Official Xbox Magazine

• Joystiq

• Touch Arcade

• Fantasy Book Critic

• Good Old Games (GOG)

• The Escapis

• And more I’m probably forgetting.

Some freelance writers I know have dozens more clients, but if you’ve followed my career for any length of time, you know I haven’t covered day-to-day news for several years. I devote most of my time these days to books, narrative design for video games, and, lately, screenwriting and directing.

Here are some other stats from the last 20 years:

• Author of…

  • over 30* books about how video games are made and the people who make them (*I’m not sure of the exact count, which is less a humble brag and more evidence that I’m too busy to do much in the way of tracking stats)

  • three published novels: Heritage, the first book in a fantasy series for young adults; Point of Fate, the sequel to Heritage; and a novel I self-published in 2020 and am considering revising for re-release later this year or next

  • 12 Shacknews long reads—novel-length books about video games and free to read online

  

  • half a dozen short stories published in various anthologies

  • Writer and director of FPS: First Person Shooter, released in August 2023 (more on this later)

  • Several instruction manuals for Electronic Arts (remember instruction manuals?)

• Narrative designer on over half a dozen games, including:

  • A reboot of Hellgate London that’s on Steam if you want to play it (although I can’t attest to the writing, since I haven’t touched the game since 2009 and I know for a fact changes have been made by other dev teams since then)

  • Two social games long buried

  • Writing “barks” (game dialogue for every situation you can think of, such as combat, taking damage, scoring hits, etc.) for Marvel Heroes Online. My characters, including Psylocke, X23, Cable, Emma Frost, and co-writing credit on The Punisher

  • Script doctor on a popular Italian-made horror game. My producer and I didn’t get to do nearly as much to patch this one up as we wanted, but it was a good experience, so I can’t complain

  • Lead narrative designer on an unannounced game from the new Slipgate/3D Realms studios based in Denmark. I hope to talk about this one someday!

  • And my current role as a contract narrative designer on John Romero’s as-yet-unnamed first-person shooter, announced in the summer of 2022.

I’m leaving out lots of projects, but those above are the ones that come to mind. I’m proud of all of them, even though I wouldn’t consider any of them perfect, for two reasons: perfection doesn’t exist, so don’t waste time and energy striving for it; and because many creators, me included, have trouble seeing past the warts in our projects. I also struggle with depression and anxiety, which add to the pressure I put on myself to achieve goals that are sometimes impossible to meet. Believe me when I say there are much easier ways to make your way in the world than as a writer. There have been times, many in 2023, when I’ve been mentally, emotionally, and physically broken.

I overcome that by taking immense satisfaction in what I do. It’s not always fun, and it’s rarely easy, and for as hard as I’ve worked, I cannot discount luck and privilege for much of my success. I have an outstanding support system between friends and family. Year after year, I hear from more people who have read, watched, or played my work. A fan even made the custom “CRADDOCK” logo in the style of BioShock’s title you see on this blog! That’s very cool, and I’m eternally grateful for the support and belief in my work.

I also want to give a shout out to Amie Christine—wife, best friend, and steadfast supporter. She has been a massive influence on my life since we met in 2005, and on my career since before it started. She read an early draft of HERITAGE (I’m so sorry, Amie; please continue washing your eyes) and some of my short stories and has been nothing but encouraging and supportive.

There is nothing I love more in this world than telling stories. If you’ve been reading since the beginning, or if you’re relatively new to these parts—thank you. None of this would be possible without you.

With that out of the way, let’s look back on 2023, and then ahead to 2024.

2023: Year in Review

If you’ve read one of my Chronicles blogs before, you know what goes here: “Last year was my busiest year ever” and so forth. It’s never been truer than this year. I’m sure I’ve said that before, but it goes double for this year.

FPS: First Person Shooter

In August 2023, my team and I released FPS, the documentary we began together in 2021. I wrote about FPS extensively in last year’s Chronicles update, including its origin and insight into the production process. Being able to share the movie after years of hard work was immensely gratifying. One highlight occurred on Christmas this year, when my stepdad wore his FPS t-shirt to a family dinner. Pretty cool!

My favorite moment, however, was watching all 4.5 hours with our backers, the super fans who made FPS possible. Thank you so much for believing in our project!

Shacknews

After publishing over half a dozen Shacknews long reads over 2017-2020, I took a few years off to lay groundwork for other projects. I’m happy to share I’ve got some in mind for 2024. One project I’ve undertaken since 2021 has been our Hall of Fame. Asif and I launched a Hall of Fame almost exclusively to induct the class of 1998, one of the industry’s most significant years. Check that out here.

Kool Stuff: Bonus Interviews From Long Live Mortal Kombat

After Stay Awhile and Listen: Book I was published in 2013, I set a goal of publishing at least one book per year. Sometimes that book comes out from a publisher, such as Break Out in 2017, Shovel Knight in 2018, and Heritage and Point of Fate (2014 and ’18, respectively). I released two in 2023.

My first book of 2023 was the digital edition of Kool Stuff, a collection of bonus interviews from 2022’s Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1. It will be published in paperback later in 2024; I want backers to receive their copies first, since they’ve supported Long Live MK and associated projects since March 2022 when our Kickstarter launched.

I talked to so many fascinating MK developers and fans while researching and doing interviews for Long Live Mortal Kombat—so many I knew I wouldn’t have space to share everything I learned. Kool Stuff was written as a companion book to give MK fans even more “kontent.” Think of it as a side quest: It’s not Long Live MK 2, but it’s a fun read filled with great stories you’ll enjoy if you’re a fan of MK, especially its arcade era.

As for the second book of 2023…

Hell Beneath

Doom, one of my favorite games and one of the most important and influential, turned 30 on December 10. I was humbled and thrilled when co-creator John Romero accepted my proposal to write the making of SIGIL II, a nine-level episode he released in celebration of Doom’s milestone year. That book is Hell Beneath: The Making of SIGIL II, is exclusive to fans who purchased SIGIL II’s boxed editions.

Hell Beneath was a blast to write. I interviewed Romero approximately one month before the book was due. Our interviews couldn’t have happened sooner: There was no point in talking to him before he had finished the episode’s maps. A week or two before our conversations, he sent me versions of the nine maps so I could play them and come up with questions based on their content and design.

I edited the book once, then turned it over to legendary designer Brenda Romero for editing. We went back and forth on some of the finer points, and I submitted the final versions (PDF and ePub formats) in time for John and Brenda to include the files on the shotgun shell-shaped USB drive included in SIGIL II’s boxed editions. Those should be going out to customers soon; some might have received their copies already. I hope you enjoy the book!

San Diego Comic-Con

John Romero and I worked on four projects in 2023! Ten-year-old me would be over the moon, and 41-year-old me is just as excited!

Hell Beneath was one project. Romero’s untitled FPS game is the second. The third was being handpicked by Romero to interview him onstage at the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) about his memoir, DOOM GUY, which released that week. I shared a transcript of the interview on Shacknews and will include it in an upcoming collection of interviews in 2024.

Which brings us to the fourth…

Doom 30^th Anniversary Interview with John Romero and John Carmack

I was handpicked again to moderate an interview with John Romero and John Carmack in celebration of Doom’s landmark. Lots of prep went into this, and feedback both during the livestream and afterwards was glowing. I was proud these guys asked me to be a part of it. You can watch the hour-long interview on YouTube.

Vampire Novel

I’m not ready to share details about this one yet, so I’ll keep this brief. I had the idea for this novel in 2017, but I knew I wasn’t ready to write it yet. I sat on it until January 2021, when I wrote 1,000 words every weekday until the first draft was finished in July or August. My plan was to sit on it until January 2022, when I’d revise it, but FPS and other projects monopolized my time.

It's important to let drafts marinate for a while after finishing them. They’re all-consuming when you’re planning and writing them; taking some time away from them lets you return with fresh eyes so you can make better judgment calls on changes to make, sections to cut and add, and so on.

I returned to this project in January of this year. I’d been apart from it for so long that I rewrote it almost completely. Essentially, I wrote a second first draft. I finished on July 31 and began revising on October 1. Once again, I had a million other projects going, so I could only commit Friday mornings to it. I’m still revising and plan to be finished by early spring. The plan from there is to polish it and give it to beta readers for feedback. With any luck, I’ll be able to shop it around this summer.

Ultimate Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1

Ultimate Long Live MK is the collector’s edition of the 2022 book. Amie’s doing the graphic design, and dozens of MK fans and developers have submitted materials such as photographs, artwork, and more to share.

Our plan was to finish and ship this book to backers in 2023, followed by a general release later in the year. Unfortunately, it slipped due to Amie getting Covid twice (I only got it once; lucky me!) and needing much longer to recuperate because of longstanding health issues.

We’re aiming to distribute the book to crowdfunding backers this spring, followed by a summer release for the public.

2024: Looking Ahead

As I mentioned earlier, I have lots of projects set for release this year to celebrate my 20^th year as a full-time writer. I can’t go into too much detail on many of these projects, but I’ll share details in my newsletter (which you’re reading) as they become available.

Here’s what I can say about projects I’m working on this year, many of which will be released by the end of 2024:

• FIGHT, my history of fighting games that will be published by Bitmap Books. I love Bitmap’s work and signed a contract with them last January. We’re targeting a 2025 release window, since it’s an enormous book and will entail lots of production.

• But Does It Run Doom, first announced on the interview with John Romero and John Carmack I moderated on December 10. Every chapter will detail the making of a Doom port—some on conventional platforms such as consoles, others on much less conventional platforms, such as pregnancy tests. This will be my second book with Boss Fight Books, following 2018’s Shovel Knight. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Gabe Durham and his team again!

• Run and Jump: Volume 2, the next installment in my series wherein I play through platforming games in chronological order of release and share my thoughts on each one.

• An upcoming oral history recounting the making of some of my favorite games in a specific genre. More info to come.

• A short book on the making of one of the NES’s most overlooked games. More info to come.

• Two Shacknews long reads. One is 99.99% confirmed. The other will be epic in size and might spill into 2025. More info to come.

• The next GameDev Stories collection of interviews from throughout my 20-year career.

• Documentary project. This one’s in the very early stages, so early I doubt it’ll release this year. I expect to revisit this next year.

• Last but not least: A massive collection of (most of) my published works over the last 20 years.

There are more projects I can’t discuss yet, so there will be—wait for it—more info to come later this year.

Wrapping Up

This year’s “Looking Ahead” section was vaguer than I would like. I’m the sort of person who wants to shout exciting news from the rooftops, and I’m afraid of heights! Even though I’m sure you’re tired of reading “more info to come” by now, there really is lots more to share soon. If you’re not subscribed, hit the button below to stay up to date.

Thank you, as always, for joining me on this semi-yearly journey through the year that was and the year that will be. Happy new year!

~David