I’ve spent the better part of the past two days trying to reduce a 41 page Jump Leads script down to a more sensible, manageable 20. I wrote with a view to sending it to the BBC, so it’s a bit long for a comic adaptation. In its unabridged state, it would take nearly a year at one page a week to tell that story. That’s an obvious no-no. The first issue itself it probably going to take another two or three of months to run its course. That’s a quarter, nearly a third, of a year on one story. That’s probably ideal, given the format.
It’s not been easy. I have trimmed, shortened, removed, modified, nipped, tucked, adjusted, reshuffled and neutered every single scene, every single line of dialogue, every single aspect of this script. I’ve sanded it down and polished it and done what I feel is all that I can possible do without having to rewrite the entire thing. All that time, all that effort, and I’m still only down to 27 pages.
27 Pages! I honestly don’t see how I could possibly excise any more from the script without seriously compromising the humour or the story. But Euan’s said he’ll have a look at some point, as he has experience trimming stories down. He usually plans the stories for Rooms out with a daily strip in mind, and then trims it down for his three-a-week schedule. Sometimes I envy him, with his four-panel comic, then I remember just how big Jump Leads is, and I recall that attempts to adapt it to a four-panel format did not work so well. Maybe I’ll show you those strips some day. Maybe the Universe will collapse inwardly. Who can say which will happen first?
As my Xfire profile will no doubt show, I’ve spent a lot of time playing The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary. This game is something of an oddity - it’s a remake of The Settlers II, an MS-DOS game released way back in ‘96. Originally intended for a Germany-only release, UbiSoft quietly released it across Europe in September of last year. They also planned to release a DS port of the original MS-DOS version, but that got pushed back to this year, having been renamed to The Settlers and made a GAME exclusive in the process. Meanwhile, The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary gets planned for a US release, which is pushed back further and further until it eventually coincides roughly with the release of The Settlers for the DS and the sixth game in the series, The Settlers: Rise of an Empire.
Are you still with me? Good.
Bizarrely, UbiSoft went out of their way to promote and market the game in Germany, where The Settlers is enormously popular, but decided not to market or promote anywhere else in the world. They just sort of dropped the game, waved and went on their merry way. Which is a shame, because The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary is without a doubt the finest game in the series since, well, The Settlers II. The sequels always lacked something and when UbiSoft bought the game’s developers, Blue Byte, they seemed intent on running the franchise into the ground by making it look and play just like every other bloody RTS game on the planet. Which, y’know, is stupid.
I should probably review the game properly for RealVG. I imagine I will. For now, just make do with: It’s awesome, it’s very cheap, buy it now, you won’t regret it.
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