what's that coming over the hill? is it a monster? is it a monster?

So in my spare time, I've bounced a bit between hobbies.  Been trying to try new things, but I seem to keep bouncing back to old (not necessarily bad) habits.

I've been playing Chrono Cross lately, and boy am I glad I did.  I first picked it up (and quickly put it down again) two years ago, frustrated by how complicated they made the battle system.  I've since figured it out... mostly... and it's made the experience a lot better.  I will say it's very cool that [the main character comes from a timeline where, by being alive, Chrono Trigger didn't happen the way it was supposed to.  What's freakier is that the alternate world you travel to is the one where those events did happen.  Very intriguing.]  Getting near the end of Disc 1, so we'll see what happens.

I've also been getting back into writing, in various capacities.  My pseudo-superhero series Crusaders is getting a little air in its wings, and a full volume is starting to come together.  Fixing up my short film script Shots for (hopefully) eventual mass consumption.

But what's been most interesting in my writing came from a game series introduced to me by my friend Joshua called the Chzo Mythos.  For those unaware, it's a series of four point-and-click adventure games (well, three; the third game is a text-parsing adventure game) written by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame.  I can't really describe what it's about without spoiling some seriously impressive storytelling, but it is definitely an experience well worth having.  Google "chzo mythos" and go nuts.

But anyway, in particular I've started taking a closer look at the first game in the series, 5 Days a Stranger.  It features a "gentleman thief", who calls himself Trilby, breaking into a country manor whose owner had recently passed away in order to steal any valuables before they were removed.  However, after he becomes trapped in the house, things start to get out of hand as other prisoners of the house slowly begin disappearing...

In random stints of free time, I've sat down and tried writing a film script based on 5 Days a Stranger.  I have a long-ass ways to go, but it's coming along.  If I happen to finish it before the end of the year, I might toss it to Broken Wall Films and see if they'd be up for filming a feature-length thriller.

Of course, I'd need to get the go-ahead from Yahtzee.  But hey, it's an exercise in adaptation if nothing else.

See you in another life, brotha!
  rickie-d