永不落幕的《无尽之剑》

    布兰登•桑德森从小就爱玩任天堂游戏机，这个爱好直到现在也没有放弃。现在他已经成了荣登《纽约时报》（the New York Times）畅销书排行榜的作家【作品包括2009年的《暴风前夜》（The Gathering Storm）和2010年的《午夜之塔》（Towers of Midnight）】，并且参与到了电子游戏的编剧工作中。目前桑德森在同时创作好几部科幻题材的作品，而且他的两本小说已经被好莱坞改编成了电影【其中《迷雾之子》（Mistborn ）由Paloppa Pictures电影公司改编，《阿卡特拉兹大战邪恶图书管理员》（Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians）由梦工厂改编（DreamWorks Animation）】。过去三年里，他还与Chair Entertainment娱乐公司一道，共同开发了大热的iOS游戏《无尽之剑》（Infinity Blade）。

    这款融合了玄幻和科幻元素的游戏一经推出便大受欢迎，前两部已经在全球售出了1100多万份拷贝，带来了超过6000万美元的营收入。考虑到当下许多手游都是免费的，而每名用户想玩《无尽之剑》都得掏6美元，因此它的成功更显得鹤立鸡群。当年Chair Entertainment的联合创始人唐纳德•玛斯塔德是通过一个朋友认识了桑德森，问他愿不愿意参与这款游戏的创作。

    桑德森住在盐湖城，离《无尽之剑》的游戏工作室并不远。他说：“我们在一起各抒己见，最后的意见是，由我写一本书，作为第一部《无尽之剑》的续集。我感到非常兴奋，因为《无尽之剑》这款游戏的背景非常有吸引力，但是游戏本身还没有一个好故事。这给了我很大的自由，在这个世界里探索，最终完成了一个非常有吸引力的设定。”

    最终，桑德森写成了一本畅销电子书《无尽之剑：觉醒》（Infinity Blade: Awakening），这本书一经发售就占据了iBooks的榜首。自从2011年10月4日上市以来，这本书一直居于畅销玄幻小说排行榜的前列。它给了这款游戏的爱好者一种非常丰富的跨媒体体验。与此同时，Chair Entertainment公司正在紧锣密鼓地研发《无尽之剑》的第二部。桑德森表示，与开发团队一开始设想的剧情相比，他的书把第二部的剧情带到了一个相当不同的方向，使游戏开发团队不再局限于普通的手游体验，而是进一步进行探索。

    “我在书中添加的角色变成了第二部游戏里的主要角色，Chair Entertainment公司又把剧情朝一个方向上推得更远，最后又把故事扔给我，让我写第二本书。”桑德森说，这种跨媒体的创造性体验就像拉锯战一样。“在《无尽之剑》第二部的最后，他们把主角放在一个很糟糕的处境里，然后我必须要应对这个局面。我们对所有这些情节进行了‘脑力风暴’，然后我们一起努力。不过看到我的书是怎样影响了他们的游戏，然后他们的游戏又是怎样影响了我的下一本书的，我还是觉得很震憾。”

    桑德森的第二本电子书《无尽之剑：救赎》（Infinity Blade: Redemption）还没上市就接到了大批订购。这本电子书已经于本周二正式发售，而且已经登上了iBooks玄幻类小说的榜首，同时在iBooks的总排行榜上位列第二名。桑德森与Chair Entertainment公司的这种合作模式在手游领域可以说是独一无二的。虽然小说改编成电影或游戏早就不是新鲜事了（比如桑德森的小说《迷雾之子》正在被改编成游戏），但是像这样由一个畅销书作家和一个手游工作室通力合作的情况还是绝无仅有的。玛斯塔德指出，平板电脑和移动设备的兴起为游戏玩家们打开了在同一块屏幕上探索不同世界的机会。

    Brandon Sanderson grew up playing video games on Nintendo (NTDOY) consoles, a hobby he never gave up. Now the New York Times bestselling author (2009's The Gathering Storm and 2010's Towers of Midnight) is actually helping to craft video game stories. Sanderson, who is writing multiple science fiction projects and has seen two of his books optioned by Hollywood (Mistborn by Paloppa Pictures and Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by DreamWorks Animation), has been collaborating over the past three years with Chair Entertainment on the iOS game, Infinity Blade.

    The first two mobile games in this action franchise, which blends elements of fantasy with science fiction, have sold over 11 million copies worldwide and generated more than $60 million in revenue. This feat is especially noteworthy given that Chair Entertainment charges $6 for the game at a time when many mobile offerings are free-to-play. Donald Mustard, a co-founder of Chair Entertainment, reached out to Sanderson early on through a mutual friend to ask the author if he'd like to collaborate on this franchise.

    "We got together and brainstormed, and the idea was that I would write a book that would be a sequel to the first Infinity Blade game," said Sanderson, who lives in Salt Lake City not far from the game studio. "It was exciting because the Infinity Blade game had all these hooks for a story, but the game itself did not have much of a story. That gave me a lot of freedom to explore the world more deeply and actually make a cohesive setting out of it."

    The result was the bestselling eBook, Infinity Blade: Awakening, which debuted at No. 1 on iBooks. The title has remained on the fantasy top-seller charts since releasing on Oct. 4, 2011. That book gave fans a rich transmedia experience while Chair was at work on Infinity Blade II. Sanderson said his book took the game's story in much different directions than the development team had originally envisioned, which allowed the game makers to explore more than just the addictive swiped-based tablet and mobile gameplay experience.

    "The characters that I added in the book became main characters for the game, and Chair extrapolated that and took things in a direction and tossed story back to me for the second book," said Sanderson, who likened this cross-media creative experience to juggling chainsaws. "At the end of Infinity Blade II they left the characters in this terrible situation, and I had to deal with that. We brainstorm on all of this stuff, and we work together, but it's been a blast to see how what I do for a book influences what they do for a game and then to be influenced by that to make the next book."

    The second eBook, Infinity Blade: Redemption, which has received strong pre-orders, was released this Tuesday and has already hit the top spot on iBooks' fantasy chart and is No. 2 of all iBooks. This type of collaboration is unique in the growing mobile games business. While the traditional model of having a book turned into a movie and then a console game remains the norm (Sanderson's own Mistborn book is being developed as a game), this type of collaboration between a bestselling author and a mobile game studio is unique. Mustard said the proliferation of tablets and mobile devices has opened up the opportunity for fans to explore worlds in different ways on the same screen.