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Orson Scott Card talks 'Shadow Complex' and the future of 'Empire'


Beyond being an award-winning author, Orson Scott Card has some gaming cred on his resume. An avid old school gamer himself, Card has worked on a few notable game projects, including The Secret of Monkey Island, for which he penned the swordfighting insults. On August 19, Card returns to gaming by creating the world that surrounds Shadow Complex, which runs parallel to the events in Card's best-selling novel, Empire.

However, unlike his experience working on the poorly-received game Advent Rising -- which Card was brought into late to develop the game's story -- the author and Chair Entertainment collaborated from the beginning to bring the Empire book trilogy and Shadow Complex to life. "They do their thing and I do mine. Two very different arts end up working together to tell the same story," Card told Variety. Card says, he enjoys Shadow Complex's main character so much, he suspects readers will see Jason Flemming (voiced by Nolan North) appear in a future novel within the universe. Shadow Complex's story was written by Star Trek novelist Peter David.

Card also notes that he is confident he has "come up with something" to allow future games in the series to be different. "Nothing would be worse than if they play the second game is the same as the first," Card said. Apparently in Card's world, gamers love change.
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