Wayward Manor is the first video game from author Neil Gaiman
Author Neil Gaiman has announced his first video game, Wayward Manor.
The game stars a ghost who just wants a peaceful afterlife, and in order to do do, he must kick out the people who have moved into his earthly home. As he tries to get rid of the folks, he will also solve the mystery surrounding his death and find out the secrets of the afterlife.
Mashable says the game takes place in a gothic New England estate and the story spans the 1920s into the future. Gaiman said his inspiration came from films such as Arsenic and Old Lace as well as The Man Who Came To Dinner.
"It's light hearted, its goofy, it's nice to flip points of view," said Gaiman. "Normally in a game, if you're in a haunted house, you are going to be walking through it intrepidly with your flashlight, your bell-book and candle, and your copy of the Necronomicon and you keep going until you find the ghost," he said. "In this one all you want to do is be left in peace with your lovely house and be left alone. I don't want to give anything away but it's safe to say you were killed in the 1880s and you were killed for a reason."
"I was playing around with an idea essentially about a man and a house over a period of 200 years, thinking how much more fun it would be if the story of this relationship was actually something you could get involved in. I think the biggest surprise is I did it and got involved in it. Nobody would have expected it and I didn't have the time. It just got fun and I had to make time."
"Back in the late 1990s I spent a lot of time working with various gaming companies. What tended to happen is I put an incredible amount of work in these things and just as something was about to happen, the company was about to go bankrupt."
Independent studio The Odd Gentleman will develop the title and it is to be published by Moonshark.
A pre-order opportunity will be made available which spans limited-edition goodies, the chance to name a character, or have a private meal with Gaiman is on offer for a cool ten grand.
The first part of the game will be available this fall, on PC, Mac, and tablets. More will be released if the first outing is successful.
