Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: You Only Live Once
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.harisorkin.com/
CITY:
STATE: CA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
Tel: 818-216-6264
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Beloit College, B.A.; University of Southern California, M.F.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and game writer. Mendelsohn Zien Advertising, Los Angeles, CA, associate creative director, 2002-11; Double RR Studios and Production, Los Angeles, CA, partner; Impulse Gear, Inc., San Francisco, CA, lead writer and narrative designer, 2017—. Writer of games, including Dying Light, Mafia 3, Tom Clancy’s The Division, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, Dungeons and Dragons: Dragonshard, Dead Island, and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3.
AWARDS:Critic’s Choice, LA Weekly, for Sex, Impotence, and International Terrorism.
WRITINGS
Also, author of screenplays, including A Saintly Switch and Save the Dog, and plays, including Dada, Nobody Lives Forever, and Sex, Impotence, and International Terrorism. Contributor to books, including Writing for Video Game Genres and Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing.
Sex, Impotence, and International Terrorism was optioned for film by MGM/UA.
SIDELIGHTS
Haris Orkin is a playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and video game writer. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Beloit College and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California. Previously, Orkin worked in advertising, serving as an associate creative director for Mendelsohn Zien Advertising. He went on to take on freelance projects as a screenwriter and video game writer. Orkin is the writer of video games, including Dying Light, Mafia 3, Tom Clancy’s The Division, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, Dungeons and Dragons: Dragonshard, Dead Island, and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. He has written screenplays for films, including A Saintly Switch and Save the Dog. Orkin is the author of the plays, Dada, Nobody Lives Forever, and Sex, Impotence, and International Terrorism, the last of which was optioned for film and received the Critic’s Choice Award from LA Weekly. He also contributed to the instructional books, books, Writing for Video Game Genres and Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing, both of which were commissioned by the International Game Developer’s Association.
In an interview with Phil Owen, contributor to the Kotaku website, Orkin discussed compared the processor writing for video games with other writing projects, stating: “It’s a collaboration on movies and plays as well but even more so for games in a way, because the world is being built by other people. … You have to work with game designers, level designers, the artists; it’s really a collaboration between all of it, because the story is told by every part of the game, as much by the level design and the art as it is by writing. The dialogue in a way is the least important part of telling a story; you don’t really need that necessarily to tell a story in a game.” Orkin also told Owen: “Games are the most complicated medium to write for, partly because we’re still figuring out how to do it. Since games are driven so much by gameplay and level design, part of the challenge of being a game writer is making the story work even when the … levels change.”
In 2018, Orkin released the novel, You Only Live Once. The volume’s protagonist is James Flynn, a patient at the City of Roses Psychiatric Institute. Flynn has been placed in the care of the organization because he has been experiencing delusions. James believes he is an agent for the British Secret Service. He dresses the part, even in the mental hospital, donning tailored suits. His British accent is believable, and his looks and confidence cause the nurses to find him attractive. After a new head doctor becomes the leader of the hospital, James decides to break free. He is determined to save a young woman named Dulcie Delgadillo, whom he met at the hospital. James is convinced that Dulcie is in danger. He brings with him a young orderly named Sancho. The two stumble upon a bag of money at Dulcie’s apartment, which belongs to the motorcycle gang member she has been dating. Later, James happens to stop a mafia boss from going through with an elaborate kidnapping plot.
A critic in Kirkus Reviews offered a favorable assessment of You Only Live Once. The critic suggested: “The author’s prose is so buoyant that it borders on gleeful.” The critic added: “Orkin skillfully manages to create a story that is genuinely amusing, tenderly moving, and decidedly thoughtful.” The same critic concluded by describing the book as “a manically funny farce both delightfully absurd and strangely plausible.” Cecil Brewer, reviewer on the Reader’s Favorite website, commented: “The twists of this story incorporate several entertaining fictional devices.” Brewer concluded: “Haris Orkin has written a classic from thoroughly different eras, both engaging in their own right, but hilarious when combined.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2018, review of You Only Live Once.
ONLINE
Haris Orkin website, https://www.harisorkin.com/ (September 9, 2018).
Kotaku, https://kotaku.com/ (March 5, 2013), Phil Owen, author interview.
Reader’s Favorite, https://readersfavorite.com/ (June 25, 2018), Cecil Brewer, review of You Only Live Once.
Haris Orkin is a playwright, screenwriter, game writer, and novelist. His play, Dada was produced at The American Stage and the La Jolla Playhouse. Sex, Impotence, and International Terrorism was chosen as a critic's choice by the L.A. Weekly and sold as a film script to MGM/UA. Save the Dog was produced as a Disney Sunday Night movie. His original screenplay, A Saintly Switch, was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starred David Alan Grier and Vivica Fox. He is a WGA Award and BAFTA Award nominated game writer and narrative designer known for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, Tom Clancy's The Division, Mafia 3, and Dying Light, which to date has sold over 7.5 million copies. Haris has contributed chapters to two books put out by the International Game Developers Association; Writing for Video Game Genres and Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing. harisorkin.com
After receiving a B.A. from Beloit College and an MFA in Creative Writing from USC, Haris soon realized he had no discernible skills with which to make a living. This despite being a finalist in the American Theater Festival for his one act play, Armageddon. Advertising beckoned.
After several years writing and producing award winning radio and television commercials, Haris sold his first screenplay, Save the Dog, which was later produced as a Disney Sunday Night movie.
His play, Dada was produced at The American Stage, The Nebraska Rep, and the La Jolla Playhouse. Nobody Lives Forever has been performed at The John Harmon Theater and The Player’s Club in New York City.
His original screenplay, A Saintly Switch, was produced by Disney. It was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starred David Alan Grier and Viveca Fox.
Haris has also written scripts for Universal, Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox, and Paramount.
In 2005, Haris broke into the world of game narrative when he wrote the script for Dungeons and Dragons: Dragonshard, developed by Liquid Entertainment and published by Atari. He wrote a game for the Kingdom Hearts franchise for Disney and Square Enix that same year.
Call of Juarez, a game he wrote for Techland and Ubisoft was released in 2007. Kane's Wrath, the expansion to the best-selling Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars, was released in 2008.
Red Alert 3 for EALA came out in late 2008 and Haris received a Writer's Guild Award nomination for best video game script. Ubisoft and Techland released Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood in June 2009 to strong sales and excellent reviews.
Dead Island was released in 2011 and was one of the top selling titles of the year. In 2013, Company of Heroes 2 for Relic Entertainment and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger for Ubisoft and Techland were both released. 2015 saw the release of Dying Light for Techland and Warner Brothers Interactive. It is one of the top selling games of the year.
Haris has contributed chapters to two books put out by the International Game Developer’s Association. Writing for Video Game Genres and Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing were both published by A.K. Peters.
Haris Orkin
About
Haris is a partner in Double RR Studios and Production on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. He casts and directs VO for commercials, trailers, animation, and video games. He cast and directed the VO for the Call of Juarez , Dead Island, and Dying Light franchises and supervised VO production on Tom Clancy's The Division and Company of Heroes 2 .
A Saintly Switch
Double RR Studios
Double RR Studios
Haris Orkin
Haris Orkin
3rd degree connection3rd
Lead Writer and Narrative Designer at Impulse Gear, Inc.
Greater Los Angeles Area
Impulse Gear, Inc.
Beloit College Beloit College
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500+ connections
As a writer and narrative designer for the video game industry, I help create the characters, the worlds, the stories, and the dialogue by working with game developers, producers, and publishers.
My credits include:
Get Even
Tom Clancy's The Division
Mafia 3
Dying Light
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Company of Heroes 2
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Dead Island
Nominated for 2009 Writer's Guild of America Award for EA's Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3.
Other specialties: advertising copywriter for radio, TV, print, interactive, social, and mobile. Voice direction and production for video games, animation, and advertising.
My novel "You Only Live Once" was recently published by Imajin Books and is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Articles & activity
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"You Only Live Once" Arriving March 21st
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Haris Orkin
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My debut novel is called "You Only Live Once." Imajin Books is publishing it on March 21st and it's now available for pre-order on Kindle. http://getbook.at/YouOnlyLiveOnce I'm overwhe...
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Experience
Impulse Gear, Inc.
Lead Writer and Narrative Designer
Company Name Impulse Gear, Inc.
Dates Employed Aug 2017 – Present Employment Duration 1 yr 1 mo
Location San Francisco Bay Area
Freelance
Company Name Freelance
Total Duration 28 yrs 8 mos
Title Game Writer/Narrative Designer/Senior Copywriter
Dates Employed Jan 2011 – Present Employment Duration 7 yrs 8 mos
Most recently, I worked on Get Even for The Farm 51 and Ruiner for Reikon Games and Devolver Digital. Other recent projects include Mafia 3 for 2K's Hangar 13, Tom Clancy's: The Division for Ubisoft Massive and Dying Light: The Following for Techland.
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Title Screenwriter
Dates Employed Jan 1990 – 2011 Employment Duration 21 yrs
I've written scripts for Disney, Sony, Paramount, MGM-UA, Universal, and Village Road Show.
Mendelsohn Zien Advertising
ACD
Company Name Mendelsohn Zien Advertising
Dates Employed Jan 2002 – Jan 2011 Employment Duration 9 yrs 1 mo
Location Los Angeles
Created television, radio, and interactive, campaigns for Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, La Salsa, Farmer John, the L.A. Avengers, BMW, and Shoes.com.
Ubisoft
Freelance writer
Company Name Ubisoft
Dates Employed 2005 – 2009 Employment Duration 4 yrs
I co-wrote the story, wrote the English language script and cast and produced the VO for Call of Juarez 1 and 2.
EALA
Freelance Writer
Company Name EALA
Dates Employed 2005 – 2009 Employment Duration 4 yrs
I wrote the cinematic scripts for C&C Kane's Wrath, Red Alert 3, and Red Alert 3 Uprising.
Education
Beloit College
Beloit College
Degree Name BA
Field Of Study English and Economics
John Hersey High School
John Hersey High School
University of Southern California
University of Southern California
Degree Name MFA
Field Of Study Professional Writing
Skills & Endorsements
Video Games
See 51 endorsements for Video Games 51
Endorsed by James Waugh and 6 others who are highly skilled at this
Endorsed by 7 of Haris’ colleagues at mz advertising
Television
See 43 endorsements for Television 43
Endorsed by Mary-Pat Carney and 3 others who are highly skilled at this
Endorsed by 4 of Haris’ colleagues at mz advertising
Advertising
See 24 endorsements for Advertising 24
Ed Levitt and 23 connections have given endorsements for this skill
Industry Knowledge
Radio
See 22 endorsements for Radio 22
Creative Writing
See 21 endorsements for Creative Writing 21
Commercials
See 19 endorsements for Commercials 19
Entertainment
See 19 endorsements for Entertainment 19
Video
See 18 endorsements for Video 18
Screenwriting
See 16 endorsements for Screenwriting 16
Copywriting
See 15 endorsements for Copywriting 15
Writing
See 12 endorsements for Writing 12
Interactive Advertising
See 12 endorsements for Interactive Advertising 12
Scripting
See 12 endorsements for Scripting 12
Animation
See 11 endorsements for Animation 11
Marketing
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Digital Media
See 8 endorsements for Digital Media 8
Film
See 6 endorsements for Film 6
Content Strategy
See 4 endorsements for Content Strategy 4
New Media
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Mobile Devices
See 4 endorsements for Mobile Devices 4
Digital Marketing
See 4 endorsements for Digital Marketing 4
Creative Strategy
See 3 endorsements for Creative Strategy 3
Video Production
See 3 endorsements for Video Production 3
Interactive Marketing
See 2 endorsements for Interactive Marketing 2
Brand Development
See 2 endorsements for Brand Development 2
Outdoor Advertising
See 2 endorsements for Outdoor Advertising 2
Art Direction
See 2 endorsements for Art Direction 2
Integrated Marketing
See 1 endorsement for Integrated Marketing 1
Publishing
See 1 endorsement for Publishing 1
Broadcast
See 1 endorsement for Broadcast 1
Digital Strategy
See 1 endorsement for Digital Strategy 1
Concept Development
See 1 endorsement for Concept Development 1
Online Advertising
See 1 endorsement for Online Advertising 1
Mobile Marketing
See 1 endorsement for Mobile Marketing 1
Interpersonal Skills
Storytelling
See 16 endorsements for Storytelling 16
Voice Acting
See 6 endorsements for Voice Acting 6
Other Skills
Narrative
See 17 endorsements for Narrative 17
Story Structure
See 10 endorsements for Story Structure 10
Dialogue
See 6 endorsements for Dialogue 6
Script Doctoring
See 6 endorsements for Script Doctoring 6
Interactive Storytelling
See 4 endorsements for Interactive Storytelling 4
Script
See 3 endorsements for Script 3
Radio Advertising
See 2 endorsements for Radio Advertising 2
Viral Marketing
See 1 endorsement for Viral Marketing 1
Creative Direction
See 38 endorsements for Creative Direction 38
Narrative Design
See 4 endorsements for Narrative Design 4
Voice Directing
See 3 endorsements for Voice Directing 3
Production
See 1 endorsement for Production 1
Recommendations
Received (9)
Given (11)
Dag Compeau
Dag Compeau
Drafting and Residential Design
May 2, 2016, Dag worked with Haris in different groups
I know Haris personally and remember working with him a long time ago, back when I was doing illustration. I have heard many of his radio ads and seen some of the video games that he has worked on. He's a writer with a great sense of humor, really fun to work with, and has a high level of expertise in many areas of writing and game design.
Gabby Gruen
Gabby Gruen
Owner, Advertising Consultant
October 2, 2012, Gabby worked with Haris in different groups
Haris Orkin is, quite simply, the funniest writer I've ever worked with. Sure he's got the experience and the marketing chops that matter to HR directors. But, for me, it's his unique voice as a writer that elevates him above the competition. That's what consistently engages people who read, watch, and listen to his work. He's got a gift for transporting readers and audiences into amazing, harrowing, even hilarious worlds.
Scott Parkin
Scott Parkin
Actor VO/On Camera @ DPN, Voice Over Coach, On Camera Dept head @ "Gray Studios" acting school ,TV Writer , Improv Specialist, Host & Surfer SAG/AFTRA/WGA
June 15, 2012, Scott worked with Haris but at different companies
There really isn't really a category on LinkedIn for " I got to work for Harris" so I came as close as possible. I was fortunate enough to work with Harris many times. When you have a creative director who is confident in what he brings to the table he will let you run with something that he has created. He has the ability to bring you back in to where the client will need you to be without inhibiting your ability to add things . He is as talented a writer as he is with dealing with talent. He see's the value in letting you bring something to the project without loosing sight of the clients goal. I really think he gets the best out of whoever he works with. I always look forward to working with Harris.
Michal Madej
Michal Madej
Design Director at CD PROJEKT RED
May 30, 2012, Michal was a client of Haris’
I was great pleasure to work with Haris - an expert writer with great understanding of games. He instantly he grasped the game vision and story idea - was able to provide valuable creative input, insightful comments, find problems and propose solutions. One of my favorites - Haris proposed and wrote an hilarious song for one of the main characters, a 'one hit wonder' hip-hop star Sam-B.
Laura LeBel
Laura LeBel
Freelance CD/ACD Art Director
April 25, 2012, Haris was senior to Laura but didn’t manage directly
I can't say enough great things about Haris. He is hands down the best dialogue writer I've ever worked with. Which is probably why he's won just about every radio award show there is. Haris is great to brainstorm with. And he's not afraid to take risks. But also, he's someone I could go to when I was stuck. If I had the beginning thoughts of an idea but not sure how to execute it, Haris was the one that could solve it. In fact, even the other writers would bring their scripts to Haris for tweaking. He probably produced far more work at MZ then he was even given credit for. Lastly, he's just a really pleasant person to be around. I don't think i've ever seen Haris in a bad mood. Which let's face it, with all of the stress in advertising that goes a mile in itself.
Justin Hooper
Justin Hooper
Freelance ECD, GCD, CD / Creative Brand Consultant at Undnyable
December 14, 2010, Justin managed Haris directly
Haris is an extremely talented writer for Radio and TV. He has a unique voice in his work and was an absolute pleasure to work with.
Mick DiMaria
Mick DiMaria
Creative Director / Consultant / Writer
August 26, 2010, Mick managed Haris directly
Part of my time at MZ, I partnered with Haris. The other part, I was his CD, but it always felt like a partnership even then. Though he came through the agency as a "radio guy", that label was blown to pieces when he rocked some really great ideas for TV and beyond. An idea is an idea is an idea, in any media, and Haris not only knows that, he proves it every assignment. He also happens to be a video game expert and a very talented writer in that field too. Always fun, funny, and easy to work with, the way it should be. Haris is great with talent as well as working with some of the younger people in the agency. He is like The Fonz of the office, only cooler...and his office was not in the men's room. Other than that, totally The Fonz.
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Accomplishments
Haris has 5 projects 5
Projects
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - video game Dead Island Riptide Virtual Performance Factory Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Haris has 2 honors 2
Honors & Awards
Gold Prize Winner in Historical/Biographical Category WGA Award Nomination
Haris has 2 publications 2
Publications
Writing for Video Game Genres: From FPS to RPG Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing
Haris has 1 organization 1
Organization
IGDA
Interests
Pitch
Pitch
12,620 followers
Trailer Park
Trailer Park
19,527 followers
American Association of Political Consultants
American Association of Political Consultants
10,259 members
Advertising Freelance
Advertising Freelance
42,070 members
Writing Professionals
Writing Professionals
3,779 members
Women in Games International
Women in Games International
4,732 members
QUOTED: "It's a collaboration on movies and plays as well but even more so for games in a way, because the world is being built by other people… You have to work with game designers, level designers, the artists; it's really a collaboration between all of it, because the story is told by every part of the game, as much by the level design and the art as it is by writing. The dialogue in a way is the least important part of telling a story; you don't really need that necessarily to tell a story in a game."
""Games are the most complicated medium to write for, partly because we're still figuring out how to do it. Since games are driven so much by gameplay and level design, part of the challenge of being a game writer is making the story work even when the ... levels change."
What In The World Do Video Game Writers Do? The Minds Behind Some Of Last Year's Biggest Games Explain.
Phil Owen
3/05/13 5:00pmFiled to: BEHIND THE SCENES
57.7K
69
3
What does a games writer do, exactly? What is a writer's job? If we're talking about a writer on a movie or the author of a book, it's easy for us to figure out on our own what exactly that person is doing. But when we look at the writer of a video game, things become a bit more cloudy.
As you might expect, the key responsibility for a games writer is to write. Doing so fills a gap within a game's production that, quite frankly, others cannot fill. But that does not mean the writer is the Big Mind behind a game. Writing for games, I have been told over and over as I've been talking with games writers, a collaboration. "It always is on games," Haris Orkin, a writer on Dead Island: Riptide, recently told me.
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"It's a collaboration on movies and plays as well but even more so for games in a way, because the world is being built by other people… You have to work with game designers, level designers, the artists; it's really a collaboration between all of it, because the story is told by every part of the game, as much by the level design and the art as it is by writing. The dialogue in a way is the least important part of telling a story; you don't really need that necessarily to tell a story in a game."
Jill Murray, the recent Writers Guild of America award winner for her work on Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, is a novelist in addition to working at Ubisoft. (Read Kotaku's interview with her about the game.) I asked her about the contrast between going from books, which are generally the result of a single person's vision, to games.
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Murray echoed Orkin's comments, and emphasized that the final product, at least in her experience, is the outcome of many minds contributing many ideas.
Far Cry 3's Yohalem: " "In my mind the gameplay has to be the story of the game."
"The difference is that video games are entirely collaborative, and you have to—you get to work with designers, world artists," she said, "and all of these people bring so much personal experience and so much technical experience that the game is the combined result of many visions, even if there is a creative director or producer making the final decisions. The game is really the result of all of these people coming together."
But Murray is far from resentful that she is not the main attraction on a game project. The experience of working on a game, she said, is fulfilling in its own ways.
"While you might get to have 100-percent control over your novel, you're also 100-percent sitting by yourself in like your ugliest sweatpants or at the cafe where they know you too well for too long. And the first thing I really enjoyed was going to the studio. It gives me pleasure to go there and be with my colleagues and to know the other writers. I really enjoy that community."
Christopher Schlerf, lead writer on Halo 4, was initially on his own in crafting that game's story, but later he became the core component in what he called a "narrative team."
While he was the designated "writer guy," the group was filled with folks from every section of the development team to help him put it all together. Collaborating in that way is what made it all work, he said.
"It started out as basically just me, and then we brought on Armando Troisi as narrative director from the Mass Effect series... Armando is a really good foil. He is very much about the implementation: how do we get it in-game in an interesting playable way? We also brought on a writer named Brian Reed, who has done some of the comics for us as well. From there we've grown; we've added two narrative designers to the team. We've brought in a producer. And as we go forward we're going to be growing that group.
"I think [creating the narrative team] really was the turning point for elevating the Halo 4 story from simply being a story told to being a story played."
Ubisoft's Jeffrey Yohalem is a bit unique. He claimed significant ownership of Far Cry 3's vision, probably moreso than the other writers I spoke with would on their titles."I think that the story and what the game is trying to say was definitely a very intense," he said. "[It] involved collaboration between me and Patrick Plourde, who is creative director. I think that we really guided the curation of the game" He admitted that even in a game that has close to a singular vision there are other forces contributing. "At the same time, our director has certain things he wants to highlight, and the game designer has certain things that he wants to highlight. The level designers have certain things. And I made sure that those things worked within the meaning that we were trying to convey."
Orkin, who works on a freelance basis, says the function of a writer is multifaceted, but ultimately the writer is the glue that turns a game into a coherent whole, similar to what Yohalem described.
Dead Island's Orkin: "Games are the most complicated medium to write for, partly because we're still figuring out how to do it."
"Since games are driven so much by gameplay and level design, part of the challenge of being a game writer is making the story work even when the gameplay or levels change or if there is something that is added to the game which would be really fun to play but might not make total sense in the story. You have to try to make it make sense. That's really one of the big parts of a game writer's job, I think, making sure the narrative still works even when things in the game work against the narrative."
One might think that this deference to gameplay might frustrate the writers, but those to whom I spoke declined to express dissatisfaction with the process when prodded, instead opting to look at the bright side, as Murray did. "I may get sometimes a little bit annoyed by it, but I really love the arguments I get to have and the things I get to fight for," she said. "It feels really wild. It pleases me to get up and argue about diversity or the meaning of mechanics or what happens when you change a scene."
Some game writers are just writers, and some have other jobs in game production as well. Yohalem has other duties and says his philosophy on writing a game is informed by his additional responsibilities.
"My case is different than a lot of writers, because I'm in the core team. So myself and like seven other people, we design the game," Yohalem told me. "In my mind the gameplay has to be the story of the game. I participate in the design of that, but also the point is to deliver a meaning. It's to deliver our artistic intentions—you're curating an experience with players. It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, but you wanna put together the right puzzle that says something meaningful."
Orkin would say that putting the puzzle together is more complicated than it sounds.
In comparing writing for games with his experiences with other media, he says he has come to realize that the process of creating a game, as a writer, is different every time you do it. And that developers are still sort of feeling their way around the writing process.
"I've written plays and movies and I've written TV, and they're all basically linear. Of those three, plays are, to me, the most difficult. But of all four of them, games are the most complicated medium to write for, partly because we're still figuring out how to do it. Every game has a new architecture and structure, and so you have to rethink how to do it each time. For me it makes it really challenging and fun, but it's also difficult because you don't know how well a game is going to work until you finish building it."
Phil Owen is a freelance entertainment journalist whose work you might have seen at IGN, GameFront, Appolicious and many, many other places. You can follow him on Twitter at @philrowen.
QUOTED: "The author's prose is so buoyant that it borders on gleeful."
"Orkin skillfully manages to create a story that is genuinely amusing, tenderly moving, and decidedly thoughtful."
"a manically funny farce both delightfully absurd and strangely plausible."
Orkin, Haris: YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE
Kirkus Reviews.
(June 1, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Orkin, Haris YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE Imajin Books (Indie Fiction) $15.99 3, 21 ISBN: 978-1-77223-360-5
A psychiatric patient who believes he's a British spy escapes from a mental institution and finds himself embroiled in real intrigue in this debut comedy.
James Flynn grew up in California and was orphaned when he was 10 years old, shuffled from one foster home to another. But as an adult, he's convinced he works for the British Secret Service and that his home, the City of Roses Psychiatric Institute, is his agency's headquarters. He speaks in a British accent, walks the halls in swanky suits, and habitually seduces fawning female nurses. When the institute is taken over by a new administration, headed by the insufferable Dr. Grossfarber, James escapes, confident that the Secret Service has been compromised by adversaries. He finds Sancho, a 22-year-old orderly at City of Roses, and drags him into the search for Dulcie Delgadillo, a beautiful, young drug addict released from the institute, who James believes has been kidnapped. Once at her apartment, he finds a loaded revolver and a duffel bag crammed with cash, which belong to Dulcie's abusive boyfriend, Mike Croker, a motorcycle gang member involved in drug dealing. James uses the money to outfit himself in an Armani suit, buys an Aston Martin, and is pursued both by drug dealers intent on retrieving their stolen cash and the police looking to return him to the institute. James then stumbles on a major crime boss's plot to kidnap the world's 10 richest people in an attempt to profit from the global stock market collapse that he believes will ensue. Orkin pays comedic homage to Cervantes' Don Quixote, the obvious fictional inspiration for James' flights of deluded fantasy. But unlike that work's treatment of Quixote's hallucinations, it remains tantalizingly unclear if James is sane or not--he's uncannily talented at being an action hero for someone theatrically posing as one. This is really a novella, at under 160 pages, and the plot moves at breakneck speed. The author's prose is so buoyant that it borders on gleeful, with James
1 of 2 8/13/18, 9:54 PM
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dispensing words of wisdom to Sancho ("A man is like a teabag....You never know how strong he is until you dip him in hot water"). Orkin skillfully manages to create a story that is genuinely amusing, tenderly moving, and decidedly thoughtful.
A manically funny farce both delightfully absurd and strangely plausible.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Orkin, Haris: YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540723224/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=e7ed1790. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A540723224
2 of 2 8/13/18, 9:54 PM
QUOTED: "The twists of this story incorporate several entertaining fictional devices."
"Haris Orkin has written a classic from thoroughly different eras, both engaging in their own right, but hilarious when combined."
You Only Live Once
You Only Live Once
by Haris Orkin
Fiction - Humor/Comedy
192 Pages
Reviewed on 06/25/2018
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Book Review
Reviewed by Cecil Brewer for Readers' Favorite
Haris Orkin has produced a rip-roaring tale of derring-do by a highly unlikely and slightly eccentric character. You Only Live Once jumps from the pages with sharp, witty writing in an intelligent parody. It is almost like Ian Fleming might have re-crafted Cervantes' Don Quixote with a strong dose of hilarity. James imagines himself to be a "Double-O" and, because of it, lives in a contemporary but pleasant dungeon. He believes it is "headquarters" and begs for a mission. When evil invades it, saving his threatened comrades compels him to launch an irrational operation. And, like the original 007, during his impossible mission he finds ways to overcome hopeless situations (firing heat-seeking rockets is side-splitting), help others to see around their own corners, and all the while maintaining his loony courtly noble outlook. Orkin reproduces the spirit of Agent 007 as he and his reluctant esquire ricochet from one dire situation to another while pursuing a fantasy mission.
Someone important might recognize You Only Live Once one day for its interpretation of two dissimilar classics melded into a charming burlesque. Today, the closest modern expressions of chivalry are action-hero champions that grew from an implausible secret agent who saved the world, or at least some of it. Orkin captures chivalry's essence in a quixotic quest and has saturated his tall tale with it. The twists of this story incorporate several entertaining fictional devices created by Cervantes roughly four hundred years ago and they still work. Haris Orkin has blended cinema's formula for the James Bond franchise with characters conceived in one of literature's greatest works and he makes you laugh. Haris Orkin has written a classic from thoroughly different eras, both engaging in their own right, but hilarious when combined.