Q: How did you come about choosing a Chinese legend as the backdrop to the game?
A: The developer is actually from China. He knew the history of the British burning down this 60,000 acre garden during the opium war. He sought out archeologists and historians studying this part of Chinese history. He has been working to actually recreate the garden of which only one small part is in the game.
Based on the true story, he created the game, concentrating on the visual look of what was in the garden in terms of buildings, art etc. and incorporating traditional elements of the culture. He is continuing on a sequel which concentrates on another part of the garden. He is currently speaking with the Chinese government about recreating the entire garden as a virtual 3D experience on the internet.
I do a lot of consulting on games and educational titles for various publishers. I happened to see this title on someone's "reject" pile.
I knew it had great potential, but it seemed cold and somewhat masculine. So after focus testing I changed the name, packaging, went into production to fine tune game play, brought in a writer to better the set up the story and create more emotion by adding a script, casting a wonderful female lead voice talent and a female, Mandarin vocalist.
The lead female character is more to our imagination than actually seen on screen. She is an animated computer character bound in the traditional robes of a Chinese concubine. Lotus Spring is a reflection of this historical character.
I took the entire effort further and found a publisher for an ebook. The writer has captured in words the details behind the scenes of a young woman, sold to save her family. We read how she develops into a caring, woman wise, to a man who could not freely love her. It's a true and touching tragedy that pulls at the heart strings.
Q: What would you say are the similarities and differences between your game, Legend of Lotus Spring, and traditional romance 
novels?
A: As with movies, "romance novels" have a variety of genres. They can be historical, bodice rippers, cookie cutter boy meets, looses and gets girl again, or even one of the increasingly popular category of Christian romances. This year I attended a Romance Writers convention and was surprised to learn there is no one category that outsells another. Maybe that's why Forbes Research says that over 60 percent of all books published are Romance Novels. It's a huge genre with many sub-categories.
The Legend of Lotus Spring is a classic story of life and love lost, set in a culture westerners know so little about.
Our novella, to be published on an ebook, or downloaded as a pdf free with purchase of the game, has been written around the CD. We are working on a distribution deal for an Audio Book.
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