video games
Happy New Year from Li’l Nosferatu!
Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to 2026! And welcome to my “year-end wrap-up” blog post for 2025. Look, before you say anything: yes, I’m writing a “year-end” post the day after the year ended. Which is probably against the rules, but as I’ve learned over the years, I don’t like rules. Rules are stupid. Also, I was busy yesterday.
So. Here are some of the best things that happened to me in 2025:
I wrote many, many books. Most of them were for kids. Some of them were for adults. Here are the titles of some (but not all) of those books:
The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions.
The Fantastic Four Little Golden Book.
Stitch: Out-of-This-World Numbers.
Also, in January of 2025, I began working as a writer and narrative designer for an upcoming video game called Shadows of Dawn, which is being developed by Next Player Games. Currently, I’m still working on the game with the good folks at NPG.
And as you may recall, back in 2023, I wrote two episodes of the animated preschool series Hey! Fuzzy Yellow. In 2024, one of the episodes began airing and streaming. But starting in 2025, both episodes (“Boomerang Jelly Car” and “Sculpture Jam Abstract”) began airing and streaming. I wrote the scripts and the song lyrics for both episodes. As of this writing, Hey! Fuzzy Yellow still hasn’t begun airing or streaming in the US, but it’s available in various countries in Europe, Central America, and South America.
I also wrote the script for a Passover-themed children’s audio drama, titled “Mort the Misinformed Morsel of Matzah,” which was released in the spring of 2025 as part of Yoto’s 5-Minute Spring Holiday Stories collection. The title character, Mort, was even voiced by a friend of mine, Eli Schiff!
And there are several other projects I worked on throughout 2025, some of which will come out this year. I announced one of them, 96 Facts About Chappell Roan, in my previous blog post. (That book comes out on January 13th.) But I’ll announce some of my other upcoming projects ASAP. Please keep checking this site for more info!
BTW, I wouldn’t have worked on any of the aforementioned projects without the book editors, video game producers, and TV showrunners who gave me these writing gigs in the first place. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who hired me in 2025 (or really, anyone who hired me at any time, ever). And I mean that.
You may also be wondering about the “Baby New Year” photo which adorns this blog post. See, to usher in the new year, I’ve put a “2026” sash around a puppet I built. I call him “Li’l Nosferatu.” If you’re obsessed with me (and why wouldn’t you be?), you’ll notice that I’ve occasionally posted pics of Li’l Nosferatu on social media during the past couple of years. For today’s purposes, Li’l Nosferatu is playing the part of Baby New Year.
Someday, I’ll explain the backstory behind this puppet, because there is indeed quite a bit of backstory there. Basically, I built the puppet for a project which never came to fruition. But more on that some other time.
And to anyone who’s reading this, I just wanted to wish you the best for a wonderful new year!
Watch Me Talk About “Shadows of Dawn”!
As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, I’m currently working as a writer and narrative designer on an upcoming video game called Shadows of Dawn, developed by Next Player Games. And as I’ve also mentioned in that very same post, the Shadows of Dawn Kickstarter campaign is currently ongoing.
Also, for the past several weeks, the folks at Next Player Games have put together a series of videos in which members of the Shadows of Dawn development team talk about their jobs. So here’s a video in which I talk about my work on the game.
If you watched the video above, you’ll notice that I talk about a children’s book you find in the game called The Neighbors Are Coming, written by an idealistic author named Norbert Justman, who wrote the book long before the alien collective known as the Mosaic arrived on humanity’s doorstep. In those early days, when the people of Earth knew the Mosaic was on their way but didn’t know to make of this otherworldly hive-mind species, some folks thought that the Mosaic would be benevolent and friendly, like the aliens in Close Encounters or the Vulcans in Star Trek. Norbert Justman was one of those people. Norbert Justman was wrong. Here’s some conceptual art of a tattered copy of The Neighbors Are Coming. This artwork was created by Ari Kleinberg, who’s a Lead Systems Designer on Shadows of Dawn:
To find out more about Shadows of Dawn:
Check out the game’s Kickstarter page HERE.
And check out the Next Player Games site HERE.
You can explore the Next Player Games linktree HERE.
Here’s a story trailer for Shadows of Dawn. I wrote the script for it. And Ari Kleinberg created all of the artwork. He also animated it:
Here’s a teaser trailer for the game. I didn’t write the script for the teaser, but a while back, I put a very special list in the story bible for the game. It was a list of themes that we should explore in Shadows of Dawn, narratively speaking. And the narration in this teaser trailer is based on that list:
And as I mentioned in my previous blog post: before you go, don’t forget…
The “Shadows Of Dawn” Kickstarter Campaign Is Live!
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I’m currently working as a writer and narrative designer on an upcoming video game called Shadows of Dawn, developed by Next Player Games. Well, here’s an update: As of today, the Shadows of Dawn Kickstarter campaign is live! Pledge to the Kickstarter to support the journey, and join the Discord to help shape the game!
In Shadows of Dawn, you wake up in an abandoned lab with no memory and a very opinionated robot companion named B.R.A.D.B.U.R.Y. as your only guide. How did you get there? Who are you? What happened to this lab? What will happen to you if you venture beyond the lab?
I’m afraid I can’t really answer those questions right now. That would be way too spoiler-y. But here’s the official description of the game, from the SoD Kickstarter page:
Welcome to Shadows of Dawn, an innovative sci-fi adventure that combines FPS action and survival gameplay with the open-exploration and customizability of an RPG. Shadows of Dawn isn’t just a game – it’s an epic saga where every choice you make echoes across the planet; where your decisions determine the fate of an entire realm. Will you seek to unify or take advantage of this world in chaos?
The page also includes the following quote from yours truly:
“Few indie studios today are as ambitious, or as capable, as Next Player Games. Their forward-thinking narrative vision appeals to gamers all over the world. Combined with a design-first development approach, this sets them apart. The folks at NPG are a team with the talent and experience to create something unforgettable.”
— Arie Kaplan, writer and narrative designer (LEGO Star Wars, Law & Order: Legacies)
Wow, I really have a way with words, don’t I? BTW, there’s a picture of yours truly at the bottom of the “Meet the Visionary Team Behind Shadows of Dawn” section on the Kickstarter page. I’ve pasted it here as well:
You hear that, Mom and Dad? I’m a Visionary!! The Kickstarter page said so! (And Kickstarter pages never lie!)
But aside from being an overall visionary, you may be wondering exactly what I do in my capacity as writer and narrative designer for Shadows of Dawn. Well, I write the story outlines, quest outlines, scripts, character dialogue, in-game fiction, and other writing deliverables for the game. While I’m doing all of that, I also write, update, and maintain the game’s story bible (a sprawling document chronicling the world of the game), often incorporating notes, edits, and ideas from the other members of the Narrative Team.
To find out more about Shadows of Dawn…
Check out the game’s Kickstarter page HERE.
And check out the Next Player Games site HERE.
You can explore the Next Player Games linktree HERE.
Here’s a story trailer for Shadows of Dawn. I wrote the script for it:
And here’s a teaser trailer for the game. I didn’t write the script for the teaser, but a while back, I put a very special list in the story bible. It was a list of themes that we should explore in Shadows of Dawn, narratively speaking. And the narration in this teaser trailer is based on that list:
Last but definitely not least, before you go, don’t forget…
