Sci-fi writer Liu Cixin was blessed with a new career recently as Tencent's imaginative gamer.
As the company's new game imagination architect, the thriving author worked on the game script for "Thunder Fighter," currently one of the popular games launched by the IT giant.
Transitioning from being a writer to a gamer is not that difficult for Cixin. According to him, science fiction has a natural fit with other forms of media, not just books.
"Fiction as an art of narrative is gradually fading into the sunset, and the prospects for science fiction lies in fusion with other media, such as film, TV and online games," says Liu.
"Science fiction and games are similar to each other because both of them create an imaginary world, where the story develops. If a game emphasizes quality, the setting of the world will be an important element, just as it is in literary works," Liu added.
Despite the "natural fit," this is still a considerable feat by the writer. According to Hu Jiayin, a seasoned expert of the game industry and the founder of Chuapp.com, the site that covers mobile games news in the country, "it is the first time a writer who is accepted by mainstream literary circles has cooperated with gamemakers."
This is not only Liu's big achievement in his career. The books he penned, the "Three Body" trilogy, is now being adapted into a film. Shooting has already started last month. The scenes are being shot at Lesser Hinggan Mountains, Heilongjiang.