Yes, that’s Brandon Sanderson. Check out this interview with him on CBS:

TLDR: Magic outcast girl goes to military Flight School to save humanity and also the universe. It’s great!

On a desert planet that is totally not Arrakis, lives Spensa Nighshade, feisty orphan with super-human skills.

And a temper.

Spensa’s temper often gets her into trouble, in big part due to the fact that in her hyper-militarized society (think Starship Troopers on steroids, under constant threat of alien attack), starship pilots and their families are worshiped. As the daughter of a pilot, Spensa should have it all, especially access to the flight academy.

Only problem: everyone thinks her father was a coward, abandoning his flight mates at the worst possible moment.

Everyone except Spensa, that is… (more…)

You’re going to design crap. There’s no way around it. No matter what you do, you’re going to design crap.

When you start out, you’ll look to what others have done and attempt to copy them. You’ll look to published games and attempt to make something like them, only better.

You will fail. (more…)

So you’ve got your idea, you’ve got your stack of index cards, your pen, your pencil, your coloring markers, water colors, word processor, online sharing, blog, and, while we’re dreaming, signed 20% royalty contract. Fine. But where do you start the route to finished game?

You know the answer to that one: with a crude prototype and lots and lots of playtests. But how crude is crude, how complete does your prototype need to be in order to start playtesting it, what do you need?

Answer: Nothing. Not a thing. (more…)