Hi, I'm Dave Cook, creator and author of award-winning comic book series Killtopia, which is published by BHP Comics and is being adapted for TV by Voltaku Studios. I also write video games, books about gaming and more. In 2018 the series won a Creative Edinburgh Award, then in 2019 it won three Scottish Independent Comic Book Awards.

I'm based in Edinburgh and have been writing, crowdfunding and self-publishing comic books since 2014. In that time I have raised over £73,000 on Kickstarter to fund my comic projects, including Killtopia, Bust, Vessels and BPM: Beatdowns Per Minute. In 2021 I released the eBook 'Crowdfunding Comics' on Gumroad, to help newcomers plan, market and run their own Kickstarter campaigns.

In 2020 I moved into video game writing. My first project was Unbound: Worlds Apart, a puzzle-platformer developed by Alien Pixel Studios for PC and Nintendo Switch. In 2021, I signed to write two more games - the first is the 'roguelike' game Loot River by Straka Studio, which is releasing on PC and Xbox Series X/S in 2022. The second game is Final Fright, a PC beat 'em up launching in 2023.

Across my comic and video game projects, my areas of expertise includes, but is not limited to:

• Crafting rich lore bibles to establish the setting and world rules


• Creating character biographies, visual design briefs and personalities


• Writing punchy dialogue for each character using consistent tones


• Scripting comic pages with detailed panel direction to brief my artists


• Writing branching video game narratives based on complex trigger points


• Writing game NPC dialogue, item descriptions, UI prompts and more


• Devising trailer concepts to brief storyboarding artists


• Contributing to beta tests to improve our in-game content based on user research


• Contributing to project marketing, including crowdfunding, PR, social posts and blogs

I also write books about gaming, starting with Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat 'Em Ups, which is releasing in 2021 via an unannounced publisher

I am always on the look out for my next project, especially in comics, video games and TV. Please drop me a line if you would like to chat about your project.

Dave

https://twitter.com/davescook

https://www.facebook.com/killtopiacomic

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davescook/

https://www.instagram.com/cardsharkcomics

Scotland

https://dave-cook.com/

Comic Books:

• Killtopia (Creator/Author) - https://tinyurl.com/redthmww


• Killtopia TV show (Creator/Co-Producer ) - https://tinyurl.com/3u2pfkuh


• BPM: Beatdowns Per Minute (Creator/Author) - https://tinyurl.com/mk9ydkwj


• Vessels (Creator/Author) - https://tinyurl.com/2z9twbpn


• Bust (Creator/Author) - https://tinyurl.com/ehp2mxb5


• Feather (Creator/Author)

Video Games:

• Loot River (Writer) - https://tinyurl.com/26haydy4


• Unbound: Worlds Apart (Writer) - https://tinyurl.com/2dss5y47


• Final Fright (Writer)

Books: 

• Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat 'Em Ups (Author)


• Crowdfunding Comics (Author) - https://tinyurl.com/wyn2k6bc

 

Books, Film, Television, Videogames