Do You BeneKway?

Downton, who works as a business analyst at the Chelsea Apps Factory, one of the fastest growing mobile application development houses in the country (it was ranked 16th in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 last year) wrote the six-part story to help market another one of his stories, Solarversia, which he self-published on Amazon last year. He explains, “I had a vision about a year-long game played in virtual reality back in 2010 and left my job in finance to pursue it soon after. Then, in March 2014, when Facebook bought Oculus Rift (the virtual reality headset manufacturer) for $2bn, I realised the time was right. I started writing the book three days later, wanting to finish it in time for the release of the headset onto the consumer market.”

What makes Solarversia different to most stories that have gone before it, is its meta nature – the fact that Downton wants to make the game within the book to launch on the same day in 2020. “That’s what has excited people,” he explains. “The fact the fictional story they’ve enjoyed might be made for real, the fact they might be able to enjoy a similar adventure to Nova, the eighteen year-old protagonist of the tale. And of course, to eventually take down the £10 million grand prize, for outlasting 100 million other players.”

As to the likelihood of the game actually being made, he’s well aware it’s a monumental undertaking. “Spiralwerks, the company behind the game, which I’ve incorporated for real, is a multinational company with hundreds of employees. Getting there will be tough. And way before any of that happens, the book needs to move beyond its cult following to become a bestseller.”