Hammer & Script
Author · Creator of Terra · Founder of Hammer & Script
Some stories take a long time to find their way home.
⚔ Read Road to AshfallScott Sparks first imagined Echoes of Ashfall when he was about seventeen. At the time, it was an idea for a novel—a story that stayed with him long after life moved on to other things.
Nearly three decades later, at 44, Scott returned to that old idea from an unexpected direction.
After learning to build web applications, he spent a few months creating them as a hobby. Then came a simple thought:
If I can build an app, I can build a game.
That thought brought Echoes of Ashfall back to life.
What began as an attempt to turn an old novel idea into a game soon became something much larger. As Scott developed the world, he began discovering the characters in ways he hadn't expected. He fell in love with them—their personalities, their struggles, and the stories they could tell.
And eventually, he realized there was a story that came before Echoes of Ashfall.
That story became Road to Ashfall.
The journey so far
What started as a novel idea became a game project. The game became a way to explore a world. And exploring that world uncovered another story that demanded to be told.
Road to Ashfall became the first of those stories to make it onto the page.
But it won’t be the last.
17
The original Echoes of Ashfall idea
44
The idea returns
Web Apps
Learning to build
Echoes of Ashfall
The novel idea becomes a game project
Road to Ashfall
The characters reveal another story
Terra
The world continues to grow
Scott plans to continue the story with The Hero of Ashfall, following the events and characters established in Road to Ashfall.
After that, the journey will eventually lead back to where it all began.
Echoes of Ashfall was originally imagined as a novel when Scott was seventeen. One day, it will become one.
The game project may have taken the original story in an unexpected direction, but the long-term goal has remained the same: to tell the stories of Terra.
And Terra is meant to be bigger than any single book.
Scott plans to continue expanding the world with new characters, new places, and new stories—building a world that can support many different adventures while still remaining connected to the stories that started it all.
Scott lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee, with his wife, Crystal.
When he’s not working or writing, he’s usually doing something that gives him an excuse to say, “I probably don’t need another one of these.”
He’s a lifelong collector of sorts, with comics, toys, video games, and plenty of other things finding their way into his collection. He still plays video games, too—a hobby that has remained with him while the games he plays have changed considerably over the years.
That love of games, stories, collecting, and building things all found their way into Terra.
Why Write?
For Scott, the goal is pretty simple. He wants readers to enjoy his stories as much as he enjoys writing them.
The characters of Terra started as ideas. Some began decades ago. Others appeared only when the world started taking shape.
Now they’re becoming stories.
Road to Ashfall is the beginning of that journey.
The Hero of Ashfall is next.
Echoes of Ashfall is waiting where the journey began.
And beyond them, there are more stories still to be told.
Welcome to Terra.
⚔ Explore Road to Ashfall