Mischief first
The invitation is funny, strange and immediately playable. Not worthy, and never moralising.
01 / The proposition
Comedy on the surface. Consequences underneath.
Genies were created to give humans superpowers. Then they became bored, and discovered tricks.
A trick may begin with salt in a coffee, a missing key, or a doorway that empties your head of the reason you walked through it. What follows can be ridiculous, uncomfortable, transformative, or all three at once.
The philosophy is never announced as a lesson. It arrives later, inside the consequence, after everyone — including the Genie — has misunderstood what the joke was really doing.
Original world drawingThe Genie City archive
Meaning later
Self-discovery arrives through consequences rather than being explained in advance.
One coherent canon
Books, game and film reveal different dimensions of the same authored universe.
02 / One world, three forms
Not three adaptations. Three ways into the same reality.
01Development prototype
Game
A narrative stealth-god game about playing supernatural tricks on humans, avoiding suspicion, and discovering that every prank changes a life.
See the game vision ↘
02Publishing opportunityBook
The voice, mythology and philosophical foundation of the Genie City, where the rules of tricks, powers and consequences begin.
Enter the book world ↘
03Feature development conceptFilm
A boy moves between ordinary life and the Genie world, until growing up begins to erase the place he once knew was real.
Discover the film ↘
03 / The rules of the place
Everything here is invented. None of it is arbitrary.
One degree left on the quantum axis
They live on this Earth, on the same streets, just shifted along the quantum axis. Lighter, brighter, and not quite solid. Angels, elementals, dwarfs and elves are neighbours.
They cannot touch you
Not a hair on your head. Everything a Genie does, it does through your subconscious, or occasionally through the quieter voice above it.
Children can see them
This is what imaginary friends are. It is also why nobody believes children, which the Genies find funny and a little sad.
Faces change colour
Blue is sad. Red is angry. Pink is satisfied. Yellow means a trick is being planned. They can hold a poker face. They rarely bother.
Nobody is ever a baby
Genies choose their age on arrival, and they now all choose to arrive as children with a clean slate, so that the past cannot sit on them and spoil the present.
Work is called plark
Play plus work. They have never needed a second word for it, and they consider our having two words a symptom of something.
Joy is a religion
Life is a game. You must not take a game too seriously or you will miss it entirely. This is the closest thing the city has to a law.
1,244,789 skills
At the most recent count. There is a government department that does nothing but keep the list, and the list refuses to hold still.
04 / The colours
A Genie cannot lie about how it feels. It can only decline to mention it.
The palette on this page is not a design decision. It is the world's.
When a Genie's mood changes drastically, the colour of its face changes with it, and the expression feeling blue came into the human language the long way round.
PinkSatisfied. In the book, overwhelmed by true happiness.
YellowReady to make tricks.
OrangeAbstract thinking.
RedAngry.
BlueSad.
Black with white dotsVery, very sad.
GreenMaybe you have eaten something bad and want to vomit.
BeigeYou show compassion and care for someone.
VioletWhen you are confused.
GreyBoredom.
GoldUnrecorded.
SilverAlso unrecorded.
BronzeNobody has written this one down either.
RainbowRare. Continuously moving. In the Genie City these are the ones they honour.
Gold, silver and bronze have never been written down. The department that keeps the list is aware of the omission and has formed a view about whose fault it is.
And the walls of their houses
RedYou would rather not have guests.
Light glowing greenYou would love to receive people.
White with pink dotsOne is not home, but anyone who feels like it may come in, and is welcome.
05 / Evidence of depth
A world with enough inside it to keep opening.
Most of them are called Johnny. This has never been satisfactorily explained.
Drawn by hand in pencil, ink, wash and coloured pencil, in sketchbooks. Nothing here was generated, and nothing has been tidied up.
Original character archiveCharacters · places · powers · tricks · metaphysics
06 / From Book One
The canon begins on the page.
There is a whole world that most people can't see. It's the world of angels, elementals, dwarfs, elves, and fairies. They live on the same Earth people do, just one to five degrees to the left on the quantum axis. The ones who can see these worlds almost all the time are… children. That's the reason why they have what adults call "imaginary" friends. But the reality is that these friends are not imaginary at all. They are as real as the table leg where you hit your pinky toe and cry like a baby from the pain.
"So, what is real in this world, dear adults?" a Genie asks.
The Genie City, Book One — A Creation Story
07 / Partnerships & rights
The world exists. Its next forms need partners.
Development & publishing
A partner for a polished vertical slice, production planning and commercial development.
Publishing & representation
Conversations with publishers and literary partners who understand expandable story worlds.
Feature development
Producers and creative partners for the boy's journey into, and away from, the Genie City.
Create enough clarity for the right person to recognise the opportunity, and enough mystery for them to want to enter the city.The Serendipity Plan
Request the creative conversation.
George Gold is the author pseudonym of George Gold Zlatev. The full manuscript, a synopsis and sample pages are available on request.