It appears 2013 is going to be another banner year for Neil Gaiman: He's already following the release of a new novel with a highly anticipated return to The Sandman, and now comes word that he's writing a video game.

In an interview with Mashable, the author reveals he's working with the video game companies Odd Gentlemen and Moonshark on a multiplatform game titled Wayward Manor that centers on a haunted house. Set for release this fall, it follows a ghostly resident of the manor as he encounters the various owners and tenants of the house over a 200-year period. Sounds scary? Gaiman's got more for you than just horror.

"It's lighthearted, its goofy, it's nice to flip points of view," Gaiman told Mashable. "Normally in a game, if you're in a haunted house, you are going to be walking through it intrepidly with your flashlight, your bell, book and candle, and your copy of the Necronomicon and you keep going until you find the ghost. In this one all you want to do is be left in peace with your lovely house and be left alone. I don't want to give anything away but it's safe to say you were killed in the 1880s and you were killed for a reason."

Early in his career, Gaiman did writing work on several video games, but all were canceled before release. With his busy schedule in comics, prose and films, it's a surprise that he'd have time to do this video -- a surprise even for him.

"I think the biggest surprise is I did it and got involved in it,"Gaiman says. "Nobody would have expected it and I didn't have the time. It just got fun and I had to make time."