Rusel DeMaria is known for authoring multiple strategy guides for computer games. He penned both The Farlander Papers and The Stele Chronicles, which served as backstory narratives packaged alongside Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: TIE Fighter, respectively. Later, DeMaria expanded upon these stories in X-Wing: The Official Strategy Guide and TIE Fighter: The Official Strategy Guide. Additionally, he authored Super Star Wars Official Game Secrets and Super Empire Strikes Back Official Game Secrets.
Rusel DeMaria began his career as a professional author in 1981. In 1990, along with Ben Dominitz, DeMaria established the strategy-guide division within Prima Publishing's, initially named Secrets of the Games but later rebranded as Prima Games. Throughout the subsequent six years, he authored a substantial number of strategy guides, experimenting with diverse writing styles and layout designs that have since become standard practice in the strategy guide genre.
When Lawrence Holland and Edward Kilham commenced development on the 1993 LucasArts video game Star Wars: X-Wing, DeMaria was incorporated into the project early on to create The Farlander Papers. This novella, included with the game, detailed the inaugural mission of the player character, Keyan Farlander, as a Rebel starfighter pilot. Following the game's launch, DeMaria collaborated with the game's mission designers, David Wessman and David Maxwell, to co-author X-Wing: The Official Strategy Guide. This guide presented strategies for all missions within the game and further developed Farlander's narrative. Furthermore, it offered substantial early insights into the operations of the Alliance Starfighter Corps.
When LucasArts launched the sequel to X-wing, Star Wars: TIE Fighter, in 1994, DeMaria again participated in the project, writing The Stele Chronicles, a second novella which told the story of the game's protagonist, Maarek Stele. He once again collaborated with Wessman and Maxwell to produce TIE Fighter: The Official Strategy Guide, where he continued Stele's story.