Don't shoot me...
Definitely off-topic, and most possibly dangerous...
There's a preview of the first chapter of the c64 book available online at:
http://www.c64goldenyears.com/sample/1982_web.pdf
(If anyone's interested...)
Andrew
There's a preview of the first chapter of the c64 book available online at:
http://www.c64goldenyears.com/sample/1982_web.pdf
(If anyone's interested...)
Andrew
Post edited by andrew_rollings on
Comments
Yeah... I was wondering when that was coming :)
Actually, despite being relatively anti-64 when I was a nipper, I've been reading through the text of this book finding myself jealous of a couple of the games and wishing they'd been done on the Spectrum too.
For example, Space Taxi looked freaking awesome... The C64 version of Action Biker looked pretty good too.
I still have issues with the blocky graphics, but even so... Space Taxi... awesome game :)
Andrew
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
You could probably do with making the background pictures a bit fainter, like they are in the Spectrum book. I think they're clashing quite badly with the text in places as it stands, particularly the Radar Rat Race one.
Also, good though Deadline is, I'd question the inclusion of a text-only adventure that was developed for a multitude of systems as it neither has any value as eye candy nor is it a defining moment for the C64 in particular. Still, at least it's not The Hobbit again...
Like the Spectrum book, the pdfs appear brighter than the printed version so it should look good in print... If not I'll tweak it... As for the choice of games... Not mine :)
Andrew
Bwa-hahahahaha.
Andrew
/er... wait.
"It's time for action!"
:D
Seriously folks, we'd welcome more feedback on the layout. This isn't the FINAL version yet, so a few tweaks are still possible.
Deadline is in there for a few reasons...
1. The NPC's, before The Hobbit did it
2. It's Infocom's first release with "feelies" (the extras in the pack included sugar pills!)
3. It was released in 1982, so it goes nicely in the 1982 chapter :D
4. I wanted to cover some less well-known games as well as the obvious titles, and it's an unusual approach to the text adventure format
Yes they can
****COMMODE 64 BASIC V2****
64k RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE
READY.
But that's about it really
Isn't that the lyrics from a Cypress Hill song?
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
Make sure you don't get crumbs on the scanner lol
Yes it is funnily enough entitled "Cock tha Hammer" circa 1993 I believe.
Don't worry yourself over it. It's pants. Speccy version, with all it's judderyness and over-head view is still better. What a strange game to discuss! :D
Was going to list a few games that I was hoping to see in there, but I can't think of a single one. :)
On the first page where it has 1982 highlighted i would try to get rid of the number in the background (3) as it looks a bit strange as it is.
Find the little character in the corner on the white square a bit strange, i take it (not being a C64 owner) it represents a graphic from that year and that changes over the different sections ?
Looks very good though, perhaps theres a bit too much text on most screens as some of them look very tight for space but Andrews definately done his homework. Looks great
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
I have the Speccy book. I love the imaginative presentation and attention to detail throughout and I'm proud to know its authors/designers, albeit remotely. I enjoyed the selections and the info.
That said, the Spectrum book's ambition on both counts - design and script - occasionally gets the better of it. White out of busy dark backgrounds is a printer's nightmare and fractional slips in registration or kerns to fit in extra text here or there let the effort of creation down. In my copy, Maziacs and Taipan are only just readable as the registration has slipped. Elsewhere, the sheer weight of black on some double page spreads has filled in the text a bit.
The unusual choice of bold for the central paragraph on each page has the effect of making that paragraph much more readable than the rest and so the eye skips to it, often just parsing the rest of the page.
My soloution for this latest project would be to further reduce the percentage of the backgrounds and to - if at all possible - increase text by half a point size and and even size throughout and to try for extra leading between the text and border and margins. That would also have the effect of forcing a text shortening edit - which should benefit the reader - and making the screen shots stand out more (although they do manage to stand out well in the Speccy book).
All of that said, I defintely won't be ordering a copy of this new book. However well it is written and however good you make it look, the subject matter is just, well, you can't polish a turd can you?
Surprised at your response. Obviously Speccy is #1 to me but i love playing games on other platforms, there are of course games i prefer to play the C64 version of just like theres other games i prefer to play on MAME or NES etc.
With emulators i like discovering other games on different machines i might not have tried before.
Also supporting causes like this might mean if this is also a success more and more books will be created and possibly a Speccy II book at some stage. I'm sure if most C64 owners took your view then there would have been far less sales of the speccy book as i'm sure other people who might not have had a Speccy ordered it thankfully.
Yep, it's a great game and, like most of the other early Infocom titles, broke a fair bit of new ground. It's just not one I'd particularly associate with the C64. Let's face it, it runs just the same on anything that's got a disk drive and enough RAM to deal with it. I'd tend to go for games that either started life on the C64 or had particularly outstanding ports to it, but then again I'm not writing the book. :-)
On a slightly different note, although it's down as a 1982 game, I think that the first Infocom games weren't ported to the C64 until early 1983. There's a short article in this New Zork Times that seems to suggest that they were a little bit delayed:
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Articles/NZT/Nztspr83.html
me too, although i'd change the word discover to steal, and 'not tried' to couldn't afford. :)
i am nearly at the point where im going to start looking at emulating a c64, on my DS of course, although ive just started to emulate snes on it so have lots of games to play before i get there.
In general, games are listed by their copyright date rather than an explicit release date. (Example - Axis Assassin didn't make it to Europe until 1985).
And Action Biker is a lot, lot, lot, lot, lot, lot, lot more fun on the C64 :D
thats the emu i was looking at, frodo. the emulators at the moment seem all a bit hit and miss, the snes one is alright but a lot of the games wont work due to the chips, and no one seems to have done an amiga emulator.
Hmpf!
It doesn't look bad, actually... :o
You can still rename it to "The book of the damned", tho...
I thought that. I remember one of theirs being on the Last Action Hero soundtrack (probably the best thing about the film) and thought it had that either at the start or in the chorus.
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
You know, that's a great idea for a sub-title...
What do you think, Merman?
:)
Andrew
the eddie murphy film '48 hours' was on the other night, the actor who played mean police captain reprised the role 'last action hero' although in a more of a jokey way.
its not a bad film all in all. lots of good cameos and nods to other action films. eg the other terminator from T2 who does a blink and you miss him walkthrough
Hehe... oops.
I will certainly consider much of this. There is definitely some room for improvement. Bear in mind though, that the Speccy book was laid out with a custom xml/xsl style-sheet combination, whereas the C64 book is my first attempt with InDesign. It'll take a little while before I'm used to it.
Bah... Then I don't know why I bothered listening to you!!! ;)
Andrew
couldn't have said it better :lol: