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HOW

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HOW

HOW

Posted
Posted

Hi All

 

I've just finished 'Jacked' by David Kushner on GTA (upto GTA IV)

Was an OK read - could have been better but I enjoyed it.

Anyone read his 'Masters of Doom'? Any good?

 

I have got Tony Temple's 'Missile Commander' to go next.

 

But wondered if anyone could throw some recommendations my way for some summer Retro Game/Tech Themed garden reading with a beer 🍺

 

Many TIA :)

 

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Barnard

Barnard

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It's Behind You.

 

A book about the creation of R-Type on the Spectrum. It's great. And free. 

 

http://www.bizzley.com/

 

Quote

Welcome to a site that's all about a book what-I-wrote called IT'S BEHIND YOU, which I'm sorry to say has absolutely nothing to do with theatres and pantomimes but everything to do with old computer games, or rather one in particular. Back in the 1980's and 90's I was what was used to be called a bedroom-coder and I made a living writing computer games for some of the simple home computers around at the time on behalf of established software companies in a self-employed or freelance capacity. IT'S BEHIND YOU is specifically about a game called R-Type I wrote back in 1988 for the then Sir-less Clive Sinclair's ZX Spectrum home computer when I was just starting out in the business and was employed (I use the term loosely) by a company called Catalyst Coders.

 

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jdanddiet

jdanddiet

Posted
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Been reading a few gaming books lately.

 

Itchy Tasty is a great in-depth look at Resident Evil up to RE4.

 

Life is a Game is an inspiring look at the life and games of Mev Dinc, from his days growing up to working with Activision/Electric Dreams in the 80s and then running his own studio, Vivid, in the 90s.

 

If you're of an 8-bit bent I can also heartily recommend Hints & Tips for Videogame developers by Andrew Hewson and the story of Automata Deus Ex Machina, by Mel Croucher.

 

Also another vote for the fab Games That Weren't.

 

If you're after something a little more nostalgic, there's Hey! Listen! by Steve McNeil which is a sideways take on gaming in general and very funny to boot.

 

Of course there are loads of great books from Fusion Retro Books, but as I've contributed to some of them I'll just leave this link here to those: https://fusionretrobooks.com/ and there's also Bitmap books of which this is my fave: https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/sinclair-zx-spectrum-a-visual-compendium

 

I'm just about to start Arcade Imperfect by Jerry Ellis and Andrew Fisher which is all about arcade conversions, and that looks very nice too.

 

I'm sure there's some more lurking on my shelf but think that will do you for now!

 

 

 

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merman

merman

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Here’s another new addition to my Retro Shelf, Deus Ex Machina - The Greatest Game You’ve Never Played written by Mel Croucher. The founder of Automata and serial entrepreneur reveals how he made the groundbreaking 1980s game that combined non-violence, Shakespeare and a synchronised audio soundtrack that includes a former Dr Who. And how he turned to Kickstarter to remake it.

 

 

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  • 7 months later...
watusi

watusi

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On 05/03/2022 at 18:51, merman said:

The latest from Bitmap Books: Go Straight - The Ultimate Guide To Horizontally Scrolling Beat ‘Em Ups by Dave Cook.

 

 

 

Good book? Been musing over whether to pick it up

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watusi

watusi

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Cool, I have quite a few bitmap books, they are lovely but they do seem to very between too picture heavy, too word heavy and that lovely sweet spot. This seems more in the middle.

 

Whilst I'm here the geek line series of books are awesome:

 

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/47-super-nintendo-anthology-gold-edition-9782380170207.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/our-books/49-pc-engine-pc-fx-anthology-classic-edition-9782380170214.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/20-playstation-anthology-collector-edition-9791093752334.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/26-gamecube-anthology-classic-edition-9791093752426.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/our-books/34-anthology-64-classic-edition-9782380170108.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/37-nes-anthology-tanuki-edition-9782380170023.html

 

Not cheap but a huge amount to read and lots of amazing photos of old things. I have the PSX, gamecube, SNES and PC-Engine ones - wasn't a fan of the N64 edition but then I'm not a fan of N64.

 

image.thumb.png.d3176331d717926abb84be4b4b31ec1f.png

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  • 4 months later...
Count Buffalos

Count Buffalos

Posted
Posted
On 06/03/2022 at 20:25, watusi said:

Cool, I have quite a few bitmap books, they are lovely but they do seem to very between too picture heavy, too word heavy and that lovely sweet spot. This seems more in the middle.

 

Whilst I'm here the geek line series of books are awesome:

 

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/47-super-nintendo-anthology-gold-edition-9782380170207.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/our-books/49-pc-engine-pc-fx-anthology-classic-edition-9782380170214.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/20-playstation-anthology-collector-edition-9791093752334.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/26-gamecube-anthology-classic-edition-9791093752426.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/our-books/34-anthology-64-classic-edition-9782380170108.html

https://www.geeksline-publishing.com/home/37-nes-anthology-tanuki-edition-9782380170023.html

 

Not cheap but a huge amount to read and lots of amazing photos of old things. I have the PSX, gamecube, SNES and PC-Engine ones - wasn't a fan of the N64 edition but then I'm not a fan of N64.

 

image.thumb.png.d3176331d717926abb84be4b4b31ec1f.png


I bout the PC Engine Anthology from Amazon because it was on sale and I’m quite disappointed with it. The text is clumsily / too literally translated from (I’d guess) French and is really awkward to read. Lots of typos and formatting issues too. One to avoid and some way from the quality of Bitmap Books publications. 

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spatular

spatular

Posted
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43 minutes ago, Count Buffalos said:


I bout the PC Engine Anthology from Amazon because it was on sale and I’m quite disappointed with it. The text is clumsily / too literally translated from (I’d guess) French and is really awkward to read. Lots of typos and formatting issues too. One to avoid and some way from the quality of Bitmap Books publications. 

 

yeah i thinking about getting that (still might as the price is good) but read mixed reviews with the main problem being the translation (yeah they are French), think it might just be that one (pc engine) though and the translation on the other books is possibly better, not sure though, anyone know?

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megamixer

megamixer

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The best gaming books I have personally read are John Scepaniak's 3 "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers" books. I always make a point of promoting them.

 

So much work and money went into making these and so much new information was obtained. Developers from the 80's and 90's who had previously not spoken to anybody share what making games in Japan in those decades was really like, spill info on unreleased projects etc. These are the kind of books that will probably never be compiled again and it's no exaggerration to say that John got to some of these people for the first (and probably last) time before they pass away, as many already have.

 

I personally think that it's criminal how poorly these sold when you consider the sheer sacrifices made to write and publish them. John's introduction for Vol.3 in particular is an eye-opener.

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megamixer

megamixer

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Yes they certainly aren't "easy reading" but, from what I gleaned from John's introductions, the whole process of producing them was hellish. I'm not surprised that he didn't then try to re-format everything on top of physically just getting the books out (which seemed difficult enough).

 

I personally really enjoyed them regardless of the uncompromising format, but I do also definitely agree that they are probably better as reference/resource material on the shelf should you wish to pick out some contect on a specific developer to read.

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Barnard

Barnard

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On 26/07/2022 at 12:30, Yasawas said:

I never see this mentioned and I can't remember where I got the (legit) ebook unfortunately, but anyone with an interest in game music will find something here to enjoy:

 

Beep! by Karen Collins

 

From Nobuo Uematsu and Yoko Shimomura to Peter McConnel and Clint Bajagoogookabian.

 

That looks amazing. I've ordered to arrive tomorrow and I can't wait!

 

One of my favourite podcast series is/was Retro Game Audio.

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/FEPkj

 

they talk about how music was created on the various simple sound chips available back in the day. I'm hoping this book will be nice little extra to a subject I find really fascinating. 

 

Does anyone recall the feature about chip music in Edge back in the 90s? Where they interviewed Hubbard, Huelsbeck and others. I don't suppose any of you remember which issue it was in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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