Anime Criticize my CRPG Book

[Sratopotator]

sperglord detected

meh

 

[felipepepe]

Shit, you still don't get what i'm talking about. The sites you mention don't have anything in common with a book (in terms of layout/design).

Because the book layout/design is restrictive! Isn't that exactly why you're complaining about it?

If you want to convert it to something optimized for reading on a PC/Cellphone, that offers more/bigger screenshots, ribbons, interviews, FAQ, shitton of links and what not, you have to change the design - especially since it has to be resizeable to multiple resolutions, etc.

Case in point, Hardcore Gaming 101. Just see their Ultima sections. They have much more text than I can have, the box art, tons of screenshots and even compare multiple version, and interview with Lord British, quick links to the rest of the series and similar games, etc... that's "the sky is the limit" in full motion.

And here's the twist - despite all that, they are slowly publishing everything from the website into books - including pdfs. And people are loving it, it's attracting new audiences and they give them $1,000 a month on their Patreon just for that.

I'm not a professional web designer, but even i know that there are some cool, cheap and easy-to-use web layouts, perfect for creating a site in a book format.

I'm not talking about doing a site about cRPGs, but just transcribing the book to a website. And yeah it costs money, but it can be cheap as fuck with some help - so that isn't a valid reason for 'not even thinking about it' stance you took.

Of course it is, because I'm the one who have to do all this "simple things".

The whole concept behind the book was also very simple - get people to write brief reviews about some important RPGs. A breeze, right? Yet here we are, three years later...

Also, name me a famous & popular "site in book format" - preferably one created by "cheap and easy-to-use web layouts".

I get it that you like the book format for the web version, but it's impossible that i'm the first person you encounter, that says something like: 'physical books are great, e-books are great, but going with interactive (bookmarks, hyperlinks) straight-up pdf is inferior to other methods you could go with'.

Yes, you are.

All people ever asked me was for hyperlinks - which I'm adding on the next release.

Pdf version really carries the same weight and is as meaningful as the physical book, in your opinion? (And again, i'm not talking about throwing the pdf version to the garbage)

Not the same, but much more than a website.

You're not a professional web designer, but I graduated in Marketing and worked for 10 years in advertisement. And, believe me, perception of value works in very abstract ways. Modern journalism is having a really hard time with this because people simply don't value webpages - reading a magazine on the store without buying it is considered bad, but surfing websites with adblockers is a-ok.

There's also what I mentioned previously - the sense that everything you need is finite and finished, contained in one properly curated book/magazine/pdf. If you go to a news website you'll get the highlights but also a nearly-endless amount of content from other days, weeks, subjects, etc. That's overwhelming - people like weekly news magazines because it gives them the big news of the week they should know about, plus some stuff they can read or just skim based on their interest - and this is key - you can't skim a website.

And people love skimming. It's something vital in a project like this - very few will sit down and read all the entries in chronological order, and even these people will probably skim it before, flipping through the pages until a cool screenshot or a game they know/were curious about catches their eye.

There is even an option, with no work or money needed, of putting the pdf file on a site that allows annotations/comments made by you or the authors (or anyone you want).
It's so fucking easy, that i'm really surprised by your assumption that i'm spewing some bullshit, without even considering it.

Maybe because I know the project's biggest issue is that most people go "can't wait for the release" and don't really want /can help make it. Even in the Codex I have to create threads like this to get more feedback. Why would I create a tool if there's no one to use it?

Also, please stop this "no work needed" bullshit.

Or that your work is open-sourcy, cc and stuff, and if i want to do so, then i can do a fucking website. Anything on the subject would be good.

Yes, it's CC and once the book is finished (or maybe after the printed release, just to avoid issues) I'll release all the files and you can do a "no work needed" website and what not.

Doing it now would be a waste of "no work", since the content is still changing with every release, it needs to be proof-read and whatnot.

When i'm talking about newbie hooks, you're assuming that i'm anti-oldschool and pro-casual. When discussing if there is a better way to view the book on a pc, you're assuming that i'm anti-books. When i'm suggesting that you can do a website, you assume that i want to make Gamespot for old crpgs.
So, you would take my suggestions out of context, turn them around, and tell me that i'm naive, rather than read my post, understand and discuss?

You are the one that wanted to brainstorm the shit out of this topic, so maybe take a step back and look at the big picture. I'm really not trying to rape your book, just throwing some ideas around.
And yeah, maybe i'm 3 years too late to influence you in any way, but if you don't want to do anything with this project after the release of printed version (cause you're burnt-out or smthn), then just say so!

They are not excluding - I've been discussing AND calling you naive (more now, with these "no work needed" claims).

Look at the big picture - at the walls of text between you and me this thread has become. How the fuck you see that and go "you're not discussing!". Not to mention that took many ideas from this thread, including the one to make a FAQ/Beginner's Guide article at the start of the book.

Ok, so it's a lot of work, but is kinda shitty of you to answer my question with 'i won't do that cause i'm doing some other stuff right now'. But you WILL do that? Are you thinking about it? You won't do that ever cause you don't like the idea?

It's not shitty, it's common sense. if you went to Larian now and asked "What's D:OS 3 gonna be like?" they'll probably reply the same thing - "Chill, we're doing D:OS 2 now".

They have to finish the game, see what didn't make it in, see the reaction & reviews, their budget, the tech advances, the state of the company, etc. Same thing here. I'm not gonna branch this until I'm done, and see no reason to make dumb promises like "I'LL DO IT" or "I'LL NEVER DO IT" now.

Personally, I think converting the book to a website is a pointless waste of time and I have zero interest in doing so - for all the reasons listed above. But I still got to finish the book, make a crowd-funding campaign, release the physical version, etc... who knows what will change until then. I began this project living in São Paulo, now I live in Tokyo. Can't say what the future holds.

 

[Nostaljaded]

Sorry, I just noticed I made a terrible mistake.

I needed a new / expanded Chinese Paladin review since I changed the layout of the fan-translated section, and I e-mailed you asking for a new version. You never replied, so I ended up doing it myself.

That's what I thought happened, but I realized now that I lost all my access and PMs at the Bear's Pit when they changed servers or whatever, so by mistake I ended up e-mailing the other guy who volunteered to write the CP review before you and never delivered. Sorry again for this. :/

For the next version I'm also changing the Mass Effect 2 review. I asked the original author to re-write it, but it just wasn't working... Regardless, I'll keep everyone who contributed at the credits page.

No issues man.

The way I wrote the review was (in the hope) to jostle its way above the hundreds of other reviews for the niche reading audience.

Hmmm, since you have a blue avatar while I'm on a red, why don't we have a presidential election vote?
On which review appeals more to those (who had already read a couple of the game reviews) to want to pick up and try the game.
Of course, they will dropped it the moment the dialogue 'Do you wanna get smack?' appears.

Could be a simple affair by posting screenshots of the 2 versions in a single post, asking codexers to vote either one with each a specific neutral button to cast their vote.
If mine will to miraculously win the populist poll, I could look into extending the review to the desired length.
Need to have at least 9 valid votes for the poll results to stand though.

Sounds fun?

P.S.

I began this project living in São Paulo, now I live in Tokyo. Can't say what the future holds.

I'm prophesying here that felipepepepepepe will become a gaijin otaku, hanging out at the top floors of Akihabara and bring us more interviews and reviews of eroges, VNs & goods JRPGs from the land of the rising sun.
First up will be an exclusive interview with Senran Kagura's creator and never-shown-before pantyscreenshots with more bloom, gloom and doom.

 

[felipepepe]

Nostaljaded , you are the resident Chinese Paladin expert, if you want the review back I'm perfectly fine with that, no vote required.

But as I said, I needs it to be expanded/rewritten to fit the new, longer format. You willing to do that? (Also, it should be better than mine )

 

[Prime Junta]

First, I'm not a programmer. I can put together a layout and make a book myself at home, but I can't make a website myself, organize its database and host it at zero cost.

I can. I'm sure there are others too. If you want to make a website or other interactive resource, version, or whatever, soliciting for help is worth a shot.

 

[Trash]

Wow. Just wow. I spend the last three days reading through your crpg book and I am simply in awe with it. This is exactly the kind of thing why I keep on returning to this site. Can't wait to throw some money your way for an eventual printed edition.

If there is any constructive criticism I can direct at it is that some of the reviews badly need some editing. I'm not a native English speaker and I can even tell some are full of awkward writing and grammar and spelling errors. Layout is really nice overall but it seems like some articles have just a few screenshots dumped together. Again, a bit more editing should do wonders.

Anyway, I love this. I did notice however that you have done the horrible injustice of not having an article for the excellent Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. This cannot stand. Need me to write one, felipepepe? Just let me know the amount of words you want and if you need some stuff for a text blurb and screenshots and I'll get working on a review.

 

[felipepepe]

Anyway, I love this. I did notice however that you have done the horrible injustice of not having an article for the excellent Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. This cannot stand. Need me to write one, felipepepe? Just let me know the amount of words you want and if you need some stuff for a text blurb and screenshots and I'll get working on a review.

Can you do a review that covers both Buck Rogers games?

It would be around 5000 characters (800 words). You can start explaining who the hell is Buck Rogers, talk about the first game then say what the sequel changes.

 

[Trash]

Chill. I'll get to it. Expect the first draft somewhere in the coming weeks. You want screenshots and some stuff for an extra little text blurb as well?

Incidently, I spend an entire summer as a kid playing the first game. Love the opportunity to write something about those games.

 

[felipepepe]

Chill. I'll get to it. Expect the first draft somewhere in the coming weeks. You want screenshots and some stuff for an extra little text blurb as well?

Yup, that would be a great help! :D

Luckily, I already have this quote from David Shelley to feature in the review:

TSR's president at the time was a member of the Dille family, and they are very proud their grandfather created Buck Rogers. This personal connection led TSR to encourage SSI to add Buck Rogers games to the Gold Box engine. Flint Dille spent a fair amount of time in our offices, overseeing the creation, especially of the look of Buck and Wilma. There were numerous iterations, especially around Wilma's body dimensions.

 

[Nostaljaded]

Nostaljaded , you are the resident Chinese Paladin expert, if you want the review back I'm perfectly fine with that, no vote required.

But as I said, I needs it to be expanded/rewritten to fit the new, longer format. You willing to do that? (Also, it should be better than mine )

The thing is IMO yours is better, but we are not writing for the sake of getting into each other's good books.
That's why I would like a-single-post-dual-screenshot-poll-by-button (in this thread is fine) to see which version does the intended audience prefer.

If poll shows the same opinion as mine (or less than 9 total valid votes, whichever outcome), nothing needs to be done. Otherwise, I should then buckle down to extend my review.
For the book, for its audience.

 

[felipepepe]

The thing is IMO yours is better, but we are not writing for the sake of getting into each other's good books.
That's why I would like a-single-post-dual-screenshot-poll-by-button (in this thread is fine) to see which version does the intended audience prefer.

If poll shows the same opinion as mine (or less than 9 total valid votes, whichever outcome), nothing needs to be done. Otherwise, I should then buckle down to extend my review.
For the book, for its audience.

I'm too busy lazy for this bro, and democracy is overrated... my review is done and does what I need. If you want to write a better review, I'll gladly add it,but otherwise I'll just keep mine - got like 5 reviews waiting to be edited - plus a motherfucking Japanese grammar text next week - don't wanna go digging for more work.

 

[Rahdulan]

I wonder if we'll see something similar to this after release, ebook format notwithstanding.

 

[felipepepe]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I want to do! His book seems great!

Of course, the guy was funded by a KS campaign and has all the profit from sales, but I, for one, trade in brofists! I wouldn't like to get $144k on my bank account right now, no sir!



At least my layout is better than his, heh. And I have MCA & Tim Cain, motherfucker!



PS: Googling the guy, I find it really weird how/why these people (usually Americans) have an entire room of the house filled with games and stuffies:

FFS, I love RPGs, had a good-paying job for a decade, but at its peak my entire collection was this:

It's not *just* feeling poor - even if I had unlimited money I wouldn't do that... and I'm the idiot who spent three years making a book on CRPGs.

 

[Ludo Lense]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I want to do! His book seems great!

Of course, the guy was funded by a KS campaign and has all the profit from sales, but I, for one, trade in brofists! I wouldn't like to get $144k on my bank account right now, no sir!



At least my layout is better than his, heh. And I have MCA & Tim Cain, motherfucker!



PS: Googling the guy, I find it really weird how/why these people (usually Americans) have an entire room of the house filled with games and stuffies:

FFS, I love RPGs, had a good-paying job for a decade, but at its peak my entire collection was this:

It's not *just* feeling poor - even if I had unlimited money I wouldn't do that... and I'm the idiot who spent three years making a book on CRPGs.

The wall o' cartridges has usually been an indicator of the nice American middle class where you just have not screw up to do well in life.

James Rolfe, AVGN, made some movies when he was a kid and I couldn't help but notice and say "Damn, nice house to grow up in".

Which is just an observation not a condemnation, good for them if they were born in good wealthy families.

 

[Rahdulan]

It's funny because I was actually referring to the fact someone reviewed the book so I was hoping we'd get some other experts people with way too much time and love for RPGs to weigh in when you release your tome.

Hell, that guy says game blurbs/summaries/whatever in the book were incredibly bland and he ended up skipping them in favor of little opinion snippets at the bottom. I think your CRPG book will, from the get-go, have a leg up because it actually has genuine reviews as extremely sturdy foundation. This is also just my opinion, but I think your design and layout are actually way better and opposite of tacky. So tasteful, I guess?

Spoiler

Goddamn walls of games, man. I don't have a bookshelf, let alone a "man cave" for video games. Americans.

 

[felipepepe]

It's funny because I was actually referring to the fact someone reviewed the book so I was hoping we'd get some other experts people with way too much time and love for RPGs to weigh in when you release your tome.

I hope so... I'm honestly really sad about how isolated some online communities are... every day I try to bring in new people, post in several forums, facebook groups and in several languages even... yet almost 90% of the book is written by Codexers (seriously, thank you guys). Not even the Watch wrote much, I got maybe 6 reviews from people there.

Kotaku, of all places, made a post about the project when it was just 100-pages long, yet dedicated retro-websites like Indie Retro News or magazines like Retro Gamer simply ignore my emails or go "we'll talk when the book is done". FFS, these people post changelogs of emulator updates, but a 350-page book preview isn't worth reporting? I'm not even selling anything, it's a free project!

Same thing with the article contributions... I emailed over two dozen websites, youtubers and even the Center for Computing History, asking if they could help make a brief article on 80's hardware, or even just help check some hardware specifications (because I know fuck all about this). The only reply I got was from a youtuber, who wanted $200 dollars for the article. Yeah, you try to contact the Education department of a fucking museum for info and they don't even REPLY.

It's really frustrating sometimes.

It's why I did that Origins of JRPG article, really. There were thousands of people more qualified than me, but none of them lifted a finger. People learn these stuff, but keep it to themselves. People call the Codex an elitist place, and we indeed talk down sometimes, but we share. We don't just keep circle-jerking who has the biggest PC-88 collection or the rarest Tandy graphic card.

But then you remember that people like Scorpia, MCA and Tim Cain joined the project as soon as I contacted them, before I even had a preview. And that the Codex is a great place, I'm stubborn as a mule and the project is almost finished. So really, fuck that noise - Codexia prevails.

 

[Sizzle]

Not even the Watch wrote much, I got maybe 6 reviews from people there.

That's still six reviews too many

 

[felipepepe]

I'm counting HiddenX 's review as well, but we all know he's actually a Codexer at heart, who just stays at the Watch to keep those people company.

 

[Q]

I'll read it when it's released. Hate those early access versions

 

[Wonderdog]

I hope so... I'm honestly really sad about how isolated some online communities are... every day I try to bring in new people, post in several forums, facebook groups and in several languages even... yet almost 90% of the book is written by Codexers (seriously, thank you guys). Not even the Watch wrote much, I got maybe 6 reviews from people there.

Kotaku, of all places, made a post about the project when it was just 100-pages long, yet dedicated retro-websites like Indie Retro News or magazines like Retro Gamer simply ignore my emails or go "we'll talk when the book is done". FFS, these people post changelogs of emulator updates, but a 350-page book preview isn't worth reporting? I'm not even selling anything, it's a free project!

Same thing with the article contributions... I emailed over two dozen websites, youtubers and even the Center for Computing History, asking if they could help make a brief article on 80's hardware, or even just help check some hardware specifications (because I know fuck all about this). The only reply I got was from a youtuber, who wanted $200 dollars for the article. Yeah, you try to contact the Education department of a fucking museum for info and they don't even REPLY.

It's really frustrating sometimes.

It's why I did that Origins of JRPG article, really. There were thousands of people more qualified than me, but none of them lifted a finger. People learn these stuff, but keep it to themselves. People call the Codex an elitist place, and we indeed talk down sometimes, but we share. We don't just keep circle-jerking who has the biggest PC-88 collection or the rarest Tandy graphic card.

But then you remember that people like Scorpia, MCA and Tim Cain joined the project as soon as I contacted them, before I even had a preview. And that the Codex is a great place, I'm stubborn as a mule and the project is almost finished. So really, fuck that noise - Codexia prevails.

This is the only 'rpg' site that has not banned all the actual rpg fans. Aside from the dead air at rpgwatch corwin is the only guy who even cares about real rpgs the rest are just some social justice retards who don't even play games, and casuals.

 

[YES!]

I will make a criticism. How can someone who thinks a game aimed at seven year old children is a better rpg than real rpgs write a book on the subject and have it taken seriously? Oh yeah, rpgcodex and its community of child sycophants and retarded console lovers.

 

[pippin]

It's not *just* feeling poor - even if I had unlimited money I wouldn't do that... and I'm the idiot who spent three years making a book on CRPGs.

They aren't that well off, the average "retro gamer with a wall full of games" often gets his or her stuff at thrift stores or second hand market, which often offers games at gog-like prices, I mean, 6kwabux or something like that. LGR goes thrifting a lot and while he doesn't say how much money he spends, when something is around 20 bucks or beyond he would often pass on it. I've seen retro guys spending 20 bucks a month and thet get these really obscure games, but without boxes or anything. It helps when your economy was in the eye of the hurricane whe it cames to games I guess.