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[LiK]

My Platinum copy arrived today. The front top right and lower left back cover were dented. Front wasn't so bad but back was pretty badly dented. Not a biggie but kinda annoying.

Good news is none of the images were missing so I don't need to deal with that headache. Looks like there are a lot of good interviews inside while I flipped through it.

Still bummed we don't get a digital copy cuz the photograph quality in print ain't the best. The digital previews looked way better.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Latest from John on Amazon purchases:

to be available on Amazon the end of August or early September.

Also, the author urges publishers to license Mitchell Corp.'s arcade titles for digital distribution, because it's a damn good idea.

 

[sörine]

Any word on when future volumes come out? I'm already aching for volume 2.

And the Mitchell thing made my head spin. We need arcade perfect Osman / Cannon Dancer on Steam, PSN, eShop and XBL asap.

 

[okiemok]

Latest from John on Amazon purchases:

Also, the author urges publishers to license Mitchell Corp.'s arcade titles for digital distribution, because it's a damn good idea.

Something not quite right on that link - reposting:

http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2014/08/mitchell-corporation-arcade-games.html

 

[Marty Chinn]

Also, the author urges publishers to license Mitchell Corp.'s arcade titles for digital distribution, because it's a damn good idea.

Ugh, that interview is painful to read. Is the rest of the book like that? It's like John has very little grasp of the industry and is more like an outside journalist asking questions with very little knowledge.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Ugh, that interview is painful to read. Is the rest of the book like that? It's like John has very little grasp of the industry and is more like an outside journalist asking questions with very little knowledge.

He's in his element when talking with developers, not someone as experienced and snarky as Ozaki. Part of the problem is John doesn't know if he should ask more specific questions or let the obscure people tell their life story, which admittedly is a hard balance. Here, though, John should have known all the little things that require a good salary, even for quick conversions.

This interview, and that excerpt specifically, stands out from the rest of the book, and most of the other content doesn't embarrass him. Well, talking to Inafune might.

 

[Tizoc]

Also, the author urges publishers to license Mitchell Corp.'s arcade titles for digital distribution, because it's a damn good idea.

Well Mitchell Corp. mad Osman/Cannon Dancer, so he has my support at least

 

[jooey]

Ugh, that interview is painful to read. Is the rest of the book like that? It's like John has very little grasp of the industry and is more like an outside journalist asking questions with very little knowledge.

As if you have to ask.

 

[@MUWANdo]

Ugh, that interview is painful to read. Is the rest of the book like that? It's like John has very little grasp of the industry and is more like an outside journalist asking questions with very little knowledge.

Pretty much, but this was all evident long before the KS. People either didn't care, or they backed the project because they figured the material would be still be interesting in spite of him.

 

[discoalucard]

Ugh, that interview is painful to read. Is the rest of the book like that? It's like John has very little grasp of the industry and is more like an outside journalist asking questions with very little knowledge.

I don't get any of that at all from the excerpt posted. Do you have specific breakdowns about how successful digital distributed titles are? The tone of a lot of the interviews are really casual and conversational, especially with Ozaki.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I don't get any of that at all from the excerpt posted. Do you have specific breakdowns about how successful digital distributed titles are? The tone of a lot of the interviews are really casual and conversational, especially with Ozaki.

How many times was John dense enough to not understand that there's no money to move the project forward? How is it John doesn't understand a basic understanding of what goes on in game development and on a basic level where the costs go? He almost sounds like an armchair developer on GAF who wonders why voice work can costs so much money when they think they can get someone for free with a microphone and call it a day.

How many times does Ozaki keep going back to the fact that there's no money? Heck, John even continues and trivializes creating an emulator. Like how hard can it be? You just get a programmer and he'll whip out an emulator in a week is his tone. This quote right here was cringe worthy: "Well, really all you need is someone to program an emulator." or this one "How much money could you lose selling it? Probably nothing." John comes off as really dense and clueless in his line of questioning here.

It's fine to have a casual conversation for an interview, but man at least be informative and have well thought out things to bring up. I've seen so many interviews in the game industry that bug the crap out of me because of how bad the questions are or it's plain as day what the answer is going to be so why bother wasting time on it. Since John's focus was strictly interviews, and him supposedly being a game journalist, and the fact that I paid for this, I kind of expect more.

 

[sörine]

I thought the interviews flowed fine and the book is nothing if not informative. Especially the ASCII/Game Arts and Falcom/Quintet/Shade bits. The only thing I found offputting was the occasional over complimenting on John's part but I figured that may be cultural.

People are totally nitpicking with that Mitchell excerpt.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

That whole interview was sort of botched, actually. John's recording equipment failing in the typhoon weather + Ozaki's difficulty enunciating after suffering a stroke years ago affected the interview process. So much doctoring means important details have either been left out or that the phrasing of some Q&A is off. John's enthusiasm for Mitchell is fine, but if he wants to spoil part of the book for us, choosing the most troublesome interview isn't going to work.

Meanwhile, the ASCII/Game Arts and dB-SOFT interviews are really great.

 

[sörine]

Speaking of Mitchell, it seems Marvelous has taken interest in possibly bringing their stuff to GOG/Steam. Fingers crossed!

 

[gingerbeardman]

As the guy that funded the Mitchell feature, I'm pretty happy with it. Even more so if we see their old games on new platforms.

Can't wait to read the rest of the book.

 

[randomkid]

my personal nitpick is that scintillating bit about the sandwiches being ready in the one excerpt that was posted, wonder if he was similarly generous with the editing in the rest of the book!

 

[Takuhi]

As the guy that funded the Mitchell feature, I'm pretty happy with it. Even more so if we see their old games on new platforms.

Can't wait to read the rest of the book.

Was that one of the guest editor bits? Kind of an esoteric choice, but I like it!

I got my copy the other day, and really impressed with it so far. I think John does a great job as interviewer—if at times it seems a little rough, it's because he didn't delete the lines of questioning that didn't really pay off. (Which he probably should have, both for readability and space issues.) But he fires a lot of shots and gets a lot of hits in most of the interviews.

 

[Necromanti]

Has anyone on the West Coast received their copies yet? I guess it will arrive within the next two weeks or so.

 

[gingerbeardman]

Was that one of the guest editor bits? Kind of an esoteric choice, but I like it!

It was the only choice for me! Happy it will raise awareness of their games, even if just through mentions in the book.

I think John does a great job as interviewer—if at times it seems a little rough, it's because he didn't delete the lines of questioning that didn't really pay off. (Which he probably should have, both for readability and space issues.) But he fires a lot of shots and gets a lot of hits in most of the interviews.

I think you might be right here. It must be difficult to edit this stuff down. Maybe the next volumes will be tighter.

The full text would make more sense for a digital version where paper and postage costs aren't an issue.

 

[sörine]

Has anyone on the West Coast received their copies yet? I guess it will arrive within the next two weeks or so.

Keep in mind they're being out by tier order so if you backed a lower amount you'll be receiving it later.

 

[discoalucard]

How many times does Ozaki keep going back to the fact that there's no money? Heck, John even continues and trivializes creating an emulator. Like how hard can it be? You just get a programmer and he'll whip out an emulator in a week is his tone. This quote right here was cringe worthy: "Well, really all you need is someone to program an emulator." or this one "How much money could you lose selling it? Probably nothing." John comes off as really dense and clueless in his line of questioning here.

You're definitely misinterpreting what he's saying. Ozaki is concerned about the fees required to publish on a console, he specifically mentions Sony and Nintendo. He's not aware about computer digital distribution, where the licensing fees are essentially zero, they just take a cut of your sales. There are development fees to consider, but that's not what's being discussed. The cost of development would be taken by over whoever licensed it, which John was trying (and succeeded) to convince him to do.

 

[Marty Chinn]

You're definitely misinterpreting what he's saying. Ozaki is concerned about the fees required to publish on a console, he specifically mentions Sony and Nintendo. He's not aware about computer digital distribution, where the licensing fees are essentially zero, they just take a cut of your sales. There are development fees to consider, but that's not what's being discussed. The cost of development would be taken by over whoever licensed it, which John was trying (and succeeded) to convince him to do.

I'm not misinterpreting because he clearly says:

RO: You have to make the [conversion] or whatever, right? For that you need money.

and he says:

RO: But you need to get a programmer to convert it to PC.

So he's not talking strictly about fees to license and publish with Nintendo and Sony. He's clearly also talking about development costs and there not being any money to do so.

Plus if he's strictly talking about licensing, then whoever licensed it would of course take on the fees involved with Nintendo and Sony. Ozaki is clearly saying there's no money available to develop and produce it from their end period.

John didn't even raise up the issue of having someone license it either. Ozaki is the one who brings up licensing it:

RO: Well, if somebody wants to do that, I'm willing to license it.

And it still irks me that John tries to trivialize the development by saying you just need some programmer to whip up an emulator as if it's no big deal.

So I don't think I misinterpreted anything clearly by quotes Ozaki said.

 

[discoalucard]

RO: But you need to get a programmer to convert it to PC.

JS: Well, really all you need is someone to program an emulator.

RO: Well, if somebody wants to do that, I'm willing to license it.

JS: So if someone was interested in producing an emulator for you to sell Cannon Dancer online, through GOG, you would be open to negotiating with them?

There's no other way to interpret this other than "if someone wants to develop this then I'm willing to license it".

And yes, obtaining an emulator can be relatively trivial, case depending. You do realize that MAME has been used for official compilations before, right?

 

[Marty Chinn]

There's no other way to interpret this other than "if someone wants to develop this then I'm willing to license it".

What? I never disputed that. I never disputed that licensing was talked about eventually. You however said Ozaki wasn't talking about development costs. He was. You said John brought up licensing and that John tried to convince him to do it. He didn't. Ozaki brought it up first. The quotes I listed clearly support that and heck even the quote you use here supports what I said. Ozaki brings up licensing. John doesn't.

And yes, obtaining an emulator can be relatively trivial, case depending. You do realize that MAME has been used for official compilations before, right?

Yes, I do realize MAME has been used for releases, but I don't know what hardware this runs on. Do you? MAME doesn't just magically work on all arcade games and many arcade games had custom arcade boards, especially the older they were. So it's not a trivial thing to assume.

John in this interview kept asking why can't it be done and Ozaki kept saying there was no money. John trivialized the costs and then trivialized the port effort without having any idea how either work. It's ignorance on John's part to make assumptions that it should be trivial. It sounds like the average person who tries to chime in about game development wondering why things costs so much or why something can't be done because it doesn't make sense to them when they're ignorant of the real process. I expect more out of a professional.

 

[gingerbeardman]

I do think it's trivialising, but to avoid getting into a complicated off topic discussion in an interview about Mitchell and their games. I'm glad it didn't go any deeper.

 

[sörine]

If the Marvelous thing doesn't work out, someone should direct Hamster or D4 towards Mitchell.

 

[Soulhouf]

Finally got mine!

 

[gingerbeardman]

Got my Platinum copy, too! (as above)

 

[gingerbeardman]

So, I am receiving three copies as part of my pledge. But I only need one.

I am intending to sell the other two to make back part of the huge Guest Editor pledge I put down.

Are there any interested buyers in this thread?

I'm currently wondering if I should eBay it, or just list it on Amazon at my own price.

Any thoughts?

ps: I asked the author and he is cool with this

 

[Ulthwe]

So, I am receiving three copies as part of my pledge. But I only need one.

I am intending to sell the other two to make back part of the huge Guest Editor pledge I put down.

Are there any interested buyers in this thread?

I'm currently wondering if I should eBay it, or just list it on Amazon at my own price.

Any thoughts?

ps: I asked the author and he is cool with this

Hi ginger, I PM'd you.

 

[Tamanator]

So, I am receiving three copies as part of my pledge. But I only need one.

I am intending to sell the other two to make back part of the huge Guest Editor pledge I put down.

Are there any interested buyers in this thread?

I'm currently wondering if I should eBay it, or just list it on Amazon at my own price.

Any thoughts?

ps: I asked the author and he is cool with this

PM'd

 

[Marty Chinn]

I got my Gold Edition yesterday and I have to say, I think I prefer the Gold Edition cover over the Platinum cover.

So far, I've read one interview and it was pretty good stuff. John seemed to have done some research in this one so it flowed pretty well and had some good insight to things.

I kinda don't like the teases about interviews in future volumes thoughout and in some ways, I kinda hate how some people are connected and going from one interview to that one would have been great, but now it's disjointed by coming in a future volume. At least it felt like that for the interview I read where they talked about other people and then at the end of the interview you got teased about it.

Other than that, so far it's much better than the Ozaki snippit that was linked to earlier.

 

[SegaShack]

Anyone get their silver copy yet? Looking forward to it. Do we know what the silver cover looks like?

Looking forward to my backer copy!
There's been a lot of shit around KS recently and most of it is true and problematic, but it warms my cockles to see a project like this, beset from all sides with problems and issues, wrestle its way to completion regardless. Well done, John!

Re. the nastiness. I initially was also of the opinion John's reaction was a little...injudicious? I certainly would not have gone through such great lengths to wax lyrical about all the slander and attacks, but hey, that was a choice he made. But then I got approached by the main dude, the husband (?) of the woman? I forget the names. But I got messaged through very stalky means - as in, how the Hell did you get to me with this? Do I know you? I was told in an unsolicited and unwanted spam about the supposed lawsuit and asked for my details. Of course I didn't respond but that firmly cemented my opinion on who is (very probably) right in this scenario.

I can't wait for the "making of" book of the book. The drama would practically guarantee Hollywood interest. I'd pledge for it.

They somehow found me on Linkdn and sent me a message saying how I was involved in some suit against John, I just didn't respond.

 

[kiyoaki]

Anyone get their silver copy yet? Looking forward to it. Do we know what the silver cover looks like?

John posted the artwork for the silver cover in this Kickstarter post. I think it looks nice, the simpler the better, in my book.

 

[charlequin]

They somehow found me on Linkdn and sent me a message saying how I was involved in some suit against John, I just didn't respond.

Seriously? Jeez, that is not cool.

 

[GhaleonQ]

I just finished the Kimura interview and that alone was worth my money. When an endeavor is 90-percent fantastic, I'm hardly going to excoriate him for the 10-percent. If I I was a proper investor, obviously, I'd want a stronger hand, but as a donor, I am incredibly happy with all of this new information that captures the tone of each interviewee wonderful.

 

[Skelter]

I got mine last week and I live in NYC.

Hey.........wanna let me borrow it? /beg

 

[SegaShack]

John posted the artwork for the silver cover in this Kickstarter post. I think it looks nice, the simpler the better, in my book.

Thanks. I really like this cover.

Seriously? Jeez, that is not cool.

Yes, it was really weird. I don't use that site much, but to log in and see a message from them on Linkdn was really screwed up. I maybe posted two or three times throughout the whole development of the book in the comments. Crazy how they stalk people like this.

 

[A Black Falcon]

I got my copy (Gold edition) a couple of days ago. It's quite interesting, and I definitely will want to read the other volumes too. Some of the interviews are about games or things I know about and others aren't, but that is obviously the intent, to try to cover anything he can, and not only the popular stuff. That's great. Of course, I'm sure that people from today-popular companies would be less likely to be able to talk to the press like these people do...

The only real complaint is that there are some spelling mistakes here and there; the book needed a bit more copy-editing. Oh, and why isn't his first name on the cover and spine, only the last name? Kind of odd! It should say "Volume I" as well. Otherwise, good work. It was worth backing the book, regardless of the drama.


It's not of a Japanese developer, but the short interview with the Rozners, makers of the PC Mega Man games, was quite cool. I got MM3 and MMX for the PC back in the early and mid '90s, and have always wondered what the story was behind them, MM3 particularly. This interview had more of it than I'd heard before. The detail about that MM3 was originally a different game with an early '90s eco theme made a lot of sense! I wish that he had asked some questions about the MMX and SSFII ports, but John only asks questions about MM1 and MM3. Fortunately the Rozners also talk about those later (1995) DOS ports, as well as the earlier original titles, but there were more questions about the PC ports of Mega Man X and Super SFII that should have been asked. Why the robot ride armor wasn't in PC MMX isn't mentioned, for instance. Ah well. Anyway, it's a very good book, get it!

 

[Necromanti]

The only real complaint is that there are some spelling mistakes here and there; the book needed a bit more copy-editing. Oh, and why isn't his first name on the cover and spine, only the last name? Kind of odd! It should say "Volume I" as well. Otherwise, good work. It was worth backing the book, regardless of the drama.

I thought it was unfortunate that the first entry of the "~ In Memory Of~" tribute has a typo: "Kenji Eno - Had of WARP".

Anyway, while I was initially very mildly disappointed that my copy was quite beat up when it arrived, it's the content within that matters. I wasn't aware that it would be a multi-volume venture at first, so I'm really looking forward to reading the interviews with the former Human Entertainment staff when those become available. It's a shame there was so much drama at the foundation of the project, so I wonder if I'd feel comfortable supporting it further. It'll probably be the last time I'm backing a Kickstarter project.

 

[FlexMentallo]

My Gold copy arrived this morning in good shape. Like the pixel art cover for the Gold edition, although I am still sad the Super Play guy bailed on it. Hefty volume!

Not too far in but it's already pretty interesting, even for creators, games or systems I don't know much about. I started making games as a hobbyist in the late 80s so I love reading old school dev stories.

Skimmed through the rest of the book and I don't like the pages interleaved pimping future interviews/volumes. An upcoming volumes section at the end would have been a lot cleaner and less jarring.

Still, given the size of this volume I'm OK with buying future volumes, although it's weird that classic game dev interviews were pushed out of v1 but something like the Google Maps 8bit guy stayed in.

 

[@MUWANdo]

It's a shame there was so much drama at the foundation of the project, so I wonder if I'd feel comfortable supporting it further. It'll probably be the last time I'm backing a Kickstarter project.

Don't let this dude's conduct turn you off the idea of supporting other crowdfunded ventures, just treat it as a lesson on why it's important to properly research the people/projects you donate to. This guy has a lot of well-documented "quirks" that should have raised a red flag during the initial campaign but didn't because people simply didn't do their own research, including the people he worked with that are now suing him for libel, and now we're seeing the consequences.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Don't let this dude's conduct turn you off the idea of supporting other crowdfunded ventures, just treat it as a lesson on why it's important to properly research the people/projects you donate to. This guy has a lot of well-documented "quirks" that should have raised a red flag during the initial campaign but didn't because people simply didn't do their own research, including the people he worked with that are now suing him for libel, and now we're seeing the consequences.

This is just ridiculous! He has produced an extremely interesting 500-page book full of interviews with a wide variety of people, with a likelihood of two more volumes in the future. He did a great job on the book. It's definitely unfortunate that his first translators were so bad, but why is his being honest and open about their behavior a bad thing? Unless you think he's lying about it all, which bad behavior of theirs like this lawsuit shows pretty conclusively to be not the case, this attitude makes no sense.

Seriously, the book is what matters, not any of that stuff. And the book is great. It's exactly what I was hoping it would be, and more. I backed it, and I absolutely would do so again because he did very good work.

 

[Sho Nuff]

I am SUPER late to this party but it looks incredible. I want to buy this book, is there a way to do it? I am not seeing links to purchase on the Kickstarter or HG101 sites.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Still, given the size of this volume I'm OK with buying future volumes, although it's weird that classic game dev interviews were pushed out of v1 but something like the Google Maps 8bit guy stayed in.

It baffles me that he'd include the Google Quest interview but not Naosuke Arai or someone else he mentioned in the funding period. That's what I define as stringing along a customer!

Regardless, the book is a treasure, albeit housed in a chest bloody from battle. Joseph Redon's interview makes John look small-time.

It's going to appear for sale on Amazon soon, gonna take a bit.

 

[Sho Nuff]

It's going to appear for sale on Amazon soon, gonna take a bit.

Ah okay, I'm patient

 

[Necromanti]

I just finished the Kimura interview and that alone was worth my money. When an endeavor is 90-percent fantastic, I'm hardly going to excoriate him for the 10-percent. If I I was a proper investor, obviously, I'd want a stronger hand, but as a donor, I am incredibly happy with all of this new information that captures the tone of each interviewee wonderful.

That interview was very bittersweet in tone, being equal parts depressing and heart-warming. Plus, you got name-dropped! I'm still waiting for that Moon translation. (I'm playing through L.O.L. in Japanese now, so I might end up doing the same for Moon, but we'll see. I don't want to play with a dictionary in hand at all times.)

Don't let this dude's conduct turn you off the idea of supporting other crowdfunded ventures, just treat it as a lesson on why it's important to properly research the people/projects you donate to. This guy has a lot of well-documented "quirks" that should have raised a red flag during the initial campaign but didn't because people simply didn't do their own research, including the people he worked with that are now suing him for libel, and now we're seeing the consequences.

I think it's more Kickstarter in general rather than this specific project: it's a chaotic and complicated process, and understandably so. Everything that I had heard about him at the time was nothing but positive, but even then, I don't think the situation was foreseeable. But anyway, I think it might be smarter for me as an individual, at least, to wait for a final product to purchase rather than to back it initially.

This is just ridiculous! He has produced an extremely interesting 500-page book full of interviews with a wide variety of people, with a likelihood of two more volumes in the future. He did a great job on the book. It's definitely unfortunate that his first translators were so bad, but why is his being honest and open about their behavior a bad thing? Unless you think he's lying about it all, which bad behavior of theirs like this lawsuit shows pretty conclusively to be not the case, this attitude makes no sense.

Seriously, the book is what matters, not any of that stuff. And the book is great. It's exactly what I was hoping it would be, and more. I backed it, and I absolutely would do so again because he did very good work.

Honestly, there was a lot of he-said, she-said going on during the entire process, and while I was initially more critical of the other party, researching the matter made me more level-headed in distributing blame, but also made it hard to really pick a side. (Not that I'd really need to.) The truth will never be known to anyone besides those involved, anyway, and there were moments where the sisters seemed more reasonable relative to his response. But my takeaway from all this, at least, is that it's still an impressive feat of work full of dense content that probably would not have existed without their undertaking. So having said that, I'm appreciative of everyone who had some hand in the process in making it possible in the end.

Skimmed through the rest of the book and I don't like the pages interleaved pimping future interviews/volumes. An upcoming volumes section at the end would have been a lot cleaner and less jarring.

Still, given the size of this volume I'm OK with buying future volumes, although it's weird that classic game dev interviews were pushed out of v1 but something like the Google Maps 8bit guy stayed in.

Those pages were definitely a bit jarring. There's a lot of content that I'm looking forward to. I almost thought there was a large visual novel/doujinshi/eroge section when I looked at the table of contents, as well, but I'm (personally) glad to say that I seem to have been mistaken.

 

[discoalucard]

Looks like the Amazon US page is a little more fleshed out. Currently the price is set at about $47, but that's before whatever discount Amazon will apply to it. It's still not available to be ordered though.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0992926009/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Armitage Shanks]

They somehow found me on Linkdn and sent me a message saying how I was involved in some suit against John, I just didn't respond.

Yeah, same here. It just sort of solidified my opinion on who was "right" in this matter. Or "more right" anyways.

Gawd, I know a couple of the people interviewed too. Still waiting for my copy. Can't come soon enough!

 

[Bassmastergeneral]

Looks like the Amazon US page is a little more fleshed out. Currently the price is set at about $47, but that's before whatever discount Amazon will apply to it. It's still not available to be ordered though.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0992926009/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Thanks! It is in stock and I just ordered a copy. Can't wait to get it