NintendoAge http://nintendoage.com/forum/ -Sqooner Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-27T20:57:37 -05.00 fcgamer 9   ]]> Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-27T19:20:06 -05.00 fcgamer 9 Originally posted by: GreenKoopa

Ok, fair call. However, with pirates could the artwork be different? Also, for famicom there is also shell colour, which I guess you don't need a photo alone for that. Off the cuff, I would suggest color swatches near the art or or the corner of the page could indicate cart color. This also offers a solution when a game came in multiple colors. 

Some cartridges also have different shapes, I’ll allow that could be interesting. If there are predictable versions like the USA games have with Tengen or Color Dreams carts, perhaps silhouette icons, with a detailed example photo in the intro or index. 




  ]]> Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-27T18:45:06 -05.00 fcgamer 9 Originally posted by: GreenKoopa

Would be great to have box art, cart and one or two screenshots of the game, or any other relevant pictures.  Screenshots yes, box art AND cart no. I have seen this in other books and it's stupid when the art is the same on both. 

 


Ok, fair call. However, with pirates could the artwork be different? Also, for famicom there is also shell colour, which I guess you don't need a photo alone for that. Maybe fcgamer can comment on this one and provide some insight. ]]> Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-27T16:05:06 -05.00 fcgamer 9 2. No idea. What countries will you be marketing this to? Sounds like you could get interest from Japan /China /etc equal or greater than USA. 
4. Add me to the list asking for a preview. This might also help #1.
+ This is a whole library of vintage games that I know nothing about.
- Not into RPGs, foreign edutainment, and other impenetrable language barriers.
5. Would you really fill a whole page for each JNCOTA /Waixing /Nanjing game? Maybe you could save half of that page count.
 
Originally posted by: GreenKoopa

Would be great to have box art, cart and one or two screenshots of the game, or any other relevant pictures. 
Screenshots yes, box art AND cart no. I have seen this in other books and it’s stupid when the art is the same on both. 

  ]]> Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-27T12:30:57 -05.00 fcgamer 9
A lot of people on NA (including myself) know absolutely nothing about bootlegs or unlicensed retro games, other than perhaps having played them many years ago as a gaming experience only. So I can imagine it's hard to give you advice on a topic that you're already an expert on! ]]> Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-27T08:19:08 -05.00 fcgamer 9
1. The front cover graphic is really important, which helps sell a book regardless of the content (I know that sounds ridiculous). Suggest hand drawn style art, reminiscent of the 80s for videos games, some movies etc.
2. Like the front page graphic, the book name is very important. In Australia, "bits" can be slang for genitals (not sure if elsewhere) , so family bits is like saying family junk in the USA. Maybe research this further.
3. For me, pictures are an important part of a book. Would be great to have box art, cart and one or two screenshots of the game, or any other relevant pictures. These all feed the nostalgia element with retro video games
4. What will you be covering in the text for each game? Review? History? Developer info?
5. Perhaps show one or two concept pages for feedback

Good luck ]]> Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-26T16:07:45 -05.00 fcgamer 9 Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-26T14:20:25 -05.00 fcgamer 9
Have you considered your competition? He's got a pretty established reputation as well. I like Waixing/Shenzhen Nanjing, but I don't think you'll get a whole lot of interest from American gamers. They're mostly poorly programmed, unbalanced RPGs that are nigh unplayable to a Western audience. (Seriously, have you ever tried to get through the intro to FF7? It's impossible to make it through the first part without the patch!) I think you are fighting an uphill battle of interest from Western audiences. I love the Super A'can, but even my closest friends mock me for that love. It's hard to get people to care about obscurity.

I like Jeff, I sat with him at GOE and shot the shit for about 30 minutes. He might be open to telling you about his experiences as a book seller, despite the fact that he's technically competition. ]]> Family Bits: What do YOU Want? http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=188811 2019-09-26T12:36:53 -05.00 fcgamer 9  

On this point though is where I need your help, and hence why I am setting up this thread so we can discuss some things.


Scope:

Originally I was planning on having the book cover everything related to Famicom, but in 2016 or 2017 a few guys I know ended up releasing an extensive book covering *all* the Famicom Disk Releases, licensed and unlicensed. This made me start questioning the scope of my book, and then when I started researching costs if I actually tried to get a 2000+ page book published (i.e. not particularly feasible), I decided to have my book focus only on unlicensed games, bootlegs, and homebrew games.  This scope suits my area of expertise best, and also avoids reinventing the wheel, while also allowing me to focus my efforts better on one area.


Size:

As the book is still going to be large (probably around 700 pages), I've felt it best to divide it roughly into two volumes:


Volume I:

-Introduction on Topics
-Unlicensed Famicom Games


Volume II:

-Famicom Disk System Exclusive Conversions to Carts (thanks to pirate companies)
-Nintendo (NES) cart to Famicom Conversions (thanks to pirate companies)
-Edutainment 
-Multicarts
-Homebrew and Indie Games
-Unofficial Game Translations
-Clone Machines Gallery
-Other Related Stuff*

*I have some ideas in mind, but I don't want to reveal it here just yet.


Other Items:

-Information about JNCOTA games
-Information about Waixing games
-Information about Nanjing games

With these other items, here is the situation:

Little information is known about *most* of the JNCOTA games, as they are hard to find, and are all in Chinese.  I have a large portion of the (known) Waixing games to exist, and actually have this section mostly completed.  Regarding the Nanjing games, I have almost nothing done on this section (about 130 games or so), and actually own maybe only 1/3 - 1/2 of them. Again these are in Chinese, a lot of RPGs and what not.

For these three companies, it would add I'd reckon about 300 pages more onto the total scope of the project, if included. Some of these games would appeal to foreigners, though I'd guess only about 20% or so. I feel to include these in the same section as the other unlicensed original games would be sort of like if people started including Sachen games onto the "regular" NES games list. While purists would be interested, most would prefer them to be in their own section(s), due to being just so many titles (each company I listed above had 100 or so titles), and then not being particularly interesting to the average western gamer, no point in cluttering up the main section with it.  


Publication:

I would like to release both volumes at the same time, as a set. I think I need to divide the book into two sections due to it being large (the section on unlicensed originals is easly just under 400 pages alone), but I want the work to be viewed as I had intended, which is united. Since I got the vast majority of information gathered and written, I think this really isn't a problem at all.  


Thoughts and Questions:

#1:  For a two volume set of books, equalling around 800 pages, what would you feel a fair price to pay would be?

#2:  I am planning to take this to Kickstarter to raise money to get this book finalized and published. While I realize it is totally up to me, what do you think a realistic funding goal would be to strive for? My thought had been to include the sections on JNCOTA, Waixing, and Nanjing games as stretch goals, each company a separate stretch goal, thoughts?

#3:  Does anyone have any suggestions on companies, if I were to try to self-publish this beast of a project? Or perhaps some publishers I could shop the final product to?

#4:  Would you be interested in purchasing this work, when it is completed? Why or why not?

#5:  Other thoughts and comments on the project?

Thanks guys! I know it might be odd to be asking so many questions about this, but I really would like to gain some feedback from everyone. I'm not expecting to get rich off of this project, but to be writing a roughly 800 page book on a niche / unknown market of video games, I hate to see this project tank too, not just due to the countless hours I've put into it, but also since I don't think any other collector in the west has access to such a collection to put together such a definitive work on the subject, either (I know this sounds arrogant, but I swear, I'm not trying to here, I'm just being realistic).

Thanks everyone for your input! ]]>