Felipe's cRPG Book - Open call for reviews

Just thought I'd touch base Felipepepe; as it's been awhile!

I've been slowly but surely getting more notes down for my first draft. I'm aiming to have it done by the end of my second week of school holidays (starting now…

I've also been enjoying a little bit of research on the side and just immersing myself into the world of Bard's Tale again. It's been quite the nostalgia trip! In fact, I'm sneaking in a little bit of Devil Whiskey here and there - as I never did finish that game. Glad to hear that MCA is contributing…

I plan on sending my first draft within the next couple of days , honestly writing and deleting so much drafts (writing is not my strong point! better on the mic) and the van buren interview took up my time but I am going full force into the article and I will do my best to help the book!

Scorpia just sent me her review of Ultima IV. Is amusing how unique and nostalgic her writing style is… I'm glad she agrees to take part and that new people will be able to read her stuff.

when do you need these filipe? I might have some time for a week or two. Of course I could go on for nine pages on nwn.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
when do you need these filipe? I might have some time for a week or two. Of course I could go on for nine pages on nwn.

I'm not in a hurry, if you can deliver it in a month or so it's cool.

And NWN is already getting one of the biggest word count in the book due all the modules… don't be greedy.

Originally Posted by felipepepe
I'm not in a hurry, if you can deliver it in a month or so it's cool.

And NWN is already getting one of the biggest word count in the book due all the modules… don't be greedy.

Good to know.. I thought i was holding up the book due to me slacking and having writers block but i can definatly get it to you before the end of the month and this time I mean it (no more slacking!)

Anyone remembers Johnny L. Wilson, editor in chief of CGW during the late-80's & early 90's?

He agreed to help with the book.

That's impressive. I enjoyed that guy's articles back in the day.

Felipe Pepe at Kotaku:

Jason Schreier:

This guy is compiling a digital book that will review over 280 computer RPGs—and when it's done, you can get it for free. Developers like Obsidian's Chris Avellone have already agreed to participate. "The book is going well, but I need some spotlight to travel into the far reaches of the internet and reach fans with stories to tell," curator Felipe Pepe tells Kotaku. You can see some sample reviews here, and keep track of his progress on Google Docs.

The first sample reviews look beautiful and are an interesting read as well!

"Curator" sounds so weird in portuguese… but YES, first press coverage after 5 months trying!

Just a reminder:
Some Watchers (including me) have not finished their articles yet…

I've made a… ahn… rant on Gamasutra about my experience so far writing the book and the lack of love for CRPG history: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/FelipePep…ng_history.php

I'm almost done NWN. Got on a roll the other day. I guess I've been collecting material in my head and didn't realize it. heh.

felipepepe, have you considered correcting the aspect ratio of screenshots from the good old VGA mode 13h (320x200 pixels)?

Remember that while games were played in fullscreen on a 4:3 monitor, in mode 13h pixels weren't square but had an effective aspect ratio of 1.2:1. When displayed in today's square-pixel environments, they look distorted, and in order to make them look correct they'd have to be upscaled to 320x240. Here's an example (enlarged to 2x the original size):

Link to the project's website: https://crpgbook.wordpress.com/

(In case it hasn't been mentioned yet. Might want to add it to the OP, felipe.)

Yeah, I need to fix the aspect ratio thing…

Only the DOS and Apple ][ games were like this, right? The Amiga screen shots I have all seem to be in a proper ratio.

Felipe going oldschool for real…

Originally Posted by felipepepe
Only the DOS and Apple ][ games were like this, right? The Amiga screen shots I have all seem to be in a proper ratio.

Amiga had lots of modes, 320x200 was common too. Here's a short article with example screenshots: http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.de/2…or-ibm-pc.html. The last comment sheds some light on the different resolutions, and the user says most of them ended up being scaled to 4:3.

So I guess if your screenshots have a 4:3 resolution you'll be fine (exceptions excluded, of course, like the "Elite Plus" example in the article above, which was probably letterboxed). Others may have to be scaled manually…

Amiga: There were NTSC and Pal versions:

Resolutions vary from 320x200 (up to 32 colors) to 640x200 (up to 16 colors) for NTSC (704x484 overscan) and 320x256 to 640x256 for PAL (704x576 overscan.)

Ugh, I've done it, but lost 2 lines of text in each review in the process. >.<

Also, I noticed that no one corrects this. Journalists, bloggers, abandonware websites, no one! Even books all use 320x200. How odd, I thought I was being especially dumb by forgetting about this.

At least now the Avatar from Ultima VI doesn't look like a happy fat kid anymore.