HG101's Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures - 772 pages of adventure gaming

[Sketcz]

Hmm, to post in headlines, general gaming or retro? Tough choice! I asked Charles and he said it was OK (thanks!).



Hardcore Gaming 101 has now published its first book, a comprehensive guide to classic graphic adventures.

Hardcoregaming101.net Presents: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures is an ode to one of the oldest genres in electronic gaming. It is 772 pages in length, covers over 300 games and includes a number of interviews with classic game developers. It is an expansive tome, jam packed to the brim with history, criticism, and trivia. If you've ever asked the question "If I like LucasArts and Sierra games, what other games should I play?", then this book should be your bible.

I contributed to and sub-edited sections of it, and I can confirm there is a tremendous amount of content. A full explanation is here.

The kindle version is up! And it's only ?7!
B/W on Kindle, but colour if your device can display colour!

You can look at a preview PDF here.


A word from the chief regarding different regions:

It's also available at Amazon UK...sort of. You see, there are different royalty tiers with the publisher I'm using - unfortunately, the royalties only really apply if you buy it from Createspace or Amazon US, and the amount I get for copies sold through other outlets is a pittance (69 cents, to be precise...which for a $27 book is kind of absurd). So what I'm basically saying is, if it's not terribly inconvenient and you'd like to be awesome and support the site, please order from Createspace or Amazon US, if you can. It would be much appreciated. (The Kindle versions are unaffected by this, so buy from whichever region it allows you to.)

If that's unfeasiable...well, even though there's a listing on Amazon UK, it doesn't seem like they've stocked it (yet). So, in order to fix this, I've set myself up as a third party seller and shipping books directly from the printer. I've tried to keep it as close to retail price as possible, since it doesn't let me adjust shipping charges (trust me, it costs way more than three pounds to ship), taking into account the exchange rate and all.

Where to Order

Physical Copy - $27.00 US:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Createspace Use Coupon Code DN84NDUU for shipping discount

Kindle Edition - $9.99 US, converted automatically to local currency including VAT:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon DE

Other ePub Formats
Coming soon

You can also order it from your local bookstore, if you'd like - the ISBN-10 is 146095579X and the ISBN-13: 978-1460955796. However, if you are outside of the USA, please consider ordering from the Createspace store or Amazon US, because the royalty I get from other places is a pittance...literally less than 75 cents per copy. I've set up a third party store on Amazon UK, however, if that's more convenient.


Shipping to Europe is about $7 (about ?4.30) on Createspace, which I think is surprisingly good for something akin to a phone book (at least I think it is, my copy is in the post).

Here's a list of games:
All About Sierra
King's Quest
Space Quest
Leisure Suit Larry
Police Quest
Quest for Glory
Gabriel Knight
Laura Bow
Phantasmagoria
Freddy Pharkas
EcoQuest
Pepper's Adventures in Time
Torin's Passage
Codename: Iceman
The Black Cauldron
Gold Rush!
Shivers
Lighthouse
Heart of China
Rise of the Dragon
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
Rama
Fascination
Bargon Attack
Lost in Time
Ween: The Prophecy
Gobliiins
The Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble

All About LucasArts
Labyrinth
Maniac Mansion
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
Indiana Jones - Last Crusade / Fate of Atlantis
Loom
Monkey Island
Sam & Max
The Dig
Full Throttle
Grim Fandango

All About Legend
Spellcasting
TimeQuest
Gateway
Eric the Unready
Companions of Xanth
Superhero League of Hoboken
Death Gate
Mission Critical
Shannara
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles

Myst
The 7th Guest

ICOM MacVentures:
Shadowgate
Deja Vu
Uninvited

Lure of the Temptress
Beneath a Steel Sky
Broken Sword
Dark Seed
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Harvester
Sanitarium
Bad Mojo
Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet/Prisoners of Ice
Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller
Dreamweb
Noctropolis
Blade Runner
Star Trek (Judgment Rites, 25th Anniversary, Final Unity)
Future Wars
Operation Stealth
Cruise for a Corpse
Legend of Kyrandia
Neverhood
The Last Express
The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes
The Journeyman Project
Hugo
Tex Murphy
Discworld
Simon the Sorceror
The Feeble Files
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Zork
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
Dragonsphere
Return of the Phantom
Touche
Les Manley
Altered Destiny
Inherit the Earth
Toonstruck
Starship Titanic
Flight of the Amazon Queen
Scooby Doo Mystery (Genesis/Gameboy)
Blazing Dragons
Blade Runner
Kingdom O' Magic
KGB / Conspiracy
Innocent Until Caught
The Orion Conspiracy
The Gene Machine
Ripper
Neuromancer
Beavis & Butthead in: Virtual Stupidity / Do U / Daria's Inferno
Igor: Objective Uikokahonia
Dune
Duckman: The Graphic Adventures of a Private Dick
Amazon: Guardians of Eden
Dragon Lore
Nippon Safes, Inc / Big Red Adventure
Fable (1996)
Personal Nightmare
Alien Incident
Ringworld / Return to Ringworld
Universe
Curse of Enchantia
Murder on the Mississippi
Enchanted Scepters
The Fish Files
Snow Job
Circuit's Edge
Chewy: ESC from F5
Lost Eden
Tass Times in Tonetown
The Dark Half
Teenagent
Orion Burger
The Space Bar
Cosmology of Kyoyo
Obsidian
Gadget: Past as Future
Bad Day on the Midway
Tequila & Boom Boom
Bureau 13
Bud Tucker in Double Trouble
Jack Orlando
Hopkins FBI
Wayne's World
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Snoopy: The Cool Computer Game
Hook
Earthrise
Jerome Lange Mysteries (Mortville Manor / Maupiti Island)
Gold & Glory: The Road to El Dorado
The Dark Eye
Ripley's Believe It or Not: The Riddle of Master Lu
Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy
The Longest Journey / Dreamfall
Amerzone
AMBER: Journeys Beyond
Morpheus
9: The Last Resort
Syberia
Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
Snatcher
Policenauts
Shadow of Destiny
Runaway
Strongbad's Cool Game for Attractive People
Limbo of the Lost
Secret Files
A Vampyre Story
Gray Matter

Indie:

Ben There, Dan That!/Time Gentlemen, Please!
The Chzo Mythos
Machinarium
The Shivah
Emerald City Confidential
Gemini Rue

Interviews:

Al Lowe (Designer of Leisure Suit Larry)
Corey Cole (Designer of Quest for Glory)
Bob Bates (Founder of Legend Entertainment)
Josh Mandel (Writer/Designer/Voice Actor for Sierra)

$27 is an awful lot of money to spend on a book.

Yes, it's not exactly cheap, but I'm confident that it's entirely worth it. It's an absolutely gigantic book, weighing over three pounds, and there's a ridiculous amount of material that will keep any fan reading for hours on end. It will also graciously help support the site, and go towards the publication of future books. The Kindle version is cheaper, since it obviously doesn't need to be printed.

What's the difference between the articles in the book and what's already on the site?

If you've read the reviews on the site, they are pretty much the same as the book, and follow a similar style and format. All of them have been copy edited to fix typos and improve readability, and a few have been cut down to fit, although they're still largely the same as the version on the web site. (Not all of the revisions have currently been incorporated into the site.) There are also numerous titles that are currently only covered in the book. All games covered have a box shot and at least one screenshot, although note that the book is in black and white. Many reviews are extensive, however, there are also numerous shorter, single page reviews.

Will any of the articles currently exclusive to the book ever be posted on the site?

Some of them will be. The longer articles - King's Quest, The Journeyman Project, The Chzo Mythos, Zork, etc. - definitely will show up in the coming months. But there are a lot of single and double page articles that I'm not entirely sure I can find a spot on the site without placing it together with larger articles. Like, maybe one day you might see the Bill & Ted article here if we do a big blowout on Bill & Ted games (there are more than you'd expect!), and there are a lot of really unique or overlooked games that will probably be posted as well, but otherwise a majority of those will probably stay exclusive to the book.

Why isn't this book in color? I would totally buy it if it was in color.

Price. The retail cost is $27 for a 772 page black and white book. Through the same publisher, a color printing would have to be split in two books costing over $60 each, which is completely unfeasible. However, the Kindle version (and any future epub files) is in color, as long as your device can support it (the PC Kindle Reader, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, etc.) A color PDF will be released for sale shortly as well.

[Flabio]

Get this on the Kindle UK store... So much cool stuff only makes it to the US one and you can't use that with a UK Kindle anymore.

[abigsmurf]

Needs to be on Kindle ASAP.

Is it written in encyclopedia style or like a regular book?

[Dogg Thang]

It's pricey but looks excellent. I may have to take a punt on it because I'd love to read about those games - loads of faves there and a whole load I don't know too.

[Sketcz]

A Kindle version is being worked on, but there are delays due to formatting differences. It'll be priced accordingly though. Not sure about differences between US and UK, but I'll pass on any queries.

Is it written in encyclopedia style or like a regular book?

It's written in the site style, and some articles are online if you check this page. The articles without links were written specifically for the book and aren't available online. Everything that's on the site was sub-edited though, for space, grammar and flow, so should read a little more polished in print.

[beecee]

no overly familiar with the Kindle's, do they handle pictures? are there any pictures in the book?

[Sketcz]

Yes, there's a picture of every game's cover, and at least one picture for each game covered. There should be a preview PDF in the link above.

[prinnysquad]

How does this 'createspace' witchcraft work? It'd better not be paypal!

[Family Fry]

Must admit as soon as this Kindles, I will be ALL over it.
Superb stuff.

[Sketcz]

In truth I'm not sure how Createspace works, since I've never ordered from them before, Prinny.

Glad everyone likes the look of it, about half a dozen of us put a tremendous amount of time and work in it.

[Sketcz]

The overlord at HG101 speaks:

Hardcoregaming101.net Presents: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures is now available at Amazon. For right now it's only on the US store, although I'm told it'll feed over to the UK one "eventually". This happened much quicker than I expected, so hooray! The Kindle version, I'm still working on - it requires a bit more reformatting to look right, plus it needs lots of linking for the table of contents to show up. And since there are easily over 350 different things to link...

So the Kindle version is on its way.

Even more exciting than this is I now have my own entry on Amazon. I'm like a bona fide writer, or some shiznit.

I'll update again when the Kindle version is ready - it appears to be what everyone is most looking forward to.

[Deuteros]

Want!

John, could you please let me know a couple of things once your copy arrives? First, how long did it take to arrive (Amazon's shipping to Europe is either slow or expensive so I'm wondering if CreateSpace's is any faster) and second, is it entirely in black and white or are the pictures in colour (CreateSpace's description states "Color: Black and White")?

Thanks in advance and congratulations for achieving 'bona fide writer' status!

[Sketcz]

Will let you know regarding its arrival - my address is something of a guinea pig address among the contributors.

Colouring is entirely black-and-white, apart from the book's front and back cover. It's purely to keep prices down, especially a book that size. I'm told though that the Kindle version will/might/should be in colour, for those that can display it? Still a furious WIP at the moment so details as they break.

[importaku]

Shame that it's black & white, would have been lovely to have it in colour. Think i'll pass then.

[Sketcz]

The kindle version is apparently up!

And it's only ?7!

I was told it's in colour, but it doesn't seem to say on the site. I'll double check and post back here. But still, only ?7!

LINKS:
Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...SIN=B005231248

Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B005231248

Amazon DE - http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B005...SIN=B005231248

BTW, use the following link for the actual book on the US site:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/146095579X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=hardcorblog-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=146095579X