Day 42 - Paging They Were Our Gods...

I thought I'd do something a bit different today, and have a bit of a play with design.  So what I've done is this:  I've written a page about one of our Gods, using his words and mine, added a couple of screenshots and put together a rudimentary page.


Now, you have to bear in mind that this will not be how the finished book looks.  In fact, it probably won't even be how the finished book reads.  I'm sure I'll edit and re-write my bits before it gets published.  This is purely for a bit of fun, and to give people some small insight into my thinking.


One of my ideas is to have a small picture of each person and put it next to their quotes.  You can see how that might work on this page.  What I thought I might try and do is to get a picture from each person, and then try and make it look like a C64 or Spectrum image, depending on their platform of choice.  It would be a little bit like the classic computer magazine "box-out" comments, but with a little graphical twist.

If you haven't got a magnifying glass to hand, click here for a bigger view.

Trouble is, I'm rubbish at graphics.  There are programs available that kind of turn an image into a C64 or Spectrum graphic... that's what I used in this case.  But it's not really that authentic.  I also hasten to add that I used Jon's picture from his website in this example purely to see how it would work... I would ask for a picture and the owner's permission before actually including it in a printed work.


So anyway, that's been my Saturday.  It's made an interesting change to just putting words on a page, although I don't yet know how useful it will prove to be.  The finished product will look a lot more professional than that, and possibly a lot different.  But it's a starting point, and proof that I'm actually doing something.  Anyone got any comments?

Day 39 - head over heels with today's progress

This morning saw an e-mail full of answers drop into my inbox, which made for good reading and a good start to the day.  I'll be looking at sending off a few responses, and then I can work on putting some rough pages together. I find that pretty exciting.  Now that a couple of people have replied, I can play around with ideas a bit more


Of course, the main focus for now has to be the writing (and finding contact details, naturally), but it doesn't hurt to play around with images and layouts and so on.  I like the idea of having a "CONTRIBUTIONS FROM" section on the front page of the blog.  I really want to do that, but I think I'd be getting carried away with myself if I put it there now with just two confirmed names.  If I wait until I've got replies from the others I've sent e-mails to, it'll be a bit more valid.

Awww.  So cute!  But how do I get to the bunny?

Basically, though, I can play games, get a ton of screenshots, write text and insert comments for those that have replied.  Effectively, I can finish sections of the book at this point.  That's great.  It's going to be a giant step forward, having real pages' worth of material prepared and ready for formatting.


Now I'm in the position where I need to be soliciting for more participants.  It's a dirty job, but I have to do it.  There are still people that can be contacted through the likes of Twitter, so that's my next avenue.  I do hate to be a bother, but it's the only way forward.

Oh, THAT'S how!  Hey, why am I playing this game, I wonder...?

You know, our guys wrote some stuff that was really amazing for the time.  I know, I'm stating the obvious... that's the reason for this book, after all.  But when you play some of these old games again, it's extraordinary just how creative they were.  Some of them may not seem as good in the cold light of day, but today's technology is light years ahead of what was available then.  It's still a thrill to load up some of the classics and get stuck in.  We really were lucky back then.

Day 31 - dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner...

Another rough day today, with work getting in the way.  I really need to get some questions fired off, because at this rate, people will tell me not to bother as I'm taking so long!  Hope not...


Anyway, what little time I have had has been spent playing games for research purposes.  Sometimes, you think you know what questions you want to ask someone, only to draw a blank when you're trying to put them down.  It's ridiculous, really... these are people I've wanted to speak to for 25 years, and now that I'm getting the chances, I'm drying up!

Now, why would I be playing this game, in particular...?

It's no great hardship, playing some of the classics of yesteryear.  Some of them, I'll be playing for the first time.  Some are treasured favourites that I still play today, out of choice.  I might even find the odd stinker... not everybody made an excellent game with every effort, after all!


Still, once I've got the rest of the week out of the way at work, I'll have five days where I can concentrate mostly on this.  I'll be hunting for more contacts then, but I think I'll mostly be writing, and knocking some things into shape.  I might even experiment with some layouts... that could be fun.