Retro Video Gamer

Hello, I am the publisher, or whatever the guys is called that is behind this type of thing, of Retro Gaming Magazine.  We tried launching this magazine back in January of 2012 but after we added on more staff than what was probably required to launch the first shuttle, it went nowhere.  This is the reboot of the reboot of the magazine and this time, we are going to do it.  We have learned from offering another magazine, Gaming on Batteries Magazine (http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/416376 (//http)) many valuable tips on tidbits that we are putting to good use with RGM.

Here are a couple of pages from the preview we put together oh so many years ago:

(http://hyperfocusedmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/5-franchises-better-on-genesis_01.jpg) (http://hyperfocusedmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/5-franchises-better-on-genesis_02.jpg)

The full preview can be had here:  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/315758 (//http) There is no publisher markup on the print edition, the price charged is the price that Magcloud charges to print it.  The digital is set to free.

That preview is rough, it was really the first thing I ever designed with our magazine layout software and it has gotten better as evidenced by GoB Mag (we made it to issue #3 before I got tired of throwing good money after a mag no one was buying).

We are open to contributors and we will be buying articles and editorials so get your typing skills brushed up and lets make some magic.

We will be launching the new site soon, which will be in line with what we already offer on our other sites as far as style and design.

Some info on the mag as it stands now:

60 to 80 pages gloss pages like Gamefan on 80# paper
No reviews
No news
Features and editorials
Print and digital versions
Subscriptions from day one will be available (save by subscribing)

If you are interested in helping us craft the magazine we currently have a couple of things we are looking for community input on:

First, the cover. We are running a contest to create the cover. We are looking for clear, high resolution, photos of games in a pile. The games in question would be from SNES, Genesis and TG-16/PC-Engine.

The chosen picture will earn the person that submitted it a free copy of the first issue in print and digital. This prize is valued at about $21 total.

Second, we are needing votes on that cover feature. The article is being referred to as "Cross Platform Gaming" at the moment. It will focus on games that were available for SNES and Genesis. We need votes on which version of each game was the better of the two.

We will also be doing a feature on the TG-16/PC-Engine in a title specific "must own" piece. Votes are being collected for this too.

We ask that each person submitting votes to please keep them to about 5 games per system. This is because we may use your top 5 list in the mag. If we do, you will receive a free copy of the digital. This prize is valued at about $1 to $3 (we haven't set the price yet).

Don't know what games were shared between the Genesis and SNES? No problem, the list is below:

3 Ninjas Kick Back
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
Addams Family, the
Adventures of Batman and Robin
Adventures of Mighty Max, the
Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends, the
Aero the Acrobat
Aero the Acrobat 2
Aerobiz
Aerobiz: Supersonic
Aladdin
Alien 3
American Gladiators
Andre Agassi Tennis
Animiacs
Art of Fighting
B.O.B.
Ballz 3D
Barkley: Shut Up and Jam!
Bass Masters Classic
Bass Masters Classic: Pro Edition
Batman Forever
Batman Returns
Battletoads/Double Dragon
Beavis and Butthead
Best of the Best Championship Karate
Bill Walsh College Football
Bonkers
Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure
Boxing: Legends of the Ring
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Brett Hull Hockey '95
Brutal: Paws of Fury
Bubsy II
Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind
Bulls vs. Blazers and the NBA Playoffs
Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball
Captain America and the Avengers
Castlevania IV/Bloodlines
Champions World Class Soccer
Championship Pool
Chavez II
Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool
Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest
Chuck Rock
Clayfighter
Cliffhanger
Clue
College Football USA '97: The Road to New Orleans
College Slam
Cool Spot
Cutthroat Island
David Crane's Amazing Tennis
Death and Return of Superman, the
Demolition Man
Desert Strike: Return to the Strike
Doom Troopers: The Mutant Chronicles
Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim 2
ESPN Baseball Tonight
ESPN National Hockey Night
ESPN Speedworld
ESPN Sunday Night NFL
Family Feud
Fatal Fury
Fatal Fury 2
FIFA International Soccer
FIFA Soccer '96
Flashback: The Quest for Identity
Flintstones, the
Foreman For Real Boxing
Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball
Frogger
Fun 'n Games
Gemfire
Genghis Khan 2: Clan of the Gray Wolf
George Foreman's KO Boxing
Ghouls 'n Ghosts/Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Gods
Great Circus Mystery starring Mickey and Minnie, the
Great Waldo Search, the
Hardball III
Head-On Soccer
Hit the Ice
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Hook
Incredible Crash Dummies, the
Incredible Hulk, the
Izzy's Quest for the Olympic Rings
Jammit
Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! Deluxe Edition
Jeopardy! Sports Edition
Joe & Mac
John Madden Football
John Madden Football '93
Judge Dredd
Jungle Book, the
Jurassic Park
Justice League Task Force
Kawasaki Superbike Challenge
King of Monsters
King of Monsters 2
Last Action Hero
Lawnmower Man, the
Lemmings
Lemmings 2: The Tribes
Lethal Enforcers
Liberty or Death
Lion King, the
Lost Vikings (SG +5 levels)
Madden NFL '94
Madden NFL '95
Madden NFL '96
Madden NFL '97
Madden NFL '98
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Math Blasters Episode 1
Maximum Carnage
Mickey Mania: Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse (Sega CD +level)
Mickey's Ultimate Challenge
Micro Machines
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie
Miracle Piano Teaching System, the
MLBPA Baseball
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat II
Ms. Pac-Man
NBA Hang Time
NBA Jam
NBA Jam Tournament Edition
NBA Live 95
NBA Live 96
NBA Live 97
NBA Live 98
NCAA Final Four Basketball
NCAA Football
Newman Haas IndyCar featuring Nigel Mansell
NFL Quarterback Club
NFL Quarterback Club 96
NHL 94
NHL 95
NHL 96
NHL 97
NHL 98
NHLPA Hockey 93
Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing
No Escape
Nobunaga's Ambition
Operation Europe: Path to Victory 1939-45
Out of this World
Pac-Attack
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
Pagemaster, the
Paperboy 2
PGA Tour III/PGA Tour 96 on SNES
PGA Tour Golf
Phantom 2040
Pink Goes to Hollywood
Pinocchio
Pirates of Dark Water
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
Pit-Fighter
Populous
Primal Rage
Prince of Persia
Pro Quarterback
PTO: Pacific Theater of Operations
Puyo Puyo series (Kirbys Avalanche, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine)
Race Drivin'
Radical Rex
Raiden (Trad on SNES)
Rampart
Revolution X featuring Aerosmith
Rock 'N Roll Racing
Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball
Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
Romance of the Three Kingdoms III
Samurai Shodown
Saturday Night Slam Masters
Scooby-Doo Mystery
SeaQuest DSV
Shadowrun
Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye
Shag-Fu
Side Pocket
Simpsons, the: Bart's Nightmare
Simpsons, the: Krusty's Super Funhouse
Simpsons, the: Virtual Bart
Soldiers of Fortune
Sparkster
Spider-Man (Fox Kids version)
Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage
Spider-Man/Venom: Separation Anxiety
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Crossroads of Time
Stargate
Steel Talons
Street Fighter Series
Sunset Riders
Super Baseball 2020
Super Battleship
Super Battletank: War in the Gulf
Super High Impact
Super Off-Road
Super Smash TV
Syndicate
T2: The Arcade Game
Taz-Mania
Tecmo Super Baseball
Tecmo Super Bowl
Tecmo Super Bowl II: Special Edition
Tecmo Super Bowl III: Final Edition
Tecmo Super NBA Basketball
Terminator, the
Test Drive II: The Duel
Theme Park
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
Tick, the
TMNT Tournament Fighters
TMNT Turtles in Time/Hyperstone Heist
TNN Bass Tournament of Champions
Thunder Force III/Thunder Spirits
Top Gear 2
Toy Story
Toys
Troy Aikman NFL Football
True Lies
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Uncharted Waters
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
Urban Strike: The Sequel to Jungle Strike
Warlock
Warpspeed
Wayne Gretzky and the NHLPA All-Stars
Wayne's World
WeaponLord
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Tale
Wheel of Fortune
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Williams Arcade Greatest Hits
Wolfchild
Wolverine: Adamantium Rage
World Cup 94
World Heroes
WWF RAW
WWF Royal Rumble
WWF Super Wrestlemania
WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game
Y's III: Wanderer From Y's
Zero: The Kamikaze Squirrel
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension
Zoop

Thanks for posting about the magazine here, triverse.  After seeing your original post on NintendoAge, I thought it would be a good thing to share here on RVG.  That's quite the list of games shared between the Genesis and the SNES, by the way!

Thanks for the invite.  I am enjoying it here quite a bit.  Plenty of conversations and people that know how to actually talk!  That is great for forums.

The list may not be complete, I have read that the total is either 200 or 250 games shared dual releases. 

Glad to see you're liking it.   

200 to 250 games?  Dang, that's a lot!

Yea, I didn't realize there were that many games that were on both systems.  I would throw TG-16 into the mix but it would be a rather short list at that point, even counting the Japanese games.  TG-16 received a lot more from the NES than it did either Genesis or SNES.

I compiled that list over this last weekend, about 12 hours comparing forum posts with official release lists.  Not fun but oh so worth it to offer it up to fans to vote on.

I'm impressed it's that many titles.  Would make for quite an interesting discussion comparing the games on both systems.  We have some threads comparing games on various systems here.  Maybe we need to start one comparing these two systems!  At least there's a list of games already! 

That would be awesome, especially considering this one feature article is getting, at the moment, 25 pages in the first issue (will probably be 30 by the time we are done).  It is not just a list like those preview pages but more in depth to the differences and why one version is picked over the other type of thing. 

Sounds good so far!  Great job on that list too 

Thanks, Shadow.

Fantastic work fella, will look into more, amongst other things know myself how hard it is to create an entire magazine from scratch and the difficulties in getting it out there, we ourselves created a magazine for Homebrew entertainment called Homebrew Heroes and you can check it out here : www.homebrewheroes.co.uk (//http) , check out the video preview and flipbook sample and I think there is a PDF demo mag there too!

But delighted you've signed up, and hope to see more of this retro lovely-ness

Excellent stuff, I am really looking forward to seeing more of this.

If you are looking for another writer then please let me know, as I could probably help.

As well as writing around half the reviews in the review guide on here I was also the lead writer and Editor-In-Chief of Homebrew Heroes.

But not only that, I am also a regular writer for the award winning Retro Gamer magazine (which I am sure you have heard of) as well as being a regular writer for Retro Fusion and was one of the writers for the now defunct Pixel Nation magazine. Oh and I nearly forgot, I am also the lead writer for Atari User magazine too!  :16:

Your shameless-ness knows no bounds that's for sure 

Well, the reality is that several of us could probably contribute! 

Quote from: "TrekMD"Well, the reality is that several of us could probably contribute!  :3:

I am open to having more contributors on board with this. We are aiming for about 80 pages per issue on a bimonthly release schedule.  We are aiming to NOT be what every other retro, and modern, gaming magazine has been in the past. 

We won't be publishing yet more reviews of Super Mario Bros 3 or Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting Diamond Dimensional Day-glow Edition or anything like that. 

We will be doing reviews and such but they will be on the site and used to bring in traffic which we hope will have a good percentage convert into buying the mag.  The site will be used to mainly push the mag basically.

The magazine will be focused on stuff not available elsewhere, otherwise why would anyone support it?

Quote from: "triverse"...The magazine will be focused on stuff not available elsewhere, otherwise why would anyone support it?

Hear, hear.  :1:

If we are simply to print what is readily available on the Internet then we shouldn't waste time doing the mag in the first place.  We have to give readers a reason to support it, a reason for companies to support it.

Quote from: "triverse"If we are simply to print what is readily available on the Internet then we shouldn't waste time doing the mag in the first place.  We have to give readers a reason to support it, a reason for companies to support it.

You've got fantastic foundations there already.In that post alone you've totally nailed what i'm looking for from a 'publication', something i can only find via you publication, something not driven by the 'desires' of an advertising partner or ego's of the powers that be, something written by people doing it for the passion of the subject material, not looking to rub shoulders with celbs and get a story.

Been thinking more on this 'Award winning' Retro Gamer magazine.It seriousily does'nt have any competition in it's field, the judges could'nt honestly be considering magazines who devoted a few pages each month to Retro (for example Edge would, back along, have 2 'making of....' type features and a look at a Retro console, but this is a magazine that from day 1 has focused on 'cutting edge' entertainment-so future gaming, not past, or Gamestm with it's Retro section as that's another mainstream magazine focused on current+future hardware in the majority of it's content or PC Zone which had few emulation pages), as that'd be like Retro Gamer winning an award for it's current generation coverage...a bloody nonsense.

The award or awards must be industry based, so cue P.R  people getting to vote as well as industry movers and shakers (cue advertisers, P.R departments, various jurnolists, who i'm sure could'nt vote for their own work or publication), as if it was'nt i'd have seen voting forms in 1 of the many publications i was subscribing to.

Filled in enough online+physical questionaires to last a lifetime, but voting forms? not a damn thing.

Can we not de-rail this thread talking about Retro Gamer please?

There is enough chat about that elsewhere on this forum.

Quote from: "The Laird"Can we not de-rail this thread talking about Retro Gamer please?

There is enough chat about that elsewhere on this forum.

Agreed.  Let's keep this thread on topic for this new magazine.  Thanks.

Quote from: "The Laird"Can we not de-rail this thread talking about Retro Gamer please?

There is enough chat about that elsewhere on this forum.

Not a problem, can we also just refer to it by it's publication name in future please? there's enough hype for it on it's publishers website.

Thanks.

Great list!

Not a knit pick thing, but having kids, I own several games on your list for both systems.

Beavis & Butthead - two totally different games
Flintstones - Genesis is closer to the Nes versions, Snes has two versions - one based on the movie and the other more like a board game.
Goof Troop & Goofy's Hysterical - included because, like TMNT games Turtles in Time and Hyperstone, same character.
Home Alone - also different enough in gameplay
Tazmania - Gen/Mega Drive is side scrolling, Snes is more of a top down racer
Thomas the Tank Engine - two different games
Scooby Doo - different mysteries - nice to own both

They all share the same name but the gameplay is different enough, to not be the same ports.

Just useless trivia.

Thanks, onthenice, for the trivia.  I left the "same name/different game" titles on there on purpose.  This isn't exactly a port for port list, more of a "each system had this game/which was better?" list.  If it was a straight port list it would be a lot shorter, titles such as Ghouls and Ghosts/Super Ghouls and Ghosts wouldn't be on there since it was not a straight port but shares the same character and source material though each got drastically different results.

Thank you, Triverse! Sometimes so many good multi-port games get forgotten and tossed aside. It is understandable thinking. The colors or sound might be different enough but still the gameplay is the same to not want to play both versions.

Sadly, I am guilty and have avoided multi port games in the past, always thinking the releases were the same. Later finding out, just how different the games were.

Thanks again for sharing your information!

Thank you for your interest in the article/magazine, onthinice.  That is the type of reaction we have to strive for for this to be a success.

Here is a preview page.  It is not final so let the comments fly.

(http://hyperfocusedmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Ghouls-n-Ghosts-preview.jpg)

Okay Triverse

Can I speak from a professional designers point of view? At no time will I be disrespectful to you or your publication other than to give professional pointers and at this stage im more or less an expert in producing retro related products across the board as chief graphic designer and layout found in our Homebrew Heroes (//http) publication, or my other products Nes-Bit Magazine Issue One (//http) and my fore coming book on classic arcade games Coin-Op: The Arcade Guide (//http), and many other graphical works I have done for RVG and believe the level of pixel perfect fidelity deserved celebrating these classic machines should be second to none, passion , know how and execution = achievement in delivery.

Now that you know we're I'm coming from so I'll begin, I understand that this is an unfinished page layout I'll ignore the blank text frames, but the image quality of the box art, the header logo and screen are all at different dpi and soft focus low web resolution and let the page down terribly, there is not clarity, I get the MegaDrive background grid image, but is distracting the eye from focusing on any pacific area of the page other than to clash with the low res screen shots, which for a semi / professional publication are unexceptable for the simple fact your showcasing classic games in the nature pixel aspect ratio and should maintain pixel clarity the magazine page is not presenting anywhere.

The screen shot are far to bunched together, maybe they should be smaller with a tag underneath each one with what machine the screenshots belong too,  if the article is 3 pages or more, than its not required to have somany screen shots littered about the page, if you need a solution, simple use one page and have them all different from the used screenshots before hand in a 3 x 6 row formation with name tags etc and utilise the grid background also its a good idea to use a colour based from the heading, example of this could be to reduce the white of the grid with the core blue colour from the Ghost'n'Gobins heading, to create a familiar compliment for graphics used in the page.

"Our Pick" is not central to page, and trying to get a attention on the page and is not helped by the soft blur of the heading, while the "Our Pick" remains sharp. And I also pray that the machine listing you have on the page are not gonna be the final proof, as it very poor sitting there as just black text in a white box marginally unjustified in the text frame.

If your are gonna be charging for a product of this type, you need to learn the in's and out's of pixel perfect scaling and layout design and 1:1 pixel ratios, compositional skills, colour proofing, and possible the way of smart layers and layer styles to achieve professional look and 100% pixel perfect representation of the original artwork and screenshots, I fully understand you may not have the tools to put this off, as I myself am doing this type of thing the last 15 years and still learning new tricks etc, I suggest structure, reverse engineering of materials (screenshot extraction) to the nearest neighbour pixel ratio, don't burn yourself out, focus on one article at a time and take your time to final to produce something unique and professional and gets lots of feedback on a continual basis.

I'm part of a group on linkedIn on digital magazines and magazine production and its full of great tips from designers, publishers and newbies alike trying to envolve their skills in magazine production, so I hope your not too offended by the feedback, I'd hate to hear or read that someone (only takes one) to flame a publication for poor content, blurred images and bad text layouts coupled with terrible screenshots and over all fanzine appeal and then charging for it, it would ruin all that hard work by both your in house team and your article contributors alike.

Hope this helps..

Anymore on this. Is it carrying on?

I'm curious myself.  How are things going?

I fear I may of scared him off with my comments. I hope he does return to tell us different, as I think its a great little magazine with lots of protental .

Quote from: "Greyfox"I fear I may of scared him off with my comments. I hope he does return to tell us different, as I think its a great little magazine with lots of protental .

I hope not!  I hope he gets back to us with updates!

well  maybe, I sure hope not, as he asked for feedback, and from a background check on his time here, other than introduction all his posts are based on Plugging products he's involved in , companies he's set up, as he was seen on 19th of September, some 3 weeks ago, and had plenty of time to respond?

I hope it's simply not a plug-a-ton, as there is real interest in this stuff.

I don't think that was his intention.  That is one thing he did tell me before he joined.  He did not want to appear to just be plugging this stuff.  I hope we see him back here soon. 

The cover of the first issue has been revealed along with a short table of contents:  Retro Gaming Magazine #1 Cover Reveal (//http).

[align=center:p0jtso7v](http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/RGM-Cover-Concept-MA-001-2.jpg)[/align:p0jtso7v]

That cover is awful, looks like if was knocked up in 5 minutes.

Yeah it does a bit amateurish, but the picture makes it even worse, horrible u.s snes carts in your face! The picture is just dull and has no vibrancy or anything to shout out...

Quote from: "AmigaJay"Yeah it does look a bit amateurish, but the main picture makes it even worse, horrible u.s snes carts in your face! The picture is just dull and has no vibrancy or anything to shout out about, I think if the picture was better the whole look of the front would work better.

Look, its always in the eye of the beholder, Rogue Trooper didn't like my cover for Homebrew Heroes as he felt it glutted the cover up, so its really a choice of opinion, from a design aspect, the cover could of done with some glamour, I agree with that, the idea of an interesting cover is to urge the reader to take alook inside, but mondain covers send out the signal of meh okay, open if interested, know what I mean?

Also some people get stuck in design because of the fundamentals of it, what they think looks great, may and most of the time other do not, the trick is to try and uniform the design to appeal to as many as possible, have Snes carts littered over the cover, it should be called Super Nintendo Gamer? The cover has isolated itself to one console simply by doing that, I personally would of used a montage of the content of the magazine for the cover. And a simply layer style does not offset the main identity either. But I can see where th producer was going with it, and of ourse wish them every success

I see carts for two consoles on that cover, SNES and Sega Genesis.  If you remember, something that will be covered in this issue is a comparison between those two systems and the titles that are common between both systems.  That is likely why that is what we see on the cover. 

I don't mind the cover that much, for me its about the contents...

Hey guys,

  I am not easily scared off.  I took what Greyfox said about the initial preview page and have been working on doing something different.  I have kept internal pages secret because, well showing substandard previews was going more damage than helping.  I feel it is best to hold the internal content till it is closer to release than to show early mockups of what we are doing.  It just takes time to digest large amounts of feedback and figure out how to implement them properly.

  I run a PR company and a sheet metal shop and that has taken up most of my time (I currently employ nine freelancers for instance).  Not trying to promote (I realize I have done too much of that with my posts, something I didn't want to do).  Anyone that follows my Facebook will be able to see, I have been a busy bee.

  The cover is pretty much final, there is one or two things that may change. The Nintendo article is taking a lot longer to get right- there are a lot of heated arguments over the direction on that one with the staff.  It is based on the main feature article being about the titles that are available on both the SNES and Genesis.  That is why it is nothing but cartridges.  We are trying to do things that other publishers aren't with our covers and the content.  This may bite us in the butt and we sell no issues but I am hoping that compelling content will push sales.

  I was pushing for a cover based around the Disney article that got booted to a later issue but the costs involved in getting just the cover created were above and beyond our current budget.  I have hired Martin Alessi (EGM's first Art Director) to handle the covers (that version in the reveal is his editing with his hands tied to that picture).  Our second cover is going to probably either rub people wrong or it is going to make people REALLY interested in the mag, I know the content certainly will.  It will be another trek down a road that other publishers either ignore or are scared to go down.

  I have been spending a lot of time talking with potential advertisers for the mag.  The mag is setup to have four full page ads and three quarter page ads at this time.  If all were sold for the first six issues, I would be able to drop the price per issue by at least $3- a significant difference over what we are going with if we don't sell any (this is for print issues, digital will not be effected either way).  The print is going to be a collectible, priced as such because of the 80# paper stock.

  Creating Retro Gaming Magazine is tough, we have a golden name (and have been confused with Game Gavel's offering a time or two).  We have a growing website bringing in readers and we have a lot of competition for the readers that we need to succeed.  We aren't going anywhere though, even if all we sell is one subscription, it will be fulfilled. 

Thanks for the update!

I have decided to scale back the per issue content (from 60 pages to 40) and also change the release schedule (from bimonthly to every six weeks).  This will reduce the cost per issue, keep articles focused and we will be able to cover more content each year.

Monthly would be too tough on everyone involved and bimonthly just seems so "long" in this day and age of instant gratification.  Bimonthly concerns me over keeping people interested in the issues, or even remembering it is being made.  Lowering the price per issue will help push sales of the print, I am sure (at least hope). 

I will make available payment options with solid prices on the site for anyone wishing to "back" the magazine with a purchase of a single issue (digital or print + free digital) or a subscription (digital or print + free digital).  I am not bothering with Kickstarter and more than a few people on Facebook have taken that as a sign of not being dedicated to the success of the mag.  It is totally different. 

Kickstarter takes 20% of the amount you get donated, then Paypal (the only method Amazon/Kickstarter will pay out to) takes another 5% or so.  Right off the bat, we would be 25% down from whatever we got in funding.  That would mean, even at skin of the teeth pricing, we would have to take a loss on any of the backing options we would have made available.

By going with straight purchases, we will lose the +/- 5% that Paypal takes.  We can survive losing that small amount.  Take another 20% though and it is a case of losing money on each issue sold which is counterproductive to us being able to keep making the magazine.

I feel the promotion that KS would provide is not worth the 20% cut they take if the magazine is successfully funded.  The average person on Kickstarter is not in our market anyhow.

I didn't realize KS took so much money!  No wonder they keep that business going.  Anyone hoping to fund a project there then must really take that into account.

Me neither i am in the wrong business lol..

I look forward to what you knock out pal..

On the point of promo, we dont have a big issue with people promoting what they do or their products as long a they are active and you are now lol..

The amount of money that KS takes is stupifyingly high.  Imagine their cut on the Ouya project.  They recently posted on Facebook that they have had over a few billion dollars donated to projects on their site.  Imagine 20% of THAT.

Seriously though, that is why I decided to forgo using Kickstarter this time.  It simply doesn't make sense for our business model.  That is also taking into account the time after the project is funded.  The funds are not immediately deposited into your Paypal.  KS can take up to 60 days to deliver funds.  That would artificially push back our release schedule unnecessarily. 

Quote from: "triverse"The amount of money that KS takes is stupifyingly high.  Imagine their cut on the Ouya project. 

That's what came to mind immediately!

Just a heads up post here.  We have hired a regular design editor and three supplemental design editors to assist in the creation of the mag.  This step was taken due to the realization that well, my "eye for design" was apparently covered by a pirates eye patch. lol  It is pretty simple, this is for the betterment of the overall quality of the magazine.

So far, the pages that have come back are quite impressive and will surely impress the fans.  We are looking at a cross between Gamefan (pics and art usage) and Video Games and Computer Entertainment (information relayed in the articles).  The feel of VG&CE is fitting since originally, Bill Kunkel (the understood Father of video game magazines) was the inspiration for Retro Gaming Magazine which grew from talks between him and myself.  My current business partner came up with the name and two years later, we are finally launching it.  There will be a tribute to Bill in the first issue commemorating everything.

We are on schedule for a mid December release (just in time for print fans to receive their issues before Christmas).

Quote from: "triverse"This step was taken due to the realization that well, my "eye for design" was apparently covered by a pirates eye patch. lol 

 

Glad to see things are moving along and that the first issue will be out next month!

Would love to see the new style and layouts in it, looking forward to it

Looking forward to coughing up some pennies to read this.

Like above I am liking forward to seeing more.

Here is a layout design that we passed on internally:

(http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Retro-Gaming-Magazine-Revision-3.jpg)

What do you guys think?  I promise, the designer we are going with is much better.

Hiya fella,

you've raised the bar on the design layout dramatically here :113: but what is it? with everyone and these hexagon background plates lol..

The only thing I feel is out of place in the choice of font above the article text, it's out of context to the fonts used for the article itself , using 2 different fonts like this makes the bad one stand out like a sore thumb, simply use the same fonts with a bold applied or italic form, secondly it's not centered in the middle from top to bottom of the borders, if this was intentional, simply shorten the blue strip to bring it into harmony with the pages.

anyways, looks great now, and I'm ensured that this is gonna be a heavy contender to those other magazines in production, including my own..contacting my hitman as I type lol..

please show us more when you have it.

Grey.

Very nice indeed!  Well done with the new layout!

Just to be clear, this was a layout we voted down.  The designer did a great job overall but missed some key points (that background being a big one for me).  The designer we have gone with is working on finishing the mag up and we are coming in a bit later than expected but it is coming.

I will release some more designs we turned down as we get closer.  May do an article on this process so the fans can get a behind the scenes look at how much work goes into creating a magazine- it is not as simple as a website for sure.

Thanks for the feedback, it is greatly appreciated.

Well, if that is the design you voted down, then the final choice must be amazing.

Look forward to this.

If you still need writers then let me know.

Just wanted to drop in and let everyone know the latest update on RGM.  We are preparing to open subscriptions, issue purchases and advertising options on January 1st, 2014. 

We are looking at a late January/early February release then every six weeks thereafter.  That will be a total of eight issues a year if anyone is wondering.  We feel this release schedule will be better suited to the content we are delivering to the fans.

Excellent!  Thanks for the update! 

Yes, really looking forward to the new layouts and articles you have planned

Same. More info tomorrow then?

As promised, here is the page for pre-orders and subscriptions (for those interested).

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/buy-rgm/ (//http)

If you are from a country that is not listed please just let me know and I will add it.  The countries listed are the ones that we sold issues of Gaming on Batteries awhile back.

Forgot to mention, I will be updating the order page with this too, the digital PDF will be free.  We will not be charging fans for the PDF version of the magazine.  This is our way of saying thank you to the readers for their support and to make sure the maximum number of fans can read the content we make available.

Quote from: "triverse"Forgot to mention, I will be updating the order page with this too, the digital PDF will be free.  We will not be charging fans for the PDF version of the magazine.  This is our way of saying thank you to the readers for their support and to make sure the maximum number of fans can read the content we make available.

Very cool! 

I just ordered the first issue. 

Sounds like a great deal 

Very nice of you guys to do this..I'm surest gonna be a great success :113:

Same as.. Always willing to support the community.

Going free with the digital was a hard decision, as was anything related to our "cost to the fans" related to RGM.  We wont the magazine to be as cheap as possible to the reader, we may drop the price again in the near future depending on ad sales, just so more readers can have access to the content in print form.

I hope the fans like what we are doing with the magazine.  We have done some focus testing in regards to the content of the magazine and have nixed some articles and replaced them with more fan demanded articles.  Such as, we are making sure that the Vectrex gets some pages, and more historical articles will see the light of day in the mag (something like the Today in History pieces that we make available on the site).

All in all, if the fans ask for it, even if not directly, we pay attention and do our best to cater.  RGM is a mag for the fans like never before capable of being created (over 80% of the first issue was created around fan response for instance).  From the layouts (mine were quickly shot down so we sought a professional) to the selection of titles that will face off in our first Cross Platform Gaming article (all fan voted totaling over 900 votes) to even the cover of the PDF version (winner of a contest we ran submitted that background). 

So far, as I look over the finished product I can safely say that the only "modern" content is the TMNT Re-Shelled mention in the TMNT Cross Platform article.  We do give new games for old systems a lot of attention, though we feel that is a different beast.  Just to give you an idea of our focus here.

Just want to address the concerns we are getting over the price of our magazine versus other magazines that are covering retro gaming.  We are using 80 pound paper, that is as thick, or thicker, than the covers of just about any magazine (not just gaming related) that you can find on the news stands.  We are using that paper quality for all of our pages.

What that means for fans that prefer print, besides a slightly higher per issue cost, is satisfaction in knowing that their issues will look as rocking as they are today for many decades to come.  The paper quality is key to us, we could just as easily print the mag on cheaper stock but we wouldn't feel right and our fans would feel scammed in the long run.  That is not worth saving a buck per issue, not to us and we feel that sentiment is shared with the fans that are willing to support these types of publications.

Coming in corner to corner ink, you have to have higher paper stock to properly contain it all.  We know our prints are higher than what others are charging, we are going for two different types of reader, not only based on the content of that magazines but the paper quality of those magazines too. 

Our PDF will be free for anyone that wants it and the prints are there for those that prefer physical copies.  We are positioning ourselves in the market differently than what other magazines covering the retro scene are going for. 

Also, we have a few changes to the mag to announce when we get closer to the launch of the first issue.  The cover has changed (the new cover captures the feel we are going for quite a bit better), some content has been cut while other chunks replace it (our Bill Kunkel tribute has been moved to a later issue so as "to do it right"). 

Come relive retro with us.

I have no issues with the cost of the mag but i need to see what the content is like first before i can commit to purchasing the print copy.

We will be offering an affiliate program for those interested in making an extra buck or two.  This is obviously geared towards content creators such as Youtube channel owners, website owners and podcast shows for instance.  If interested, please contact me here or at cwilliams@scenic7pr.com for more information.

Cool idea.  Hopefully people take advantage of this offer. 

So far, we have three takers.  I understand that we are facing an uphill battle here, plain and simple.  The hardest part of this stuff is getting the magazine in front of potential readers (that is why we are giving the PDF away for free).

Depending on where you live, you may see some advertising in the real world for RGM (flyers, billboards, etc).  It is all about getting the mag in as many hands as possible.

Quote from: "triverse"So far, we have three takers.  I understand that we are facing an uphill battle here, plain and simple.

That's a start!  Hopefully, more will join. 

Quote from: "triverse"We will be offering an affiliate program for those interested in making an extra buck or two.  This is obviously geared towards content creators such as Youtube channel owners, website owners and podcast shows for instance.  If interested, please contact me here or at cwilliams@scenic7pr.com for more information.

You should approach Andy at Retro Asylum Podcast.. But ultimately approach as many as you can, we will offer you some advert space and promo space freem in return for the same.. Obviously we don't want to be exclusive to anyone as there are many avenues in this community that we support and support us but we can try and support you.

If you want me to contact the guys i can.

Nothing exclusive here.  I understand that this is a team effort, even the "competition" are in the same boat we all are. 

I will take note of the mentioned shows and contact them with the information.  Hopefully we can pick up a few more interested parties.  We are doing some ad swaps with other mags which should be beneficial to everyone involved.

Okay, things are a little slower for us at RGM than I wanted but things are progressing nicely.  We have gone back and scrapped a lot of the work that was done, but unreleased, due to comments we have received on the stuff that has been shown to members of the media.  In the end, this will make RGM a better magazine which was always the goal.

Below are a couple more pages from different articles (you guys are probably sick of TMNT by now). 

First up, we have the first page of a review that will be in the first issue, Soulless for the C64 -

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/soulless-review-page-1-of-2.jpg (//http) (for those wanting to see the full page version)
(http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/soulless-review-page-1-of-2.jpg)

Next up, we have a new contender in the mag.  This article takes a look at gaming advertising in a satirical view.  This was initially planned for issue #2 but we are cutting "What the Hell Happened" from issue #1 and bringing in a much better article for our readers to enjoy.

Page 1 of 4 (non framed version- http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ins_ads_01.jpg (//http))
(http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ins_ads_01.jpg)

Page 2 of 4 (non framed- http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ins_ads_02.jpg (//http))
(http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ins_ads_02.jpg)

As usual, we want to hear from you about what you would like to see changed, concerns, etc. 

We are looking for help with replacing some game screens for the Cross Platform Gaming article.  Those that were turned in previously were low res and featured graphic filters not present on the original hardware and could not be used.  Anyone interested?

Thank you for the update, triverse!  This is looking good! 

I do have a question for anyone interested in participating in another poll. 

What is your definition of retro gaming?  Is it a certain console generation, system, year or something else?

We actually have a thread about that!  Check it out:  What do you consider to be retro? (//http).  You will find various opinions right there, including a rather interesting graphic that defines retro. 

I am liking that. I guess you won't get proper feedback until people have seen the first issue.

Yea, most of the comments will come after the issue is released in its entirety.  We welcome both good and critical comments (how else will we know what to fix?). 

Agreed, do you have a timeline in place for launch?

We are holding hard on our late January/early February release.  Pre-orders and subscribers will get their copies then we will release open sales to the general public (and release the PDF) about a week later.

So you must have a fair bit compeleted then?

Yes, we are just working on redoing some of the pics from the cross platform gaming article since many of them were not quite clear as I wanted.  Couple that with a couple of pages left to finish and we are set for print proofs to be ordered then upon those being accepted, launch.

Some really nice stuff there..but I hate to see flat pack previews of images, so I took the liberty of creating an actual Magazine appearance of the 2 pages you've shared, to make it that more professional, feel free to use it to help it's promotion :)

That looks fabulous! 

That does look very nice! 

I never thought about that, Greyfox.  Those pages look awesome displayed like that.  Thank you for doing that and opening my eyes to an amazing way of displaying the preview pages.  I will definitely keep that in mind in the future when showing previews off.

No problems glad to have been of service to it. Remember presentation = investment = custom = awareness  and will get you sales

The magazine is finally available.  The PDF is completely free, simply click the download link and it will start downloading.  It is about 28 megs and is packed tight with retro content.  The newest thing mentioned is the interview with the Mega Man 2.5D developers.

I am looking forward to hearing what you guys think.  If you like it enough, we would appreciate sharing with your friends, maybe buying a print to keep (once we move to issue #2 sales, #1 will move to back issue status).

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/buy-rgm/ (//http)

Grabbing it now! I will give you my thoughts later! 

Congratulations on releasing the first issue!  I've already downloaded the PDF to check it out on my tablet.  Thanks!

Congrats fella... Grabbing now.

Ok I just read through the majority of it (I am a very quick reader) so here are my thoughts:

Pros

• The cover is lovely, great first impression!
• SNES vs. MD feature was excellent.
• General standard is good.
• Good to see a homebrew section.
• Advert for RVG!

Cons

• No index/contents page
• Bad formatting - big gaps in text for no reason, text overlapping images and poor choice of fonts.
• Poor images in places - especially some of the low quality ones used on the SNES vs. MD piece.
• A few typos - most notably the "countess" one on the "did you know?" part of Castlevania.
• Lack of balance - there was literally no Atari coverage except that one small interview.

A good start but felt very much like a fanzine rather than a professional publication, plenty that can be improved on but at least the subject matter and writing was good, which gives a solid base to work from.

Dang, you're fast!  I just barely opened up the issue on my tablet.  I'll add comments later.  I do like what I see on page 2, though. 

Quote from: "The Laird"Ok I just read through the majority of it (I am a very quick reader) so here are my thoughts:

Pros

• The cover is lovely, great first impression!
• SNES vs. MD feature was excellent.
• General standard is good.
• Good to see a homebrew section.
• Advert for RVG!

Cons

• No index/contents page
• Bad formatting - big gaps in text for no reason, text overlapping images and poor choice of fonts.
• Poor images in places - especially some of the low quality ones used on the SNES vs. MD piece.
• A few typos - most notably the "countess" one on the "did you know?" part of Castlevania.
• Lack of balance - there was literally no Atari coverage except that one small interview.

A good start but felt very much like a fanzine rather than a professional publication, plenty that can be improved on but at least the subject matter and writing was good, which gives a solid base to work from.

Thanks for the comments.  Greatly appreciated. 

The lack of an index page was supposed to be eased by putting the page numbers on the cover (saving space internally which could go to more content) but I see that some things were completely missing on the cover.  I will make sure in the future to move this internally with a proper index page.

I agree, some of the shots used are low res, and honestly should not have been used but it came down to holding the mag up longer to get higher resolution shots or go ahead and release.  In the long run, no one will remember (yeah right, this is the Internet) if the mag is late, again, than intended but they will easily be able to see bad decisions like low res photos in the articles. 
I will do my best to manage the team better to ensure photos are high res as possible in the future issues.  This was my fault as I should have caught this problem earlier.

The CPG article ran long, Castlevania was to be a two page spread but it was the run away leader in votes to see compared (over 3 times the votes of the next three titles).  That spoke volumes as far as how to handle that part of the article.  This ultimately caused two pages of other content to be bumped from the mag.  We are stuck at 40 pages due to costs which, once we get more advertisers, we can bump up to 60 and possibly be cheaper per issue and for subscriptions.

There is no excuse for typos.  I should have used our quality control team more on the articles.  Same for the text alignment issues.

The lack of Atari coverage, again is my fault.  We were going to go with some stuff on JumpVCS, Legends and some other titles but there isn't much more available on those titles than what we have posted on the site and I did not want to simply rehash what is on the site.  Letting it be known that people want more Atari, or Vectrex or whatever content is the best way for us to know what is to be put in and what is not going in the mag.

I am looking to find more designers to help with layouts so that I can focus on promotional marketing and getting advertisers for the mag.  Right now, it is me laying it out, running the site and doing the marketing with the help of a couple of staff members.  It is a bit much for one person to take on and is stressful but rewarding to experience the release of the magazine.

I've only just seen this post..will be grabbing it and giving you the full QA on it as soon as I've read it

Tear it apart.  Only by knowing what is wrong can we fix it in future issues.

Quote from: "triverse"Tear it apart.  Only by knowing what is wrong can we fix it in future issues.

Exactly You have the right attitude to this.

OK, I've had a chance to read through it now.  Here is my feedback, some of which echos what Laird said:

Good:
- Definitely a retro magazine, which is a good thing.  This is what the magazine is supposed to be.
- Though short, I do like the Susan Jaekel interview.  Nice to see one of the artists for the game box art.
- The Gensis vs SNES article rocks!  Nice way for me to discover some games for the Genesis as a new owner of the system.
- I also loved seeing a homebrew section!  Always great to see homebrew titles showcased.
- I enjoyed the video game ads article. 
- Overall good content and feel for the first issue.

Not So Good:
- An index would definitely be helpful.  I understand why you did it the way you did but it doesn't quite work.
- Layout really needs help.  Distribution of text and images could be better.  I don't want to volunteer GreyFox, but this could use his magic touch.
- Text over images and poor contrast between background and text makes it hard to read some of the content.  The Genesis vs SNES article suffers a lot with this.  Black text over a dark blue background just makes it hard on the eyes. 
- Boldface font for some of the text doesn't really help.  There is also inconsistency in the use of bold text vs standard text.  Usage should be consistent through the magazine.
- The typos just shouldn't be there.  That just takes away from the professionalism of the publication.  If you feel an additional pair of eyes is needed to review the text, I may be able to help out. 
- There should be a consistent style for the magazine as a whole.  I don't see that right now and this becomes rather distracting.

Thanks for the comments, Trek.  Again, greatly appreciated.

I see the lack of an index page is a problem and it will definitely be in the magazine from issue #2 onward.  I just hate losing a page of content but it is seemingly something that is throwing a lot of people off by not being there.

We went through three layout designers in the last three months.  The first, the one that created the awesome TMNT spread, had a major loss in her family and is out for an inderterminate amount of time.  That left me looking for a backup designer which I found and thought we had a good agreement in place but then as we neared the end of January, I was notified that I would have to pay a incredulous amount of money on top of the agreed amount to get the pages in print quality resolution.  When I confronted them about it, things got nasty and they left the project.

The lack of quality is obviously due to my lack of experience in this area.  I am a PR guy, not a magazine layout designer (for reference see everything I have released publicly). 

Text over images won't happen in future issues.  I experimented a bit and can see that it is not something that is flying too well with readers.  Duely noted.

The font thing is currently 50/50.  People either like the different fonts or they hate them but one thing is unifying here.  A good 80% of comments are against the use of bolding.  Bold facing the fonts won't happen in future issues.

The typos are all my fault.  I should have caught those.  I also should have used out quality control team more for the mag.  I see from the comments that some changes need to be made to who is on that team for future issues.

Keep the criticisms coming.  Whether repeating already mentioned ones (this adds weight to that criticism) or not, it is all appreciated.

I am continuing our search for a regular layout designer but right now, on a shoestring budget (if we don't reach a certain minimum on prints, we will actually be losing money per sale) it is tough.  That is no excuse for sub-satisfactory quality in the publication.  I take full responsibility for the results.

I think the fact you are willing to listen and recognize your limitations are two things the bode well for the magazine.  You know where you need to get help.  :)

Listen Triverse, don't get too dis-heartened, you did plenty right and it was a good start.

I know we are just a little forum with a small group of hardcore members but there are a lot of people here who can help you if you want it.

TrekMD is a terrific writer and an absolutely faultless proof reader, as somebody who has worked with him I strongly suggest you take him up on his offer.

Greyfox is the best designer I have ever worked with, and I have written for a lot of magazines, so if you need help there then he is your man.

There are some other great writers here too who can provide content if needed like Bobinator, Carl, Doug and Katz.

And if I can help in any way just ask, I have been round the block a bit so to speak!

Oh no, I am not dis-heartened over the comments.  I want to know what is wrong with the mag.  Sure it sucks hearing so many problems with it are there but that is life- you can't win them all. 

The honest comments is why I like it here.  Having yes men around you all of the time will only get you crap for results. 

My comments about taking responsibility are just that.  I am the EiC/Publisher, the buck stops with me.  My team did their part.  Through discussion like what we have here, RGM will be better in the future.

And we are willing to help, triverse, by more than just giving you comments. 

I downloaded this last night and skimmed through it a bit. It needs some work like others have said but overall it's a good start. I didn't read too much of it as I really prefer print magazines over digital and I thought I would help support this and order a copy, and there's the problem. On the site you have to select where you live for shipping costs but the only options are USA, UK, Russia, Australia, and Mexico. How do you order if you don't live in those countries?

Ok I have now pretty much read this from end to end.

Firstly thanks for the huge advert.

Like others have said there are some issues but that did not matter to me so much as it added to the feel of the mag to me. The index is a given. Some templating is in need of correction and then I think with a little time you will have a very accomplished magazine.   

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"I downloaded this last night and skimmed through it a bit. It needs some work like others have said but overall it's a good start. I didn't read too much of it as I really prefer print magazines over digital and I thought I would help support this and order a copy, and there's the problem. On the site you have to select where you live for shipping costs but the only options are USA, UK, Russia, Australia, and Mexico. How do you order if you don't live in those countries?

Move to Mexico 

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"I downloaded this last night and skimmed through it a bit. It needs some work like others have said but overall it's a good start. I didn't read too much of it as I really prefer print magazines over digital and I thought I would help support this and order a copy, and there's the problem. On the site you have to select where you live for shipping costs but the only options are USA, UK, Russia, Australia, and Mexico. How do you order if you don't live in those countries?

Move to Mexico  :21:

Sorry, responding on the go here.  Let me know what country you are in and I can have it added with the correct shipping and handling.  Since our printer ships worldwide it would be too hard to list all 160+ countries at once.  I am looking into a better ordering process so that this is easier to get through.

Quote from: "triverse"Sorry, responding on the go here.  Let me know what country you are in and I can have it added with the correct shipping and handling.  Since our printer ships worldwide it would be too hard to list all 160+ countries at once.  I am looking into a better ordering process so that this is easier to get through.

I live in Canada, and thanks for replying 

Okay I've read the magazine at least 3 times now, where do I begin, as noted from all the above comments regarding the state the magazine appears to be in, the content was very good and really appreciate you firstly allowing our advertisement into the magazine, I hope it brings both following to your product and our forum :) again this is based on my professional judgement no my personal judgment.

I agree with the feelings about the Susan Jaekel interview.  She is extremely busy now with her professional gallery painting. 

I have updated the first issue based on comments from across the Internet.  Fonts and things are not so easily played with so I only could address text colors and over lapping images stuff. 

The TMNT SNES side graphics over lapping the box type stuff was intentional (though the mess up with the text over lapping the the Thunder Spirits piece was not).  I have fixed it since it was not received that well and came off as amateurish.  Pulling assets from the games was inspired by gaming magazines of the 90's like Gamefan.  My use of them has come off wrong, I will make sure they are better used in future issues.

The problems with people in various countries not being able to purchase is now fixed by simply moving the purchase of single issues over to Magcloud (our print supplier).  The minimum we can charge is $0.51 higher than when on the site because Magcloud will not allow us to price the issue lower than the cost to print them.  In sets of 20+ we can receive a 25% discount making the pre-order profitable by a small margin (considering fees and such through Paypal, there isn't much left).  Rather than hassling our fans with waiting for me to add purchase options I would rather just put the pre-orders on Magcloud.

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/buy-rgm/ (//http)

That should make things easier for everyone.  On other forums and the like we are being drug over the coals igher shipping costs to countries like Russia.  I guess I can see that.  This way, it is completely 100% up to the fan to pick how fast they want the mag (the pre-order options were set to the cheapest option available for anyone interested in knowing).

I will make sure that word counts for articles will be more uniform in the future issues and also will make sure to use as few fonts as possible.  In tests and the like for GoB Mag, people claimed to like the layouts being different and "not just 2 or 3 columns with one or two pics per page" type affairs.  There was also some pretty decent feedback about the fonts.  RGM #1 was created based on that feedback.  Finding a happy median is key and I am sure we can hit it rather quickly (or die trying).

My intention with the layout designs was something of a cross between Video Games and Computer Entertainment and Gamefan.  I am not sure if I was in the same archery field let alone near the intended target at the moment.  Still trying to figure that one out.  lol

We are currently sitting at about 500 digital downloads of the old version with single issue sales having picked up quite a bit since we launched yesterday.  Subscriptions have also tripled since launch versus the build up phase.  This will be a cash whole for me for awhile, at least till more ads are sold.  We can almost sustain the magazine off of the Bitcoin based advertising we run on the site.  Almost.

You've done a lot fairly quickly.  I'll have to download the updated fine and check it out.  Good to see that the magazine has had a good overall reception with a lot of downloads and an increase in the order for both print issues and subscriptions!  Congratulations!  Again, let us know if any of us can be of any help. 

The true test of success is how many copies of issue #100 we sell...

Quote from: "triverse"The true test of success is how many copies of issue #100 we sell...

Keep listening and you'll make it.   

Agreed how many have you had downloaded mate?

The free PDF is sitting at around 650 total downloads right now.  Small potatoes but about what I expected for the first issue coming out of the gate.  That is combined, original (messed up) and updated (much better version) PDF.

Here is a question that I would like some feedback on.

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2-column-layout.pdf (//http)

Prints have not been made yet.  I have them on hold till we figure this out (looking like Friday will be the day for them to start going out).

Which is more interesting to you guys?  The original version that was my attempt at a 90's mag or this 2 column version.  I know there were a few comments about the text being one big page wide run and that not being good.  Should we go with a simpler version like this instead?

This two-column version looks far more professional to me.  You can make the other format work also with a better layout of the page; however, if the choice is between this two-column version and the original version, my vote goes to the former. 

If your goal is a retro look, I can share with you PDF's of the old Atarian Magazine from the 80's.  That may give you some useful ideas for a retro look.  They even used three columns for articles.   

My goal is the more professional way of.doing the mag.  My original  designs emphasized the pics more than the writing.  We all pretty much know what the games look like. Nothing unique therr., while the writing is unique.

I am waiting on more feedback on the two designs before going one way or the other.  I just want the readers that bought issues and subs to get the best mag possible.

Sounds good. 

Okay I've also re-downloaded the new update and it is definitely more tidier than the previous version as expected, the decision to to change the font colours from black to white have made the different and made it more ledge able to the reader now..  :(

• [s:1hvulvzi]Firstly the size changing of the fonts has not been addressed, nor as the fact your using different fonts from page to page which is very noticeabl[/s:1hvulvzi]e
• [s:1hvulvzi]The lack of know how on paragraph text wrapping is herocious, destroying the reading experience on the content[/s:1hvulvzi]
• [s:1hvulvzi]Text is continuing across 2 pages with the tail end of the previous word starting on the second, again is very poor and show complete lack of proof reading on your part if that is your roll?[/s:1hvulvzi]
• [s:1hvulvzi]Castlevania, although was a good read, seem to be the biggest Article present in the magazine spanning across 4 pages of the magazine, should of been the front cover representing the main article, instead you've used the Zombies image, which is great etc..but the Zombies review is a mere 2 pages[/s:1hvulvzi]
• [s:1hvulvzi]You've stated on the front cover that the magazine lists "PC Gaming, 32 Bit, Handhelds, yet there is no content covering any of these platforms, I understand that it may be present in future issues, but you can't advertise coverage or mention of platforms that aren't even inside the magazine, it's misleading and could annoy customers.[/s:1hvulvzi]
• [s:1hvulvzi]The homebrew section has no present and simple feels like a filler or gap stop to break from the main magazine, you should of do some sort of introduction to this section, rather than jumping ship to commercial games to homebrew this has failed to be carried out[/s:1hvulvzi]
• [s:1hvulvzi]the Text alignments have done me in here again, I can't help but notice error after error and I advise that your design and layout team go and learn how to present text and layout in the proper manner regardless of the content and presentation in standard magazine design[/s:1hvulvzi]

that about sums it up from a designer's perspective, this has simple fanzine written all over and I really hate to say this, that giving it away for free was a great choice for all the wrong reasons, I would not personally of paid for it, there is no continuity through out the magazine and the design team seriously need to address this as other publications are setting the standard these days and this publication is a long way of track to to meeting these standards.

I love what you are trying to achieve here, but without the knowledge on how it's done is going to drop this from a height and I know I have been brutality honest here is why I want to try and help you through feedback make it better all round, it's not the content, it is the presentation needs a ton of work.

I hope you can take away something from what I've written above and help make your stuff the way it was intended to be in the first place..

good luck with it

herocious,  :21: :21: lmfao.. Look at you MR URBAN words you.. mix of horrible and atrocious..

But seriously, some decent feedback there.. Not sure its easy to achieve without your level of knowledge though?

Back to the drawing board.

I will do what I can in the next couple of days to address the text issues before ordering the prints. 

I realize I should have held the issue back completely till I was able to secure a regular designer. 

Text doesn't convey correctly so let me clarify, I am not mad at the criticism or hurt by it, I want to know what needs fixing.  Otherwise, I can't fix it.  I appreciate the time everyone has taken to tear apart the pages and give their feedback.

The mag.will get better in the future or I will simply shut it down and focus on the site.  Continuing it with me.laying it out is obviously the wrong direction.  I am a PR guy, not a mag layout designer, that is obvious. Lol.

I may be too close to the project to be involved with laying it out.

Quote from: "triverse"The mag.will get better in the future or I will simply shut it down and focus on the site.  Continuing it with me.laying it out is obviously the wrong direction.

It's too early to think about shutting it down.  I'm sure you can learn what you need to fix the layout issues.  Your content is good, so it's a matter of fixing the presentation.  :113:

Yes, I also agree, this magazine could be something special, leaving on the first hurtle would be a massive mistake and one of regret later down the road believe me I know. The advertisement piece and post Mortem section were very good and forgot to mention that previously. All that is really wrong is the layout and distribution of images and font usage and size, this can all be addressed well in advance from now on..see how the first issue is received and I do recommend you use the two side by side paragraph approach if you have the time to address it, if not no worries.

Keep the faith

I don't plan on dropping the mag, I just recognize my shortcomings and know the mag needs help beyond my abilities.

Quote from: "triverse"I don't plan on dropping the mag, I just recognize my shortcomings and know the mag needs help beyond my abilities.

Know that we can help. 

I will have a new version up tomorrow night that addresses the font issue, hyphened words and margins.  Everything will appear "tighter".  I will order prints for subscriptions and single issue sales on Friday afternoon. 

Why the long times between edits?  I work a full time day job and run my PR company, Scenic 7 PR in the afternoons.  I am staying up till about 1 am all this week to get these edits done.  So, please, accept my apologies if I have come off as short, or rude, in my replies.  Four to five hours of sleep will do that to a person.

Anyone that cares to check out the print proof version of the first issue (i.e., as edited according to comments as I can before ordering prints) here it is:

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/buy-rgm/ (//http)

Yep, downloaded the new release and its I think the best its ever being now and would be worth getting, I'm delighted you've taken the critism and reconstruction of the issues found within and turned it into a now worthy purchase magazine.

Your good to go I think on this one.

All the best.

I finally had a chance to look through and I agree with GF.  Onwards, my friend! 

I just tried to order a print copy again but now not only is my country not listed but the paypal link for single issues is gone. The only option now is for an 8 issue subscription. Guess I'll just stick with the PDF for now 

I have put the pre-order option through Paypal back on the buy page.  It will be there for the rest of the night if you are interested in getting a copy, Shadowrunner.  I will be ordering all of the issues tonight at midnight, Central Standard Time USA (not sure on the time zones thing).

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/buy-rgm/ (//http)

My apologies for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. 

Thanks, just ordered! 

Quote from: "triverse"I will be ordering all of the issues tonight at midnight, Central Standard Time USA (not sure on the time zones thing).

That's great, triverse!  I'm looking forward to getting the print version! 

Order was placed several hours ago, just received the confirmation from Magcloud that they have accepted the order and will begin working on it soon (their site claims up to two business days).

Just wanted to thank everyone for the support, either in comments, downloads or orders.  The mag will only get better.

Issues are going out to 16 different countries.  That was interesting to me as I combined all of the orders and subscriptions, I didn't realize RGM #1 was going to so many countries, some don't even speak English as a dominant language.

16 countries?  That is really cool!  Congratulations!

Thanks, I was surprised when I tallied up where the issues were heading.  It definitely makes me want to move the translation project up a bit in the time line.  We have a guy ready to handle the Spanish translation but French is also a big requested language.  Braille is another option I am looking into.

That is all for the future though.  We have to get support for those languages quite a bit higher to even break even on the costs to translate to those languages (proof reading/editing is not cheap).

Best of luck with it..hope it sells well for you fella

As long as we have one subscriber we will make the mag available. 

Cool, even translations into other languages.  I can help with Spanish if you need it. 

Looks great! Count me in for a subscription.

Make sure your AA team are happy with it and they enjoy the printed copy when it arrives

Quote from: "Greyfox"Make sure your AA team are happy with it and they enjoy the printed copy when it arrives

What's an AA team?

Ace and Awesome I hope this does great now for Triverse.

Got my print issue today! 

Please sure to share a few photos, I want to the quality in physical form and with all the added correction I'm sure its even better in printed form.

Will do.  Just from glancing through it definitely came out very nice. 

Glad to hear copies are starting to arrive.  The ones I ordered for myself and some local game store owners came in yesterday but I wanted to wait till others posted about getting theirs.

Hearing the impressions, good or bad, is going to be great.  We have been piddling around with RGM for over three years now and more than a handful of graphic designers.  I am just glad to have the first issue out, that is the hardest part of starting a new magazine.

OK, finally had a chance to look through the print issue.  Since we've already commented on the content before, I won't be focusing on that.  Instead, I'll give feedback on the print issue itself. 

The good:

• Good quality paper, gives the magazine a good feel.
• The matte finish is a welcome change as it makes the magazine very easy to read.
• The changes made through the digital version have really worked well on the print issue regarding layout.
• Much nicer to read in print.  I may like to read magazine on tablets but nothing like holding a magazine in one's hands. 

Room for improvement:

• Now that I'm holding a real magazine (vs reading it on a tablet), the table of contents is really needed.  Nothing new here since we've mentioned this before.
• Page numbering!  This is not something that became evident with the digital version but it does on the printed magazine.  You mention the Genesis vs SNES on page 5 but there are no page numbers in the magazine.  If you count the pages from the cover the article does indeed start on page 5. 
• Try to keep consistent font sizing through the magazine.  Though evident on the digital version, it is more so evident in print.
• The homebrew section should have some sort of title to let the reader know what they are looking at.

Congrats on getting the print issue out.  Yes, there are some kinks to work out but overall it is very nice with good retro content. 

Here are some picture of the print issue:

[align=center:15x4d5hw](http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag160/TrekMD/RVG%20Images/RetroGaming1_zpse70e5fea.jpg)

(http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag160/TrekMD/RVG%20Images/RetroGaming2_zpse1b1b8f0.jpg)

(http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag160/TrekMD/RVG%20Images/RetroGaming3_zps98464e01.jpg)

(http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag160/TrekMD/RVG%20Images/RetroGaming4_zps89338452.jpg)

(http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/ag160/TrekMD/RVG%20Images/RetroGaming5_zps3da7bb03.jpg)[/align:15x4d5hw]

Looks quality :)

Found this in my mailbox today. Looks great, going to read it over the weekend 

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"Found this in my mailbox today. Looks great, going to read it over the weekend 

Cool, let us know how you like it! 

I read through this now and overall I like it. The paper is a nice quality and the cross platform article was very well done ( especially the Shadowrun comparison  :)

Seems this has good feedback from those who got the magazine..nice work fella..

Whens issue 2 inbound for?

Thanks everyone for not only the good remarks on the first issue but also the help in making it as good as it turned out to be.

We are shooting for mid April for issue #2 for normal sale.  I want to have subscribers and pre-orders receiving their copies when we release the PDF to the general public.  I think this is a nice way of saying thank you for the support.

We originally planned for 60 pages per issue, which would have probably resulted in a "more balanced" magazine when the CPG article and the Post Mortem piece were as long as they were.  We had to cut back the 20 additional pages to get the price to something more manageable.  Magcloud isn't cheap and in return, we are not stuck sitting on unsold issues which could tank a small operation like ours.

We may be reworking the business/magazine model to better suit more fans.  What is currently being bounced around is moving to a bi-monthly schedule (we are currently on a six week schedule) and offering a $7 a month subscription plan (for USA based readers) to better suit more fans (I am not happy with the high price for a subscription but at the moment, my hands are tied on that).  This would work out to about $84 a year for 6 issues but each issue would be 60 pages.  Over a year, it would be an additional 40 pages of content versus the current release schedule.

I am not sure on that at the moment.  I mean, later, when we have the podcast going, exclusive to subscriber content on the site, Youtube videos and more magazines covering other things, the $7 a month business model would be more appealing as people would have access to it all, not just RGM content.

That is for the future though.  For now, we are focused on getting issue #2 out and getting more content available on the site.

We are looking for writers for the site, must have Paypal to receive pay.  The positions are pay for performance (i.e., the better your content does, the more you earn).

Sounds good, triverse.  So, where should folks contact you at if they want to contribute?  The email address you had posted before?    Also, when do you anticipate the model changing on the subscriptions? 

Interested writers can contact me here, at cwilliams@scenic7pr.com or use the contact form on the site. 

If/when the release schedule changes and magazine size increases, all current subscriptions will be honored to their fulfillment.  This was in discussion when we opened subscriptions, that is why it says a specific number of issues in a subscription.  If someone subscribes now, then we change to bi-monthly next month then the subscription would go for eight full issues rather than "one year".

I hope that explains it well.

We finally got the cover for the second issue completed and it is available at the link below:

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2014/03/29/retro-gaming-magazine-2-preview-and-cover-reveal/ (//http)

This issue will feature the following content:

Fan translations we will be featuring in this issue include:

Dynamite Headdy (Sega Genesis)
Front Mission (Super Nintendo)
Lady Sword (Turbo Grafx-16)
Metal Gear 1 & 2 (MSX)
Royal Stone (Sega Game Gear)
Sweet Home (Nintendo NES)

Digital Comics to be featured:
Akira (Nintendo NES)
Bubblegum Crash (Turbo Grafx-16)
Jesus (Nintendo NES)
Policenauts (Sony Playstation)
Radical Dreamers (Super Nintendo)
Snatcher (MSX2)

There will also be more content to finish out the page count for this issue.  One thing will be the contents page (!).  This issue features a wrap around cover similar to the first issue, the back page features Random, from Snatcher, looking mischievous.

Pre-order options are available at the bottom of the article.  The issue is due to be released in mid-April.

I do want to mention, anyone ordering a subscription can let us know what issue they wish to have it started on, either issue #1 or #2.  This is our way of saying thanks for the support and helping fans save on back issue prices.  We will probably continue this on till about issue #4 or #5 at which time we will limit the options for starting a subscription.

Great news!  Looking forward to this issue. Actually, I need to order my subscription! 

Quote from: "triverse"Fan translations we will be featuring in this issue include:

Dynamite Headdy (Sega Genesis)

How is that game a fan translation? 

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "triverse"Fan translations we will be featuring in this issue include:

Dynamite Headdy (Sega Genesis)

How is that game a fan translation? 

Good eye.  You will like that article then.  We are picking off the wall, not your usual RPG's, type games.  Pulseman was another option but there was so little to translate it was kind of pointless to feature it.  Dynamite Headdy, there was A LOT missing in the North American version.

Was there? Never knew that! I have the PAL version!

I keep meaning to speak with you actually but keep forgetting, I have some stuff that might interest you.

There was a whole story cut out of the versions not released in Japan.  This is one of those games that I think people will enjoy finding out new information about.  It is definitely eye catching on the cover.

Just ordered issue #2, cover looks great 

Quote from: "triverse"There was a whole story cut out of the versions not released in Japan.  This is one of those games that I think people will enjoy finding out new information about.  It is definitely eye catching on the cover.

Did you get my PM?

Yes, I need to reply and discuss it some more.  I think it would be great to have that type of stuff in the mag.

An update to let everyone know that we will be running an interview with the man responsible for Policenauts (PSOne) and many versions of Snatcher being available in English in the second issue.  This will complement the other content (fan translations and digital comics) quite nicely.

Nice stuff!

Quote from: "triverse"An update to let everyone know that we will be running an interview with the man responsible for Policenauts (PSOne) and many versions of Snatcher being available in English in the second issue.  This will complement the other content (fan translations and digital comics) quite nicely.

Sounds fantastic :)

Really excited now

The second issue is now available.  It is just over a week late but this time was used to catch, and fix, errors before release.  The table of contents is below:

Interview: Artemio Urbina
Fan Translations:
Clocktower on SNES
Dynamite Headdy for Sega Genesis
Metal Gear 1 and 2 on MSX2
Royal Stone on Game Gear
Sweet Home on NES

Post Mortem:
Castlevania for Spectrum
Legends for Atari 2600
Reblobed for Sega Dreamcast
Sydney Hunter and the Mayan's Revenge for NES

Digital Comics:
Akira for NES
Bubblegum Crash: Knight Sabers 2034 for Turbo Grafx-16
Jesus: Dreadful Bio-Monster for NES
Play Novel: Silent Hill for GBA
Policenauts for Playstation
Radical Dreamers for SNES
Snatcher for MSX2

Game Hacks:
God of War for NES
Sonic Winter Adventures for Genesis
WWE Wrestling for NES

Sharp X68000 gaming computer article.

It is available in print and in a free DRM free PDF at:
http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2014/04/28/retro-gaming-magazine-issue-2-released/ (//http)

Nice one fella I look forward to reading that later.

Cool, I've just downloaded the PDF.  Thanks!

Looks excellent so far. thanks for the release.

Some typos were corrected in the new version of the issue.  Nothing major if you are happy with the version you have, cool.  If you want the corrected version it is being uploaded now.  This newer version will be the print proof.

Thanks,

Carl

okay fella, lets us know when it's up.

It is up now.  There were only nine downloads of the old version.  If you have one of those, you are in extremely limited company.

Will it be worth more money lol.

Just read the new issue, it's a big improvement on the first and certainly a hell of a lot better than RETRO. Nice range of articles and I love the focus on homebrew games too, so top work! 

My only complaint really is that some of the images are still terribly quality, JPGs have no place in a magazine like this!

I haven't been able to read the full issue yet.  This one has one article I wrote in it.   

When did you become a creative director?

Quote from: "zapiy"When did you become a creative director? :)

LMFAO, now that's a reply..

Right I now have read half of this. Yes it's better than the previous mag but there is still placement issues, overloading a page with images that squeeze the text out. Little things that will make mag more professional if ironed out.

I just finished reading this issue.  Clearly a lot of work went into this issue and the feedback given was taken in to make a better issue.  Nicely done, triverse and team.  Good to see a table of contents within the magazine and that the pages are now numbered properly.  The layout for some of the articles needed to be better, though.  Examples are Dynamite Headdy (the one I wrote), Anime goes to the games (p27).  Overall, though, the pages articles are better laid out and the text is more consistent across the board. 

I am glad this issue was received better than the debut and understand there are still things that need working on.  I am hoping that the two new layout designers that have come forward will work out (we have already gone through four or five over the last couple of years).  I know layouts are not my strong point and that the look is the biggest problem we have with RGM right now.  As they say, two wrongs don't make a right.

We are receiving good feedback on the second issue.  Many more people that have downloaded it are more vocal about different things (always a good thing to hear both good and bad).

Both issues are available on Google Play, which has helped us reach more readers (nearly out pacing the downloads on the main site).  I am working on finishing the little details to get RGM listed on Amazon Kindle and on Amazon.com for prints/digital.  Also working on getting the issue carried by some bookstores and game stores that are primarily "southern" in the United States.  I have put in some work to get listed with Barnes & Noble (digital and prints) but I don't see that coming to fruition anytime soon due to various concerns on both sides of this deal.

Basically, once we have a layout designer on board, I can focus more on the stuff I do best- promoting, making agreements and securing exclusive content for the mag and the site.

The first issue was a victim of my having to complete some work with my PR firm around the time of release so I was not able to focus on the issue as much as it really needed.  I pulled the trigger on releasing it when I did because we were already behind and the other work was only going to take more of my time.  As you can see between the issues, I was able to focus a lot more on issue two and it shows, I think, in the final result.

We are working with many indie game publishers on exclusives, yes they still exist in this day and age.  These are mainly new games but in at least one case, there is new gaming hardware involved that will be revealed in the pages of Retro Gaming Magazine first. 

The issues we had with issue #2 pre-orders and the Paypal button have probably cost us a few new readers (I was receiving fie to ten messages per day that the button wasn't working).  I was constantly re-pasting the button and it would work for a little while then it would inadvertently go down again and not work for someone else.  That is more egg on the face of RGM, something I am going to avoid here on out.

Pre-orders will now be available on Magcloud only.  Pre-orders will receive the digital for download (even though I am not happy with the compression implemented) so readers that pre-order won't have to wait for their digital.  The digital will be released on the site approximately one to two weeks after the pre-orders are opened.

We are slowly figuring out the right process to make a success with RGM and I can only offer a deeply heartfelt thank you to the fans that have supported the mag now and are helping it become the best it can be.  Can't wait to see what people think of issue #25.

Brilliant stuff fella, it's great to read that you have taken all the advice here and everywhere else onboard, it shows in the mag and your responses and I think that will win you many new readers.

Triverse, I can't seem to find a subscription option on the site for the magazine now.  Was it removed?

It is still there, just some code got messed up and part of it is mixed in with issue two's Magcloud separation area.

http://retrogamingmagazine.com/buy-rgm/ (//http)

Perfect, thanks.

PS:  Well, not so perfect. The button doesn't seem to work. 

This is the reason we won't be using Paypal buttons in the future.  I checked it before I posted and it worked fine.  Let me recopy the code over and see if that fixes it.

Quote from: "triverse"This is the reason we won't be using Paypal buttons in the future.  I checked it before I posted and it worked fine.  Let me recopy the code over and see if that fixes it.

I can understand.  If necessary, I can wait until you have a different system implemented. Thanks.

PS:  It worked!  Thanks!

Informal poll:  How important is a physically printed magazine to you?

I actually received my physical copy of issue 2 today. I really like that it's printed so it's pretty important to me. Guess I'm just old fashioned when it comes to magazines, but I don't really like reading them on a tablet.

I like having a print magazine, to be honest.  It's not the same when reading a printed magazine than digital; however, I will read either way if it is something I like. 

Same as Trek. I prefer a real printed mag if I had the choice. I tend to read from cover to cover if it's a printed mag or skip through when digital.

Honest question here.  What do you want to see in a magazine, especially one like RGM?  The reason I ask is because judging by what is rocking on the site and what goes in the mag, we have two different platforms going here.  The site is running away with traffic but that traffic is not translating into downloads of the mag, let alone purchases of the print.

So, what do you want to see in a magazine like RGM?  Should we push more "modern" retro like Shadowcrypt, The Goonies remake and Perseus 230 (the top 3 articles of the last month or so)?

Do gamers care to read about games that are 20+ years old?  Are the other mags that cater to retro onto something by inserting more "modern" retro games into their pages? 

I ask these questions because, well, that is how you find out what people want.  We are going to be going with a professional layout designer with issue #3 onward (all in so to speak) so that should cure most of the problems with the layouts and such.

I feel that we are RIGHT there but just a "hair" off from the mark to breaking out into something bigger with RGM.  The market is there, it is just that the current mags don't cater to that market.  Everyone is just slightly off target in my eyes but I want to hear from the people that support these mags on what you want to see in the mags.  What would make you download the PDF and/or buy a print?

As a retro gamer, I want to read mainly retro content in a retro magazine.  There are areas where retro and modern sort of meet, though, that would be interesting to read about.  Examples are retro compilations for modern systems, emulation of retro consoles for modern systems, demakes of modern games for retro systems, and modernization of retro titles.  I'm sure articles about those topics would be of interest and could be interesting.  For example, you could look at an update of a retro game and review how well it retains the original's feel (or not). 

It's good to see that the site is doing well, though.  Hopefully, the magazine will follow suit.  Also good to see you'll have a professional layout designer moving forward.  That will elevate the quality of the magazine. 

Insofar as download vs print...I personally prefer to read print magazines but do like to have some sort of digital option as well. 

I am with Trek here, I want to read about retro games, not modern games. This is one thing that I really hate about Retro magazine, the focus on all the modern games that have some vague relation to something retro.

Put it this way, Retro Gamer magazine sells around 10,000 copies a month and 90% of that at least is hardcore retro content, I think that tells you a lot . . . .

I believe in as much transparency as humanly possible, especially in business related issues, but that doesn't make it any easier to say this next part. 

RGM #3 will be delayed until we can find a layout designer.  I have approached several and all have had one reason or another to not be able to do the work (life is busy basically).  I am continuing to search though and hopefully the delay will be short. 

I feel this is best for the magazine as it is quite prominent that I am not a layout designer and I agree with the many many comments that the design is holding the magazine back.  There is only so much time in the day and I am much more capable in promoting the product than I am at building it.

If it is to go too long, I will personally contact subscribers and arrange for refunds for unused portions of the subscriptions on a case by case basis.

Thanks everyone for understanding.

Sorry to hear about the delay but I can certainly understand.  Hopefully, you find someone soon who can help with the layout.

Yeah sorry to hear about that fella, hope it's resolved quickly for you.

Very sorry to hear this, I would offer my services, but unfortunately I'm producing a magazine with multi-media content of my own at the moment and would not viable to help at this time, but I might be able to fit one of your Articles in for a layout, contact me via PM to discuss it further.

We will no longer be pursuing a print/PDF version of Retro Gaming Magazine at this time.  While this is not a cancellation of the magazine, it is putting it on indefinite hiatus.  Due to unforseen costs and trouble finding a place in the gaming community, the magazine is not financially capable of continuing.

The site will continue onward though.  We will be looking to add additional staff to assist in producing quality articles online in the retro realm.  Once we have a stable staff on the site and have built a sizeable fanbase, we may attempt the magazine again.  This is a forward-thinking goal at this time and one that I personally believe is attainable within a respectable time frame.

At this time, the website needs to be our focus as it allows our best qualities to shine without being held back by a predetermined time frame.  Editorial goals will be easier to reach and easier to promote on gaming news sites.  The current success of the website is solely due to being able to promote the available content widely on the web and have other, more prominent sites such as Polygon, Cinemassacre and others link to it.  Right now, RGM has more regular visitors than several other websites classified as "retro".  RGM is nearing the top 100,000 websites in the United States (well under the 600,000 most popular websites in the world).  This is because of the great support modern day gamers have placed in the website.  We simply were not able to convert that attention into support for the magazine.

By continuing the lackluster magazine we risk losing the momentum that we have built up with the site.  Losing that momentum now could be detrimental to RGM in the longterm on many levels.  With the current size of our editorial staff, we can support either the site or the mag but not both.  This decision is one that was hard to accept but we have to do what is most likely to keep RGM going forward.

I want to personally thank each and every one of our readers for their support and assistance in the creation of the first two issues of RGM.  Issue three will come some day, just not in the next few months.

Refunds of subscriptions will begin shortly and will be made to the account that they were paid from with Paypal.

All I can say is  to hear this..best of luck with the site.

Oh wow, that is sad news indeed.  Glad to see the site is doing well, though.  That is important as well and that is how RGM survives, then so be it.  Best of luck moving forward!

Real shame to see yet another magazine go down the drain.

Quote from: "triverse"We will no longer be pursuing a print/PDF version of Retro Gaming Magazine at this time.  While this is not a cancellation of the magazine, it is putting it on indefinite hiatus.  Due to unforseen costs and trouble finding a place in the gaming community, the magazine is not financially capable of continuing.

The site will continue onward though.  We will be looking to add additional staff to assist in producing quality articles online in the retro realm.  Once we have a stable staff on the site and have built a sizeable fanbase, we may attempt the magazine again.  This is a forward-thinking goal at this time and one that I personally believe is attainable within a respectable time frame.

At this time, the website needs to be our focus as it allows our best qualities to shine without being held back by a predetermined time frame.  Editorial goals will be easier to reach and easier to promote on gaming news sites.  The current success of the website is solely due to being able to promote the available content widely on the web and have other, more prominent sites such as Polygon, Cinemassacre and others link to it.  Right now, RGM has more regular visitors than several other websites classified as "retro".  RGM is nearing the top 100,000 websites in the United States (well under the 600,000 most popular websites in the world).  This is because of the great support modern day gamers have placed in the website.  We simply were not able to convert that attention into support for the magazine.

By continuing the lackluster magazine we risk losing the momentum that we have built up with the site.  Losing that momentum now could be detrimental to RGM in the longterm on many levels.  With the current size of our editorial staff, we can support either the site or the mag but not both.  This decision is one that was hard to accept but we have to do what is most likely to keep RGM going forward.

I want to personally thank each and every one of our readers for their support and assistance in the creation of the first two issues of RGM.  Issue three will come some day, just not in the next few months.

Refunds of subscriptions will begin shortly and will be made to the account that they were paid from with Paypal.

Good luck with it fella, one thing i noticed was your lack of Pageranking on google??

Quote from: "zapiy"Good luck with it fella, one thing i noticed was your lack of Pageranking on google??

I am working on improving (getting anything) on Google Page Rank for RGM.  This could be because it is a new site and less than 100 "more credible" sites are linking in (right now, Alexa shows about 55). 

The mag is not completely dead at this time but it is on severe life support.  Sucks but it is just not meant to be at this time, if at all.

And don't always listen to Alexa mate. I did for too long and found it's only half the help it appears to be.

As for the mag, I am sure you will sort something out long term.

I only use Alexa as a yard stick, nothing concrete.  For stats I go with several from Google Analytics to Wordpress and raw server stats and do an average between them.  I have learned Alexa is a wild unreliable beast to say the least but it is still used by PR companies as the holy grail when working with sites so I have to keep an eye on that aspect.

Until we can put together a team with a layout designer the mag won't be back.  It was my own hard headedness that pushed it through as it was and it was obviously not the right thing to do.

Quote from: "triverse"Until we can put together a team with a layout designer the mag won't be back.  It was my own hard headedness that pushed it through as it was and it was obviously not the right thing to do.

I thought you had found someone to be the layout designer.  That didn't pan out?

We did but they backed out after doing only a couple of pages.  They wanted to go up on their per page rate and I couldn't cover the additional costs they wanted added. 

Quote from: "triverse"We did but they backed out after doing only a couple of pages.  They wanted to go up on their per page rate and I couldn't cover the additional costs they wanted added.

No good. 

So in other words they dictated what "Your" magazine was going to contain? But this is / was up to you? Your the one paying them , yet they took charge? In terms of layouts for magazine, you simply needed to produce about 10-15 and work from that on a regular basis, you only need employ new layouts for a special feature that doesn't fit the layouts you already have, quite simply really, Retro, Retro gamer magazine do it to death, because they simply don't have the resources make brand new ones every single month.

I think your Might have jumped the gun here alittle and expected possible success rate at such a short time space, and to be honest all this should of being thought out long before venturing into such waters, I hate to say it, as your magazine is a great little read, completely let down by layout issues, image quality and lack of presentation other than that of a fanzine. Sure I haven't even read about your magazine on other forums, other than I think TrekMD posted on Atari Age about it ? or maybe that was yourself, without hardly any awareness your never going to get the numbers, I seen nothing of twitter feeds , Facebook etc..and no advertisements of the magazine, other than the preview I created or you, I offered my help and you went cold on that and even offer you a full advert spread in my magazine to help it and nothing was presented to me or any notification of what you wanted to include.

So having a team to produce such a product is all well and good and I hope you land one at some stage, but without proper awareness all the work and effort will have been in vain and expect what has happened here to repeat itself time and time again.

Take care, I really do wish the magazine returns and this time if you do give a PDF, make it a preview only not the full magazine, it lowers ambition to protial buyer, they won't purchase nothing if they have the digital version.

Grey.