ZX Spectrum: A Visual Compendium Kicks off 15/5/2015

[zapiy]

[align=center:3a9o0llv]http://youtu.be/0stngBFCcWY[/align:3a9o0llv]
Welcome to my Kickstarter campaign to design and produce a book all about the ZX Spectrum. Sinclair ZX Spectrum: a visual compendium will focus on the visual side of the computer; from in-game pixel art to game maps to box artwork, the book will be crammed full of beautiful high-resolution, full-colour imagery. The ZX Spectrum is a true British icon and at the time boasted cutting-edge product design. This unique and iconic image is something that we want to capture; the ultimate aim is to produce a book which proudly pays homage to this classic home computer..

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21 ... nav_search

[Greyfox]

Not one for me I'm afraid, but as per usual will be something special, and the perks are brilliant , I thought the post cards were hilarious, now you have to guess which game they come from...go......

[zapiy]

It's passed the pledge amount already lol. Unreal.

[dot.fyre]

Another great looking book for the king of the home computers! 

[Greyfox]

Another great looking book for the king of the home computers!  :113:......but not in this reality

[AmigaJay]

Got his Amiga book but will pass on this also, have got the triple set of Chris Wilkins Spectrum books to keep me going! We need NeoGeo and PC Engine books not the same computers again!

[Greyfox]

Well I'm working on making that stuff a reality if people take a risk in hiring a designer that can make it mind blowing, no page fillers, no big gaps of empty space passed of as stylish design for lack of content to insert. There is a ton of stuff, but without the right team, the right information and the right direction, these books will continue, I feel Sam is heading there, but is more than lightly the main ones to get out of the way.

Who knows what's in store

[zapiy]

Huge update on one of Sam KS pages today.

Thoughts?

Hello backers

Just thought I would post up an update which hopefully covers a few of the questions/suggestions that have cropped up over the past few days regarding Bitmap Books and the compendium series of books.

When I first started Bitmap Books and launched the Commodore 64 Kickstarter back in March 2014, there was no big plan to do a series of books. I honestly has no idea that the reaction would have been so positive to what I did. Due to the positive reaction and the popularity, this has spurred me on to create more books. I really like the 'visual compendium' brand and I can see eventually a whole series of these books (like encyclopedias). So, what would be left is a complete numbered visual guide to pretty much all the major systems. Books that will follow next in the visual compendium series will be on systems such as the Arcades, Super Nintendo, Neo Geo etc... I will keep going as long as there is interest!

During the production of the C64 book, I took the decision to number the spines of the books. This was met with some resistance at the time but what I want is a series that is clearly in numerical order. It's clean and harps back to how we used to collect the magazines in issue number. I didn't want to fall into the trap of adding multiple volumes to each system as I think this is confusing and I believe that covering each system in x1 big book is the way to go.

I'm not saying that I am making things up as I go along but what I'm doing is evolving all the time. For instance (as previously discussed) the Amiga Book turned into something much bigger then I ever imagined.

But, after reading some comments and suggestions, it feels like the right time to make some solid plans around the books - so here goes...

1. The ZX Spectrum book will be number 3 in the series. I appreciate that this system is not everyones cup of tea but it is important to cover it. It played a huge role in computer game culture and many coders/artists started their career here before making it into the big time. What it lacked in full-colour, it made for with amazing details graphics. Therefore, I strongly believe that it will make a stonking and stylish book. If all the stretch goals are hit, as with the Amiga book, your original pledge could see you get extra stuff, including the Allister Brimble CD and funky polystyrene packaging. The CD will in essence, be inspired by the original chip tunes but what Allister does is very much a contemporary interpretation. I think there will be plenty to enjoy here, even if you are not a huge fan. If you would like to back the third book, your support would be greatly appreciated and I promise you won't be disappointed. Go here.

Here is also a sample of what Allister will do with the CD. Agent X by Tim Follin.

2. I have bene asked a fair few times about doing a slipcase or a hardback for the C64 book. I completely understand peoples desire for all their books to match. Clearly, the way that things have evolved since the C64 book, means that this now feels a little 'dwarfed' in comparison. The Commodore 64 REALLY deserves a book on the scale of the Amiga book and I believe it would be a huge hit. I have 2 options here that I wanted to run past you guys and see what you think. The first is to reprint the C64 book but add much more content (artist interviews, demo scene, more games etc...). The downside of this is that I would be asking people to essentially buy half the book again to get the bigger version. The second option is to produce a companion books of the same size as the first. The second book would contain more of the same. I could then offer the two books in a slipcase (same as Amiga book) to keep them nice and together. If you already own the first C64 book, you could just get the second book and slot your old book into the new slipcase.

I know this sounds like a bit of a faff but I am just trying to bring the C64 book inline with the rest. What are your thought on this?

On the subject of consistency of books. All books in the series WILL keep the same size, orientation and style. This will keep them looking like a set. I will however though customise each book to a certain extent i.e. Spectrum book is black as these quirks are will what makes the books unique to that particular system. I think its about getting balance. As a designer, I really want to do interesting things each time but I understand the desire for consistency.

3. Someone mentioned a 'subscription' option for the books, which is a really interesting idea. Kickstarter is great because a project can grow into something unique and you get a real community feel going on. The downside is that it is very time consuming and it reduces the time I get to actually design the books. It also means that I am doing things that are not my core skills such as postage and packing. Funstock are the experts here so should really be doing this to free me up. I haven't made a decision on what to do about this but realistically, Kickstarter has played it's role in that it has Kickstarted Bitmap Books and the future could see future books not on Kickstarter. How would people feel about this? The subscription idea is very interesting so will give it some thought.

One thing that has also happened is that over the past 12 months, I have been getting an increased number of approaches from people enquiring whether Bitmap Books will publish their book. There are a couple of these in the mix at the moment but these will not be in these series of compendiums. These are stand alone books that further enhance my portfolio and will open up new audiences. More very soon on this.

Hopefully that all makes sense. Essentially, I want everyone to be happy and the overall big goal is that I have happy backers/customers that want to collect all the books in the series!

Cheers, Sam

[Greyfox]

My hitman is now loading up the bullets for his sniper rifle as I type . From a design point of view, I think that the suggestions above in the form he wishes to take, maybe beginning to be tired process in presentation although people are pleasantly happy with the format, I think now that they need to be more indept features similar to the ocean book or spectrum in pixels rather than be mainly being made up of quotes although great, would love to see them more informative with a higher word count to boot.

I'm sure what ever Sam does it will be fantastic, but I think has limited his design work to small book sizes which he's using, maybe he should consider specialist subjects like the console he hopes to cover in a bigger format as these machine produced higher visual content that the home computer range. At no point is this a personal criticism on his work, far from it, I just think , to take it to a higher plain regarding what could be classed as the 16-bit console era doesn't have to be confined to the book size he's using at the present. As when I received the hardback version of the Atari 2600 Encyclopedia the size is so we'll match for this type of content 9x6" is not what should be used for content like this IMO .

Sniper is now in position and awaiting confirmation lol.