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Post by a moderator on Feb 22, 2018 23:37:21 GMT
A non-Steve-or-Ian author's name on the cover! It's about time!
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Post by hynreck on Feb 23, 2018 13:54:45 GMT
Happy for Higson. However, I feel they might be going in the wrong direction with those new covers. First, already changing? They heard the grumbles of the old fans? The new books didn't sell well? Stick to your guns, for once, don't admit defeat at the first sign of hurdles. It feels like the movie industry: well this movie didn't work and didn't start the franchise I was hoping for, so let's reboot for the third time!!
Next, those new covers, for batch #1, they made the old fans grumble mainly because Scholastic is voluntarily burying the old magnificent covers, which is a tragedy in itself, but also depriving a new generation that could discover just how fantastic the original drawing of Zambar Bone was. Now, for that new batch (#2) they are keeping the new artist (who is fine in his own right) (but) which means depriving us of awesome original arts like the cover of Deathtrap Dungeon, plus they are making the same mistake that Wizard did when they decided it was a good idea to diminish prior art to the size of thumbnails. So yes, a clean, unified look, but at the cost of full cover art, which in my opinion is way more eye-catching and overall, interesting.
Yes, I feel they are going the wrong way. They don't need to go back to the way thing used to be, like with the green zigzag and such (I'd love it, but that's not my point). But they do need to stop killing good art pieces, both old (especially such proven classics!) and new.
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Post by paltogue on Feb 23, 2018 19:34:30 GMT
Thanks for the comments! I'm quite happy to use save points and the 'oops' option as it doesn't change anything about the adventure, it just saves me from having to do them multiple-multiple times to complete them. The 'tweaks' is really the one to think about, hard to know what's required till you've tried.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Feb 26, 2018 3:38:39 GMT
Agreed. I would have preferred full cover at.
BTW, what will they do with the skull if they get an author without an "o" in their name?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 26, 2018 5:11:31 GMT
I have mixed feelings about them. Or maybe the point is that I don't have strong feelings. With the first batch the intent seemed a bit off, in that they were a bit cartoony and childish; trying to be purely fun when the aim of the originals was to tempt the observer into mysterious, epic and possibly dangerous worlds. The tone was the problem rather than the quality of the particular artwork. (The original Citadel of Conga cover surely failed its brief in a way that the 2017 version doesn't fail its own.)
It's harder to accuse the 2018 covers of being off-putting by being too childish. But then there's much less attempt to welcome you into a new world at all. Are they likely to grab new readers with them?
(More facetiously, the longer I stare at them the more I'm imagining the words "That's All Folks!" appearing at the bottom – anyone else? As though Looney Tunes had a lapse of judgment and commissioned Bloody Beast alongside Daffy Duck and Porky Pig.)
One basic point: if you didn't know that was a manticore on the cover of TSH – or even what one was – would you even be able to tell?
If the covers are to have a block of colour as a background, some work better than other in being attention-grabbing and exciting:
Crimson/bold red – yes! Dark green – OK Purple - maybe Sky blue - hmm Cyan - ?! Pale grey - ?! (Maybe the actual book will look more metallic. I hope so.)
WRT the Higson, I wonder whether the white text/blue-backed dagger is because it's 'J/L presents' or because it's new…?
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Post by Ed on Feb 26, 2018 12:11:56 GMT
Citadel of Conga ? Don't you mean Citadel of Chaos ?
Agreed about the Shamutanti Hills cover. What's that stuff coming out of the Manticore's mouth ?
and god knows what they've done to the internal art by john blanche....
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 26, 2018 13:32:19 GMT
Citadel of Conga ? Don't you mean Citadel of Chaos ? Agreed about the Shamutanti Hills cover. What's that stuff coming out of the Manticore's mouth ? and god knows what they've done to the internal art by john blanche.... It's sometimes said that this cover resembles a conga line – I was just extending the joke. Yes, no idea about the manticore emissions
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Post by hynreck on Feb 26, 2018 13:44:36 GMT
Yes the lack of a proper Manticore on the Shamutanti Hills cover is a shame. As for the original illos by John Blanche they'll go the way of the dodo, just like Nicholson's illos or Malcom Barter's; more shame. A good illustration transcend time, kids will see that. And look at that conga-line above. A bad illo will also transcend time, see? People today will agree it is a bad one, just like we did all those years ago. All the same, brings back memories.
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Post by offm on Mar 7, 2018 14:01:28 GMT
The Fan Cover of Gathes of Death if Far Better than the original , that's why i love fan based things.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2018 8:00:37 GMT
The Fan Cover of Gathes of Death if Far Better than the original , that's why i love fan based things. Where can the Fan Cover be found?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Mar 10, 2018 23:35:25 GMT
The Fan Cover of Gathes of Death if Far Better than the original , that's why i love fan based things. Where can the Fan Cover be found? The tweet offm embedded on the first page of this thread. I'm aware that some people can't see embedded tweets on here, so if that includes you, this direct link might help. (Side note: I notice that one of the three accounts to favourite that tweet has the handle 'kupoberry', which is also the username of our newest member. Probably not a coincidence.)
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Post by a moderator on Mar 11, 2018 21:50:40 GMT
The fan cover may not be an accurate depiction of anything in the adventure, though.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Mar 12, 2018 17:35:34 GMT
The fan cover may not be an accurate depiction of anything in the adventure, though. That's very true – we won't know for sure until we get the book. But the fan art is a striking cover for some book and the official one isn't striking for any book.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Mar 23, 2018 14:05:42 GMT
Is anyone looking forward to Gate Of Death?
I hope he has taken advice from Jonathan Greene and not Ian Livingstone.
Is there a list of the books that will be released by Scholastic?
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Post by philsadler on Mar 23, 2018 15:24:40 GMT
I certainly am. In fact I can't wait.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Mar 24, 2018 0:04:37 GMT
Is anyone looking forward to Gate Of Death? I hope he has taken advice from Jonathan Greene and not Ian Livingstone. Is there a list of the books that will be released by Scholastic? I think that was the idea to have JG train him on mechanics and structure. I'm definitely looking forward to it, even if the cover is atrocious from what little I can see.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Mar 30, 2018 18:35:57 GMT
Gates Of Death is on sale in Meadowhall in Sheffield as I flicked through a copy today. It has 470 references but looks, prima facie, to be more a turn and collect Livingstone effort than a Jonathan Greene intricate masterpiece though there in no way to know until analysed.
My copy should turn up soon as I ordered at a slightly lower price in case it was rubbish so a damage limitation exercise.
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Post by lordomnibok on Mar 30, 2018 21:14:02 GMT
Gates Of Death is on sale in Meadowhall in Sheffield as I flicked through a copy today. It has 470 references but looks, prima facie, to be more a turn and collect Livingstone effort than a Jonathan Greene intricate masterpiece though there in no way to know until analysed. My copy should turn up soon as I ordered at a slightly lower price in case it was rubbish so a damage limitation exercise. It is hard to judge a book at a glance, but your initial thoughts are interesting. What was the art like John? And the physical quality of the book itself? I'm very intrigued.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Mar 31, 2018 12:17:18 GMT
Gates Of Death is on sale in Meadowhall in Sheffield as I flicked through a copy today. It has 470 references but looks, prima facie, to be more a turn and collect Livingstone effort than a Jonathan Greene intricate masterpiece though there in no way to know until analysed. My copy should turn up soon as I ordered at a slightly lower price in case it was rubbish so a damage limitation exercise. It is hard to judge a book at a glance, but your initial thoughts are interesting. What was the art like John? And the physical quality of the book itself? I'm very intrigued. I was in a bit of a rush. The cover is more 'grown up' though the bright colours of the earlier releases were very appealing and had some merit. The pages are the same with what I call witch-like motifs. As we have suggested the gameplay mechanics are what really count and for that we will have to wait and see. I fear it will be a bit by the numbers so as to not scare away the average 12 year old.
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Post by a moderator on Apr 4, 2018 21:10:07 GMT
Very dark. Almost black. Black. Black.
Black!
Like the endless blackness of space that leads to the chasm of clams!!!
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Post by offm on Apr 5, 2018 14:53:27 GMT
Have you already bought / played gates of death ? is is as good as pointed out on the first amazon review?
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Post by lordomnibok on Apr 5, 2018 21:17:21 GMT
Very dark. Almost black. Black. Black.
Black!
Like the endless blackness of space that leads to the chasm of clams!!! 😆 This made me laugh. Thanks Greenspine. I'm not sure I'll be smiling when I see the pics for myself though. Unless the book contains a space alien clam king, in which case it sounds like the illustrations will be impressively accurate. The book's in the post anyway, so I'll be able to decide for myself soon enough. Thanks again for your thoughts. Haha
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Apr 6, 2018 0:27:29 GMT
There was a bit in Guardian on the relaunch – they had a chat with Livingstone and Higson. If for whatever reason it's more convenient, someone on Twitter did scans of the print edition: here and here.
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Post by a moderator on Apr 6, 2018 20:27:51 GMT
Commenting more seriously on the art, if you didn't like the illustrations in The Port of Peril, you probably won't enjoy the ones in The Gates of Death either.
As for that interview, is it really Ian Livingstone, author of Crypt of the Sorcerer and Blood of the Zombies, claiming that "You’ve got to [...] make it not too hard"?
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Post by lordomnibok on Apr 6, 2018 21:18:44 GMT
Commenting more seriously on the art, if you didn't like the illustrations in The Port of Peril, you probably won't enjoy the ones in The Gates of Death either. As for that interview, is it really Ian Livingstone, author of Crypt of the Sorcerer and Blood of the Zombies, claiming that "You’ve got to [...] make it not too hard"? Ah well, sadly i might not love the art then, but I'm sure it will be to some people's tastes. As for Ian, he has been quoted as saying a few things like that recently. A similar equivalent would be Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about the benefits of taking it easy in the gym, but Ian is a legend so I just chuckle in a fond manner. To be fair though, his last book was very doable, so maybe he's just mellowed and decided to take it a bit easier on his new audience.
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Post by lordomnibok on Apr 6, 2018 23:20:25 GMT
Greenspine's recent comments have got me thinking. Livingstone dose take a few digs now and then about the difficulty of his books, but how many of his books are really impossible if sticking to the rules? I mean, he has written some absolute classics, so is it just Cots and BotZ that went insane on the difficulty level? And how many books from the series as a whole are impossible? There can't be many. I've played almost all of them but I haven't played some since I was a kid, so I can't recall. (I'm talking virtually impossible, not just really difficult.)
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Post by a moderator on Apr 7, 2018 0:31:49 GMT
Chasms of Malice, Spellbreaker and Knights of Doom come to mind. Possibly Masks of Mayhem owing to the low odds of finding the vital orb.
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Post by philsadler on Apr 7, 2018 5:17:16 GMT
To be fair though, his last book was very doable, so maybe he's just mellowed and decided to take it a bit easier on his new audience. Or maybe he just had it ghost-written again?
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Post by Ed on Apr 7, 2018 12:04:13 GMT
has anyone here seen the inside of the shamutanti hills re-print ?
Has the john blanche art been left untouched ?
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Post by a moderator on Apr 7, 2018 14:03:50 GMT
As for Ian Livingstone, while Crypt and Blood may be the only virtually impossible books he's written, everything from Deathtrap Dungeon onwards (and arguably also City of Thieves) made a lie of the claim that 'any player, no matter how weak on initial dice rolls, should be able to get through fairly easily'.
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