 Click the cover to view book preview... Title The Commodore 64 Book - 1982 to 199x Author Andrew Fisher ISBN 0-9779983-0-4 Information £17.99
Available Now
Paperback Book
|
| InformationInformation | Author DiaryAuthor Diary |
| Page: | |
Andrew Fisher's The Commodore 64 Book - 1982 to 199x covers over two hundred of the best games for the Commodore 64.
Over two hundred classic games are covered in this book by Andrew Fisher, former writer for Commodore Force and Commodore Format and regular contributor to Retro Gamer. Introduced with a foreword by gaming industry legend Jeff Minter, this is a nostalgic and detailed look back at the rapid changes in gaming and how the Commodore 64 evolved.
The book is split into chapters covering the years 1982 to 1992 - the commercially successful years for the machine. The final chapter covers the years from 1993 onwards, the end of the commercial era and some of the notable homebrew games that have followed. Each chapter is introduced with a short history of what was happening to Commodore and the games industry. The chapters are colour-coded and marked by the margin characters; each year has sprites/characters from a game published in that year.
For each game there is a full page review with multiple screenshots and a scan of the game’s cover. The games chosen represent some of the best titles the C64 has to offer, including well-known names like Impossible Mission, The Last Ninja and Armalyte. There are also one or two less well-known games, chosen by the author as personal favourites to bring them to a wider audience. The media (tape, disk or cartridge) each game was released in is shown, along with review scores and a quote from leading European magazines of the time including ZZAP! 64 and Commodore User.
The reviews are split into three main parts. First comes the actual review section, describing the author’s opinions of the game. The second section gives anecdotes and trivia about its creation and the people that made it. Notable sequels, conversions and similar games are also discussed. The final section gives the plot of the game and talks about the actual gameplay. The games are listed by year in the contents, with an index at the back providing quick access to favourite games.
This is a follow-up to Andrew Rollings' The ZX Spectrum Book - 1982 to 199x and is the second of the Golden Years series. A year in the making, it is essential reading for any Commodore 64 fan and a great coffee table book for all gamers.
|
9/1/2009 Just a quick update, the new project is going well although progress has been slow lately.
I've reached 100,000 words but there will be a lot of editing and changes to be done. Gathering images and screenshots to illustrate the pages has started but is going to be a big task.
The good news is that I've got in touch with someone to write the foreword, and it's a very big name.
|
5/8/2009 So, nearly two months since I last updated this diary - due to health problems that have prevented me working as much as I'd like. Fortunately I am now on the mend.
This last week has seen a lot of progress on the new project. In fact, the word count is now over 60,000, representing a fair proportion of the finished book. We're still working towards announcing this soon. And I'm looking forward to seeing a finished copy of Jerry's book, as well as helping Andrew finish off Generation ZX. The rest of this year is going to be a busy time for Hiive Books... |
3/15/2009 So, long overdue for an update.
The Commodore 64 Book continues to sell well, I took a few copies along to the Byte Back event in England. One of them was purchased by former Ocean programmer Joffa Smiff, so I was happy to sign it for him.
And work is continuing on the Golden Years series - I've been helping to proof-read Jerry Ellis' 8-Bit Book. There's a great range of games in there, and even I'm learning something new from it!
While it may sound crazy, I am alternating work on TWO new book projects for Hiive right now. The first of those is the Amiga Book, on which a fair amount of text has already been written. The tricky phase now is finishing off the reviews and deciding on the layout - while there will be some continuity with what has gone before, we're hoping to come up with something fresh. The other project will be revealed soon... |
9/15/2008 Just got back from the Back in Time event in Stockholm, Sweden - a live concert of C64 music. Famous names like Reyn Ouwehand and Fred Gray attended - and performed - alongside new rock band 6581 and the two DJ sets (the funky Disco Danceaway, and the one and only Jeroen Tel from the Maniacs of Noise). Over three hundred people packed into the nightclub, with the walls decorated with C64 screenshots and some C64s set up to play games all night.
As a special "door prize", a copy of the Commodore 64 Book was sent flying into the audience by organiser Andreas Wallstrom. The lucky recipient got it signed with a special message from me, and I've already received an e-mail saying how much he was enjoying it. I also spoke to one or two other people who have already purchased it and liked it. Since I flew over on a certain budget airline I was unable to carry more copies to sell, but hopefully the book will be available at other retro events next year... |
9/7/2008 So, I now have an Amiga! It's set up on an old colour TV for now, until I can get a cable to use it with my Commodore monitor.
Sorting through the big bag of disks that came with it, I found THE GREAT GIANA SISTERS. This ran into a lot of controversy for its similarities to Super Mario Brothers - Nintendo demanded it was withdrawn from sale, and work on the sequel was stopped. Playing it on the Amiga reveals identical level layouts and enemies - in fact, the graphics are only slightly different and there are a few samples (like Giana's death scream) that make it stand out from the excellent C64 game. It's not a title that shows off the Amiga to its best potential... but there will be many of them in the Amiga book! |
9/4/2008 So, my brother arrived today... and bought with him the Amiga 600 and a carrier bag full of disks that I'd purchased at the Fusion event. It's the "Wild, Weird and Wicked" bundle still in its original box - with Putty, Push Over, Formula One Grand Prix and Deluxe Paint III. I've got to find some space to set it up, but it will help with research for the next book.
In terms of actual writing, it's been such a busy few days I've not had much time. I'm also now gearing up for my next event - Back in Time Live, in Stockholm. It's almost exactly twenty years since I last went to Sweden, and I have vivid memories of looking at Commodore 64 games in a big department store. |
7/19/2008
Went to the Fusion ’08 gaming event in Leamington Spa, a weekend of Rock Band, Vectrex, Typing of the Dead, Golden Axe and many other games. Great to meet people including Archer Maclean and Simon Goodwin, and quite a few people who had bought the book. I was even asked to autograph a book that someone had bought with them – hi Luis! Picked up an Amiga 600 and games cheap, although it’s still at my brother’s…
|
2/6/2008
Well, last week Andrew sent me the photos of the sample copy that had arrived at his, and we put them online to help generate some more interest. Now I am waiting patiently for it to arrive over here, hopefully in time to take it to the Retrovision gaming event this weekend (so Jeff Minter can get to see his foreword in print). The end of the project is tantalisingly close now, and thoughts are turning towards what we can do next…
|
12/7/2007
Well, it’s been a long journey but the moment has arrived. The final proofs are ready to go off to the printer to be made into a book! While it would have been nice to get this out the door in time for Christmas, it was more important to make it accurate and polish every page. Now we just have to sit back and wait for the finished books to make their way back…
|
1/1/2007 While I'm waiting for Andrew Fisher to upload some of his diary entries, I thought I'd fill the space with some of the comments we've received about the book...
- "Great book and lovely to behold. Nicely timed with me finally getting Frodo working on my DS" - FishyFish, rllmuk forums.
- "Just a quick post to say I have received my book and am thoroughly delighted with it! Well done!" - planneroftowns, rllmuk forums.
- "Got mine today! Bloody lovely!
 And I didn't even have a 64! " - Goose, rllmuk forums
More to come...
AndrewR
(and yes, the date of this message isn't really 2007 - I just wanted it to appear after Andrew's own!) |
| Page: | |
|
Sample Pages Click any page to view book preview...        |
|