Family Bits I (now available in paperback)

[fcgamer | 4,721]

@darkchylde28 had inquired about my Famicom book project in a different thread, and ironically enough, I had just begun to dust off the book from the archives, and I am confident that I'll be able to have the book(s) finished by summer of 2022. I am going to add a poll here, and I also hope that the VGS family will post comments and thoughts on my project, so that I can make the book(s) the best out there.  

edit: I'm stupid, is there some way I can have a poll and have the thread open to posters both?

Edited October 23, 2022 by fcgamer

[spacepup | 2,404]

@fcgamer I think it should be fixed.  When making polls, make sure the "poll-only content" box is not checked.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

I specified "other" for the final question, as I feel a combination of options would be my pick.  I'd make sections chronologically (like a chapter for each year), and then have the chapter's entries alphabetized.  I also think that if you choose any method other than alphabetical, you should have an alphabetized index at the back. 

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

I almost put other for sorting method as I couldn't quite decide. I don't think it should be pure alphabetical though. As wiz pointed out you get all the benefits of alphabetical via an index. Plus alphabetical gets complicated when you are dealing with translated titles. 

I would be fine with the book being sorted chronologically. I do think that would provide an interesting context to how the games evolved over time. On the other hand sorting by publisher/developer (I don't know enough about publisher/developer relations in the non-licensed world to differentiate the two) might give a better narrative into the companies themselves which also seems interesting.

I keep going back and forth between the two but really I think the best choice would be which could you use to tell an interesting story. If a lot of these companies influenced each other, then it may be better to go chronological and introduce all the major players in the beginning or as they become relevant. If trying to weave together the story chronologically becomes too complex to describe properly, then sorting by publisher/developer might be best with occasional call outs to previous games from other companies. 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

If you included the licensed games, I'd buy it, but having only bootleg/homebrew/etc, would be too far outside my personal wheelhouse.

I also voted to organize by publisher.  I find that the easiest way to start trying to figure out what a Famicom game is when there is no English title on the cart is to look for the publisher's name/symbol; sometimes going in blind I'll have no idea when the game was released, so a chronological list is pointless, just as would an alphabetical list be as already mentioned, so for me, making a list of foreign games by publisher is the best way to go.  And it also makes for easily identifiable sub-sets to try and go after for OCD collectors like me!

Edited December 28, 2021 by Dr. Morbis

[Tanooki | 4,931]

I may add more to this later, but look at the bitmap brothers books that cover a good taste of Gameboy, NES/FC, SNES/SFC that would be great, or more like the style of the NES(GB, VB, SNES, etc) works books, but that gets quite history loaded and detailed.

I'd go with hardback, not paper, for durability reasons and storage.  I think A-Z would be best so you can find stuff the fastest but I see logic in by the year too then A-Z in that (or publisher maybe.)

[Tulpa | 3,490]

For hardback vs paperback, it really depends on what this book actually is.

Is it a mostly text quick reference that will only occasionally be used, like an almanac? Then a paperback at an attractive price would be the way to go.

Or is it more of a coffee table style book with lots of color pictures? Then hardback all the way.

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Think I'm gonna go by publisher, some games don't have release years available.

[CMR | 519]

Please use a standard size format for the book.  Nothing too gianormous like the 2600 art book or wonky like "High Score".

[fcgamer | 4,721]

4 hours ago, CMR said:

Please use a standard size format for the book.  Nothing too gianormous like the 2600 art book or wonky like "High Score".

I'll have to see what those dimensions are. Thanks for the feedback!

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I voted $56-70 because $70 seems right for a big ol' coffee table book but I'd probably pay whatever just cause this information is so scattered, obscure, and unpublished unlike say a list of every NES game. You gotta make it in your lifetime otherwise, whooooo will?

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

No interest here, but I’m just one man. It may be cool to see some stuff I’ve never seen before but it seems like it would never be a truly finished product, like a story with no end. I definitely would not pay more than a Contri book or similar and I think they go for about $60 and managed to squeeze ~700 games into SNES and NES.

Maybe start up something like @Reed Rothchilddoes ranking the SNES library and see how many hits you get. Doesn’t have to be a ranking just throw up some games and whatever content you already had in mind

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Alright everyone, time to give you an update. I sent @OptOut a sketch this morning a rough sketch of how the book should be (in my mind, anyways). 

I sat down over the Taiwanese New Year holiday and spent some real time looking at what I had already written years ago, before I had initially shelved the book due to scope reasons. I reorganized things, redesigned the layout of the book itself, and then set about working on the damned thing again. 

Due to scope, I envision Family Bits to be a series of books. As I sat down and sketched out the different sections today, I honestly believe that I have content for around 15 volumes... The last four or five volumes will focus on the licensed Famicom stuff, it's definitely the least of my priorities as I personally feel it's the sort of thing that either already exists, or something that others could produce as well, perhaps even better than I could. 

[fcgamer | 4,721]

As for the other ten volumes, I believe I have about six volumes worth of content already more or less written out, and a few of the volumes that I don't have written out will be easy to write, so let's say that probably around eight volumes are more or less in the bag. 

Each volume is estimated to be around 320 - 350 pages in length. The first volume I am finishing up as we speak, I plan to release it around May or June, with another book in the series to be available by December. I asked the affable @OptOut to write the forward for the first book, so here's hoping...

I'm really excited seeing this finally become a reality after so many years, and for anyone who has any interest in the Famicom (or even the NES), I think you'll enjoy these books, as they offer an in-depth, new perspective on the machine and its software. Think the Nintendo Age database, only for Famicom, with all the obscure and rare crap gathered into one place, scattered across a series of thick, hardcover books. Basically encyclopedias, that's how I see this

 

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Spent the better part of the weekend scanning pictures of some rare game boxes and cartridges. Added some content yesterday, in addition to classifying the different Sachen games.

[MegaMan52 | 2,442]

@fcgamer Yes, I think I would be interested in buying books about Famicom bootlegs. Not only do a lot of us here like imports but you have hundreds of these bootlegs, so making several books about them is a good idea.

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Did more work tonight adding in release dates and genres for games.

Tomorrow I'll hopefully have time to take screenshots from the final games, sans the few I don't actually own. Hopefully I can do one final scanner push too.

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Today was cold and rainy. I decided to work on Bits some more.

Added Chinese names to most games, also wrote about some game studios.

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Tonight was a big scan sess

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Good stuff...

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Finished up the thanks section last night. Also added a few more games.

We're sitting at 97% complete on Volume I...

 

[Tanooki | 4,931]

That was pretty fast, you on nutty lockdown?

[fcgamer | 4,721]

On 2/27/2022 at 5:16 AM, Tanooki said:

That was pretty fast, you on nutty lockdown?

Nah, I'm fulled by beer, betal nuts, and Thai Red Bulls...

We were at 97% on volume I, then I went and did something terrible, and added 31 more games to the first volume...although most of the text had been written previously for those games, I still need to scan stuff and take screenshots and what not, let's say that due to this setback, we're now sitting at around 94% complete, though the night is still young, so here's hoping...

[Tanooki | 4,931]

I'm being fueled by the luck or owner care to listen o Prince Noodles Oodles!  The shop a mile from here is carrying the big bags and I grabbed 3!   I get it, you find something good, you go for it.

 

In the end that 3% slide will be worth it.  Go go go.  I know you're a capable writer.

[fcgamer | 4,721]

Thanks to a slow day at work I was able to get mostly caught up. 

I sketched out some goals for the next few days, I'm hoping to get things mostly wrapped up by the end of the weekend.