Would a good book on shmups have commercial potential?

[professor ganson]

Or is there too little interest in the public at large?

Not that I'm planning to write one. (Too busy writing on other things atm.)

Would anyone like to write such a book?

[JBC]

I'd buy that for a dollar! Hawhawhaw!

[diOdesu]

id buy it. youre talking more of a picture book though right?

id especially buy it if it was a shooter pop-up book.
pull a tab to see the ship explode. spin another tab to expose a bullet pattern. hypnotizing.

im lazy too. probably wont sell anyway. maybe if you advertise it as a retro-gaming book.

[it290]

I think you could sell it, as a niche thing of course. Recently a book was released called 'Freax', which is about the demoscene, and it's doing OK. There are probably enough people with an interest in shmups for it to do fairly well.

The best way to do it, IMO, would be to pull out all the stops and make it into a nice coffee table/art book, with some essays about the history of the shmup in there. I bought a book a while ago called 'I Love Game Graphics' which I've seen in several bookstores. That book is in the above format, sells for $45 or so, and seems to be doing fine.

[Zweihander]

I'd say so. Like several guidebooks to genres (examples: history of anime, history of film noir.. etc etc.), it could sell, and possibly introduce some people to a genre even if they don't buy the book (i.e. walked in to Borders or B&N, checked it out, and thought, "I saw that Gradius III game somewhere last week.... maybe i'll dig out my SNES..."). More than likely it'd be a historic companion to the linneage of shmups, and in the gaming section-- to the delight and possible orgasm of shmup forumites.

[Fenrir]

I'd buy it for sure, and I think most of the people here would as well. You should see if books on videogames generally sell... and I don't think this is the case. It depends on how much it costs to you to write it and how much would you like to get from it.
It's not really encouraging but you have my vote

[Andi]

I'll be the pessimist here:

I don't think you could even get someone to publish it, much less a group of people to buy it once it is published. Books about video game history are niche items already and when you make it a book about a niche part of video game history...

That's like...ultra-niche.

[CIT]

Would a good book on shmups have commercial potential?

If it's a collection of illustrations of female Psikyo characters with protruding titties and buttz I'd say YES!!!

[Ganelon]

I'll be the pessimist here:

I don't think you could even get someone to publish it, much less a group of people to buy it once it is published. Books about video game history are niche items already and when you make it a book about a niche part of video game history...

That's like...ultra-niche.

Seconded. Most strategy guides don't even sell well. How can you expect a book to sell?

[iatneH]

Would a good book on shmups have commercial potential?

If it's a collection of illustrations of female Psikyo characters with protruding titties and buttz I'd say YES!!!

I'm not buying it if it doesn't have embossed boobage on the cover.

[nim]

since most shooter enthusiasts are very aware of the actual game design I think appart from filling it with sexy shooter characters, begging cave to support it with bonuses like miniposters (like that posterseries.. ddpdojcoverposterplz) and maybe interviews, I'd vote for a summary of the genres different kinds of gameplay/design (scoring system and other gameplaystuff, highlighting innovations etc).
you could link games after similarities in gameplay etc.. ..or maybe it wouldn't be interesting.

one of the things I'd want most in terms of graphics are full backgrounds in folding down looong pages folding out either up or to the right of the most beautiful backgrounds.
dodonpachi.. progear ...blazing/pul-star etc ;¨3

paper cutouts of ships.

and documentation of all the funny stuff enthusiasts have done for the love of shooters. cosplay, practical jokes, inofficial models, papercrafts etc.

funny stories!!
like that one about the gaijins who visited that arcade with their list (with the illustrated portraits) translated :¨)

Treasures compelling background stories?

not that it's very related to the gameplay part of the games but some coverage on the touhou doujin phenomena.. not like hunting down every hentai doujinshi but scoping the touhou series and its large fancultural spreading.

including a music cd/dvd if possible. and maybe mixed with every playworthy freeware shmup if possible.
exemplaric uncommercial replays?

sorry brainstorming, much probably obvious :)
I'd buy anyway if it included art, gameplay discussions and lots of fun extras. I think if a book should be made, it'd best be an allcovering book with more focus on quantities of charming stuff than exclusive content (even though that'd be great).

[Thunder Force]

I don't think you could even get someone to publish it

This kind of book sounds like what the new range of "print on demand" alternative publishing services are trying to facilitate. (example)

[it290]

eh, I think if the book was really well laid out you could get die gestalten verlag, taschen, or somebody like that to publish it.

[extrarice]

A book like that definately would capture a niche market. However, retro gaming is the hip thing these days, with the late-20's to mid 30's getting nostalgic about their childhood memories. If the book had an element of that, like covering the evolution of arcade shmups, or arcade-to-home conversions, or tracing the family tree of certain series, then I think it would sell beyond its niche market.

(tucks idea away for the future )

[system11]

Or is there too little interest in the public at large?

Not that I'm planning to write one. (Too busy writing on other things atm.)

Would anyone like to write such a book?

Dude, the public at large can't even read in many cases

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I've asked about if a shmup book would be feasible on the old shmups.com forum and got some cool responses back regarding that topic.

The only thing is if one were to cover the Japanese arcade shmup titles, one would have to get copyright clearance directly from the arcade game developer themselves (i.e. -- Cave, Success/Skonec, X-nauts/Psikyo, etc.) and that would require a Japanese book publisher to pull something like that off (and not to mention if such a bonus DVD disc were to be included, again, copyright issues to be sorted out -- or else arcade developers could end up bringing out the "big gun" lawyers to defend their "Intellectual Properties".

I was thinking if one were to write a shmup book, one would have to brainstorm as to how the book design will look like, whether or not to have multi-language support (i.e- both in American English & Japanese Kanji script like found in the Square's The Making of "Final Fanasty: The Spirits Within" Book from BradyGames).

Now if a small team of shmup fans were to pool their talents for writing, getting access to the Japanese arcade developer's for exclusive interviews just for their shmup book, securing copyrights from arcade developers for their game IPs, it could really happen. Of course, it would take some time to get stuff done (assuming that one doesn't want to do a fucking botched job but one with cool artistic integrity, style, design in paying homage to the very beginnings, the golden age, the present, and towards the future of shmups in a professional produced shmup book).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Blade]

I'd buy it if it had lots of pics, had some shmup history among other things, maybe some key shmup profiles and factoids.

[extrarice]

I've asked about if a shmup book would be feasible on the old shmups.com forum and got some cool responses back regarding that topic.

The only thing is if one were to cover the Japanese arcade shmup titles, one would have to get copyright clearance directly from the arcade game developer themselves (i.e. -- Cave, Success/Skonec, X-nauts/Psikyo, etc.) and that would require a Japanese book publisher to pull something like that off (and not to mention if such a bonus DVD disc were to be included, again, copyright issues to be sorted out -- or else arcade developers could end up bringing out the "big gun" lawyers to defend their "Intellectual Properties".

I was thinking if one were to write a shmup book, one would have to brainstorm as to how the book design will look like, whether or not to have multi-language support (i.e- both in American English & Japanese Kanji script like found in the Square's The Making of "Final Fanasty: The Spirits Within" Book from BradyGames).

Now if a small team of shmup fans were to pool their talents for writing, getting access to the Japanese arcade developer's for exclusive interviews just for their shmup book, securing copyrights from arcade developers for their game IPs, it could really happen. Of course, it would take some time to get stuff done (assuming that one doesn't want to do a fucking botched job but one with cool artistic integrity, style, design in paying homage to the very beginnings, the golden age, the present, and towards the future of shmups in a professional produced shmup book).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I don't know if a "history book" or other discussion on shmups would need copyright clearance. Heck, I've seen game strategy guides that don't have copyright clearance from the game publisher. Mind you, I am not a lawyer, but I believe a book of the nature we're discussing would fall under "fair use" of the material. If it contained source code, a demo disc, title-based-wallpapers (official or original), or things of that nature, then you'd need clearance. But "An Illustrated History of Shmups" would need no such clearance. Just be sure to mention that all character names, game titles, screenshots, whatever is owned by its respective copyright holder.

Now, if you're talking about basically a photo gallery, like the Spirits Within book, then you would probably need clearance from the owner, since you basically would be adding very little to the material. It would be just a book of screenshots, arranged nicely. Nothing original - you'd most likely need permission. (even still, I'm not 100% sure you'd need permission to use screenshots you generated yourself).

[it290]

I believe that reproducing artwork for purposes of criticism falls under fair use. Take a look at modern art textbooks -- obviously they don't obtain permission from every artist that is written about. In my opinion the same would be true for a 'history of shmups' book. From what I've read, the question is basically twofold -- 1, what is the primary purpose of the work (ie criticism, education, etc.), and 2, as extrarice stated, is the work simply reproduced, or has it been added to in some way (whether through accompanying text or modification of artwork, etc. itself).

[neoalphazero]

Almost anything can be released these days in book form especially if it has good design, there's plenty of oddball coffee table books or niche art books. I own about a dozen books on street art, a subject that annoys far more people than it interests.

Lots of art (illustration and sprite/poly) would be a must and I would love to see shots showing some bullet patterns in games like that beautiful Psyvariar 2 DC poster released a few years ago. It was basically a collage of 80-100 game shots of bullet patterns. Interviews with developers about why they continue their craft would be great too. *-neo

[doctorx0079]

Take a look at modern art textbooks -- obviously they don't obtain permission from every artist that is written about.

No, but if they actually reproduce the work, they usually have to get permission from the copyright holder or the owner.

[it290]

If the work is wholly reproduced and under copyright, then yes, they probably do obtain permission, although I can think of exceptions (public art, for example). The whole thing is a bit muddy. Reading up on it a bit more though, I think screenshots would certainly be covered under fair use (in the US) thanks to the 'amount and substantiality' factor -- that is, a screenshot cannot be said to be a substantial portion of the game as a whole.

[Minzoku]

I don't think you could even get someone to publish it, much less a group of people to buy it once it is published.

Lulu would.

Just saying.