kure software koubou ( 呉ソフトウェア工房 ) , or ksk , is a japanese game development company founded in 1985 that creates games for many platforms , but focusing mostly on home computers .

ksk 's games are well known for the " gochyakyara " ( ゴチャキャラ " multiple character " ) system which ksk invented , which was a unique hybrid between the real-time strategy , action role-playing game and tactical role-playing game genres .

some of their games also used a european art style in addition to a japanese anime style .

ksk is also famous for having most of the cover art for their games created by renowned artist yoshitaka amano .

kure software koubou

official site . kure software koubou . retrieved on 2011 - 05 - 19 ( translation )
official site . kure software koubou . retrieved on 2011 - 05 - 19 ( translation )
kure software koubou ( 呉ソフトウェア工房 ) is a game developer based in saitama , japan . the company was founded in 1985 by
a unique hybrid rts / action / rpg game first released in 1988 . it was the first game by kure software koubou and itnroduced their eventually popular multiple character gameplay system that they went on to use in many later games .
kure software koubou co . , ltd is an android developer that has been active since 2016 and has one game ( firstqueen1 ) in google play . firstqueen1 is listed in the category
role playing
and is highly ranked in at least one country .
first queen ( pc , super famicom , etc ) was a unique hybrid rts / rpg / action game first released in 1988 . it was one of the first games by kure software koubou and helped establish their eventually popular multiple character gameplay system that they went on to use in many later games .
in 1987 , amano joined square ( now known as square enix ) to work on a role - playing video game for the nintendo entertainment system : final fantasy . amano produced conceptual design pieces for the game in both traditional and computer designed artwork . at this time , he also worked for another video game company , kure software koubou , producing box cover illustrations as well as some character designs . this work included designs for kure ' s first queen series .
in 1987 , amano joined square ( now known as square enix ) to work on a role - playing video game for the nintendo entertainment system : final fantasy . amano produced conceptual design pieces for the game in both traditional and computer designed artwork . [ 10 ] at this time , he also worked for another video game company , kure software koubou , producing box cover illustrations as well as some character designs . this work included designs for kure ' s first queen series . [ 11 ]
first queen was a unique hybrid between a real - time strategy , action role - playing game and tactical role - playing game . like a role - playing video game , the player can explore the world , purchase items , and level up , and like a strategy video game , it focuses on recruiting soldiers and fighting against large armies , where the player controls a large army rather than a small party . the game introduced the
gochyakyara
( ゴチャキャラ
multiple characters
) system , where the player controls one character at a time while the others are controlled by the computer ' s artificial intelligence that follows the leader , and where battles are large - scale with the characters and enemies sometimes filling an entire screen . kure software koubou employed this
gochyakyara
system in their later games . [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
first queen was a unique hybrid between a real - time strategy , action role - playing game and tactical role - playing game . like a role - playing video game , the player can explore the world , purchase items , and level up , and like a strategy video game , it focuses on recruiting soldiers and fighting against large armies , where the player controls a large army rather than a small party . the game introduced the
gochyakyara
( ゴ� ? ャキャラ
multiple characters
) system , where the player controls one character at a time while the others are controlled by the computer ' s artificial intelligence that follows the leader , and where battles are large - scale with the characters and enemies sometimes filling an entire screen . kure software koubou employed this
gochyakyara
system in their later games . [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
( 1988 ) was the first game to utilizes kure ' s trademark
gocha - kyara
( ゴチャキャラ ,
mixed - up characters
) system , which combined elements of real - time strategy with role - playing and action . their subsequent games ( including their most popular series
is there a developer walkthrough somewhere on how an artist would even go about creating this type of pixel - art ? like a video or written article on the software and the techniques used back then to produce such high quality low res art ? i would love to just watch someone create the images in the op , all steps involved .
future games ( starting from about 2007 ) are likely to further enhance the realism of rts games , giving each unit a limited intelligence , similar to how it ' s done in massive ( and to some extent in the lord of the rings : the battle for middle - earth ) and generating unit animations procedurally ( currently all games use recorded animations done with motion capture or manually ) , similar to how it ' s done in naturalmotion ' s endorphin software .
in japan , the genre ' s beginning can be traced to taito ' s western gun ( 1975 ) , sega ' s space tactics ( 1980 ) , [ 3 ] and nihon falcom ' s galactic wars ( 1982 ) , [ 4 ] a space - themed strategy game where the player was given limited time to make decisions , making it the first real - time strategy game . [ 5 ] another early real - time strategy game was bokosuka wars ( 1983 ) , an early tactical / strategy rpg ( or
simulation rpg
) ; [ 6 ] the game revolves around the player leading an army across a battlefield against enemy forces in real - time while recruiting / spawning soldiers along the way , for which it is considered by ray barnholt of urltoken to be an early real - time strategy game . [ 7 ] this led to several other games that combine role - playing and real - time strategy elements , such as the 1988 kure software koubou computer strategy rpgs , first queen [ 8 ] and silver ghost , which featured an early example of a point - and - click interface , to control characters using a cursor . [ 9 ] another early title with real - time strategy elements was sega ' s gain ground ( 1988 ) , a strategy - action game that involved directing a set of troops across various enemy - filled levels . [ 10 ] [ 11 ] technosoft ' s herzog ( 1988 ) is regarded as a precursor to the real - time strategy genre , being the predecessor to herzog zwei and somewhat similar in nature , though primitive in comparison . [ 12 ] other early examples from japan include galactic wars ( 1982 ) and lord monarch ( 1991 ) .
purchase this ps one® classic and play it on both your ps3™ and psp® ( playstation®portable ) systems ! a chaotic real - time strategy rpg where dozens of characters battle it out for control of logres . test your mettle as you command your troops in combat against other would - be kings . form alliances to ensure your conquest and bring peace to the land . download this ps one® classic today ! transferring to a psp® system from your ps3™ system : you must be signed into the playstation®network account that originally purchased the game . you must have at least 71 mb free on your memory stick duo™ . connect your psp® system to your ps3™ system with a usb cable and switch your psp® system to usb mode . highlight the game on the ps3™ xmb™ , press the δ button and select copy . pc store customers : log into your playstation®network account that you originally used to purchased the game . then , download the game from your
download list
in the playstation®store onto your ps3™ system . this title has been converted from the original playstation® disc to the psp® and the ps3™ systems . consequently , there may be times where the title plays differently from the playstation® disc version , or where some features may not function properly . this version does not support playstation® peripherals ( controller , memory card , multitap , etc . ) , therefore functionalities such as multiplayer , versus , and co - op modes are not available . purchase indicates acceptance of the playstation®network terms of service / user agreement and this item & apos ; s use restrictions . if you do not wish to accept all these terms , do not purchase this item . one time fee for use on downloads on up to 2 activated portable systems and 2 activated console systems . ©1996 kure software koubou
ps one
,
playstation
,
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family logo , and
psp
are registered trademarks of sony computer entertainment inc .
the land of logris is home to many races and nations : humans , elves , dwarves , centaurs , and others . it is divided into many small kingdoms , different nations trying to live in peace with each other . but the queen of ornic , one of these nations , had plans of her own . she sent her troops to the south , invading the kingdom of elves . the army of ornic started conquering one country after the other . the king and queen of cardic , a powerful country in the south , decided to stop the madness , sending their soldiers , under the commands of general richmond , to find allies wherever possible and to defeat the army of ornic .
is a mixture of rpg and strategy game with real - time combat . in a rpg fashion , the party of heroes roams the world , fighting enemies , buying items , and leveling up . however , the focus of the game is shifted towards recruiting soldiers and fighting against whole armies . the player - controlled unit may contain a dozen or more characters , and it is also possible to build more than one , making the player - controlled group more similar to an army than to a standard rpg - type party . like the earlier
(
mixed - up characters
) combat system , which they later employed in several other games . the player is able to control only one character at a time ; the others act according to the computer ai . attacking an enemy is a matter of simply bumping into him . this system allows for large - scale battles , with the characters sometimes filling the entire screen , creating the
mixed - up
impression .
there are no game credits on file for this release of the game . everything in mobygames is contributable by users .
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urltoken
in the latest issue of british mag games ( tm ) ( or at least the latest on us store shelves - it ' s the one with rare on the cover ) has an interview with hiroyuki takahashi , one of the head honchos of team sonic ( later camelot ) , the folks behind the shining force series . it ' s a neat read , if mainly because it shows their strained relationship at the time , and how they jumped ship to work mainly on nintendo properties ( what with mario tennis , mario golf , and golden sun . )
now , most srpgers view shining force as kind of a fire emblem - lite - the base mechanics are similar , but it ' s a bit simplified , and much more player friendly . yakahashi claims that he hated fire emblem and its turn - based style , and instead pointed to a pc88 strategy game called silver ghost , by a now defunct japanese company called
. i was curious about the connection so i booted up an emulator and gave it a go .
the main reason takahashi pointed to liking silver ghost was due to its real time action and multi - character system . it ' s very similar to other japanese action - rpgs of the time , like ys and hydlide , where you scamper around and ram into enemies to attack them . instead of controlling a single character , though , you control an army of about a dozen people . by default , you control the leader , and the rest of your soldiers haphazardly follow you , engaging in combat with anything that comes close to them . you can switch to any other character at any time to take control of them , although your fellow soldiers usually won ' t bother following anyone beside the leader . it ' s a neat little game , but just what , exactly , was the shining force connection ? shining force was still turn - based and silver ghost plays nothing like it . i guess maybe the graphics and general style could ' ve inspired it , but silver ghost doesn ' t really look all that much different from any other similar game of the time . maybe it ' s just that silver ghost convinced him that strategy rpgs didn ' t necessarily have to be so boring , but he still want back to the genre standards when making his own console game ? shining force is , as mentioned before , a lot friendlier , allowing you to talk around towns like standard jrpgs , and you control characters directly rather than pointing and clicking with a cursor , so maybe that mentality spilled over . this brings up another point though . shining force iii for the saturn was the last true shining force game , because all of its spin - offs were crap lousy action - rpgs ( not counting the gba remake of the first game , or the recent jp - only ds game , which was outsourced to flight plan , which basically does nothing but srpgs . ) i always figured sega took the series in that direction because the original staff was long gone , but as it turned out , the original staff really wasn ' t all that enamored with turn - based games anyway . so it ' s more a typical case of sega being sega and doing stupid things with their properties then . anyway , you can download the disk image and give the game a shot , if you ' d like , or check out this japanese page for some in - depth info on it .
naked boy with bloody sword . . . wtf ! ? other than that , this looks like a cool game . is there any ppc - compatible pc88 emu for osx ?
ahh yes , this was written by jonti davies i believe . gamestm has now , sadly , taken to not crediting its writers in an attempt to create a unified image . that ' s just depresses .
ashley popped up on the shining force central forums awhile back talking about it so i think it was him . i ' ve never actually played bokosuka wars so i can ' t say about the comparison .
what are you talking about ? the shining soul games were awesome . i actually like action rpgs , however , and find strategy rpgs abhorrent .
i was more referring to neo , ex and tears for the ps2 , and wisdom for the saturn ( which was developed by the team sonic guys . ) i only played soul ( the second one , i think ) for a few minutes but it really wasn ' t my kind of action - rpg . too kludgy and
get right close to the enemies and wail on the attack button while numbers pop up until they die
sorta bit that reminds me of a lot of western rpgs . i know some people seem to dig the second one , at least , so please correct me if i have the wrong impression !
hmm , he may have spoken about it on the forums to promote the mag , but i ' m sure when i last spoke with him he said it was jonti who had interviewed the guys and wrote the piece - i think specifically at his request . but i could be wrong ! is jonti listed in the contributer ' s section near letters ?
either way , shining force is much better than shining soul . out of curiosity , have you played shining force final conflict ? how was it ? any plans for a shining force article ? : )
hi all . it was indeed jonti davies who wrote the feature , although that was after about three years of me nagging him to do so . shining force iii is and always will be my favourite game . thanks for the insightful look into silver ghost , kurt . it actually makes a lot of sense . . . there was an interview with the director of shining force neo a few years ago . after complaints about the move to action - rpg , he revealed that team sonic had always wanted to create a squad based rpg that played out in real - time but that the idea just wasn ' t fully realisable on mega drive . i dismissed the claim as pr bullshit at the time , but it does add up a lot more now . i still hate action - rpgs though . : p
just heard about this game for the first time , thanks to episode 4 of
hayate the combat butler : can ' t take my eyes off you .
i figured that when the lead female character , nagi , showed this game , it was made up . so i was surprised to see that it was a real game ( as were the other games , manga , anime , etc . mention in the episode ) . i never played any of the japanese rpg games , save
breath of fire ii ,
as i was always a pc gamer . as such , i was always playing other things . ^ _ ^ ; anyway , thanks for the info and review of
silver ghost .
update - 2 / 3 - machinarium , death gate , loom , kid . . .
, the first 3d installment of their flagship franchise . since then they only produced remakes of earlier first queen games and a few casual downloadable sports titles .
there is no trivia on file . if you have any interesting trivia about this company , please add it .
sony santa monica makes us care about kratos in this stunning revival of the series .
far cry 5 ' s story is a real let - down , but the action still makes for a solid co - op experience .
there are some elements around the edges that haven ' t aged all that well , but burnout paradise is still a fantastic racing game .
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other : amiga atari st commodore 64 neo geo turbografx - 16 . . . more
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mostly unrelated to each other story - wise , these games are a blend of rpg - style exploration gameplay and leveling up system , and strategic army - commanding with real - time combat . these games utilize
(
mixed - up characters
) battle system , with a large number of characters fighting in real time .
includes games that are influenced by or directly based on greek mythology . most greek myths are known to us from works of classic greek authors :
, etc . greek myths have had an exceptionally strong influence on countless works of european art .
games based on the legend of atlantis are not included in this group , unless they feature other themes from greek mythology . the legend of atlantis is a product of literary works ( primarily
. the game had three sequels . the series was also notable for featuring art work by
a general is talking to his soldiers , possibly building up their morale for the next battle .
high fantasy creatures are controlled like later warcraft ii : tides of darkness characters . the object is to defeat all the enemy forces and occupy their villages . the player chooses where to start the battle . winning means moving on the next battlefield and losing usually means game over . unlike warcraft ii however , new buildings or villages cannot be built , making it more of a war game .
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real - time strategy video games ( often abbreviated as rts ) are strategy video games which do not have
turns
like conventional turn - based strategy video games or board games . rather , game time progresses in
real time
; that is , it is continuous rather than turn - by - turn . even so , many such games still require players to follow a progression of events , especially relating to the order in which structures and / or units may be constructed .
though some game genres share conceptual and gameplay similarities with the rts template , recognized genres are generally not subsumed as rts games . [ 1 ] for instance , city - building games , construction and management simulations , and games of the real - time tactics variety , are generally not considered to be
real - time strategy
. [ 2 ]
the genre that is recognized today as
real - time strategy
emerged as a result of an extended period of evolution and refinement . games that are today sometimes perceived as ancestors of the real - time strategy genre were never marketed or designed as such at the original date of publication . as a result , designating
early real - time strategy
titles is problematic because such games are being held up to modern standards . the genre initially evolved separately in japan , the united kingdom , and north america , afterwards gradually merging into a unified worldwide tradition .
at least one source considers the intellivision ' s utopia ( 1982 ) by don daglow to be a precursor to real - time strategy . [ 13 ] in utopia , two players build resources and carry out combat by proxy . it contains the direct - manipulation tactical combat now common in that the players can assume direct control over a pt boat and sink the opponent ' s fishing boats . however , the game used a turn - based strategy interface , though one where the turns are timed . [ 14 ] in north america , the oldest game retrospectively classified as a precursor of real - time strategy by several sources is the ancient art of war ( 1984 ) [ 1 ] [ 15 ] from evryware ( distributed by brøderbund ) . in the united kingdom , the oldest precursor was nether earth , published on the zx spectrum in 1987 .
1up considers real - time examples prior to herzog zwei to be tactical rather than strategic , due to most lacking the ability to construct units or manage resources . [ 16 ] herzog zwei , released for the mega drive / genesis in 1989 , is the earliest example of a game with a feature set that falls under the contemporary definition of modern real - time strategy . [ 17 ] [ 18 ] in herzog zwei , though the player only controls one unit , the manner of control foreshadowed the point - and - click mechanic of later games . it introduced much of the genre conventions , including unit construction and resource management , with the control and destruction of bases being an important aspect of the game , as were the economic / production aspects of those bases . [ 16 ]
westwood ' s dune ii : the building of a dynasty ( 1992 ) featured all the core concepts and mechanics of modern real - time strategy games that are still used today , [ 19 ] [ 20 ] such as using the mouse to move units , and gathering resources , [ 1 ] and as such served as the prototype for later real - time strategy games . according to its co - designer and lead programmer , joe bostic , a
benefit over herzog zwei is that we had the advantage of a mouse and keyboard . this greatly facilitated precise player control , which enabled the player to give orders to individual units . the mouse , and the direct control it allowed , was critical in making the rts genre possible . ” [ 21 ] it featured the core concepts of rts games : resource - building , base development and direct unit control .
the success of dune ii encouraged the development of such games as warcraft : orcs and humans ( 1994 ) , command & conquer ( 1995 ) , total annihilation ( 1997 ) , age of empires ( 1997 ) , starcraft ( 1998 ) , warzone 2100 ( 1998 ) , empire earth ( 2001 ) , and empires : dawn of the modern world ( 2003 ) . in fact , the designers of dune 2 traced its spiritual lineage back to the real - time simulation simcity ( 1989 ) and their previous game battletech : the crescent hawk ' s revenge ( 1988 ) , a real - time wargame without base - building elements .
because of the generally faster - paced nature ( and the usually shallower learning curve ) , rts games have surpassed the popularity of conventional turn - based strategy video games . in the past , some traditional strategy gamers regarded rts games as
cheap imitations
of turn - based games , arguing that rts games had a tendency to devolve into
clickfests
, in which the player who was faster with the mouse generally won , because they could give orders to their units at a faster rate . real - time strategy enthusiasts counter that micromanagement involves not just fast clicking but also the ability to make sound tactical decisions under time pressure . it is noteworthy , however , that due to the games being shorter because of the faster pace of the game and absence of turn switching pauses , rts games are far more suitable for internet play than turn - based games ; this is indubitably an important reason for their popularity . furthermore , turn - based games are ill - suited to meet the increasing demand for realism from casual gamers and they require a greater time commitment than real - time strategy games .
the more recent generations of rts games usually have features which reduce the importance of fast mousework , enabling the player to focus more on overall strategy . for example , queuing allows the player to put in an order for multiple units at a single building instead of requiring the player to return to that building to order the next unit built whenever a unit ordered earlier is completed . the ability to set way points allows the player to give multiple movement commands to a unit at once . most games also give each unit strengths and weaknesses , discouraging players from simply ( and unskilfully ) overwhelming an opponent with so called
rush
tactics or
swarm
tactics in favour of more balanced armies and some strategy .
attack the enemy , attempting to deprive him of resources and destroy his infrastructure .
however , some games do not allow the player to create new units , or build bases . some of these games include myth and ground control . these games are purely tactical , forcing the player to make do with the units he or she is given .
most rts games also feature single - player campaigns - - a series of missions where a human player plays against the computer with a defined scenario and objectives , usually within the context of a background story . often each mission has a different style of play , sometimes dramatically so . it has become something like to a tradition for single - player campaigns to include at least one mission with no base construction or resource - gathering ; typically at the start of these missions the player is given a number of combat units , occasionally with a
hero
unit . these units must be used to complete the mission in a level which is usually mazelike ; often additional units can be gained as reinforcements or rescued as the mission progresses . these missions eliminate the resource - gathering , or
macromanagement
, as it ' s called , and focus solely on micromanagement .
finally , some rts games , most notably homeworld ( 1999 ) , have attempted not only to break away from the traditional turn structure of strategy games but also from the idea of a 2d board . these games are played on a 3d battlefield .
of the games that do allow the player to build up a base and an army , they seem to be diverging into at least two main camps : micro - management and macro - management .
micro - management games allow an army and base to be built , but they limit the size of the army ( sometimes , rather severely ) . the purpose of this is to create more of a tactical atmosphere , and to prevent one side from simply cranking out units and throwing them at the enemy until he collapses .
by limiting the size of the army , the game requires the player to intelligently utilize his
partially
limited troops . this is more similar to the purely tactical myth - style games . a good example of this type of game is warcraft iii : reign of chaos , where further units require more upkeep . to simplify the control , however , the player can combine individual units into groups . this is even more found in the game arenawars , where every player only has 1000 credits to build units . if the unit dies the credits are refunded .
on the other end are the macro - management games . these games have more of a focus on economic production and large - scale strategic maneuvering , and include games such as total annihilation .
some games , especially on the video game consoles , use rts merely as a vehicle to tell the story . for example , in the playstation 2 game kessen ( 2000 ) the player has a limited control over the units , as the game unfolds historical battles with a heavy use of cut - scenes .
massively multi - player online real - time strategy video games ( mmorts ) combine aspects of massively multi - player video games with real - time strategy .
real - time strategy games , have had an immense production increase on next generation consoles . due to more demand , and widening space of rts games , more and more developers are attempting to produce a strategy game .
however , many strategy games have a reputation of needing a massive quantity of buttons to properly function , and still be unconfusing ( which explains why the pc was perfect ) . one of the main problems , viewed by critics , is rtses on the console either have too much difficulty controlling all the units on screen ultimately destroying the players ' experience , or are simplified to the point of being too easy . here are a few of the methods that have been adapted to attempt to solve the problem :
graphically rts games have evolved from 2d board - like view of dune ii : the building of a dynasty and warcraft : orcs and humans to visually - richer 3d with more detailed environments , such as in the first , warzone 2100 , and later games , such as warcraft iii : reign of chaos , empire earth , and command & conquer : generals .
as companies are striving to come close to a cinematic level of visual quality , the improvements in graphics accelerate . in 2004 two landmark games were released : rome : total war from creative assembly and the lord of the rings : the battle for middle - earth from electronic arts .
two notable games were also released in 2005 : act of war : direct action and age of empires iii . both games featured realistic physics ( age of empires iii used the havok physics engine ) , realistically destructible buildings and ever more stunning graphics . in addition act of war boasted a well developed technothriller story by dale brown told via machinima and live action cinematics . games like company of heroes also made a name for themselves thanks to their cinematics , graphics and realistic physics , in addition to the story , which was based on the real life world war ii , the level of strategy implemented and the high level of the ai .
this is an outdated page that references or contains outdated information . this page should be edited to include more recent information .
adams , dan ( 7 april 2006 ) . the state of the rts . ign . retrieved on 2007 - 05 - 31
bruce geryk . a history of real - time strategy games . gamespot . retrieved on 2008 - 03 - 31 “although games such as populous and simcity are certainly played in real time , these give rise to the
god game
genre , which includes such titles as the city - builder series from impressions , will wright ' s innovative designs , and much of peter molyneux ' s work , including the upcoming black & white . games in this genre tend to appeal to their own fans , and while there definitely is an overlap between these two genres , gamers generally see them as distinct from one another . ”
kurt kalata ( february 4 , 2010 ) . so what the heck is silver ghost . hardcore gaming 101 . retrieved on 2011 - 04 - 02
scott sharkey . hail to the duke . urltoken . retrieved on 2011 - 03 - 01
zzap ! issue 68 , december 1990 , p . 45 - amiga reviews : battlemaster . retrieved on 17 december 2006
are real time strategy games at their peak ? . retrieved on 2 september 2006
walker , mark . strategy gaming : part i - - a primer . gamespy . retrieved on october 28 , 2007
the history of command & conquer . nowgamer . archived from the original on 26 june 2011 retrieved on 5 september 2011
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yoshitaka amano pages : 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 from wikipedia , the free encyclopedia yoshitaka amano ( amano yoshitaka ? ) ( born july 28 , 1952 ) is a japanese artist known for his illustrations for vampire hunter d and for his character designs , image illustrations and title logo designs for the final fantasy video game series developed by square enix ( formerly square ) .
please note : site admin does not answer any questions . this is our readers discussion only .
boa is not arpg . only in some of the earlyer arpgs ' s had
boa ' like characters that started out with op items that you couldnt remove or give to friends ( that you also had to develop the character around . ) . like the special 2 characters in baldur ' s gate dark alliance 2 you got after beating the game on the 2 hardest difficulties . they also take skill to play and faceroll content , not just op gear ( long post starts here ) i dont think many of you ever played a arpg , the whole point of it was to beat the game . then beat it on a harder difficulty , make a build through some sort of skill tree . find out it sucks start over and make it the best that you can . finding out what weapons worked best for skills ( like slow high dps or fast low dps ) were you melee ? ranged ? or did you like the art of magic ? was you a caster magic or some sort of necromancer ? what did you enjoy playing the most . then came
mmoarpgs
now many of you like to say
its a single player game shut up ( i hate you people btw ^ ^ ) yes true it can be played as a single player game , just like every other freeking game . but most people chose to play with and / or trade with other people thus making it more then just a single player game . putting boa items ingame and makng them the best inslot knda ruin it . ( it being the experience of trading and dealing with other people . ) and then you have gold .
gold
is a bad thing in arpgs , especially if you dont have anyway to have a better / less easily farmed competing currency . this game took the concept of gold way to far and helped ruin the game . every arpg has a tipping point . and the way d3 set it up made it run its course 1000x faster then normal and not having some sort of ladder , where people can start fresh and whips all items , lvls , skills , makes it worse . d3 had alot of cool things , but they missed the basics and these basics are the building blocks of a great arpg .
i call bs . i ' m also sure that c9 , vindictus , dragon nest , and spiral knights disagree with you .
oh wait , the extent of this player ' s gaming and general knowledge comes from wikipedia copy pasta .
to the op : the sense of arpg was destroyed with the rmah . so ! @ # $ off and gimme my boa items . . . . seriously % ^ - * off all of you with ur billion gold items ahhjaahhahaah
lol . of course the herpderps who play nothing but public games are gonna have no idea people are leaving . they ' re still trying to finish up nightmare
indeed . their awful itemization makes gives me no interest in the item hunt .
jay wilson loves boas , he wears them all the time while fairy princess playing dress - up .
which is a disastrous state given the central role of loot as a reward mechanism in an arpg .
the gameplay of silver ghost gave rise to the first queen series later that same year . it was also a precursor to the rts ( real - time strategy ) genre later defined by herzog zwei and dune ii .
the game is perhaps best known outside of japan for its influence on hiroyuki takahashi , the creator of the shining force series . takahashi cited this game as his main inspiration for shining force .
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oh man kuro no ken ( black blade ) was such a fun game . fun fact : a friend tried translating it a long time ago but gave up only about 2 months in . still a hell of a fun game though . the 3 / 4 back view for the battle system really hits home as i am a huge fan of it in the shining force and golden sun games . bless this thread .
it ' s easily their most well - regarded game , too , and it got a playstation conversion possibly because of its sales footprint . meanwhile i just got munt working and am grooving to marching way from granada x68k . . . too good .
i wouldn ' t call it an eroge machine , but rather the ultimate cyber punk gaming system .
i would ' ve never guessed that this thing came out in 1987 just by looking at it . looks more like gaming pc from the early 2000s
sound like you have a love for classic japanese cyberpunk ( as all good people should ) . i ' d recommend this tumblr here urltoken as that ' s pretty much what it ' s about . it ' s not all japanese or classic , but about 98 % of it is , and it is wonderful . sometimes ( thought rarely ) , it can also be a bit nsfw , as was not uncommon in such art . seriously , whenever i look at this tumblr , i just get all warm and giddy inside .
every time i go to rekall , i ' m stuck there for hours . . . somehow it ' s really hard to just stop looking at pictures there
one of these days i ' m going to figure out a way to play possessioner .
wonderful thread ! brings me back . anime was just the coolest shit ever back then . i remember going into babbages and seeing knights of xentar and metal and lace on the shelf . boy did those two games stand out . . my eleven year old self was certainly
the day more people learn about this game , and how singularly cool and unusual it was coming from a light novel writer and a few programmers who did a mech wargame previously , will be strange and hilarious . naoyuki kato ' s one of the best fantasy artists in japan and no one seems to discuss his works , let alone suemi ' s or tanno ' s .
thank you for this post ! i knew of these artists ' work but did not know their names ; now , i can hunt down some art books . noriyoshi ohrai , who recently passed away , was another great ( but i ' m sure you knew that already ) .
i just cruise yahoo japan auctions , although it used to be better than it is now . someone ' s selling popful mail for 7800 yen right now !
oooh . i had no idea popful mail started as a pc98 title . i remember drooling over the screens from the gamefan coverage of the sega cd version . i never did get to play it . hmmm . . . i might pull my gfs out of the closet and see if i can scan it .
not only that , the combat in the original version of popful mail is ys - style in a side scrolling setting . you kinda ram into enemies with your regular weapon to damage them . that combat style is also in the pce cd version . sword slashes came to sfc and sega cd . of course , even the original version had the projectile weapons .
popful mail was originally a pc - 88 game . the sega cd version is vastly different than all the others and was handled by sega and falcom together .
i ' m not sure how this works . . . this whole home computer thing is still a little bit confusing to me . in terms of compatibility it ' s more like a console , right ? as in it doesn ' t play pc - 98 games , just platform exclusive ones , correct ?
final crisis . nice music . i don ' t think most people know about techno grard , which was owned by the parent company of certain infamous eroge dev .
damn . . . how much did you pay ? i ' m not sure how this works . . . this whole home computer thing is still a little bit confusing to me . in terms of compatibility it ' s more like a console , right ? as in it doesn ' t play pc - 98 games , just platform exclusive ones , correct ?
nope . it ' s a computer too . many pc - 98 games were ported to it .
anyway , i still need to get working on that j - pc thread i promised you guys months back .
pasokon i would consume that thread like a man downing an entire beer in one go . just sayin ' .
i need to move on to some other stuff but look up legend of heroes iii art . that game was legend on the pc - 98 and arguably helped falcom stay around after the disaster that was ys v .
i remember seeing that possessioner gif posted in another thread here . i ' m still blown away .
yep , i especially love jun suemi ' s illustrations . i wish this meticulous , more realistic style was still a popular thing in japan nowadays .
jun suemi is amazing . i really like the monster designs he did for the super famicom ports / remakes of wizardry i to iii .
on this topic , eroge dev giga as an april fools joke , made an announcement of one of those surprise boxes , with 200 possible giga games . including their pc - 9801 games . sadly not real .
as i was trying to get pc 98 material to post here i found something i never thought i ' d ever see .
took some searching lol , but i finally found it . it ' s called ballade for maria ( & # 12510 ; & # 12522 ; & # 12450 ; & # 12395 ; & # 25447 ; & # 12370 ; & # 12427 ; & # 12496 ; & # 12521 ; & # 12540 ; & # 12489
wow . this is right up my alley . i was tempted to buy a pc98 back before risingstuff closed up .
that game is dark . i ' ve seen on a certain blog , a chopped up naked body .
it ' s part of fairytale ' s hardcover label , which is for their dark games . also it has an fm towns port .
there ' s also the upcoming va - 11 hall - a which i ' m really , really looking forward to . urltoken the game ' s in qa right now and according to the devs is 99 . 9 % complete , but man , this was supposed to be out winter 2014 . still , looking forward to it . takes place in the same universe as read only memories iirc . this is probably the most accurate to pc - 98 era
style
i ' ve seen , really . it ' s also got a soundtrack i loop in my car regularly . urltoken
glad someone brought it up . va - 11 ' s aesthetic is gorgeous .
the gamesack guys did a great video on the x68000 , definitely recommend a watch .
that game is dark . i ' ve seen on a certain blog , a chopped up naked body . it ' s part of fairytale ' s hardcover label , which is for their dark games . also it has an fm towns port .
yeah there is a good number of really dark titles on the pc98 . i don ' t have any interest in the game besides seeing trump tower in pc 98 graphics lol .
haha upskirt in the first pic , i see why you ' re a fan op ; o ) came into this thread kinda expecting these sorts of graphics but i had no idea there was a whole platform of this stuff ! wow i thought i would just be seeing mega cd games like time gal and turbogfx / pc engine games , i think this is the first i ' ve heard of the pc98 . i will really need to look into this a bit more as i ' m also a fan of anime games ( as long as there is some proper gameplay . . . . especially of the shmup variety ) .
this
aesthetic
is currently quite popular online for some reason . tumblrfadgrafix that said , good time period for eroge .
rusty is a cool castlevania - like game ( and one of the more playable pc98 games for non - japanese speakers . ) the art is not nearly as detailed as a lot posted here , but it has its pretty moments
there are a bunch . to get you started , the first 5 touhou games are on pc98 .
i wonder , did computer game developers in europe and america have any idea of the above games ? or was there a prejudice towards those games due to the anime aesthetic , stemming from tv animation mostly ? amiga scene was certainly more open to those kind of games . eg there was the dreadful akira game and also apidya was a tribute to japanese shmups . it is just that european games took inspiration mostly from western comics and metal covers i know western computer games were also ported to japan , eg lucasarts games


double take comics was a comic book imprint of the american multinational video game publisher and distributor take-two interactive .

it was founded in 2013 by former marvel publisher bill jemas .

the group closed in november 2016 .

its titles and characters were loosely inspired by the 1968 film night of the living dead .

lionsgate announced a film adaptation of z-men , double take 's best-selling title , in august 2016 .

double take comics

welcome to multiversity comics , a website written by people who love comics for people who love comics .
double take comics ; a revival of
night of the living dead
.
double take comics recently launched 10 ongoing series , all set in the town in “night of the living dead . ”
interestingly , lionsgate films recently optioned one of double take’s comics , “z - men” , for a major motion picture .
nterconnected universes are all the rage , and gaming publisher take - two interactive almost had its own . take - two’s comic imprint double take
bill jemas is the former president of marvel comics . in his latest venture as the gm for double take comics , bill has found the cure for the dearth of talent in the comic book world - moth storytellers .
double take , the new publishing company from video game company take two and former marvel publisher bill jemas , is formally launching their comics line in september - and doing it bigger than previously announced .
note : double take is an advertiser at multiversity comics . however , this is not paid content and this interview was set up prior to the advertising agreement .
universal monsters universe is really excited about double take comics’ developing universe . they’ve got a great creative and editorial team and an exciting set of books that can be found and picked up at your local comic shop . you could also check out more at double take universe .
in an interview with comic book resources , jemas said double take ' s plan is to post its comics to social media and eventually to digital comic distributors like comixology and madefire . later ,
traditional , gorgeous print versions
of the comics are planned , as is a kickstarter fundraising campaign to get those comics made .
the company ' s publishing imprint is called double take and is spearheaded by former marvel comics publisher bill jemas . double take ' s first three graphic novels , rise , insurrection and soul , are all set in the world of ( and feature characters from ) night of the living dead .
you’ve described a pretty daunting environment for a new publisher . what is your take on double take’s business model in that tough environment that you’ve just described ?
double take also launched a kickstarter campaign coinciding with the debut of their ultimate night of the living dead titles .
seems jemas’s gamble didn’t pay off if rumors surrounding double take shutting operations are true . at last month’s new york comic con , double take was aggressive , giving thousands of its trade paperback away for free . the press , inverse included , were invited to visit double take’s booth and walked away with ten paperbacks just for showing up .
earlier today , bleeding cool ran the news that double take comics , the comic publishing arm of take 2 interactive is to close down . it follows earlier reports that that its publisher , bill jema s was trying to raise money to buy it .
“we are pleased to expand our partnership with lionsgate , who has the right team to bring to life on screen what double take brings to life in comics , ” said double take general manager bill jemas . “we look forward to seeing lionsgate’s creativity transform the ‘z - men’ story into an exciting feature film , and everyone on the double take team is incredibly enthused at this once - in - a - lifetime opportunity . ”
a representative from double take had no comment for bleeding cool when contacted about this story . more to come soon .
i’ve been waiting for one of the newer comics publishers to bow out for a while now , and double take isn’t the only one that has had hiccups…or had to look at the financing to see how long they would remain viable . the comics publishing business overall is good , but , again , it’s a highly competitive market creatively , with few sure things . i doubt that double take will be the only casualty over the next 12 months .
rumors of double take’s closing later this month revealed the publisher’s original plan involving a shared continuity between bioshock , xcom , and civilization , one that would somehow involve superheroes . ultimately , because of take - two’s games division and a lack of time , double take pursued a universe within george romero’s public domain zombie film night of the living dead . in 2015 , double take officially launched with ten titles , including z - men , which was optioned for a movie by lionsgate last year .
and as for jemas ? i doubt we’ve heard the last of him . he’s got comics in his blood .
double take’s books were poorly designed and badly drawn . i’m surprised they lasred this long . jemas should have published fewer books and hired professional creators .
the studio will partner with double take , a subsidiary of videogame developer and publisher take - two interactive software . written by jeff mccomsey , “z - men , ” centering on a pair of government agents dealing with a zombie apocalypse , is the flagship title in double take’s recently launched universe based on george romero’s iconic 1968 horror film “night of the living dead . ”
the boom in comics periodical publishers over the last few years has a first casualty : double take . the division of video game company take two interactive , which was headed by former marvel publisher bill jemas will shut down at the end of the month . the news was first reported at bleeding cool and independently confirmed by the beat .
lionsgate is adapting the zombie comic book “z - men” into a horror movie . the studio will partner with double take , a subsidiary of videogame developer and publisher take - two interactive software . written by jeff mccomsey , “z - men , ” centering on a pair of government agents dealing with a zombie apocalypse , is the flagship title in double take’s recently launched [ … ]
one of the strongest titles in double take ' s library was ' z - men , ' which was optioned by lionsgate for a movie last year .
for those unaware , double take is the comic book imprint of game publisher take - two interactive . while a comic book company owned by a game publishing company creating comics about a beloved film property seems like a recipe ripe for disaster , the project is spearheaded by bill jemas , of marvel ultimate universe fame . and put simply , jemas and his creators deliver .
if you all are curious about the comics , here’s the internal site the employees use . you have access to all issues .
last week , bleeding cool reported that double take planned to launch four new books in december , still set in the night of the living dead universe , but expanding into other genres . earlier in october , however , bleeding cool reported that jemas was seeking an investor to buy double take from take - two for $ 1 . 2 million , a story which jemas denied , saying , “not even close . ”
double take is only . the first of several recent small publishers that will be closing over the next 18 months during the speculation correction the comic sales market will experience .
a source told bleeding cool that bill jemas , who joined double take in 2013 , wanted to make a superhero universe using take - two’s games . strauss zelnick , chairman of take - two , gave jemas financing but was pushed back by the game’s division , who didn’t want an “outsider” to have access to its properties .
sixteen years ago , bill jemas played a lead role on the team that transformed marvel from an insolvent comic book publisher and toy manufacturer into a world - class entertainment company . in 2013 , take - two interactive software hired jemas to start double take .
“we’re delighted to expand our relationship with our friends at take - two by partnering with their comic book arm , double take , in bringing ‘z - men’ to the big screen , ” said lionsgate motion picture group co - chairs rob friedman and patrick wachsberger .
) . is this different approach due to a perception of a change in the collectible market or is it just a different situation for double take vs . where marvel was then ?
even if you have the original comics , it could be fun to put the two side - by - side and see the differences .
comics get launched on kickstarter all the time – from webcomic collections to new creations to everything in between , creators use the platform to see their creations come to life . but double take , a new publisher based out of new york , has one of the most ambitious , yet affordable , kickstarter campaigns i can recall .
first of all , the company – led by bill jemas , former marvel comics vice president – is using kickstarter to raise $ 15 , 000 to bring the world 10 new ongoing series . those comics are all set in the same universe as the george romero classic night of the living dead , and all ten are launching at once . the kickstarter is quite a unique one , both in its low overall cost , the value per dollar of its comics , and how simple the reward structures are : $ 5 gets you 10 digital comics , $ 10 gets you 10 print comics , $ 20 gets you a year’s digital subscription to all ten , $ 50 gets you all the trade paperbacks of the first arc of the ten new series . aside from a few bundles and art prints , that’s it – it is all about these comics .
in these september 2015 solicitations , double take has ten ongoing monthly series based on and around the movie night of the living dead , which they are publishing under the banner of ultimate night of the living dead . jemas was , if you recall , the co - founder of marvel ' s long - running ultimate comics line .
take - two interactive , the company behind grand theft auto , borderlands and 2k sports , is no longer just a video game publisher . take - two is branching out into comics with a new line of graphic novels set in the world of george romero ' s 1968 zombie film night of the living dead .
take - two has previously explored the comic book market with titles based on its borderlands and duke nukem properties , but double take looks like the company ' s attempt to carve out something new . based on the success of marvel studios ' film franchises and the walking dead ' s video game and television series , take - two must see an opportunity to build upon a fresh comic book foundation .
double take ' s ambitions go beyond zombie stories , jemas says . they ' ll be introducing superheroes to their universe , which will still share narrative space with the night of the living dead - inspired fiction .
the craziest part is some much of the work was in fact done by professional comics artists , but the end products all ended up having a shitty homogeneity . but then , everything wrong with them can be laid at the feet of bill jemas deciding he could completely reinvent the artistic process for creating comics without hiring comics professionals . every single member of their core staff , the writers who worked with jemas , the guys who storyboarded the books , the editors , the production designers , the guys who did the work behind the harebrained scheme of producing storyboards that would be later composited together into comic pages—literally every full time , salaried employee—had zero professional experience producing comics .
double take launched their universe with 10 first issues , with “dedication” being written by matt summo . when we asked yocum about the idea and methodology behind launching a universe right out of the gate with ten titles and holding onto that kind of release , especially in a competitive sense with the likes of marvel and dc releasing 20 or so comics a week , he had this to say :
i can’t remember where i wrote it , but when double take was announced , with their pricing structure , i said they wouldn’t make it a year . but they did . so ¯ \ _ ( ツ ) _ / ¯
so while you’re still in the halloween spirit , go watch night of the living dead for free on youtube . once you’re familiar with the world—or if you want to just dive right in—you can check out the first three issues for free on the double take website . the digital reader for their comics makes for a very cinematic experience . here’s some quick initial thoughts on what the series has to offer .
i brought that trade craft here but honestly i didn’t really know how to make comics i had written a bunch of plots . i complained about a bunch of comics i torn up a lot of pages . the difference between being the president of the company that writes a plot occasionally and being the gm who has to get books out the door is night and day difference . as much as the marvel experience was great and learning how to speak to and market to teens that was all fun . all the stuff we do here at double take i learn here on the job
bill and his wife are huge fans of the moth and have spent countless hours listening to slams on npr . in a case of incorporating what you love in your work , the first books that double take has published are 10 comics based in the night of the living dead universe . the books not only utilize moth storytellers as some of the writers , but actual moth stories are incorporated throughout the books .
but double take is once again doing something different . the 10 creative teams took 45 days to re - draw , re - write and in some cases re - order the different series in an almost director’s cut way . as a writer myself , i’ve never looked at a printed comic that i’ve written without seeing places i’d change it if i could . double take has given the creators that chance . the ability to look at the five issues and make them better .
not long ago double take took the unique step of launching 10 new comics simultaneously on the same day . all of the stories launched from the same place , the 1968 film night of the living dead . these titles included : rise , slab , medic , soul , honor , dedication , spring , z - men , remote and home . now , five issues in , it’s time to do a collected edition .
george a . romero ' s 1968 film , night of the living dead , has been credited as redefining zombies from that point forward ( if wikipedia is meant to be believed ) . decades after its release , it continues to influence new creators , and it just provided the basis for an entire new universe of comics . double take comics , a brand spanking new publisher , has launched ten titles all set in the world of the classic film . all of the first issues debuted at once and interested readers could pick up a nifty box containing the whole bunch . so , how does it stack up against romero ' s work ?
what double take has managed to do , is create a funny , clever , and oddly educational comic book universe . the stories are as easy to consume as fresh human brains . spruce and sometimes very aware of themselves , these stories remind readers all there is to love about comics . they also build upon that strong foundation with easter eggs sprinkled throughout with 1960s nostalgia like pages from a tv guide or parody ads sure to make you chuckle .
starting the double take comic universe with stories spinning in and out of night of the living dead , it’s safe to say that their developing universe deals with aliens , indestructible humans , and zombies . monsters come in all shapes , forms , and sizes .
double take had a very unorthodox publishing model : bundled monthly packs of 10 titles all spinning out of night of the living dead , a public domain zombie tale . the books were often plotted by writers whose main experience was live storytelling ( see storytellers from ‘the moth’ join jemas and double take for ‘living dead’ line . ) the shut down appears to have been sudden , as just last week the publisher announced four new titles , and at new york comic con they had a huge giveaway of 10 , 000 free graphic novels .
how xcom would connect to bioshock and civilization , or even how anyone becomes a superhero in these universes , remains unclear , perhaps because no one got around to thinking it through . but the success of take - two’s games could have given double take a fighting chance : the publisher officially launched in 2015 to unenthusiastic reviews , criticized for the art and lack of depth in the stories . “if bill had their support , he would have had the strongest marketing push of any comic company in the market , ” said bleeding cool ’s source . “double take was not the huge success bill had hoped for … and the money has to run out sometime . ”
scenes from rise , insurrection and soul are being posted to double take ' s facebook . many of those scenes are a work in progress , going from sketch to inked to colored work , and some feature recreated and expanded scenes from night of the living dead in comic form .
scourge of rich johnston , maker of puns , and seeker of the snyder cut , jude terror , sadly , is not the hero comics needs right now . . . but he ' s the one the industry deserves .
the latest games from take - two’s franchises , bioshock : the collection , civilization vi , and xcom 2 , are available now .
it’s utterly unsurprising that double take failed . what is surprising is that someone gave jemas the go ahead with a scheme that seems to be built almost entirely around indifference to and contempt for the medium , the industry , the professionals who work in it , and the readers who buy the product .
inspired by the popularity of zombies via the walking dead , bleeding cool ’s source said jemas “latched on” to night of the living dead with the hope that “double take [ sic ] could prove themselves , then strauss and bill could push back on the game division to give them the properties . ”
one line of enquiry pursued the origins of his comics universe . as published , it is a sequel to the public domain movie the night of the living dead , initially set in the sixties , that transforms into a superhero universe .
double take tried a lot of innovative marketing and format initiatives– jemas has always been a trailblazer and he had some intriguing ideas here . but the material wasn’t that strong and lacked recognizable creator names . ( you can read the first issues of all 10 titles here for free to see if you disagree . ) selling bundles and books outside the dm seemed like a good tactic but with other publishers putting out stellar work , competing creatively is a key to survival . although double take had deep pockets , that could only go so far . jemas as also rumored to be seeking an investor to buy the company , although that rumor was expressly denied by jemas .
heidi macdonald is the founder and editor in chief of the beat . in the past , she worked for disney , dc comics , fox and publishers weekly . she can be heard regularly on the more to come podcast . she likes coffee , cats and noble struggle .
one of the most unique aspects to these comics are some info graphics that you could find during 1966 , with the most informative info graphic is a small map in the back that shows where each book is taking place and from there i judged where to begin . reading all ten collectively , i do recommend that fans of the horror genre pick all of these up to get a comprehensive view of an exciting zombie horror adventure . find more comprehensive news , creative teams , and universe information at the official double take universe site . with each billed at 10 bucks a pop , they certainly wonâ€™t leave a dent in your wallet .
one of the complaints from earlier reviews about double take comicsâ€™ were the art and lack of secondary character depth . with the re - editing for the graphic novels the artist have gone and retouched the first issues to be at the same detail as the fourth and fifth issues . even the order of some of the secondary characters stories have been reshuffled to make the storyline run smoother . i highly recommend for those readers that only read the first issue to pick up at least one of these graphic novels and give them another read . you will not be disappointed with all the changes that have been made to make these comics better reads .
has quietly been working at bleeding cool for over three years . he has written comics for image , top cow , shadowline , avatar , idw , dynamite , moonstone , humanoids and zenescope . he is the author of the lucius fogg series of novels and a published photographer .
all ten titles will go five issues and then see trade paperbacks ( graphic novels ) release in the fall of 2016 . some of the titles will be ongoing and by the end of the year , double take will expand with five to seven new titles that take place in 2016 but in the same shared universe . “50 years from the events of these books , super heroes have emerged ; pennsylvania has become a wasteland , and we go all over , ” according to yocum . “there’s also going to be a book about early 2o’s females in london . ”
monsters come in all forms , shapes , and sizes . while the iconic universal monsters led the charge with vampires , mummies , wolf men , and gil men ( to name only a few ) , george a . romero gave the world the premiere depiction of zombies , then known as ghouls . his 1968 masterwork , night of the living dead , ignited fans and critics imaginations and is currently preserved by the national film registry . to this day , romero’s night of the living dead is still very much a part of the horror conversation and it was the very subject that joe and i got to discuss with gabe yocum and matt summo of double take comics while at c2e2 – chicago comic and entertainment expo .
having flipped through the on - line versions , i’m half curious how they formatted the print comics , though . did they also do the weird ( read : awful ) lettering at the bottom of the panel ? ( saves money on competent letterers when you can just typeset something at the bottom of the panel… )
my first question , when i heard about double take , was this : why night of the living dead ? what is it about this property that spoke to you enough to launch an entire line in the same universe ? bill jemas : it’s the best thing in the public domain . night of the living dead offers expansive leeway for world building and allows us to make it our own , and we do .
you were at marvel for one of the most important and yet tumultuous times in their history – what , from that experience , do you bring to double take ? which project – launching a new company , or reviving a flailing one – seemed more daunting ? i think i’m genetically programmed to fix broken things . “i love the smell of napalm in the morning” . starting anew is certainly more daunting for me .
it’s the second project that lionsgate has launched with take - two . the studio announced in august that it was developing a tentpole based on the videogame “borderlands” with avi and ari arad producing .
our pick ? matt summo’s “dedication . ” his title is described as “thanks to some hungry customers , the closing shift at george’s market has turned into a graveyard shift . ” “dedication” writer matt summo actually has experience in working at a grocery store . while working there , he published a book with an artist he found online . that journey led him to double take to seek out a position as an editor . “i put together a comic book , i could be an editor . i lettered it , i formatted it and so i sent it in [ to double take ] and they got back to me and said that they really liked my sample and ‘would you like to write for us ? ’ when it finally came around to night of the living dead , summo was asked to write one of the books based on his experience working at a grocery store .
double take is quick to point out that
no one affiliated with the 1968 night of the living dead film is in any way involved in the creation of the new stories .
but since romero ' s zombie movie is in the public domain — the result of a copyright mistake on behalf of the film ' s distributor and a disastrous flood that ruined an early print of the film — it ' s legally fair game .
this is like saying you see no difference between a star wars movie and a troma film : clear evidence of an utter lack of discernment in , or understanding of , the medium . they were , without doubt , the worst comics i have ever seen a nominally professional and well funded publisher put out in the past ten years .
the lineup of creators on these books are , for the most part , relatively unknown to mainstream comics fans . what can you tell us about each of the creative teams to pique our interest ? bj : we have three star writers doing two books each : jeff mccomsey ( best known for his zombie collections , fubar and mother russia ) is on “z - men” and “rise , ” brian finklestein and peter aguero – our moth radio hour grand slam champions – are professional writers and storytellers and are also doing two each . brian on “slab” and “medic , ” peter on “home” and “honor . ” double take is fortunate to have three wonderfully talented creators working in the office , michael coast , our story editor , along with julian rowe and kurt tiede – graphic artist .
what is immediately apparent in all of the double take titles is the sense of normalcy that flows through them . each picks up with a group of characters going about their everyday lives . they ' re doctors , grocery clerks , or radio djs in evan county , pennsylvania . suddenly , the dead begin walking and they don ' t know what to do . we know the horror that awaits them , but for them , it’s just getting started .
the companies that are crafty find a way to make money through a whole bunch of other ancillary sources of revenue : obvious and easy , graphic novels ; just as obvious but less easy , tv and movie deals ; and then finally licensing . but at double take , our charter is to build properties from scratch so we’ve had to shuffle the model a little bit to make it make more sense , to give us a reasonable chance at long - term profitability .
the zombie obsessives of the world know night of the living dead was one of the original mainstream zombie flicks and franchises before the zombie craze really took over thanks to current properties like the walking dead and world war z . but neither of those properties would likely exist without night of the living dead , which helped invent the zombie genre behind director george a . romero’s vision . and thanks to the folks at double take , his zombie universe is about to get expanded .
the hiccup with these double take titles is that they don ' t feel like full chapters of a story . while each of the series is an ongoing and there are more issues on the way , all of them end in abrupt ways , as if there were supposed to be more pages that were just left out . it doesn ' t fill me with an urge to check out more , as they all end right before or just as the action is starting .
x - com was originally a 1994 game from microprose , set in 1998 , a franchise featuring an elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of earth . recent games were published by take - two’s 2k games set in 2035 .
while bioshock , initially set in the sixties , was set among the survivors of a doomed underwater utopia and the monsters left behind . the games were developed and published by take - two’s 2k games , and developed with ken levine .
civilization was a microprose game , originally set in egypt in 4000 bc , and extending into the future as players develop their worlds , with sequels expanding that scope . take - two’s acquisition of the game would see future iterations extend off planet .
unlike a lot of new publishers , double take has a large , quite successful corporation as the parent company . with that in mind , why was a kickstarter the way to go for you guys ? is this as much about getting the word out and building an audience as it was about raising the funds ? bj : we are using kickstarter differently in that we want comic fans to get the product easily and affordably while allowing retailers to get in on the ground floor much more affordably than they can through distribution . readership is goal # 1 .
there’s a steve martin joke :
how you can be a millionaire and never pay taxes ? the first step is you get a million dollars .
our first step was to get sponsorship by a well - heeled company who understands that it can take some time to brew up a good entertainment business . really the first step and what’s kept us going through these two years and change without publishing anything is a lot of support from the guys at take two . some of that has just been giving me and my team the time to learn how to build properties from scratch . that’s been really hard to do . it’s been an intellectual challenge . as some of us know , as you get older , those intellectual challenges take a little bit longer , but i think we’re there on the creative side .
, which is just the stuff inside ) , you take the risk , you buy the book . you don’t have to buy this and that and the other thing , you just get the one book . those seem to have held value , or i’ve perceived them to have held value .
in recent weeks , i’ve had a little contre temps with bill jemas over an interview that was meant to take place but found him first pre - empt it and start to post elements from it before it was finished . two extensive sets of questions sent to him remain unanswered at this point .
your kickstarter is fascinating for a few reasons ; first of all , your incentives are extraordinarily affordable , and almost egalitarian in what is offered : no limited edition prints , no variants , just comics . to me , that shows how confident and proud you are of the books . was there a temptation to do something more extravagant for the rewards ? bj : we are very proud of the stories we are telling and the work will stand on its own . we may offer more extravagant rewards once we hit goal and go toward a stretch goal .
“if you love the movie and you like the characters , you’re going to be happy , ” gabe yocum remarked in regards to the expanding nature of the series . all ten titles take place around the fictional evans county , pennsylvania during the events of the film and expand the nature of night of the living dead in sometimes quite surprising and exciting ways .
i don’t like variants . i think it’s a lot of work with not a lot of value . if we do any variations , we might take one story , one premise and build two beginnings off the same premise ; we might build two alternate universes into the same world . so we might have alternate insides , but i don’t think alternate covers are all that healthy . everybody who bought
in a subsequent post , bc quoted an unnamed industry insider with a story of how the line was originally supposed to adapt take two games such as x - com , civilization and bioshock , a plan that was scuttled due to personality conflicts and business concerns . this led to a hasty plan of adapting night of the living dead in a series of interconnected books , according to the insider .
with respect to us specifically , we are going to take a guess at what the books ought to sell , and we’re going to print that amount , and that’s all we’re going to print . the difference is that we’re not expecting the books to become collectible on the first day . we’re building up some inventory . we’re talking to the top retailers in the industry , and a handful of we’ll call them , affectionately , whales ( a handful of serious collectors ) about taking a position with the books and buying a bunch of them , and selling them out slowly .
how closely will these stories get to the action from night of the living dead ? will we encounter familiar characters and settings , or are these simply tales set in that world ? bj : a little of both — want a peek ? it was important that we include the characters that are familiar to fans of the film , but we also go far beyond the limits of the film and the world you know . take a look at our website where the first 10 issues will be free . “z - men” # 1 is already up in full for free now .
what we’re doing is taking the 10 first issues and ganging them together in a super pack , shrink - wrapped with a spine , and loading all of those in a display shipper that fits countertops . so a retailer can buy the units , not blow any shelf space ( not that counter space is easy , but shelf space is gold ) , put our 10 - packs in a display case and sell them at a reasonable price , and when there’s one or two units left , they can take the super pack and place it spine out where the graphic novels go .
headquartered in new york city , take - two interactive software , inc . is a leading developer , publisher and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe . the company develops and publishes products through its two wholly - owned labels rockstar games and 2k . our products are designed for console systems and personal computers , including smartphones and tablets , and are delivered through physical retail , digital download , online platforms and cloud streaming services . the companyâ€™s common stock is publicly traded on nasdaq under the symbol ttwo . for more corporate and product information please visit our website at http : / / www . take2games . com .
the beautiful concept behind double takes style is there is no listed reading order , so you can really jump into any one and still get something from a title . thereâ€™s no forward or anything that mentions these books are all part of this announced â€œultimate night of the living deadâ€ event despite all of them taking place within miles of each other , and , eventually , thematically touching on the zombie elements . although the 10 different comic books are under the same universe and tackle the same common threat , each story has their own feeling to it . z - men and honor tackle a more serious tone while dedication and home go in a more light hearted direction . although with only reading two or three of these graphic novels the tones may not blend well but when read all together the tones blend well with each other .
“ [ bill ] ’s kind of a visionary thinker and the fact of the matter is , the landscape we’re in today , where comics are so omni - present – they’re everywhere , independent companies often fail . the status quo is failure for independent companies . because it’s the same thing over and over again , why not figure out something different ? when we originally decided on this shared universe and that we were going to have ten titles , originally we thought – why not put out three the one month and two the next ? but why would we expect a different result than everyone else ? there’s no reason so why not try something different and if you’re launching an entire universe ; a universe is born with a big bang , not with a whimper , we thought ‘okay , why not do ten on one day ? that’s a lot , but we could package them together . the big thing in media , right now , is binging so why not binge an entire universe at one time ? for $ 20 bucks you get ten comic books ; they all have connections and overlap . it’s a real cohesive universe . it just made sense . ”
a prophecy says that in the comic book industry ' s darkest days , a hero will come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies , incentive variant covers , # 1 issue reboots , and super - mega - crossover events .
) . in part 1 of our two - part interview , we talk about how the comic publishing world has changed since jemas’ marvel tenure ( 2000 - 2004 ) , his thoughts on overprints and variants , and on launching a new comic company in the current environment . in
, we talked about the launch issues of pricing , accessibility , marketing , digital , and the talent .
you’ve got a unique perspective on the market . you ran marvel’s publishing 10 - 15 years ago , have been adjacent to the comic book business since , and are now jumping back in with both feet . how do you think the business has changed in that time ?
i guess my surprise coming in was how well some of the independent companies and creators were doing in terms of sales volume . in talking to the handful of the guys who do creator - owned pubs , either self - published or self - published through image , i was expecting them to be doing better financially . i think my surprise with the industry is that it may not be providing a living for as many people as it could be or should be . without naming names ( i don’t want to embarrass people ) , looking at sales numbers from independent guys that score really high up in the monthly charts and understanding how much money is left for the creative team , when all is said and done not much is left . so that was a bit of a shock .
but i think the other things were not surprises . it’s very hard to make money as an independent publisher . the math just doesn’t work . good indies [ move ] 10 - 15 thousand units . if you want to pay people the way marvel and dc does , you’re spending $ 10 - $ 15 thousand for art and editorial , and then by the time you get done paying that and you’ve got $ . 50 to $ 1 a book you have to pay at low print volumes , you’re just losing money on every book if you’re successful , which is an interesting way to define success .
from a pure ink , paper , sales side , what we’re doing is a little bit higher risk but certainly higher reward . very specifically , we’re not trying to peg our initial print runs to initial orders . we’re going ahead and printing enough books so that we get really good prices from the printer , so we can have a low retail price point , get new readers in , and still sell to the retailers at a good enough price so they have a decent margin .
so we’re gang - printing the first 10 books , and ( this coming out of my mouth will shock you ) overprinting , printing what we think will sell in a long run with the first issues as opposed to what we sell in the first pop . once we had all 10 books in mind , we thought , we can trickle them out once a month , 5 - 10 thousand units , or we could gang them together in one big super pack .
we think this is a nice model . you never know until you know , but crystal ball out , this feels good . what i can tell you about it , with 10 individual # 1s trickled out one at a time , i was pretty sure that even if we had pretty good books , we’d lose money . with this system , i’m pretty sure that if we have pretty good books , we’ll make money , the retailers will make money , and the fans will get a decent price .
this kind of thing is exciting . my boss asked me yesterday how i’m feeling and i tell him i’m feeling nervous and i’m not sleeping , and for me , that’s good . that means we’re working hard on this and we’re doing everything we can to get the best stories out there and carry through the rest of the way through the printing process so the reader’s experience is good overall .
you mentioned that people may be surprised at the fact that you are overprinting . you famously ended overprints at marvel when you were there , and the collectible market responded ( see
that’s the other surprise when i re - entered the industry . the team that left with me and the team we left in place , there was a nice model for making money for everybody , the no - overprint , no - reprint model .
as i got back to the industry , i had a handful of retailers who called and said ,
bill , you know we owe you one .
they send me a picture of a beach house and say ,
we built that with the money we made when we got back into collectability .
so i would have expected that marvel would have kept up with no overprints , no reprints , and that dc would have copied , and the industry would have had , in addition to the pure readership , a collector’s aspect . and frankly , if you’re doing print in the era of dod [ download on demand ] , you’d better have something . so i was a little surprised that something that was really teed up and ready to go and worked really well disappeared . i don’t know why , and haven’t talked with the guys about why they did what they did , but it’s a shame .
i think we’ll get to collectability . it didn’t make sense to me to think that we’d get collectability from obscurity . i thought the books should get out there , people get to like them . if people like them as much as we hope they do , there’ll be a chase and the books that we’re printing the first shot will sell out quickly and have a secondary value to prime the pump for the collectibles business in the long term .
i’m not a collector ; i love the collectibles business . i think it’s a lot of fun . i’ve lived through the abuses . i lived through fleer . we had a wonderful business , and we got the rug pulled out from under us by the parent company with overprinting , but when collectability’s working , people have a good time doing it and retailers can make a pretty solid living brokering collectibles .
one difference now is that some of that collectible aspect of the market is in the variants portion of the business . are you doing any variants ? how do you feel about those ?
i don’t believe in them . as i look back at the products that i’ve produced , and the products that were produced when i was the most active in the business ( books like
# 1 . it’s a collectible book now it’s a lot of fun to have . we didn’t do the variant . the books that had the variants didn’t hold value .
i’m also harkening back to my experience with trading cards where the plain vanilla , in - the - pack michael jordan rookie card’s worth a lot of money and all the b . s . that we created of variant michael jordan stuff didn’t really matter .
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here ' s a preview of the sandman universe # 1 , published by dc vertigo .
pandasaurus games is placing a new edition of the spiel de jahres - nominated coop card game the game in target .
shinobi 7 will release my hero academia : the card game based on the popular anime .
lionsgate is adapting the zombie comic book “ z - men ” into a horror movie .
“we continue to diversify our portfolio with films adapted from novels , video games and board games and look forward to translating 2t’s graphic novel into a spine - chilling film for moviegoers and comic book fans alike . it is yet another example of the strong underlying intellectual property on which our film and television content is based . ”
the deal for “z - men” was orchestrated by lionsgate motion picture group president of business and legal affairs patricia laucella .
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was 10 titles too many out of the gate ? sounds like it could’ve been . if they started with 3 and grown slowly they might have lasted longer , but who knows ?
it’s clear that they took risks in reaching a larger market it must have burned through a lot of money .
man . would have been nice if the trade dress even hinted at that . because nothing says “grisly horror” like mostly - white , clean block - letter logos and a design that looks like supermarket - brand mac and cheese .
xcom could make a great comic , but the inherent problem i see with it is that there’s no real reason its premise would * need * to be an xcom comic . ultimately , it’s about a bunch of military grunts trying to repel an alien invasion , making hard decisions , and dying in very large numbers . it’s a fantastic hook , but you don’t need the xcom brand to tell that story ; it might even be a liability .