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Cogmind => General Discussion => Topic started by: mendonca on September 27, 2015, 07:47:45 AM

Title: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on September 27, 2015, 07:47:45 AM
Hey guys, look what I found at the second hand bookshop. Must say my daughter is really enjoying getting to grips with the overarching themes of plunder, wanton destruction and ultimate helplessness.

(https://i.imgur.com/PmuhliJ.png)

More to come, just need to wait for my daughter to finish her nap so I can take a photo of the rest of the pages ;)
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on September 27, 2015, 07:59:13 AM
Wow, great job on just the cover already! :o

My son must see this. And with overarching themes like that it almost seems like it should be "Very Early Starters" ;)
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on September 27, 2015, 09:51:59 AM
He he he!

I hope your son does like it;

The first half of the book:

(https://i.imgur.com/sTYG6zS.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/VtT4Bjj.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/0MXDjkT.png)
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on September 27, 2015, 10:35:26 AM
Haha, awesome, I wonder if I could use this to explain to my son what the heck it is I'm doing. (Will have to wait until I make it to Japan tomorrow and get settled in for working from there for a bit. Time for sleep...)

By the way, this is now the second Recycler-related strip; such an attractive topic ;)

Loving your art style!
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on September 27, 2015, 12:16:35 PM
And the rest:

(https://i.imgur.com/isKtej3.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/blgoitK.png)

Have a safe journey!
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: zxc on September 27, 2015, 12:34:06 PM
Wow, this is fantastic.
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Happylisk on September 28, 2015, 08:18:44 AM
No joke I'd buy that book in a heartbeat. 
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on September 28, 2015, 09:09:49 AM
Definitely going to promote this on Twitter this week. Really nice to see the game world brought to life in a completely different format, and so well done. If I may ask, is art a hobby of yours or related to your profession?

Quote from: mendonca on September 27, 2015, 12:16:35 PM
Have a safe journey!
We took off just as the edge of the typhoon was hitting our location, into some pretty fierce wind and rain--that plane was racing up at a degree you wouldn't believe... my son thought it was hilarious he couldn't even lean forward to press the buttons on the entertainment set :P

Anyway, at least I didn't end up wasting an entire day traveling around and have to do it all over again. Lucky. Even before takeoff I took a shot of a schedule readout on which every flight but four (including ours), were canceled.
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on September 28, 2015, 10:25:25 AM
Thanks for the kind words, chaps :)

Quote from: Happylisk on September 28, 2015, 08:18:44 AM
No joke I'd buy that book in a heartbeat. 

Totally taking this to the publisher - Should be enough, right???

Quote from: Kyzrati on September 28, 2015, 09:09:49 AM
If I may ask, is art a hobby of yours or related to your profession?

Just a hobby, kind of a residual thing from doing lots of drawing as a youngster (I guess I've kept my hand in over the years by filling my work notebooks margins with (variously) monsters, robots and spaceships).

Quote from: Kyzrati on September 28, 2015, 09:09:49 AM
We took off just as the edge of the typhoon was hitting our location, into some pretty fierce wind and rain--that plane was racing up at a degree you wouldn't believe... my son thought it was hilarious he couldn't even lean forward to press the buttons on the entertainment set :P

Anyway, at least I didn't end up wasting an entire day traveling around and have to do it all over again. Lucky. Even before takeoff I took a shot of a schedule readout on which every flight but four (including ours), were canceled.

Sounds pretty frightening, but glad everything went okay.
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: fonetikli on September 28, 2015, 11:49:57 PM
Dude - that is amazing!
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on September 28, 2015, 11:54:55 PM
Quote from: mendonca on September 28, 2015, 10:25:25 AM
Quote from: Kyzrati on September 28, 2015, 09:09:49 AM
If I may ask, is art a hobby of yours or related to your profession?

Just a hobby, kind of a residual thing from doing lots of drawing as a youngster (I guess I've kept my hand in over the years by filling my work notebooks margins with (variously) monsters, robots and spaceships).
Nice, I spent many of my younger years drawing as a primary hobby as well (including most of class time...), though I don't do much any more except for occasionally sketching out map designs. That said I'm sure the artistic skills have somewhat translated over to my work with ASCII, websites, photography etc. A useful habit :)

I mentioned your book over on Twitter (https://twitter.com/GridSageGames/status/648725012061380608), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Cogmind/photos/a.569220016526405.1073741828.461733670608374/873270422788028/?type=3), and Bay 12 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=131427.msg6528037#msg6528037) (not sure if you're following the latter thread).

Also, in my excitement over this I showed my wife, to which her response on the cover was "What's a roguelike?" I tell her it's the genre Cogmind belongs to, and she says "when people ask me what you do, I just tell them I have no idea..."
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on September 29, 2015, 01:57:51 AM
Thanks, fonetikli!

Quote from: Kyzrati on September 28, 2015, 11:54:55 PM
I mentioned your book over on Twitter (https://twitter.com/GridSageGames/status/648725012061380608), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Cogmind/photos/a.569220016526405.1073741828.461733670608374/873270422788028/?type=3), and Bay 12 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=131427.msg6528037#msg6528037) (not sure if you're following the latter thread).

Cool :)

Quote from: Kyzrati on September 28, 2015, 11:54:55 PM
Also, in my excitement over this I showed my wife, to which her response on the cover was "What's a roguelike?" I tell her it's the genre Cogmind belongs to, and she says "when people ask me what you do, I just tell them I have no idea..."

That is pretty funny! I'm expecting a similarly bemused response when I try and show my wife / daughter later tonight!
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on September 30, 2015, 09:47:24 PM
Wow, I just went to publish my new article and noticed this was the most popular post ever on Cogmind's Facebook page, beating out even the original launch and my postmortem data. (Of course the number of followers has grown since then, but still!) I'm going to give this more exposure elsewhere 8)
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on October 01, 2015, 05:20:13 AM
Quote from: Kyzrati on September 30, 2015, 09:47:24 PM
Wow, I just went to publish my new article and noticed this was the most popular post ever on Cogmind's Facebook page, beating out even the original launch and my postmortem data. (Of course the number of followers has grown since then, but still!) I'm going to give this more exposure elsewhere 8)

That's cool, I'll have to join the page and add another like in there!

I'm always interested in how this goes down elsewhere, so let me know how you get on!
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Reiver on October 01, 2015, 04:56:14 PM
This is phenominal.

With that said, if I were to be a hopeless pedant, I'd have to say that 'lament' stands out as being another grade up in reading level. I know you're not actually going for childrens-english in writing style, it just stood out so I thought I'd mention it.

Speaking as an adult, I find the language choice there to be glorious. :D
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on October 01, 2015, 07:24:48 PM
Well, with a blurb like "overarching themes of plunder, wanton destruction and ultimate helplessness"... :)

@mendonca: Already multiple people have asked where this book can be purchased :P
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on October 02, 2015, 04:34:57 AM
Quote from: Kyzrati on October 01, 2015, 07:24:48 PM
@mendonca: Already multiple people have asked where this book can be purchased :P

He he ... apparently I could get a run of 1000 board books printed for only around $1500, plus shipping ...

I'm almost tempted, although I'd have to find somewhere to store the 995 that don't get sold ...
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on October 02, 2015, 06:51:53 AM
It would be cool, although yeah it would be very hard to sell 1,000 books. A majority of Cogmind owners would have to buy one :P. I'm not sure what market there would be apart from those who know what the game is, haha. $1,500 is a pretty good deal, though!

Next week I'll post it in a new spot. Who knows, there might be 10 of them out there!
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on October 06, 2015, 05:38:35 AM
Hey mendonca, I put your book on /r/roguelikes (https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/comments/3nmrak/cogmind_in_the_scrapyard_a_learn_to_roguelike_book/) and it's getting quite a lot of attention. Posts rarely get that many votes, they love it! Nice job ;D

From what I've seen, there's a dearth of good roguelike art compared to the size of the community that appreciates it.
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on October 06, 2015, 06:32:46 AM
 :)
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: mendonca on October 09, 2015, 03:04:57 PM
Don't ask me why ...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Cogmind in the Scrapyard ... A learn to Roguelike book
Post by: Kyzrati on October 09, 2015, 05:56:15 PM
This had me laughing for a while. So awesome, and yet so weird. If this were a fantasy roguelike there would be need for a new Easter egg: "Mendonca's Glove."

You can title it "After the Great Escape"