Direct link to free ebook PDF (162MB) I was reminded of this fantastic free book lately by the recent question under the topic "What's an RPG? (video game)", and also by the mention of Beneath...
I was reminded of this fantastic free book lately by the recent question under the topic "What's an RPG? (video game)", and also by the mention of Beneath Apple Manor as one of the candidates to vote on for the Colossal Game Adventure. Beneath Apple Manor is one of the early games reviewed in this book (p.40).
I was surprised to find that this book has never been posted here, as near as I can tell, so hey, I'm happy I get to have something to share. This is one of those books that I find a ton of fun to just flip through to a random page and start reading - very much a coffee table kind of book and clearly a labor of love.
For anyone interested: you can also buy a physical copy through Bitmap Books for your coffee table, though it’s awaiting a restock right now. I just recently bought 50 Indie Games That Changed the...
I just recently bought 50 Indie Games That Changed the World from them and am very impressed. It is admittedly quite pricey, but the book quality is fantastic: heavy pages, full color printing. Also they interviewed devs for EVERY game featured in the book.
They give you a PDF copy when you buy the book as well (love that!), though in case this is a downside for anyone: they do mark each page with your name and email address. I’m assuming this is an anti-piracy measure and completely get why they do it, but it makes the PDF pages a little less beautiful.
I’m currently waiting for more copies of The Games That Weren’t which will be my next order from them. I might pick up this CRPG book with that one too.
Also, hopefully this could go without saying, but this isn’t a sponsored post. I’m just a happy customer.
Yeah, I thought of mentioning the print edition, but held off since (a) it looked like it was sadly out of stock, and (b) I didn't want to seem like I was shilling for them too much. Admittedly,...
Yeah, I thought of mentioning the print edition, but held off since (a) it looked like it was sadly out of stock, and (b) I didn't want to seem like I was shilling for them too much. Admittedly, at least in the case of the CRPG book, the author mentioned that all royalties are donated to a charity.
I'll definitely have to look out for Bitmap's other books, since they do look interesting. (Though I already have more physical books than room for them in my house.)
Bitmap Books looks amazing, I'd never heard of them before! I'm a little confused by the product pages, though; do they not list the author(s) or publishing/release date anywhere?
Bitmap Books looks amazing, I'd never heard of them before! I'm a little confused by the product pages, though; do they not list the author(s) or publishing/release date anywhere?
Now that you mention it, it doesn’t look like they do. Not sure about the release dates and why they wouldn’t be there, but I assume most of the books don’t have a single author and are compiled...
Now that you mention it, it doesn’t look like they do.
Not sure about the release dates and why they wouldn’t be there, but I assume most of the books don’t have a single author and are compiled by multiple people under the “Bitmap Books” umbrella.
There's clearly a lot of effort put into this book, but I have to say my eyebrows shot right up when I saw Slay The Spire listed in the index. I have never encountered anyone calling that a CRPG...
There's clearly a lot of effort put into this book, but I have to say my eyebrows shot right up when I saw Slay The Spire listed in the index. I have never encountered anyone calling that a CRPG before!
EDIT: Also FTL and Card Hunter? All great games, but that's an extremely broad definition what counts as a CRPG lol.
Originally a CRPG was just any RPG played on a computer, so it's technically a really wide category. I'd say FTL is closer to a real time strategy game than an RPG though.
Originally a CRPG was just any RPG played on a computer, so it's technically a really wide category.
I'd say FTL is closer to a real time strategy game than an RPG though.
Hah! I can definitely see that being contentious. I suppose it depends on your definitions. FTL ships do remind me a bit of D&D dungeon maps, for example. And swapping dice for cards, etc.,...
Hah! I can definitely see that being contentious. I suppose it depends on your definitions. FTL ships do remind me a bit of D&D dungeon maps, for example. And swapping dice for cards, etc., doesn't seem unreasonable.
Direct link to free ebook PDF (162MB)
I was reminded of this fantastic free book lately by the recent question under the topic "What's an RPG? (video game)", and also by the mention of Beneath Apple Manor as one of the candidates to vote on for the Colossal Game Adventure. Beneath Apple Manor is one of the early games reviewed in this book (p.40).
I was surprised to find that this book has never been posted here, as near as I can tell, so hey, I'm happy I get to have something to share. This is one of those books that I find a ton of fun to just flip through to a random page and start reading - very much a coffee table kind of book and clearly a labor of love.
For anyone interested: you can also buy a physical copy through Bitmap Books for your coffee table, though it’s awaiting a restock right now.
I just recently bought 50 Indie Games That Changed the World from them and am very impressed. It is admittedly quite pricey, but the book quality is fantastic: heavy pages, full color printing. Also they interviewed devs for EVERY game featured in the book.
They give you a PDF copy when you buy the book as well (love that!), though in case this is a downside for anyone: they do mark each page with your name and email address. I’m assuming this is an anti-piracy measure and completely get why they do it, but it makes the PDF pages a little less beautiful.
I’m currently waiting for more copies of The Games That Weren’t which will be my next order from them. I might pick up this CRPG book with that one too.
Also, hopefully this could go without saying, but this isn’t a sponsored post. I’m just a happy customer.
Yeah, I thought of mentioning the print edition, but held off since (a) it looked like it was sadly out of stock, and (b) I didn't want to seem like I was shilling for them too much. Admittedly, at least in the case of the CRPG book, the author mentioned that all royalties are donated to a charity.
I'll definitely have to look out for Bitmap's other books, since they do look interesting. (Though I already have more physical books than room for them in my house.)
Bitmap Books looks amazing, I'd never heard of them before! I'm a little confused by the product pages, though; do they not list the author(s) or publishing/release date anywhere?
Now that you mention it, it doesn’t look like they do.
Not sure about the release dates and why they wouldn’t be there, but I assume most of the books don’t have a single author and are compiled by multiple people under the “Bitmap Books” umbrella.
Gotcha, I wondered if the author situation was something along those lines. Maybe the release dates missing is just an oversight.
There was just the one editor, but I counted 166 contributors credited for the CRPG Book.
There's clearly a lot of effort put into this book, but I have to say my eyebrows shot right up when I saw Slay The Spire listed in the index. I have never encountered anyone calling that a CRPG before!
EDIT: Also FTL and Card Hunter? All great games, but that's an extremely broad definition what counts as a CRPG lol.
Originally a CRPG was just any RPG played on a computer, so it's technically a really wide category.
I'd say FTL is closer to a real time strategy game than an RPG though.
Hah! I can definitely see that being contentious. I suppose it depends on your definitions. FTL ships do remind me a bit of D&D dungeon maps, for example. And swapping dice for cards, etc., doesn't seem unreasonable.