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[Kobun Heat]

Disclaimer in order to stay on the good side of the GA staff: The following project is not in any way related to Gaming-Age, GAF, MAF, Serafitia, or anybody else besides me and O'Reilly Media. Do not contact Gaming-Age with any inquiries about this or they will set both of us on fire. thx

Two-sentence summary of this post: A follow-up to O'Reilly's book Gaming Hacks is currently in the works, and I (Chris Kohler) am the editor/main author. As such I am looking for freelance writers, technophiles, emulation experts, and other such people to write individual hacks.

Further details: Are you an expert on something or another related to video games? Are you a writer who wants his or her name and c.v. to appear in an upcoming book about video games? Do you have to think twice about playing anything that's over 16 bits?

If so, please take a look at the list below. I'm hoping to recruit some more writers to cover a few of the topics in the book that fall outside my area of expertise. If you're not familiar with the series, the Hacks books are published by O'Reilly (the computer guide publisher, not the talk show host) and consist of about a hundred small sections.

Hacks in the last book ranged from general overviews of a topic ("Play Atari Games Without The Atari") to specific instructions about unique things to try ("Install a PS2 in Your Car") to the way-out-there ("Play Japanese Games Without Knowing Japanese"). Word count is between 1,000 and 2,500 words, give or take.

Your reward for doing this (besides eternal paradise and 72 virgins) is the satisfaction of seeing your name published in an honest-to-goodness book from a publisher with major name recognition and excellent distribution. Put it on your resume! Thrill your friends and parents! Also you get a free copy of the book.

ALSO: You get an author bio in the front of the book in which you can pretty much write anything you want about yourself and your work. Instant street cred.

If this still sounds appealing to you, here's the list of hacks that are currently author-less. If you're interested in writing one or more of them, or finding out more about what we're looking for, please email me at retrogaminghacks@gmail.com. (Don't PM me about this, and don't email me at my normal address -- I need to keep all the emails straight somehow...)

High Priority: I'd really like to find people to write these (or, if you've already written and own the copyright to articles like these, we can arrange permission from you to reprint them).

Hack # ?? Dump Your Own ROM
Pluck the classic game from an ancient board.
Hack # ?? Put the ROM Back
Transfer a downloaded ROM to an original arcade cabinet.
Hack # ?? Use Freeware Game Creation Utilities
Find utilities that will let you assemble pre-fab games for fun.
Hack # ?? Program Your Own Atari 2600 Software
Make a retro game of your own on the granddaddy of retro hardware.
Programming your own Atari 2600 games -- utilities that are available, etc.
Hack # ?? Make NES Homebrews
Create your own games to sit aside Super Mario.
Programming your own NES games
Hack # ?? Hack Existing NES Games
Change nearly anything inside your classic Nintendo software.
Hacking NES ROMs -- changing the sprites around, turn Mario into a girl, translate a game from Japanese to English, etc.
Hack # ?? Put Your Homebrews on a Cartridge
Start your own game assembly line.
Hack # ?? Sell Your Homebrew Retro Games
Make some money off your creations online and at expos.
Hack # ?? Design a Classic Adventure Game
Create an adventure game to rival King's Quest.

Low Priority: If I don't have people step up to write these, I may just axe them from the book at this point.

Hack # ?? Set Up a TRS-80
Buy, find, or steal Tandy's breakthrough home computer.
Hack # ?? Emulate the TRS-80
Play the classic games without the need for cassette tapes.
Hack # ?? Run Sinclair Computers
Set yourself up with a ZX series or the fabled Spectrum.
Hack # ?? Emulate the Sinclair Computers
Run ZX series or Spectrum software on your PC.
Hack # ?? Emulate Other Classic Computers
Play the obscure, the bizarre, the ancient PCs.
Other old computers you can emulate (Coleco, Pet, Atari 400/800, TI-99/4 even play Spacewar on the original PDP).
Hack # ?? Buy a Modern-Day Classic Computer
Use an FPGA board as a replacement for your retro PCs.
Commodore 64 on an FPGA -Jeri Ellsworth; http://c64upgra.de/c-one/

 

[BuddyC]

Sounds awesome...except I know near nothing about the available hacks.

 

[Kobun Heat]

What DO you know about, then?

 

[BuddyC]

Music games. Wacky peripherals.

I'm sure there are others, but I'm at a complete loss right now.

 

[Sho Nuff]

Your reward for doing this (besides eternal paradise and 72 virgins) is the satisfaction of seeing your name published in an honest-to-goodness book from a publisher with major name recognition and excellent distribution. Put it on your resume! Thrill your friends and parents! Also you get a free copy of the book.

Waitaminnit. Is nobody getting paid? [PeoplesEyebrow]

 

[iapetus]

Hack # ?? Design a Classic Adventure Game
Create an adventure game to rival King's Quest.

Meh. It's not truly classic if it's not pure text. Give me Inform or give me death!

 

[Argyle]

I was gonna say, I could probably help with some of the arcade stuff, but if I'm not going to be paid? Fuck that...

 

[Kobun Heat]

There is, in fact, a section on text adventures -- but it's already being taken care of.

 

[tedtropy]

I was gonna say, I could probably help with some of the arcade stuff, but if I'm not going to be paid? Fuck that...

How very noble of you.

I'm afraid I can't help you much in this regard, but I love most of O'Reilly's tech books. They're top-notch stuff and I wish you best of luck in this endeavor. Look forwarding to reading it. Especially since Fry's seems to constantly have 20 buck rebates on their 20 buck O'Reilly books.

 

[captmcblack]

How in-depth are these pieces usually? Are there any examples I can read?

 

[Bog]

How very smart of you.

That's more like it.

 

[Kobun Heat]

There are examples on the Gaming Hacks site.

By the way, when I was approached by the editor of Gaming Hacks last year to write two hacks for the book for free, I pretty much jumped at the opportunity. It was fun, I was writing about something I knew, and I got a really nice author bio.

Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that. You get a really nice author bio. Like, two paragraphs in the front of the book that are yours to hype yourself up as much as you want.

 

[john tv]

I think it's nice that some people are willing to do this stuff out of the goodness of their hearts, but IMO, writing stuff for free is a bad idea. Why should some company be allowed to fatten their bottom line with the fruits of your hard work? If you're doing work for them, you have a right to be paid for it and they have an obligation to pay you. Plain and simple.

As long as people keep doing stuff for free, this kind of thing is going to continue to happen.

Kobun, you need to learn how to negotiate! You should've got some $$$ for your two chapters. They better be paying your ass this time! And a lot, too.

Anyway, good luck. I don't mean to be down on your project or anything, but as an important new mouth on Yamauchi's crotch, I encourage you to stand up for what's right in this business! You can do it!

EDIT: PS -- I see the first book was Simon's project. Is he working on this one too? Simon is a good guy! I hope he's getting the big bucks for this too...

 

[Jotaro]

I think it's nice that some people are willing to do this stuff out of the goodness of their hearts, but IMO, writing stuff for free is a bad idea. Why should some company be allowed to fatten their bottom line with the fruits of your hard work? If you're doing work for them, you have a right to be paid for it and they have an obligation to pay you. Plain and simple.

As long as people keep doing stuff for free, this kind of thing is going to continue to happen.

Kohler, you need to learn how to negotiate! You should've got some $$$ for your two chapters. They better be paying your ass this time! And a lot, too.

Anyway, good luck. I don't mean to be down on your project or anything, but as an important new mouth on Yamauchi's crotch, I encourage you to stand up for what's right in this business! You can do it!

EDIT: PS -- I see the first book was Simon's project. Is he working on this one too? Simon is a good guy! I hope he's getting the big bucks for this too...

And then I tought Dailyradar extrapolated in their farewell message about game journalism when the website went under.

 

[Kobun Heat]

There *is* a freelance budget for this, but it's hardly extravagant. Everybody who contributes will get some money, but it's not a lot.

I need people who want to help out for the sake of having the work published, with money as a secondary factor. Yes, it would be great if I had a lot of money to throw around, but I don't. If the fact that the pay is really low makes you not want to contribute, I'd be quite the hypocrite if I took that personally.

 

[Argyle]

How very noble of you.

I'm afraid I can't help you much in this regard, but I love most of O'Reilly's tech books. They're top-notch stuff and I wish you best of luck in this endeavor. Look forwarding to reading it. Especially since Fry's seems to constantly have 20 buck rebates on their 20 buck O'Reilly books.

Yeah, well, I used to write and get paid for it, so why would I want to write and not get paid for it?

I'm with John - it just seems wrong to exploit the community this way, but hey, if you have more free time than I do, go for it!

 

[b_dawk]

As long as people keep doing stuff for free, this kind of thing is going to continue to happen.

it's good mr john said something... but i was a little shocked. do people actually get paid for writing? that sounds so glamourous. over in the academic world, we are just so happy to see our nerdy little words in print.

 

[Gazunta]

I didn't even ask about $ when i asked Kobun if he'd let me in. Didn't occur to me.

Why? Well besides the fact I'm now in the position where I don't have to write for money any more (hugs steady day job again), 90% of my writing when I started WAS for free.

I applied for this for the same reason I started writing for free in the first place - to sharpen my skills (which have got rusty of late) and get my name out there (since ive been hiding away in development land for the past 2 years and it's always good to keep your fingers in as many pies as possible).

In the first few years of my writing career 90% (no exaggeration) of my writing was for free, simply to show that I was eager, get my name out there and wanting to work my way up. And really it wasn't much different from my "pro games journo" era where 90% of all my writing was never getting paid for anyway (thanks Ziff's shoddy accounting department!), so who cares?

Put simply any wanna-be "pro" writer who feels that writing for free is below them really needs to examine why they want to be writers in the first place.

Think about how much some of you guys write on GAF every day, and think about how much you get paid for it. Then come bitching to Kobun for asking people to help him on his project.

Edit: John, I totally get where you're coming from, but ask yourself how much IGO paid About the same as N64HQ paid me I imagine Would you say that IGo was an important part of your career? (I certainly would say I would be NOWHERE today without N64HQ)

 

[Jotaro]

I applied for this for the same reason I started writing for free in the first place - to sharpen my skills (which have got rusty of late) and get my name out there (since ive been hiding away in development land for the past 2 years and it's always good to keep your fingers in as many pies as possible).

In the first few years of my writing career 90% (no exaggeration) of my writing was for free, simply to show that I was eager, get my name out there and wanting to work my way up. And really it wasn't much different from my "pro games journo" era where 90% of all my writing was never getting paid for anyway (thanks Ziff's shoddy accounting department!), so who cares?

I think these are only the chosen few that can get any money off writing, especially when it comes to videogames. And I do not trust lady luck.

Put simply any wanna-be "pro" writer who feels that writing for free is below them really needs to examine why they want to be writers in the first place.

It's not being below us, it's just, being used, I would not like this kind of travesty. If I write something, there most be some reward, whether it is attached in a monetary or symbolic form. With these kind of things, it only seems humiliating, and someone else gets credits for your work in the end.

Think about how much some of you guys write on GAF every day, and think about how much you get paid for it. Then come bitching to Kobun for asking people to help him on his project.

That does not gives me any responsibilities whatsoever, I do not think someone else is gonna benefit from my writings too. Is not it utopic to hope living on writing? Me, I just want to have fun, I want to communicate. I don't want to be a tool. Sure you get your words on paper, that people are gonna read, but in the end like you said, who cares? It's all about the fun, and IMHO, it's more fun not to have any constraints, and not having to make request and kneel and being used. If you get something, the glory will only be yours. And if not well, you will have had fun and gained experience in the end, without any pressure or constaints whatsoever.

 

[Dave Long]

I had a hack in the last book that Simon Carless edited together. No payment, but as Kobun notes, the little bio at the beginning was a nice piece. We got to write those ourselves at least.

I might be able to do the MAME on a disk thing for you. I've used that particular utility already.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Ah, that's right -- I remember seeing your hack in the last one, but never put two and two together. Unfortunately for you, in the wake of my posting this message on a coupla boards, the guy who does the MAME column for Digital Press already offered to do the MAME hacks...

 

[john tv]

Edit: John, I totally get where you're coming from, but ask yourself how much IGO paid About the same as N64HQ paid me I imagine Would you say that IGo was an important part of your career? (I certainly would say I would be NOWHERE today without N64HQ)

I hear you, too -- but IMO doing it here and there to help out a good cause (like N64HQ), or to sharpen your skills is totally different. When a company makes taking advantage of enthusiastic and/or clueless noobs the basis for their business plan, it really rubs me the wrong way. If you're gonna make whores out of people who are desperate to get a break in this business, at least pay them for their work.

IGO wasn't about money; it was more about showing up the so-called "pros" like NGO who were basically getting paid to be clueless. But even so, before IG, I did freelance work for Gamepro and I did a book for Sandwich Islands Publishing. I got both of those gigs by shelling out pretty much all the money I had to fly to Vegas for CES in 1994 to meet with some people and try to pimp my work. I will always be grateful to Wes Nihei (EIC of Gamepro at the time; I think he's like "Editor at Large" now or something) for taking time to listen to me and let me write something in his mag. I was pretty much a nobody back then, but he still gave me a chance. But if he had asked me to do it for free, I would've turned him down in a heartbeat. It's just wrong to take advantage of people like that IMO.

EDIT: I should clarify that I'm arguing about the situation in general now, not specifically about Kobun's case. As Mr. Heat kindly pointed out, they do have a freelance budget for the project -- it's just not that big. Maybe we should take this argument elsewhere so as not to derail this thread even further...

 

[Kobun Heat]

Uh, I think I need to say this again before you really start ripping into O'Reilly (too late).

There is a freelance budget. There is some money involved. It's just not clear yet how much I can give each individual author, so I thought it was safer and less sticky to not mention that in public. The publisher isn't trying to take advantage of anyone, so please don't try to make this into some sort of controversy.

 

[DDayton]

Arrgh! I -need- to get my gaming book finished...

 

[shuri]

So someone wont get paid to re-word informations that can be found in readme and faqs (made by other people) for free..

Text that will end up in a 40$ book..

 

[aku:jiki]

I'd jump at this just to get in a book. And I already do get paid for my other game writing, so why not? Alas, I suck at writing good stuff in english, don't know any of this and my bathtub is empty.

 

[Dave Long]

Ah, that's right -- I remember seeing your hack in the last one, but never put two and two together. Unfortunately for you, in the wake of my posting this message on a coupla boards, the guy who does the MAME column for Digital Press already offered to do the MAME hacks...

No problem. Better to have someone that's fooling around with it daily do the hack than me. I've got something else going on right now that you guys are bound to hear about soon anyway. That will take the majority of my game and writing time each month.

 

[Kobun Heat]

I edited the first post to reflect what's already been taken; I've been getting some emails about hacks that already have an author. Sorry guys.

Also, I've split the remaining ones up into high priority and low priority, I guess mostly just to give you an idea of how I feel about the table of contents right now. If I can't get authors for the latter set of hacks, I may very well just not include them in the book. There's actually a surplus of hacks anyway -- apparently I'm supposed to shoot for one hundred even.

Oh, and in case some of the revolutionaries in the crowd are wondering, many of the hacks were taken on by O'Reilly employees, above and beyond their job responsibilities. For the LOVE.

 

[M3wThr33]

I'd recommend getting in touch with the GrandTheftTendo guy.
Otherwise, just have 40 pages on how to install MESS.
http://www.grandtheftendo.com/