Crowdfunding Campaign Launches for 'Rocket Jump' Book About Quake, Origin of FPS Games
Shacknews' first mega-sized book is being funded for publication as a hardcover by crowdfunding platform and publisher Unbound. Publish it for Shacknews!
Published on Shacknews last December, Rocket Jump: Quake and the Golden Age of First-Person Shooters book-sized mega feature is being crowdfunded on Unbound. If funded, Rocket Jump will be made available in hardcover and digital formats compatible with e-readers, smartphones, and tablets.
Unbound is a crowdfunding platform and publisher based in London, built exclusively for books. Like other crowdfunding platformers, Unbound lets users pledge financial support in exchange for rewards such as autographed copies of books. Representatives from the publisher approached me about publication last year after Rocket Jump gained traction on social media following retweets from current and former id Software developers including co-founders John Carmack and John Romero.
"I couldn't be more excited to publish Rocket Jump," said Beth Lewis, commissioning editor at Unbound. "This book is a fascinating look at the origins of an entire gaming genre, directly from the people who created it. I've been a gamer most of my life and I've never read such an in-depth, impeccably researched and well-written exploration of such a key area of the videogame industry."
Rocket Jump explores the making of id Software's Quake series and other foundational shooters made during the genre's golden age. The first two chapters of Rocket Jump are free to read for all Shacknews visitors, while the full book is available online as an exclusive to Shackers who subscribe to Mercury, Shacknews' subscription service that offers access to longreads, add-free browsing, and more.
"Not many websites are willing to spend the time and effort to create long-form content like Rocket Jump and I want to thank all of the folks who participated in the creation of the mega feature," wrote Shacknews CEO, owner, and editor-in-chief Asif Khan in an open letter following Rocket Jump's publication. "I also want to thank our Shacknews Chatty community for supporting us during the past few years, and I look forward to showing everyone our vision of the future of the Shack."
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replyDavid Craddock posted a new article, Crowdfunding Campaign Launches for 'Rocket Jump' Book About Quake, Origin of FPS Games
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The book will ship from London, but I promise it'll be worth it!
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Digital versions will launch alongside the hardcover next year. You can pledge for digital versions in the first tier ($15). If you're a Shacknews Mercury subscriber, there's a link to a mobi (Kindle) file at the end of the Shack edition of Rocket Jump: http://www.shacknews.com/article/101156/rocket-jump-quake-and-the-golden-age-of-first-person-shooters
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You can always pledge for the hardcover and start reading right away on Shack!
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There EPUB downloads now available for Mercury Subs.
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https://twitter.com/shacknews/status/938609195850588161
are coming are here
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Gonna hit this up when I get home. I've been waiting for this since the article was posted.
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Thanks! Hope you like it.
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Wooot!
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Oh, yes. There will be Quake. And blood. And pineapples.
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The Doom retrospective I wrote last year before Rocket Jump! http://www.shacknews.com/article/99662/doom-stairway-to-badass (Now exclusive to Mercury subs; working on epub and mobi versions for them, too.)
Every year or two I round up freelance article and bundle them into books. The Doom feature is the size of a book, so I'll be publishing it separately.
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Honestly asking, is there any new content that isn't readily available through the internet over the years?
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Yep, a ton. I got firsthand accounts on the making of and culture during Quake 2-Live, including the inside story of how Adrian Carmack sued id Software over his termination and proved his case against id's other owners in court; development of an unannounced project called Quest; the frustrating juxtaposition of Tim Willits' brilliant level design balanced against the political tactics he used to get rid of designers he saw as competition; and truckloads of design details.
Rocket Jump is as much a story about how the culture at id was both its greatest strength and most destructive weapon. Nearly everyone I talked to said it was the best and worst place they'd ever worked. I didn't go in with the intention of digging into drama, but it's impossible to separate that drama with how incredibly successful id Software became. The drama was as responsible for that success as factors such as level design and tech. -
Dude, it's a ton. I have a dozen Quake t shirts and memorabilia around the house and have been going to Quakecon for 20 years and I didn't know most of what's in the book. Keep in mind most of the information was gathered recently so it's not taken from the 90s time period it's more retrospective and full of information that has not been previously out there.
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Dude... IVE been going to quakecon for 20 years...
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Nice! Enjoy!
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