Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Amusing Fighting Fantasy Photoshopped covers:
http://mightygodking.com/2008/06/23/bad-habits/
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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The Sorcery! app is now out for iOS! As an Android user, I hope they port it!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sorcery ... 79091?mt=8
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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I can confirm that. An android french version already exists and I saw a beta on some guy's device at Gallimard editions meeting with SJ.
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Aha! Nice :-)
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Sorcery official trailer ! http://youtu.be/R25p1u_ggzo
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Quick, just 7 minutes left to bid on this Japanese version of Forest of Doom! ;-)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Forest-of ... 0996849741
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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If you like Way of the Tiger series and got frustrated with the weird ending : https://twitter.com/JamieTgamebooks/sta ... 0311573504
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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^^^ Yes, fantastic news :-)

Another short interview with Steve Jackson, nothing new really, but thought I'd post it:
http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/07/in ... ry-series/
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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More news about "Way of the Tiger" ! :D
Kickstarter (draft) page about new edition : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/161 ... n=c0f7e143
Demo available (with Dave Morris, Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson preface): http://www.megara-entertainment.com/ave ... rademo.pdf
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Way of The Tiger KickStarter is now live!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/161 ... escription
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Good news, i'm still not a fan of new illustrations (btw, looks like illustrators are french/canadian french people). I miss Bob Harvey's !
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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A new interview of Ian Livingstone. Gamebooks revival in Bulgaria : classic FFs and also new authors are published this year.
http://www.legacyofkreya.com/en/news/in ... ivingstone

and some illustration i made for an amateur gamebook : hound of Tindalos :)
http://linflasdm.blogspot.fr/2014/02/30 ... damis.html
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Something that may interest londoneers : Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014
https://www.facebook.com/events/274966572686051/
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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I wonder who that Matt Hill from Gamebook Unlimited is... ;)
http://fabledlands.blogspot.fr/2014/06/ ... -pits.html
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Ooh, very cool :)
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Interesting. Looks like you are getting some recognition.
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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It's just a favour to Dave Morris in return for picking his brain about the publishing industry :-)
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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The "You are the Hero" history of Fighting Fantasy will be launched at a Fighting Fantasy Fest in London in September.
See you there? ;-) http://www.eventbrite.com/e/fighting-fa ... 1436642305
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

Post by oh_brother »

I actually now live in the area, but I know I am away at a wedding that weekend. Could have been fun. I meet Steve Jackson once, ended up playing a card game with him and another guy. This was back when he was writing for White Dwarf (and I was reading it), so it felt like a big deal at the time.
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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I got the sorcery! app on iOS. Just started, but it looks cool. Not fully a game book, you move around a map, but I think perhaps this ends up being equivalent to changing pages.

I never read the actual books when they came out for some reason, so I don't know how close it is to the original. The fighting system for instance is very different to standard FF - you pick how strong an attack you want to make, with the goal effectively being to win by a little or lose by a lot.
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Indeed, the new Sorcery! apps are great! :-D

I've just started playing part 2 (Kharé) on my Nexus tablet and I love the 3d effect on the map and how they made that an integral part of the gameplay mechanic. It takes it on a step from just simply presenting text and helps you feel more engaged in the story. The simple ambient sound effects are nice too and the overall presentation is excellent. This new way of doing a gamebook is a real step up: if the digital gamebook industry isn't just a nostalgic flash-in-the pan, then I expect new developers to copy the Sorcery! format. I certainly wish I had the skill to do something like that (In fact I did actually apply to Inkle, the makes of Sorcery, to see if they had any opportunities but they are too small at present.)
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Oooh, the Fighting Fantasy festival now has Leo Hartas and JOHN BLANCHE attending *fanboy swoon*!!! ;-)

http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.co. ... um=twitter
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

Post by oh_brother »

Great game.

The map does completely change the feel of the game. A simple idea, but one that works really well.

The combat system is good. Again, a nice way to take advantage of the new format while still staying true to the books. More fun than simulated dice rolling. Also, FF had a problem with a huge handicap if you rolled poorly for your stats - here that does not happen (maybe some stats should have been left though?)

At first I was unsure about the 'rewind' option, thinking that it might make the game too easy or remove the importance of making good decisions. But now I think that I approve. It avoids the need to start again if you make one wrong move. And the authors of these types of books would have expected players to keep their fingers in numerous pages and flick back when it suited them, and written accordingly. The wizard choice books did not have this option - that did make a short game feel longer, but is certainly not necessary for books the size of sorcery!.

I have part 2 now, it is huge!
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

Post by oh_brother »

oooh, a Lone Wolf app out now too, and getting good reviews. It is a great time to be a gamebook fan! Can't wait to finish Sorcery! and start on this.
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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I couldn't get along with the new Lone Wolf game. I found the interface way too complex, too much style over function, and the touch-screen 3D fighting just wasn't clear or responsive enough. I don't know if that means I'm just too old to enjoy these new interfaces, or if they really did overdo it: it seems to have made what was a reasonably straight forward gamebook system into an even more complex video game, which takes some doing!
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

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Pity, I liked the idea of breaking out from the text for combat. Maybe the implementation is just not there yet. Will still try it out at some point.
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Re: Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

Post by oh_brother »

It seems that the retro charm of these books is making it into the mainstream media. I can't image BBC reporting on these books when I was a kid, perhaps it is driven by Jonathon Green's upcoming History of Fighting Fantasy book.

I agree that it got kids reading, as mentioned in the article. Also I believe it helped with numeracy - you were dealing with probabilities on every page.
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