yes I've put out some fingers to communicate with headshot (thanks sleepwalkr) already.

As per your suggestion. You're more than welcome to write your own book. I'm no copy editor and my grammar is sub par. Besides that's not the point and that would almost triple the amount of work and time this could take. 

Pop-up maps. Oh yeah. And you could appropriately feature that one map by RPG. 

However, since I'm not excactly commited to the idea of having the same layout on every page right now.

I wasn't suggesting that every page have the exact same layout, but surely one could look at a couple example pages and imagine what the book would be like. 

Make it so that when you open a page, cardboard 3d brushwork jumps at you.

Plastic quakeguy and ogres are included to be placed on the brushwork.

Otherwise this book project will suck. 

that plays Quake music, or NIN in general, or farting noises or something. 

I emailed you weeks ago, and talked with you on terrafusion about adding me to the list, yet I am still not on it. Is there a problem? 

I've decided to go with 8.25" x 10.75" Hardcover casewrap. In case you don't know what casewraped is, its like a laminated hardcover book (glossy) without a dustjacket.

I've been tinkering around with some layouts, not too hapy with much so far. but I think I will use something to this effect for any 2 page spreads - http://brushwork.leveldesign.org/images/brushwork_rough_test1.jpg

I don't want to stray too far from the screen aspect ratios for the images, but at the same time I would like to for some variety. I should play around with that some more.

I realize a layout like this, or similar, wont be appropriate for an artist with a small portfolio so next up are some single page ideas. 

Nothing wrong with straying from screen aspect ratio--just keep in mind that cropping is usually a better thing than resizing/stretching.

Kinda stating the obvious, I suppose. :) 

any deviation from screen aspect ratios will be cropped. The individual images will be a big factor in deciding that i suppose. 

i kind of think you should try devoting pages to individual levels instead of individual mappers -- in other words, the levels are the stars, rather than the mappers being the stars. 

 

and is it really necessary to say the age of the mapper? 

I never took you seriously btw jfyi. 

Can you comment on metlslime's suggestion as I think it deviates somewhat from your original idea - you were going to showcase the artist (" 1 or 2 page spread with a short biography and several images of their work").

That kind of implies several images across several maps? Clearly, the mapper was the star?

How will you deal with someone like czg (assuming he's in the mix) who has a considerable output? A one or two page spread won't do much justice to him as an artist if it only shows one map.

I suppose there's bound to be a need for compromise. 

I'd be more impressed if a 13 year old had created Marcher Fortress. 

woodham is correct that I hadn't intended on making maps the 'star' at the same time neither do I want to make the artist the 'star' the original idea was to at least introduce the mapper, and then show off 'some' of their works. Yeah in regards to age being shown, it isn't necessary. I think country of origin is a detail that many would like to know, helps show just how widespread this 'hobby' is.

In regards to an author with a vast catalogue (so far czg refuses to sign up, so we'll use vondur as a reference from this point on) the work they feel the most proud showing of course. in a 2 page spread at the moment i'm looking at 6 images. perhaps their BEST map could fill one page, and then 2nd page have 3 shots of different maps? it's really a case by case scenario. I have also made 2 single page layouts for those with a < 3 portfolio of stuff they want to show.

But yeah if someone wants to show off all 23 maps they did... well they can make their own book for that!



Also: I'm considering black backgrounds for the pages. what do you think? I'm a bit iffy on the idea because of how lulu.com works, i've read some reports of bleed not working properly when printed so if you were to pry open the spine you could see white edges if you were unlucky. However I think the overall effect might be nice? (not necessarily black, but a dark background colour) 

also, I've been toying with the idea of purchasing the rights to a unique typeface for the book. If anyone has any suggestions i'd love to hear them. Most likely a gothic/grotesque sans-serif (this is NOT a medieval blackletter fyi), or if I can find a nice elegant roman serif that doesn't make someone think of Times.

this is for copy text. i think ill make a trip to the bookstore and check out what they've got. 

You could always try larabie fonts, they�ve got quite a few nice ones.

Black would work well with the atypical Quake screenshot, but might be too heavy for the entire book. Maybe an almost black shade of a colour could be used - maybe it could be colour-coded by mapper (referencing thier handle colour here maybe?) so that�d make Vondur�s section dark green, CZG�s dark blue.

Mind you, that�d probably get endless arguments over who wants to be Mr Blond. 

please 

 

Modify the quake font to make it more readable! or something 

Isn't black a big no-no in print? And yeah, colored background is worse than white. 

 

Because I've heard the same about using black in print. 

...still pokin' around fonts tho'

damn lun, do you remember that site i showed you about 3-4weeks back?