Bøker av Bitmap Books

Scary games may have entered the mainstream with the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill in the PlayStation era but interactive entertainment has always been drawn to its darker side. From Ants to Zombies is a showcase for the remarkable range horror gaming has achieved, across six decades, from the 1970s to the 2020s, and over 70 hardware platforms, from the ZX Spectrum to the Xbox Series X. More than 130 horror titles are analysed and contextualised across thirteen thematically-divided chapters, covering a variety of genres (from rail shooters to open-world RPGs), settings (from haunted mansions to infested space stations) and shades of fear (from creeping existential dread to stomach-churning outbursts of violence). The discussion is enlivened by exclusive commentary from pioneering horror developers such as Keiichiro Toyama (Silent Hill), Jane Jensen (Gabriel Knight), Ken Levine (System Shock 2), Sandy White (Ant Attack), David Riordan (It Came from the Desert), Paul Norman (Forbidden Forest), Graeme Devine (The 7th Guest), and many more. Spanning 600+ beautifully-illustrated pages, From Ants to Zombies offers an opportunity to revisit venerated classics and discover unfairly overlooked gems, tapping into the inexhaustible riches of six decades of video game horror. From Ants to Zombies comes as a hardback, with a unique glow-in-the-dark logo and text. As with all our publications, we print lithographically on high-quality paper to showcase the gorgeous visuals as the games deserve. We also use thread sewn binding for extra durability and the ability to lay the book open flat. The cover features a specially created artwork by artist Vasilis Zikos. About the publisher: Bitmap Books work with the world's most experienced writers, designers and gaming experts to create meticulously researched, visually ambitious retro gaming books. As a design-led publisher, visual quality matters to us. We don't just obsessively pursue the best printing quality currently available. We want to constantly push the envelope when it comes to expectations about printing techniques.

A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games.

Extending our wildly popular Box Art Collection series, PC Engine: The Box Art Collection offers essential reading for long-standing fans of NEC's mighty console, retrogaming devotees of every kind, and anyone with an interest in the fascinating relationship that games, art and popular culture share. Why? Because the PC Engine was more than just a games console. It was part of a movement in the late-1980s that saw a bold new aesthetic emerge in Japan that would soon spread across the globe, shaping art, design, and creativity everywhere it went. As the country's games, movies, music, design, and fashion influenced one another, the brilliant box art of the PC Engine's remarkable library capably captured the spread of artistic approaches and styles that made up the movement. PC Engine: The Box Art Collection celebrates the diversity, vibrancy, sophistication, and personality seen across the covers of the best and most interesting Japanese releases for NEC's undersized powerhouse, including Adventure Island, Darius Plus, Bomberman '93, YS I & II, Soldier Blade, PC Denjin (Air Zonk), Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (Castlevania: Rondo of Blood), Devil Crash, and Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. At 372 pages in length, PC Engine: The Box Art Collection includes more than 300 professionally shot pieces of box art, along with carefully reproduced screenshots - all presented with Bitmap Book's design-led approach. We've worked hard to make every page packed with thoughtful, exciting design - just like those PC Engine game covers. And every game featured includes an insightful review and expert summary. The standard edition of PC Engine: The Box Art Collection features a striking metallic red foil logo on the hardback cover. As with all our publications, we print lithographically on high-quality paper to showcase the gorgeous visuals as the games deserve. We equally use thread sewn binding for extra durability and the ability to lay the book open flat. About the publisher: Bitmap Books work with the world's most experienced writers, designers and gaming experts to create meticulously researched, visually ambitious retro gaming books. As a design-led publisher, visual quality matters to us. We don't just obsessively pursue the best printing quality currently available. We want to constantly push the envelope when it comes to expectations about printing techniques.

Get ready for the fight of your life in Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-'Em-Ups. Written by award-winning author Dave Cook, and opening with a foreword by legendary Double Dragon creator, Yoshihisa Kishimoto, this odyssey through bare-knuckle nostalgia features over 200 games spanning 37 years, starting with Irem's 1984 arcade mash, Kung-Fu Master, continuing through the genre's '90s heyday, and finishing with indie brawlers such as Mother Russia Bleeds and Streets of Rage 4. At over 450 pages, Go Straight takes a deep dive into familiar beat-'em-up legends like Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Final Fight and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as delving into the more obscure brawlers you just have to try, like Denjin Makai, Shadow Force and Gaia Crusaders. As well as reviewing each game, Go Straight features hints, tips and guides to levels and enemies. The book is packed full of screenshots, sprites and level maps, all lovingly curated and presented to our usual high standards. Go Straight is printed lithographically to the highest standards. This ensures that the colours in the book are really vibrant and that the pages have a high-quality, luxurious feel to them. As standard, each book is offered in hardback with a spot-varnished fascia featuring artwork by artist Jorge M. Velez. If you have fond memories of playing side-scrolling beat-'em-ups at home on the couch or in noisy arcades, or if you're excited by the genre and jumping in for the first time, Go Straight is the perfect guide for you. About the publisher: Bitmap Books work with the world's most experienced writers, designers and gaming experts to create meticulously researched, visually ambitious retro gaming books. As a design-led publisher, visual quality matters to us. We don't just obsessively pursue the best printing quality currently available. We want to constantly push the envelope when it comes to expectations about printing techniques.

Before the days of brand awareness campaigns and digital marketing, a game's only source of advertising was often limited to the box artwork you'd see on high street shelves. With early game graphics offering little visual interest, it fell to the packaging to conjure up engaging images of deep space battles, medieval knights and wizards, explosive military operations, and monstrous alien creatures. And every cover had to be hand-crafted by an artist using traditional media - often with a short deadline and the vaguest of briefs. The Art Of The Box features 26 biographies of those artists who, at some point in their careers, found themselves illustrating video game packaging, including Bob Wakelin, Steve Hendricks, Ken Macklin, Tom DuBois, Steinar Lund, Marc Ericksen, Julie Bell and Susumu Matsushita among many others. With information drawn from live interviews wherever possible, we discuss their beginnings as an artist, their inspirations and influences, the games they illustrated, and where their artistic careers have taken them. Some artists created just a handful of covers over a short period; others were instrumental in developing the look and feel of video game brands, such as Ocean Software, Konami and Capcom. But all have their left an indelible mark on the industry, with sumptuous pieces of original art, many of which now command high prices on the collectors' market. With artists from the UK, Europe, North American and Japan, The Art Of The Box encompasses the full gamut of game packaging illustration, from the early days of Atari's iconic VCS box art, to modern-day collaborations between designers, CG artists and game developers for the latest AAA games. Each biography is accompanied by lavish, full-colour box artwork, supplied by the artists themselves, and each piece is presented without the usual logos and retail elements, so you see each piece as the artist intended. As the gaming world moves irrevocably toward digital downloads and gaming subscription services, traditional box art will one day become a thing of the past. But a small selection of these vivid flights of the imagination will be forever celebrated in The Art Of The Box. This substantial and exhaustively researched book is 564 pages in length, with over 100,000 words and more than 350 full colour images. The Art Of The Box is produced to Bitmap Books' usual high standards, available in hardback format with heavy, gloss paper, incredible print quality and including a ribbon bookmark. About the publisher: Bitmap Books work with the world's most experienced writers, designers and gaming experts to create meticulously researched, visually ambitious retro gaming books. As a design-led publisher, visual quality matters to us. We don't just obsessively pursue the best printing quality currently available. We want to constantly push the envelope when it comes to expectations about printing techniques.

Bitmap Books is incredibly proud to present THE KING OF FIGHTERS: The Ultimate History. Put simply, KOF is one of the most important fighting game series of all time, and today, in 2022, it is considered versus fighter royalty. But despite this legacy, the history of this long-running and much beloved gaming series has never been comprehensively told, leaving the story of how it came to be, and the cultural phenomenon it became, largely shrouded in mystery. Here, in the first officially licensed and fully endorsed book of its type, that story is revealed in its entirety. With the help of SNK itself, which has granted unprecedented access to its immense archives of illustrations and artwork, as well as the key members of the original development team, who have spoken in unparalleled detail about how they created the series, this official history delivers a comprehensive visual and written history of KOF. The book celebrates iconic characters in the KOF roster such as Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, as well as hearing from the voice actors who brought them to life; it uncovers never-before-seen details about the mysterious origins of KOF; and delves into the sumptuous pixel art and rich story narratives the series is known for. With its wealth of imagery and information, this is the ultimate KOF history. THE KING OF FIGHTERS: The Ultimate History is 544 pages long, hardback and printed to the highest possible standards, using special Pantone ink and high-quality paper. About the publisher: Bitmap Books work with the world's most experienced writers, designers and gaming experts to create meticulously researched, visually ambitious retro gaming books. As a design-led publisher, visual quality matters to us. We don't just obsessively pursue the best printing quality currently available. We want to constantly push the envelope when it comes to expectations about printing techniques.