AAPOV Preview Issue

[zerohour1974]

Hi Everyone....

Well the preview issue is now available. I admit that I am still learning the ropes with Scribus so the image sizes are inconsistent and certain boxes look wrong.

However this issue is more a gauge of interest than the exact final layout.

Opinions welcome etc...

Download it from here
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fopsw2euwg...Issue.pdf?dl=0

[zerohour1974]

Any comments ...

[kriz]

Just downloaded and checked out, will read all later but its good.. Only thing personally is some of the color choices on background in the start, but seems to go more sane out in the mag.... Great work going !!

[TEOL]

Will the new Zerohour versions bring it back from the brink. Lets find out by giving it a download shall we?

It's awesome that someone is having a go at bringing back the rival for 880 Gamer as it's healthy having some competition around in the current PDF mags era.

It was a good Issue 0 of AAPOV I enjoyed the grumpy old git talking about silly prices I hope he stays as a regualar even though Q/A will probably be in Issue 1 but he still needs to say in the corner of the page though his a laugh. I will be interested to read what he has to say next in the first full issue release.

[zerohour1974]

The Grumpy Git will definitely be back next issue. Time to start planning Issue 1 ... (crikey)

[TEOL]

I would love to see a feature on all the pack in games for the different boxes of the different models of the AMIGA.

Cartoon Classics I remember being Lemmings, Captain Planet, Bart Vs The Space Mutants and Deluxe Paint.

[zerohour1974]

I will put it on the list. The A1200 one my friend had was the Magic Pack, which had Whizz, Pinball Mania and a lot of Digita Software I believe

[Korodny]

First impressions:

I don't think this should use the "APoV" moniker at all. APoV tried to mimic the content, language and design of games publications from 25 years ago - and it did an outstanding job at that. Your mag reads more like a modern newsletter, featuring news about the AmigaOne X5000, Directory Opus 5.91 for AmigaOS etc.

APoV celebrated a time when there was a real games industry surrounding the Amiga creating high quality entertainment products - while your magazine devotes half a page to Amiman's backbone creation "Jump Block Jump!".

I'm not bashing your effort (or Amiman's) - just saying it's a totally different magazine, so I don't see why you'd use that title.

The layout isn't any good, sorry. Better than anything I could create but it still looks too amateurish IMHO. Not to mention actual layout problems, like the Jahangir Khan review where the running text actually touches one of the screenshots. An A4 publication with running text in big letters in a single column? Again: newsletter, not magazine.

Overall, there's a lack of focus, IMHO - which might be due to your lack of experience with the Amiga scene. There's not one Amiga scene, but at least two more or less independent ones. The typical retro gamer doesn't have much in common with somebody interested in PPC hardware running AmigaOS 4 or MorphOS. Since you're not a commercial offering, you don't have to try to get as many users on board as possible - just pick your theme (retro gaming? Retro in General, including hardware, "Amiga at NASA" type reports and software reviews? Amiga "NG" projects like AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, AROS, or emulation based setups, configuring your system, getting actual work done? etc.) and focus on that.

I did enjoy the "Grumpy Git", stuff like that is always nice.

[zerohour1974]

Thanks Korodny for your impressions...

I admit I am not a graphic designer so I admit there was a few graphical/ layout discrepancies to the initial preview issue. I was learning how to use Scribus so I was bound to have the odd creeping text or graphics wrap issue. I have now moved across to Quark Express which seems to wrap text around graphics much better.

The idea of the new magazine is not to be the 150 page behemoth of the previous model. As you say it was a much more vibrant scene back then.

I am aware of the MorphOS, AROS scene and while I am just entering into the OS4 arena via emulation I try to keep abreast of them all.

The idea is more similar to 880 Gamer which is a small PDF publication scaled back to the scene as it is now. I am trying to keep it under 40 pages at the moment.

Glad you enjoyed "Grumpy Git" and he will return

As for alternative monikers I did originally think of calling the magazine Shile of Absolute Pite or SOAP but I did not think many would be amused by the joke. That title was a comment on my ability rather than the Amiga before anyone gets offended.

[zerohour1974]

I have decided it may be time to go back to the drawing board with the look of the magazine. It was kind of put together in rather a hurry only taking two weeks from beginning to end. It was more a proof of concept more than anything.

It does look rather amateurish I admit, then again I am not a man who has worked in Graphic Design or admits to even having any talents in this area. I also must confess that I do not possess any skills in journalism. So I try and make the best out of what little skill I have (not much).

As I am not a long serving Amiga user so maybe I am not the best man to take on such a project. I may persist with an actual Issue 1 but it is now completely getting an overhaul in aesthetics so it may take me longer to get an issue out.

[Comiga]

OOooo! Competition hey? Cool! I love friendly competition... just let me make a quick call to my friendly friends who happen to own a lot of friendly baseball bats... don't worry, they will not hurt you, just smash up all of you computers and documents in the name of friendly competetive business hehe!

I only just seen this today, but it's cool to see someone else giving this a shot. I know first hand it is a lot of work!

As you mentioned, it's more of a rough draft preview, so don't go giving yourself to much of a hard time over it!

Couple of things about the mag :

- I like the idea of a bit more of a mix of serious and games. My 880 Gamer mag just mainly focuses on gaming, but you're mag tries to be a bit more serious like Amiga Computing back in the day.

- I also like the idea of you been an 'outsider' to the Amiga community and new to it all. Go with this! Sometimes we old time Amiga'ns look at things with hazey vision... if you think its rubbish, call it! You could also do reviews on each Amiga computer (if you can get access to the hardware) and give a score, which would be cool.

- I agree with Korodny about the name. APOV was a certain magazine and of certain style, which you are not trying to replicate. Your magazine is original, and thus should have an original name. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, but something that states what the magazine is about.

- Yes, there are layout issues, but man... you should have seen my first attempts! lol! I like the font, and the contents page which uses big block colours. Why not run with this style through the magazine. Like use a big colour block at the top of each section which is the same as the contents page (i.e. News Grey, Grumpy git Purple etc..)

- Grumpy git is a great idea, and you could take this places for sure!

- Screen shots. I notice the screen shots you take have the big black borders around them. I use FS-UAE on Ubuntu, and when it takes a screenshot there is a version which is cropped. This is great as you do not have those borders and only on screen action. If you are using WinUAE, I would presume there is option for screen shots for this as well. Do this and it will make things look a real lot nicer!

Don't stress, I am no graphic designer and Codetapper can vouch I do not have journalism skills as he constantly agonises over my basic spelling and grammar errors. Is it 'loose' or 'lose'?

The important part is you enjoy making it! Even if no one read 880, I still had fun making it and still would! But it does take time, my first issue took a few months, and most of that was just working out how to design it all, how to put it together and come up with the idea. Once you have that though, you can use previous issues as templates which then makes following issues a lot easier

Anyways, this is a long post. I wish you luck with this project, and I look forward to your official issue 1 (which ever name it come out with).

Cheers,
Mark

[Pyromania]

I enjoyed reading this.