Ordering Page Entry wrote:The Legacy CD is packed with all of the 3rd edition products that we have available: Tactical Rules, Campaign Rules (aka Imperial Starfire), Sky Marshal #2, Stars at War, Insurrection, Crusade, ISW 4, and all of the downloads and materials to include the nexus articles and ECs from that period. As a bonus, we've also decided to include the Unified Tech Manual (UTM) produced by the 3DG volunteer group.
I'll explain.
1) It's not clear from the ordering page what is and is not included.
1.1) It mentions the nexus articles - but they're not for 3E. (in fact, the mechanical ones are integrated into 3E already)
1.2) it specifically says all the 3E materials except SM 1.
1.3) it doesn't say anything about 1E/2E.
2) the implied "Pay full price again for the update" from the above conversations is pretty bad business.*
3) the ready availability of other online providers** to allow redownload for longer periods of time and larger download sizes makes the CD seem to be proof of "dinosaurs at work"... it calls into question the tech-savvy of SDS's core crew.
1.3 and 2 are primarily why I haven't bought it.
* It's not the $35 for 3 editions I'm complaining about - it's the "we updated and you have to rebuy to get it"
For comparison: Far Future Enterprises (Marc W. Miller & Darlene Miller) sells their CD's for $35 each, plus shipping. When they're updated, the update is charged for at $5 plus shipping (Marc's said he's getting CD's cut for under that).
** providers like DTRPG/RPGNow, e23, IPR (Indy Press Revolution), and Precis Intermedia. Which begs the question, "Why does SDS not use one of the major sites?" I suspect it's because of the 30%-40% overhead charge per sale...
Cralis wrote:Keep in mind that there are literally NO electronic versions of products prior to 3rd edition beyond scans and the documents we are building now.
It's likely that SF I, SF II, and SF III were analog from start to finish. The text face is the same in all TFG products of the era, implying a typecaster and/or mechanical typesetter, and the graphic types used imply electro-optical or photo-lithographic typesetting. (which, really, remained the norm until the mid 1980's for most game companies.)
I suspect the process was draft in writing, type up for comment, edit typed, repeat test and playtest, print on proportional typewriter to rough layout, retype into the typecaster to generate the final lines, make a proof copy, replace any lines needing edits, make a pasteup print, add the graphics, then take it to the printer for electro-optical or photo-optical plate etching.