I came expecting This. But seems like you have done alot of work with it, so i will give some of it a read. Also since you release it online, can you make your table of content be able to link to the article?
Wow this was very well done. I'm quite impressed by the overall quality of the magazine. To be honest I can't see myself ever sitting down to read the whole thing, although I did skim a few article while I scrolled through it, but if they did a print version I would be a subscriber for sure!
I had a flick thru, and then it kinda captivated me. Esp the part with "conquering ur ladder fear". It's a good read and I must say you guys have a done a great job
OK, usually I'm a cynical bastard but this does look pretty cool actually. And you have definitely put loads of work into GJ! Not just formating but also content too.
I have a question though - why have you opted for a magazine format at all? Reading a PDF is not the most user friendly interface and is seriously heavy on the downloads. Why not just have a website format instead? Having your zine in a single format does have it's advantages i.e. to have it as a finish et viola here it is product but in terms of getting content to readers online websites offer more advantages - rather than waiting 2 months for it all in one go, updates with regular articles etc can be released to keep your readers interested (and remember you).
I'm just curious as, unless you were planning on having this in print, it's almost a step back.
Also, I'm not sure how TL staff will feel about this in terms of advertising... But as you have put so much into this and you seem to be grass roots it this may be fine.
Read a bunch of it. I liked the CombatEx article, the ThorZaIN interview, the build order articles, the bit on PeepMode, and the overall layout and design. Visually, the magazine is way better than I expected: easy to read, lots of relevant eye-candy, and cleanly laid-out. I got a bit lost in the text flow a couple times, though, like toward the middle of the ThorZaIN interview and at the page break for Leenock's Providence build order. The bits on easter eggs and dumb jokes were a nice touch.
I wasn't a fan of the article on casters; it didn't have much new to say. I was surprised that the article about time seemed to gloss over an important caveat -- the difference between Blizzard Time™ and actual time. Also, there was at least one blatant typo (pg. 21, "... what is scene [sic] in many modern virtual storefronts"). Actually, while we're talking about that article, I thought the writing style was pretentiously obtuse. Mellow out, megabuster. Sometimes you need to cut the literary flourishes and write straight talk.
We originally chose a magazine format because we wanted to provide a nicely presented package of editorials and interviews that people could casually leaf through in their spare time. We figured that there's a lot of really amazing websites already out there that provide SC2 news and live coverage, and we wanted to try something different. It does make things a bit difficult in terms of keeping content relevant, but we're looking to eventually try for monthly publications (though we don't have the free time or the manpower quite yet). We're also investigating print, but we'd have to charge for print copies which brings up a few more issues in terms of what photos and whatnot we can use.
We're trying out the issuu interface for our issue as well, which should make the downloading and reading a bit more enjoyable and less taxing on our servers. You can give it a look here.
I didn't expect much... but HOLY CRAP this thing is pretty slick. Extremely professional.
I love everything about this. I think the content is a great survey of the various niches and areas of Starcraft 2 info (tourney results, strategy, player interviews, eSports speculation, etc).
Is there a way I can support this thing? Some kind of subscription or whatnot?
This is EPIC! I reallllly like what you guys are doing here and if you sold this in print i would subscribe to it for sure!!!!!!!!!!! great work keep it up
Thing I liked: +PeepMode segment (well written) +Visual aesthetic and pictures (exciting and streamlined) +Interviews (candid, compelling)
Things I didn't like: -Overall quality of writing was fairly amateurish (which you admit to in the Editor's Note) -Some editing/proofing errors
With a more qualified staff of writers (which I know will take time), I would absolutely pay $15-$20/year for this. I wish you the best of luck in the future.
+1 to this being awesome! I love the way that the magazine reads online, the controls are very intuitive. And as someone who majored in design, the layouts of your pages make my eyes oh so happy.
I also love the idea behind the magazine, that there are all of these stories out there in E-Sports that need to be followed up, so all of us fans know whats going on in the lives of our favorite players. Not in a creepy way... well maybe just a bit ^.^
That's a really great magazine. When I get some time I will read through it more.
But I just want to say that IMO it's pretty shameful to give CombatEX publicity in your magazine. It's good that you didn't advertise it on the cover page or anything, to try to bait views, but that guy and Deezer isn't doing a service to anyone in the community and attention is what keeps them going.
Wow this is really nice. If they can keep this up im surely going to subscribe. The photos and layout are top notch and from what ive seen the stories are decent as well.
I would absolutely loveee to be a part of this and to see it be more... physical. I might be sending an email soon to see if I can help out (:
That being said, I definitely have some problems with it. First I don't think anyone will read the whole thing, which is really a shame considering how much work you guys put in. But it's just too damn long. I'd rather read 30 pages once a month instead of 60 pages every other month (which is what I think you guys are doing).
-I think you need to really think about if putting in the game recaps is a good idea, since they'll pretty much always be outdated and the excitement isn't there. I'd probably scrap the whole thing. Have a masters level player talk about "lessons to be learned" or something, rather than an overview of it.
-The interviews are fantastic, I think that's something that can always be expected from it, and you guys did a great job with it.
-The guides and strategy section is pretty cool; you can definitely be more informal with them as opposed to what we expect to be a good guide here on the tl strategy section. Pick a game, discuss the bo, explain why it's good and how it sets up the midgame.
The idea of repackaging everything once every 2 months is cool, but just be a little cautious of what should be included (tournament results, "drama" etc,) and what readers actually want to take the time to read through.
Sick job though, i look forward to seeing the next issue
Great start, I can see this turning into something big! There were a few mistakes (I cringed when I read "the american hope stephano) but it was fantastic aesthetically.
This looks very professional, especially for being the first issue. I think you guys take a unique angle that people want to read about. I read it cover to cover in one sitting. There were a few typographical errors, but nothing glaring. The whole layout and graphic design of it though was great.
I think this was very professionally done for a first magazine up through the Thorzain interview, (with an exception going to the CombatEX article, which seems to have been done in the interest of fun).
I'd like to caution against a print version though. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a print version and would want one myself, but the problem with print magazines are numerous. The simple statistic that over 75% of print magazines fail in an obscenely short period of time, (source: Braniac, book about Ken Jennings), should give anyone pause when it comes to considering going into print. Just figured I'd point that out.
That said, I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time to work as you have on the magazine and congratulate you on your first public effort.
This looks excellent. It also reminds me of the place and value of long-form journalism, as distinct from the kind of coverage a site like TL (great as it undoubtedly is) has. Very very nice. I really hope this sort of thing continues.
(Need a serious editor or two in there however. Not quite mag-standard writing yet.)
A small note of criticism. The magazine begins with a column from the person I assume is the editor-in-chief (or whatever the correct term is), talking about how you prefer quality over quantity and will not compensate by putting bad articled simply for fill. However, the second article is about Combat-Ex giving a lecture of some sort about BM. Basically, a terrible member of the community gives advice on a terrible subject. I couldn't think of an article with less quality, if you really meant what you had said in your message from the staff, that specific article would have never made it in the magazine.
I'm not criticizing you for putting in an article about Combat-Ex, I do frown upon it but the decision is yours. I'm only putting out that it is very hypocritical.
On April 26 2012 19:28 bartus88 wrote: A small note of criticism. The magazine begins with a column from the person I assume is the editor-in-chief (or whatever the correct term is), talking about how you prefer quality over quantity and will not compensate by putting bad articled simply for fill. However, the second article is about Combat-Ex giving a lecture of some sort about BM. Basically, a terrible member of the community gives advice on a terrible subject. I couldn't think of an article with less quality, if you really meant what you had said in your message from the staff, that specific article would have never made it in the magazine.
I actually found it quite interesting and a fun read. The article was well written and about a topic that has quite some relevance. So it wasn't as bad as u make it up to be. But still at least a few notes about how BM and combat-Ex are bad for the community would have been appreciated.
On April 26 2012 19:28 bartus88 wrote: A small note of criticism. The magazine begins with a column from the person I assume is the editor-in-chief (or whatever the correct term is), talking about how you prefer quality over quantity and will not compensate by putting bad articled simply for fill. However, the second article is about Combat-Ex giving a lecture of some sort about BM. Basically, a terrible member of the community gives advice on a terrible subject. I couldn't think of an article with less quality, if you really meant what you had said in your message from the staff, that specific article would have never made it in the magazine.
I actually found it quite interesting and a fun read. The article was well written and about a topic that has quite some relevance. So it wasn't as bad as u make it up to be. But still at least a few notes about how BM and combat-Ex are bad for the community would have been appreciated.
It was a good read and gave some insight into why he does what he does, other than the obvious trying to win. Maybe it will help someone to, and pardon the pun, combat this behavior in the future and not fall into the trap.
CombatEx is also a firm believer in using the Pause feature to ruin his opponent’s micro during a fight. While this may be frowned upon as poor conduct in tournament, CombatEx is happy enough to do it dur- ing ladder matches—if only for a laugh. The Pausing Game begins simply enough. You Pause the game in the middle of a huge fight. Your opponent hesitates, his finger poised precariously over Neural Para- site. He doesn’t want to type, for fear that you will immediately unpause. He doesn’t want to unpause because—well, he’s too damn nice. A few moments pass, and a baneling tumbles across the Mar Sara desert, before you say “sec”. Your opponent starts to relax and moves his finger away from his Neural Parasite hotkey to respond . You unpause.
According to CombatEx, the best “counter” to the Pausing Game is to employ the tactic yourself, creat- ing a ten second Pause Metagame, in which both player attempt to throw one another off by pausing and unpausing at opportune points during the fight. While CombatEx is quite proud of his own expertise in this area, he also jokingly saluted a certain RatZ- Deezer for his mastery of the Pausing Game.
CombatEx is also a firm believer in using the Pause feature to ruin his opponent’s micro during a fight. While this may be frowned upon as poor conduct in tournament, CombatEx is happy enough to do it dur- ing ladder matches—if only for a laugh. The Pausing Game begins simply enough. You Pause the game in the middle of a huge fight. Your opponent hesitates, his finger poised precariously over Neural Para- site. He doesn’t want to type, for fear that you will immediately unpause. He doesn’t want to unpause because—well, he’s too damn nice. A few moments pass, and a baneling tumbles across the Mar Sara desert, before you say “sec”. Your opponent starts to relax and moves his finger away from his Neural Parasite hotkey to respond . You unpause.
According to CombatEx, the best “counter” to the Pausing Game is to employ the tactic yourself, creat- ing a ten second Pause Metagame, in which both player attempt to throw one another off by pausing and unpausing at opportune points during the fight. While CombatEx is quite proud of his own expertise in this area, he also jokingly saluted a certain RatZ- Deezer for his mastery of the Pausing Game.
On April 26 2012 03:36 ReachTheSky wrote: Kool idea but i feel like anything that would be found in that magazine would be on teamliquid....
In my opinion, it would be cool, if TL and that magazine would maybe coorporate
What would REALLY be cool is if TL made its OWN ESPORTS magazine! It could have articles on tournaments and players, and maybe mock some of the dumb posts on TL, and even have some fun stuff, like a caption contest!
I really don't mean to kill the mood but since I'm working in a PR agency specialized in online games communication (in Europe), I'm quite aware of how medias interact in this sector and I must say I'm doubting a little the viability of such a product.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, the magazine actually looks amazing and so professional, that's exactly the kind of image e-sports need right now in order to broaden it's audience. Nevertheless, I'm really wondering what new content this magazine will bring to the table. I mean e-Sports is something that mostly appeals to computer online-gamers. Most of which (especially in the Starcraft community) spend a lot of time on forums, or different online platforms where they can talk about the game. Why would any of these people buy a magazine that basically says the same thing you can find on pretty much every Starcraft Forums? Moreover,without the possibility of interaction that the internet provides.
Even though the product you worked on looks amazing and probably is, I don't know if anyone will feel the need to use it to get this kind of informations. You're basically posting on the platform of your biggest "competitor" ...
CombatEx is also a firm believer in using the Pause feature to ruin his opponent’s micro during a fight. While this may be frowned upon as poor conduct in tournament, CombatEx is happy enough to do it dur- ing ladder matches—if only for a laugh. The Pausing Game begins simply enough. You Pause the game in the middle of a huge fight. Your opponent hesitates, his finger poised precariously over Neural Para- site. He doesn’t want to type, for fear that you will immediately unpause. He doesn’t want to unpause because—well, he’s too damn nice. A few moments pass, and a baneling tumbles across the Mar Sara desert, before you say “sec”. Your opponent starts to relax and moves his finger away from his Neural Parasite hotkey to respond . You unpause.
According to CombatEx, the best “counter” to the Pausing Game is to employ the tactic yourself, creat- ing a ten second Pause Metagame, in which both player attempt to throw one another off by pausing and unpausing at opportune points during the fight. While CombatEx is quite proud of his own expertise in this area, he also jokingly saluted a certain RatZ- Deezer for his mastery of the Pausing Game.
Fucking hilarious :D
I imagine this being written in a Colbert-esque style of satire. I feel it's the only way to tolerate that article.
I don't know if you have read what they wrote in the editorial, but they were saying that their aim is independent E-sports journalism. So they are trying to bring the stories that are not told on the forums but instead they are trying to further investigate into matters noone else tries to dig into. If this is helping us understanding the reactions of Koreans or following storylines a volatile online community would just forget about after some time and so on. I think they have their place in a gaming community but I don't know whether SC2 is big enough to maintain this.
I was looking for a way to pay something for this but it is not that easy to find. Maybe they could improve on that one
On April 26 2012 22:03 RolleMcKnolle wrote: I don't know if you have read what they wrote in the editorial, but they were saying that their aim is independent E-sports journalism. So they are trying to bring the stories that are not told on the forums but instead they are trying to further investigate into matters noone else tries to dig into. If this is helping us understanding the reactions of Koreans or following storylines a volatile online community would just forget about after some time and so on. I think they have their place in a gaming community but I don't know whether SC2 is big enough to maintain this.
Actually no I didn't read that so thx for explaining ^^ If they can find enough of these investigations that would be great.
I've been trough the pages a little though and when I see for example the Leenock's build article, I can't help but think that they must be posts all over the internet about this .... all made right after he won his MLG 6 months ago ...
On April 26 2012 21:52 Emix_Squall wrote: I really don't mean to kill the mood but since I'm working in a PR agency specialized in online games communication (in Europe), I'm quite aware of how medias interact in this sector and I must say I'm doubting a little the viability of such a product.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, the magazine actually looks amazing and so professional, that's exactly the kind of image e-sports need right now in order to broaden it's audience. Nevertheless, I'm really wondering what new content this magazine will bring to the table. I mean e-Sports is something that mostly appeals to computer online-gamers. Most of which (especially in the Starcraft community) spend a lot of time on forums, or different online platforms where they can talk about the game. Why would any of these people buy a magazine that basically says the same thing you can find on pretty much every Starcraft Forums? Moreover,without the possibility of interaction that the internet provides.
Even though the product you worked on looks amazing and probably is, I don't know if anyone will feel the need to use it to get this kind of informations. You're basically posting on the platform of your biggest "competitor" ...
Um... thats why this magazine is free. Its basically a summed up version of alot of TL articles into one concise little page that sums up everything. No real navigation of TL pages to hunt formation down involved.
nice, nice. would love it on a regular basis. but.. youtube-links @ site 68 are broken perhaps consider another way of linking things, in a way you can actually change the target (links in a form of http://glhfmag.com/links/2012/1/site1/a , you can change the target when a youtube-vod must be re-uploaded and changes its name etc)
On April 26 2012 21:52 Emix_Squall wrote: I really don't mean to kill the mood but since I'm working in a PR agency specialized in online games communication (in Europe), I'm quite aware of how medias interact in this sector and I must say I'm doubting a little the viability of such a product.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, the magazine actually looks amazing and so professional, that's exactly the kind of image e-sports need right now in order to broaden it's audience. Nevertheless, I'm really wondering what new content this magazine will bring to the table. I mean e-Sports is something that mostly appeals to computer online-gamers. Most of which (especially in the Starcraft community) spend a lot of time on forums, or different online platforms where they can talk about the game. Why would any of these people buy a magazine that basically says the same thing you can find on pretty much every Starcraft Forums? Moreover,without the possibility of interaction that the internet provides.
Even though the product you worked on looks amazing and probably is, I don't know if anyone will feel the need to use it to get this kind of informations. You're basically posting on the platform of your biggest "competitor" ...
Um... thats why this magazine is free. Its basically a summed up version of alot of TL articles into one concise little page that sums up everything. No real navigation of TL pages to hunt formation down involved.
On April 26 2012 22:03 RolleMcKnolle wrote: I don't know if you have read what they wrote in the editorial, but they were saying that their aim is independent E-sports journalism. So they are trying to bring the stories that are not told on the forums but instead they are trying to further investigate into matters noone else tries to dig into. If this is helping us understanding the reactions of Koreans or following storylines a volatile online community would just forget about after some time and so on. I think they have their place in a gaming community but I don't know whether SC2 is big enough to maintain this.
I was looking for a way to pay something for this but it is not that easy to find. Maybe they could improve on that one
Which is fine, but there is also ESFI doing that too, and in a more effective way. As an editor at a magazine, I can say that the production is fine, and neat, and decent for first run. But the unofficial news desk that is TL and the more officially journalistic sites like ESFI that levy a core of folks with live, rather than curated, content are going to always beat GLHF to the punch. What a magazine should aim to do is step away from newsiness and get into feature content, which they approach here. But still, why I need to read it as a 68-page package versus a live-feature mag like Slate is beyond me. Still, as with all things in this still burgeoning market, I wish them luck.
This made my day. The articles were well written, solid layout and abundance of content. These guys should keep at it. Maybe by LOTV we`ll have a large enough following to justify selling these magazines at our local kiosks. Hell, I see magazines for absolutely every hobby you could possibly have. Would be fun to see the adds in a paper issue "GL HF" : " Ratz seeking more GM applicants. Link us your profile on fbook!"
I like the content overall, however, I feel I need to point out a typo. On page 61, there is a picture of Leenok's Roaches attacking the Cybernetics Core of Naniwa, with the caption reading,
"Leenock safely exerts pressure on Naniwa’s expansion, sniping warp gate before it finishes."
However, on page 62, the same caption appears under an unrelated image of a large number of Roaches attacking a small Protoss army. Just thought I'd point that out. Good read, though.
If I may make a suggestion: Try trimming the fat a bit. Going up to 69 pages of content, not only does it require a lot of work, but you'll likely have a difficult time filling up all that space after a few issues. I'd rather have a few less articles, in favor of having the rest be a little more appealing.
While many of the pages came out very well (such as pages 7-8, "A question of Casters", and pages 34-36, "ThorZaIN speaks his mind"), others (such as pages 45, 47, 50, 63, and 64) instilled very unpleasant "Wall of text" feelings, most likely because the entire page was just gray text on a white background. I'm not saying the articles were poorly written, just that it's very easy to become disinterested halfway through. Even just a picture or two and some color can really make a difference.
Anyway, this is going on much longer than I anticipated, so if you'll pardon the prick-y-ness off my criticism, good work so far, and I'm looking forward to any future installments. GLHF.
okay so i was like "yeah an sc2 magazine cool, gonna read some pages and get the gist of it, perhaps its goo.. WHAT THE FUCK I JUST SPENT 1h READING THROUGH EVERYTHING". i thought it was overhyped by this thread. nope, the quality IS that good. wow.
i think the head guy behind this magazine is canadian. Canadian government subsidies can make a print magazine viable when 99% of the time it would fail.
On April 26 2012 21:52 Emix_Squall wrote: I really don't mean to kill the mood but since I'm working in a PR agency specialized in online games communication (in Europe), I'm quite aware of how medias interact in this sector and I must say I'm doubting a little the viability of such a product.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, the magazine actually looks amazing and so professional, that's exactly the kind of image e-sports need right now in order to broaden it's audience. Nevertheless, I'm really wondering what new content this magazine will bring to the table. I mean e-Sports is something that mostly appeals to computer online-gamers. Most of which (especially in the Starcraft community) spend a lot of time on forums, or different online platforms where they can talk about the game. Why would any of these people buy a magazine that basically says the same thing you can find on pretty much every Starcraft Forums? Moreover,without the possibility of interaction that the internet provides.
Even though the product you worked on looks amazing and probably is, I don't know if anyone will feel the need to use it to get this kind of informations. You're basically posting on the platform of your biggest "competitor" ...
Isn't the point of this magazine to appeal to a broader audience?
If someone asks "hey dude wtf is starcraft 2 and all this esports stuff you talk about?" I'd rather show him the magazine instead of teamliquid, because despite how awesome teamliquid is, it is at first glance not an "eye catcher". The magazine, on the other hand, looks amazing and it will definitely get some people interested.
This is excellent. The design and look could be from any gaming magazine in publication, really high quality and it looks really good. The layout and choice of articles was also excellent. My only gripe was that a few of the articles read...well, like they'd been written by somebody who was nervous about their writing. I suppose they would be, considering this is a new thing with new writers. Even then, it didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the magazine.
5/5, would read again. Looking forward to the next issue already!
Pretty solid. I read a lot of the articles and was impressed by their quality and information inside. Although I wish the articles were more up-to-date things like Dreamhack Stockholm etc. =) But again, very nice magazine!
Looks alright. Content is a bit lacking though strategy wise. I just don't think a magazine or something of the sort is suited for sc2, by the time it's out it's already such old news..
On April 29 2012 02:26 Xiron wrote: I went to my local store and couldn't find it even after searching for 10 minutes. Not gonna buy if I can't even buy it.....
all these people taking a 10 second look at this magazine and posting how great it is ... tsssk tssk tsskk sad. at first glance it seems cool. but the # of format switches made within the magazine gives it the feel of a ransom note.
in just reading 3 or 4 pages i've seen many very simple spelling errors along with factual errors.
stating XSplit can be downloaded for free is very misleading. there are 2 payment tiers and the only remaining "free" options includes a watermark on the screen.
on the plus side there is a tonne of content that you can take any where.
I learned something today. Apparently, zealots cost "only one hundred inerals".
You guys need to learn where the F7 key is. Otherwise, good first try, nice production. The miscellaneous info bits scattered throughout were fun to read. I just hope there is enough future content for it to take off and keep going though.
Let’s compare IdrA and Stephano, the two biggest Zerg names. When it comes to balance, Idra says Zerg is not meant to beat Protoss while Stephano says it comes down to player skill. Which player do you think is going to succeed? The one who accepts defeat before playing, or the one who says “I just have to play better?” Over the past few months, I would say the person who mass-gamed (IdrA) has not increased his overall skill nearly as much as the person who just trained for a few hours a day (Stephano).
Rofl. The authors aren't afraid of postulating a theory about why IdrA is not doing well at the moment.
Bothers me a lot that Tang wrote an article on page 63, about good manner, and he pays for wins on ladder. Not exactly the biggest guru on the topic, especially as a renowned cheeser.
On April 29 2012 09:32 UmiNotsuki wrote: Bothers me a lot that Tang wrote an article on page 63, about good manner, and he pays for wins on ladder. Not exactly the biggest guru on the topic, especially as a renowned cheeser.
Easy, Umi! I've never paid for a win and I've always believed in a positive approach to learning and improving at SC2. Aggressive builds have nothing to do with bad manner - it's a stylistic choice.
I was quite interested in what i'd find, didnt go in with the highest of expectations, but i was totally blown away by the professional feel of the whole thing, The content, layout etc were all great, keep at it guys!
this magazine about casters - They in some way helped you get into starcraft(c) No fucking way thats completely wrong. I think most of people on TL have been playing since beta
On April 29 2012 09:32 UmiNotsuki wrote: Bothers me a lot that Tang wrote an article on page 63, about good manner, and he pays for wins on ladder. Not exactly the biggest guru on the topic, especially as a renowned cheeser.
So write it yourself, if you could do it better...
Just read it cover to cover. Very solid first print. A few typos, but other than that, fairly professional. Visually very appealing too. I would probably paid $5-$10 for a printed version. I applaud to everyone who contributed to this magzine. Well done! Keep at it!
I would absolutely pay if you published it to Amazon Kindle. I downloaded the pdf and ported it to my Kindle Fire and it looks great - I wouldn't pay a subscription (because I don't like them) but I'd definitely pay $2-$4 per issue.
On May 05 2012 06:00 Sithelin123 wrote: how well would that work on a tablet as an ebook? Has anyone tried it?
Probably depends on the ereader. I have a Kindle Fire and downloaded the .pdf and it looks great. Another poster said he read it on his iPad and it looked good as well.
EPT
but seems quite good
