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What Makes World-Building Memorable? Howard, Tolkien, Leiber—and the Problem of Living Worlds
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 13:21:40
Robert E. Howard: World as Buried History
Howard’s great contribution to world-building is not Conan, but *deep time weaponized*. The Hyborian Age is not a fantasy realm sealed off from reality; it is explicitly our world, misremembered, overwritten, and half-excavated. Howard’s famous essay “The Hyborian Age” is not a lore document in the modern sense. It is a pseudo-archaeological argument: a claim that history itself is a palimpsest of barbarism, conquest, degeneration, and replacement. Civilizations rise not because they are morally superior, but because they are temporarily strong; they fall because they soften.
This gives Howard’s world an almost geological pressure. Every ruin matters. Every cult has antecedents. Bloodlines persist even when empires vanish. When Kull of Atlantis is summoned by Bran Mak Morn in “Kings of the Night,” Howard collapses tens of thousands of years into a single moment—not as a gimmick, but as a statement: history never ends; it only sinks.
What makes Howard’s world memorable is that it *does not care* about the reader’s comfort. Gods are distant or malignant. Magic is dangerous and corrupting. Civilization is a thin veneer over the knife. Conan is compelling not because he is destined, but because he is alert. He survives because he understands the world as it is, not as it pretends to be.
Howard’s world-building is memorable because it is hostile. It resists interpretation as moral allegory. It is not a place to be saved, only endured.
J. R. R. Tolkien: World as Moral Sub-Creation
Tolkien’s project is often positioned as the opposite of Howard’s, and rightly so—but the opposition is more precise than is usually acknowledged. Tolkien does not build a world layered onto our own history; he builds a *secondary creation*, governed by internal moral and metaphysical coherence. Middle-earth is not pseudo-history; it is myth given ontological weight.
What distinguishes Tolkien is not detail but intent. Language precedes geography. Theology precedes plot. History is not cyclical entropy but long defeat, suffused with providence. Even failure matters, because meaning is not contingent on victory. Power is suspect. Dominion corrupts. The smallest act of renunciation can alter the fate of the world.
Tolkien’s world is memorable because it is inhabitable. It invites dwelling rather than conquest. Its ruins are elegiac, not threatening. Its gods are distant but benevolent. Even evil is structured; it has metaphysical limits.
Crucially, Tolkien rejects the idea—central to Howard—that fantasy should map onto real-world geography. Middle-earth is not Europe in disguise. It is not meant to be excavated. It is meant to be believed in.
If Howard’s world-building is archaeological, Tolkien’s is liturgical.
Fritz Leiber: World as Lived Space
Leiber occupies the hinge between Howard and Tolkien, and his importance lies precisely there. He accepts Howard’s rejection of high myth and Tolkien’s rejection of pulp brutality—and then does something neither was willing to do: he makes fantasy self-aware, without dissolving it.
Lankhmar is not a fallen golden age nor a morally ordered realm. It is a city. A place of rents, guilds, thieves, priests, gods who interfere badly, and consequences that linger. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are not exemplars or avatars; they are professionals. They learn. They regret. They age.
Leiber’s innovation is to make the world respond dynamically to the protagonists’ choices. The city remembers. Allies return as liabilities. Victories sour. Magic has social costs. Civilization is neither lie nor refuge; it is simply the environment in which action occurs.
This is why Leiber’s influence permeates modern fantasy gaming, grimdark fiction, and urban fantasy more directly than either Howard or Tolkien. He provides a grammar for playable worlds: worlds where agency matters, but destiny does not; where tone can shift without collapsing coherence; where irony exists without nihilism.
Leiber’s world-building is memorable because it feels occupied.
The Dynamic: Body, Soul, and Mind
Seen together, Howard, Tolkien, and Leiber define a triadic structure that remains foundational:
Howard gives fantasy its body: violence, survival, history as pressure.
Tolkien gives fantasy its soul: meaning, restraint, metaphysical order.
Leiber gives fantasy its mind: consciousness, irony, lived consequence.
Worlds fail when they attempt to do all three at once without choosing a center. They succeed when they pick a dominant axis and let the others intrude asymmetrically.
Framing The Hidden Territories
The Hidden Territories emerges consciously from this lineage, but it refuses inheritance without transformation. From Howard, it takes the commitment to deep time, ruins that matter, civilizations that rot, and the idea that the world does not exist to be fair. From Tolkien, it takes the seriousness of myth, the weight of choice, and the insistence that power reshapes the wielder. From Leiber, it takes contingency, factional entanglement, urban texture, and the primacy of action over exposition.
What THT rejects is equally important. It rejects the closed teleology of Tolkien, where the arc of history bends toward resolution. It rejects the fatalism of Howard, where strength is the only stable virtue. It rejects Leiber’s occasional retreat into episodic stasis.
Instead, THT treats world-building as an *engine*, not a backdrop. Quests do not exist to reveal lore; lore exists to destabilize quests. NPCs are not narrative furniture; they are agents embedded in factions. Alignment is not morality but vector. Time advances. States change. Nothing resets.
What Makes World-Building Memorable?
World-building becomes memorable when it satisfies three conditions:
First, it must imply more than it explains.
Second, it must resist the player or reader’s desire for control.
Third, it must remember what happens within it.
Howard, Tolkien, and Leiber each solved this problem in isolation, as literary vehicles. The Hidden Territories attempts to solve it systemically, as a board game.
A memorable world is not one that can be fully mapped, catalogued, or mastered. It is one that resists completion—one that answers curiosity with consequence, turns action into history, and pushes back against those who would treat it as scenery, rather than a place that endures.
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 13:21:40
by tom termini
World-building is often mistaken for an exercise in accumulation: maps, timelines, genealogies, languages, appendices. Yet the worlds that endure—those that remain alive in the imagination decades later—are not the most detailed, but the most pressurized. They are worlds that exert force on characters and readers alike, worlds that feel older than the stories told within them, and yet incomplete without those stories. To understand what makes world-building memorable rather than merely impressive, it is useful to examine three architects who define the poles of modern fantasy: Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Fritz Leiber. Each solved the problem of invented worlds differently. Their differences are not cosmetic; they are philosophical. And between them lies a productive tension that offers a clear design grammar for contemporary projects such as my board game, The Hidden Territories.Robert E. Howard: World as Buried History
Howard’s great contribution to world-building is not Conan, but *deep time weaponized*. The Hyborian Age is not a fantasy realm sealed off from reality; it is explicitly our world, misremembered, overwritten, and half-excavated. Howard’s famous essay “The Hyborian Age” is not a lore document in the modern sense. It is a pseudo-archaeological argument: a claim that history itself is a palimpsest of barbarism, conquest, degeneration, and replacement. Civilizations rise not because they are morally superior, but because they are temporarily strong; they fall because they soften.
This gives Howard’s world an almost geological pressure. Every ruin matters. Every cult has antecedents. Bloodlines persist even when empires vanish. When Kull of Atlantis is summoned by Bran Mak Morn in “Kings of the Night,” Howard collapses tens of thousands of years into a single moment—not as a gimmick, but as a statement: history never ends; it only sinks.
What makes Howard’s world memorable is that it *does not care* about the reader’s comfort. Gods are distant or malignant. Magic is dangerous and corrupting. Civilization is a thin veneer over the knife. Conan is compelling not because he is destined, but because he is alert. He survives because he understands the world as it is, not as it pretends to be.
Howard’s world-building is memorable because it is hostile. It resists interpretation as moral allegory. It is not a place to be saved, only endured.
J. R. R. Tolkien: World as Moral Sub-Creation
Tolkien’s project is often positioned as the opposite of Howard’s, and rightly so—but the opposition is more precise than is usually acknowledged. Tolkien does not build a world layered onto our own history; he builds a *secondary creation*, governed by internal moral and metaphysical coherence. Middle-earth is not pseudo-history; it is myth given ontological weight.
What distinguishes Tolkien is not detail but intent. Language precedes geography. Theology precedes plot. History is not cyclical entropy but long defeat, suffused with providence. Even failure matters, because meaning is not contingent on victory. Power is suspect. Dominion corrupts. The smallest act of renunciation can alter the fate of the world.
Tolkien’s world is memorable because it is inhabitable. It invites dwelling rather than conquest. Its ruins are elegiac, not threatening. Its gods are distant but benevolent. Even evil is structured; it has metaphysical limits.
Crucially, Tolkien rejects the idea—central to Howard—that fantasy should map onto real-world geography. Middle-earth is not Europe in disguise. It is not meant to be excavated. It is meant to be believed in.
If Howard’s world-building is archaeological, Tolkien’s is liturgical.
Fritz Leiber: World as Lived Space
Leiber occupies the hinge between Howard and Tolkien, and his importance lies precisely there. He accepts Howard’s rejection of high myth and Tolkien’s rejection of pulp brutality—and then does something neither was willing to do: he makes fantasy self-aware, without dissolving it.
Lankhmar is not a fallen golden age nor a morally ordered realm. It is a city. A place of rents, guilds, thieves, priests, gods who interfere badly, and consequences that linger. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are not exemplars or avatars; they are professionals. They learn. They regret. They age.
Leiber’s innovation is to make the world respond dynamically to the protagonists’ choices. The city remembers. Allies return as liabilities. Victories sour. Magic has social costs. Civilization is neither lie nor refuge; it is simply the environment in which action occurs.
This is why Leiber’s influence permeates modern fantasy gaming, grimdark fiction, and urban fantasy more directly than either Howard or Tolkien. He provides a grammar for playable worlds: worlds where agency matters, but destiny does not; where tone can shift without collapsing coherence; where irony exists without nihilism.
Leiber’s world-building is memorable because it feels occupied.
The Dynamic: Body, Soul, and Mind
Seen together, Howard, Tolkien, and Leiber define a triadic structure that remains foundational:
Howard gives fantasy its body: violence, survival, history as pressure.
Tolkien gives fantasy its soul: meaning, restraint, metaphysical order.
Leiber gives fantasy its mind: consciousness, irony, lived consequence.
Worlds fail when they attempt to do all three at once without choosing a center. They succeed when they pick a dominant axis and let the others intrude asymmetrically.
Framing The Hidden Territories
The Hidden Territories emerges consciously from this lineage, but it refuses inheritance without transformation. From Howard, it takes the commitment to deep time, ruins that matter, civilizations that rot, and the idea that the world does not exist to be fair. From Tolkien, it takes the seriousness of myth, the weight of choice, and the insistence that power reshapes the wielder. From Leiber, it takes contingency, factional entanglement, urban texture, and the primacy of action over exposition.
What THT rejects is equally important. It rejects the closed teleology of Tolkien, where the arc of history bends toward resolution. It rejects the fatalism of Howard, where strength is the only stable virtue. It rejects Leiber’s occasional retreat into episodic stasis.
Instead, THT treats world-building as an *engine*, not a backdrop. Quests do not exist to reveal lore; lore exists to destabilize quests. NPCs are not narrative furniture; they are agents embedded in factions. Alignment is not morality but vector. Time advances. States change. Nothing resets.
What Makes World-Building Memorable?
World-building becomes memorable when it satisfies three conditions:
First, it must imply more than it explains.
Second, it must resist the player or reader’s desire for control.
Third, it must remember what happens within it.
Howard, Tolkien, and Leiber each solved this problem in isolation, as literary vehicles. The Hidden Territories attempts to solve it systemically, as a board game.
A memorable world is not one that can be fully mapped, catalogued, or mastered. It is one that resists completion—one that answers curiosity with consequence, turns action into history, and pushes back against those who would treat it as scenery, rather than a place that endures.
Episode 159 - An Open Door
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 12:06:26
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 12:06:26
A new episode has been added to the database:
Episode 159 - An Open Door
Edition Wars Christmas 2025 Day 11: Stirge (Edition Wars 148)
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 12:03:44
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 12:03:44
A new episode has been added to the database:
Edition Wars Christmas 2025 Day 11: Stirge (Edition Wars 148)
The Unsung Artistry of Frank Cirocco: From Comic Books to Cartridge Boxes
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 12:00:01
Born on June 13, 1956, Frank Cirocco began his professional career in the mid-1970s, working alongside legendary artists at Neal Adams' Continuity Studios in New York. But it was after returning to California and founding Horizon Zero Graphiques with partner Gary Winnick in 1977 that Cirocco would find himself at the intersection of two burgeoning industries: comic books and video games. As the home console market exploded in the early 1980s, game publishers discovered they needed more than just playable code - they needed compelling visual marketing to stand out on crowded retail shelves.
Enter Frank Cirocco, whose comic book sensibilities brought a new level of energy and character to video game packaging. His work for Data East USA, SNK, Capcom, and others helped define what North American video game box art could be during the NES era. With his distinctive cartoon style and vivid use of color, Cirocco created covers that didn't just illustrate gameplay - they told stories, established moods, and captured the imagination of a generation of young gamers browsing electronics store aisles.
From Bionic Commando to Baseball Stars, from arcade flyers for Ghouls n' Ghosts to trading cards for Mutant League Football, Cirocco's video game work spanned multiple formats and platforms. Yet despite contributing to dozens of titles and working with virtually every major publisher of the era through his studios Horizon Zero Graphiques and later Lightsource Studios, much of his video game industry work remains uncredited and undocumented - a casualty of an era when commercial artists rarely received recognition for packaging, promotional materials, and marketing art.
This comprehensive chronicle aims to celebrate and document Frank Cirocco's contributions to video game and board game art - from his earliest Atari work in the early 1980s through his time as Art Director at Rocket Science Games in the mid-1990s. It's a story of an artist who brought comic book dynamism to a new medium, helping to establish video game box art as a legitimate art form worthy of collection, study, and preservation.
Cirocco's detailed figurework and dynamic compositions didn't just serve his comic book work—they became his signature across every medium he touched. His ability to shift seamlessly from underground comix to mainstream Marvel titles, from video game packaging to commercial illustration, reveals an artist who never stopped adapting, never stopped evolving. Over more than four decades, he's built a career that bridges multiple entertainment industries, maintaining both his artistic vision and his commercial success in equal measure.
Whether you remember pulling his box art off the shelf at your local rental or retail store, admired his arcade art as a friend sank their last quarter into an arcade machine, or you're discovering his work for the first time, Frank Cirocco's gaming artwork represents an essential chapter in the visual history of interactive entertainment - one that deserves to be told in full.
Print Interviews
The most notable documented interview with Frank Cirocco appears to be:
Amazing Heroes #125 (1987) - "The Return of Frank Cirocco" - an interview. This print interview was featured alongside previews of Marshal Law and Jon Sable TV, with a cover painting by Cirocco himself.
https://www.zipcomic.com/amazing-heroes-issue-125
Additionally, Amazing Heroes #44 (1984) showcased the Alien Legion series with highlights of the creative team and pencils by Frank Cirocco, though this appears to be more of a feature article than a full interview.
Current Contact
Cirocco does maintain a professional presence on LinkedIn under the username "frankcirocco" and has a Twitter/X account under the handle @POPBOTICS, where he occasionally shares insights about art and his career. These platforms might be the best way to find more recent commentary from him, though they don't appear to include video interviews.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankcirocco/
https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%23frank...
https://x.com/Original_VG_Art/status/1855688773730001231/pho...
Frank Cirocco - Comprehensive Video Game Industry Credits
VIDEO GAME BOX ART (1984-1991)
Atari Platforms (1983-1986):
Kung Fu Master (Activision, 1983) - PAL version unreleased | Atari 2600/VCS
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https://www.atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2...
H.E.R.O (Activision, 1984) - NA version | Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200
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Commando (Data East USA, 1986) - NA version | Atari 2600/VCS, Atari 7800
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Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) - 1986-1990:
Karate Champ (Data East USA, 1986) - NA version
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Tag Team Wrestling (Data East USA, 1986) - NA version
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Alpha Mission (SNK Corp, 1987) - NA version
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Athena (SNK Corp, 1987) - NA version
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Burger Time (Data East, 1987) - NA version
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Ring King (Data East USA, 1987) - NA version
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Side Pocket (Data East USA, 1987) - NA version
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Bionic Commando (Capcom, 1988) - NA version
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Cobra Command (Data East USA, 1988) - NA version
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Gun Smoke (Capcom, 1988) - NA version
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Rampage (Data East USA, 1988) - NA version
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Ikari Warriors II: Road to Victory (SNK, 1988) - NA version
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Baseball Stars (SNK, 1989) - NA version
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Castlequest (Nexoft Corp., 1989) - NA version
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8 Eyes (Taxan USA Corp., 1990) - NA version
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Burai Fighter (Taxan USA Corp., 1990) - NA version
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Karnov
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The Game Boy (NES) - 1992:
Centipede (Atari, Inc. - 1992)
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Sega Genesis (1988-1991):
Arrow Flash (Renovation, 1990) - NA version
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Final Zone (Renovation, 1990) - NA version
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Gain Ground (Renovation, 1991) - NA version
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ARCADE PROMOTIONAL ART & FLYERS
Capcom:
Bionic Commando - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Dynasty Wars - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Final Fight - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Ghouls n' Ghosts - Arcade flyer artwork
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Mercs - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Data East:
Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja: - Arcade promotional artwork
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Double Dragon II: The Revenge - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Hippodrome - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Karnov - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Midnight Resistance - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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SNK:
Beast Busters (1989) - Arcade flyer artwork
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Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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P.O.W.: Prisoners of War - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
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VIDEO GAME PACK-IN COMICS & MANUALS (1982)
Atari 2600:
Yars' Revenge: "The Qotile Ultimatum" (1982)
Comic book packaged with game
Written by Hope Shafer
Illustrated by Frank Cirocco, Ray Garst and Hiro Kimura]
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http://www.atarimania.com/documents/atari_comic_yars_revenge...
MS DOS:
Space Knights (Reston Publishing Company, 1983):
Created and written by: David L. Heller
Programmed by: Robert Kurcina
Cover Painting: Frank Cirocco
Interior illustrations: Frank Cirocco and Allan Gordon, also, Ronald Kempke of Scientific Illustrators
Published by Reston Publishing Company (A Prentice-Hall Company)
Adventure game/interactive fiction hybrid
Included multiple mini-games
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https://archive.org/details/SpaceKnights/mode/2up
Forbidden Quest (Pryority Software, 1983):
Designed by William Pryor and Donnel Cox
Developed and published by Pryority Software
Text adventure/interactive fiction game
Also released for Apple II, Atari ST, and Macintosh
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https://www.myabandonware.com/game/forbidden-quest-28
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1526/forbidden-quest/
Breakers (Synapse Software/Broderbund, 1986):
Based on 40-page novella written by Rodney Smith (Rod Smith)
Published by Synapse Software (division of Broderbund)
Released for Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS
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https://www.gamesdatabase.org/Media/SYSTEM/Microsoft_DOS/man...
Sega Genesis:
Might & Magic II: Gates to Another World (New World Computing, 1988):
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https://archive.org/details/might-and-magic-gates-to-another...
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES):
The Adventures of Rad Gravity (Activision/Interplay, 1990)
Developer: Interplay Productions
Publisher: Activision
Art by Frank Cirocco
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VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT & ART DIRECTION (1994-1995)
Rocket Science Games:
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm (Sega CD, 1994)
Art Director/Production Designer
Co-created with David Fox
Cover art by David Fox and Frank Cirocco
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VIDEO GAME-RELATED COMIC BOOKS
Epic Comics (Marvel):
Defenders of Dynatron City #1-6 (March-July 1992)
Pencils by Frank Cirocco, inks by Mark McKenna
Written by Steve Purcell and Gary Winnick
Based on the LucasArts NES video game (1992)
PROMOTIONAL TRADING CARDS
Electronic Arts / GamePro Magazine:
[thing=81723]Mutant League Football[/thing] Trading Cards (1993)
24-card set featuring character illustrations
Promotional trading card artwork featured in GamePro Magazine Issue #47 (June 1993)
Distributed as uncut card sheets in GamePro Magazine
Some cards also randomly packed with the Sega Genesis game
MAGAZINE COVER ART
GamePro Media:
S.W.A.T. Pro Magazine October 1992 Cover
Super Double Dragon cover illustration
Mixed media on illustration board (15" x 19.25" image area)
Original art later sold at Heritage Auctions (2020)
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Board Game BOX & CARD ART
Barbarian Prince (1981) - Cover Painting
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Outpost Gamma (1981) - Cover Art
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Champions (4th Edition)/Hero System (1992-1993) - Cover Art
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Phantasy Realm (2002) - Rule Booklets Cover Art
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Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 12:00:01
by JPE Reynolds
Long before collectors paid thousands of dollars for original video game box art at auction, and decades before "The Art of the Box" celebrated the medium in coffee-table book form, Frank Cirocco was quietly revolutionizing how gamers first encountered their favorite titles. While his name may be most recognizable to comic book fans as the co-creator of Marvel's Alien Legion, Cirocco's vibrant, dynamic artwork graced the covers of some of the most beloved video games of the 1980s and early 1990s - transforming generic black boxes into eye-catching works of commercial art that promised adventure before players ever pressed start.Born on June 13, 1956, Frank Cirocco began his professional career in the mid-1970s, working alongside legendary artists at Neal Adams' Continuity Studios in New York. But it was after returning to California and founding Horizon Zero Graphiques with partner Gary Winnick in 1977 that Cirocco would find himself at the intersection of two burgeoning industries: comic books and video games. As the home console market exploded in the early 1980s, game publishers discovered they needed more than just playable code - they needed compelling visual marketing to stand out on crowded retail shelves.
Enter Frank Cirocco, whose comic book sensibilities brought a new level of energy and character to video game packaging. His work for Data East USA, SNK, Capcom, and others helped define what North American video game box art could be during the NES era. With his distinctive cartoon style and vivid use of color, Cirocco created covers that didn't just illustrate gameplay - they told stories, established moods, and captured the imagination of a generation of young gamers browsing electronics store aisles.
From Bionic Commando to Baseball Stars, from arcade flyers for Ghouls n' Ghosts to trading cards for Mutant League Football, Cirocco's video game work spanned multiple formats and platforms. Yet despite contributing to dozens of titles and working with virtually every major publisher of the era through his studios Horizon Zero Graphiques and later Lightsource Studios, much of his video game industry work remains uncredited and undocumented - a casualty of an era when commercial artists rarely received recognition for packaging, promotional materials, and marketing art.
This comprehensive chronicle aims to celebrate and document Frank Cirocco's contributions to video game and board game art - from his earliest Atari work in the early 1980s through his time as Art Director at Rocket Science Games in the mid-1990s. It's a story of an artist who brought comic book dynamism to a new medium, helping to establish video game box art as a legitimate art form worthy of collection, study, and preservation.
Cirocco's detailed figurework and dynamic compositions didn't just serve his comic book work—they became his signature across every medium he touched. His ability to shift seamlessly from underground comix to mainstream Marvel titles, from video game packaging to commercial illustration, reveals an artist who never stopped adapting, never stopped evolving. Over more than four decades, he's built a career that bridges multiple entertainment industries, maintaining both his artistic vision and his commercial success in equal measure.
Whether you remember pulling his box art off the shelf at your local rental or retail store, admired his arcade art as a friend sank their last quarter into an arcade machine, or you're discovering his work for the first time, Frank Cirocco's gaming artwork represents an essential chapter in the visual history of interactive entertainment - one that deserves to be told in full.
Print Interviews
The most notable documented interview with Frank Cirocco appears to be:
Amazing Heroes #125 (1987) - "The Return of Frank Cirocco" - an interview. This print interview was featured alongside previews of Marshal Law and Jon Sable TV, with a cover painting by Cirocco himself.
https://www.zipcomic.com/amazing-heroes-issue-125
Additionally, Amazing Heroes #44 (1984) showcased the Alien Legion series with highlights of the creative team and pencils by Frank Cirocco, though this appears to be more of a feature article than a full interview.
Current Contact
Cirocco does maintain a professional presence on LinkedIn under the username "frankcirocco" and has a Twitter/X account under the handle @POPBOTICS, where he occasionally shares insights about art and his career. These platforms might be the best way to find more recent commentary from him, though they don't appear to include video interviews.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankcirocco/
https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%23frank...
https://x.com/Original_VG_Art/status/1855688773730001231/pho...
Frank Cirocco - Comprehensive Video Game Industry Credits
VIDEO GAME BOX ART (1984-1991)
Atari Platforms (1983-1986):
Kung Fu Master (Activision, 1983) - PAL version unreleased | Atari 2600/VCS
https://www.atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2...
H.E.R.O (Activision, 1984) - NA version | Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200
Commando (Data East USA, 1986) - NA version | Atari 2600/VCS, Atari 7800
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) - 1986-1990:
Karate Champ (Data East USA, 1986) - NA version
Tag Team Wrestling (Data East USA, 1986) - NA version
Alpha Mission (SNK Corp, 1987) - NA version
Athena (SNK Corp, 1987) - NA version
Burger Time (Data East, 1987) - NA version
Ring King (Data East USA, 1987) - NA version
Side Pocket (Data East USA, 1987) - NA version
Bionic Commando (Capcom, 1988) - NA version
Cobra Command (Data East USA, 1988) - NA version
Gun Smoke (Capcom, 1988) - NA version
Rampage (Data East USA, 1988) - NA version
Ikari Warriors II: Road to Victory (SNK, 1988) - NA version
Baseball Stars (SNK, 1989) - NA version
Castlequest (Nexoft Corp., 1989) - NA version
8 Eyes (Taxan USA Corp., 1990) - NA version
Burai Fighter (Taxan USA Corp., 1990) - NA version
Karnov
[ImageID=7304742inine]
The Game Boy (NES) - 1992:
Centipede (Atari, Inc. - 1992)
Sega Genesis (1988-1991):
Arrow Flash (Renovation, 1990) - NA version
[ImageID=7304738inine]
Final Zone (Renovation, 1990) - NA version
[ImageID=7304720inine]
Gain Ground (Renovation, 1991) - NA version
[ImageID=7304721inine]
ARCADE PROMOTIONAL ART & FLYERS
Capcom:
Bionic Commando - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Dynasty Wars - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Final Fight - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Ghouls n' Ghosts - Arcade flyer artwork
Mercs - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Data East:
Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja: - Arcade promotional artwork
Double Dragon II: The Revenge - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Hippodrome - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Karnov - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Midnight Resistance - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
SNK:
Beast Busters (1989) - Arcade flyer artwork
Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
P.O.W.: Prisoners of War - Arcade flyer/promotional artwork
VIDEO GAME PACK-IN COMICS & MANUALS (1982)
Atari 2600:
Yars' Revenge: "The Qotile Ultimatum" (1982)
Comic book packaged with game
Written by Hope Shafer
Illustrated by Frank Cirocco, Ray Garst and Hiro Kimura]
http://www.atarimania.com/documents/atari_comic_yars_revenge...
MS DOS:
Space Knights (Reston Publishing Company, 1983):
Created and written by: David L. Heller
Programmed by: Robert Kurcina
Cover Painting: Frank Cirocco
Interior illustrations: Frank Cirocco and Allan Gordon, also, Ronald Kempke of Scientific Illustrators
Published by Reston Publishing Company (A Prentice-Hall Company)
Adventure game/interactive fiction hybrid
Included multiple mini-games
https://archive.org/details/SpaceKnights/mode/2up
Forbidden Quest (Pryority Software, 1983):
Designed by William Pryor and Donnel Cox
Developed and published by Pryority Software
Text adventure/interactive fiction game
Also released for Apple II, Atari ST, and Macintosh
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/forbidden-quest-28
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1526/forbidden-quest/
Breakers (Synapse Software/Broderbund, 1986):
Based on 40-page novella written by Rodney Smith (Rod Smith)
Published by Synapse Software (division of Broderbund)
Released for Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS
https://www.gamesdatabase.org/Media/SYSTEM/Microsoft_DOS/man...
Sega Genesis:
Might & Magic II: Gates to Another World (New World Computing, 1988):
https://archive.org/details/might-and-magic-gates-to-another...
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES):
The Adventures of Rad Gravity (Activision/Interplay, 1990)
Developer: Interplay Productions
Publisher: Activision
Art by Frank Cirocco
VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT & ART DIRECTION (1994-1995)
Rocket Science Games:
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm (Sega CD, 1994)
Art Director/Production Designer
Co-created with David Fox
Cover art by David Fox and Frank Cirocco
VIDEO GAME-RELATED COMIC BOOKS
Epic Comics (Marvel):
Defenders of Dynatron City #1-6 (March-July 1992)
Pencils by Frank Cirocco, inks by Mark McKenna
Written by Steve Purcell and Gary Winnick
Based on the LucasArts NES video game (1992)
PROMOTIONAL TRADING CARDS
Electronic Arts / GamePro Magazine:
[thing=81723]Mutant League Football[/thing] Trading Cards (1993)
24-card set featuring character illustrations
Promotional trading card artwork featured in GamePro Magazine Issue #47 (June 1993)
Distributed as uncut card sheets in GamePro Magazine
Some cards also randomly packed with the Sega Genesis game
MAGAZINE COVER ART
GamePro Media:
S.W.A.T. Pro Magazine October 1992 Cover
Super Double Dragon cover illustration
Mixed media on illustration board (15" x 19.25" image area)
Original art later sold at Heritage Auctions (2020)
Board Game BOX & CARD ART
Barbarian Prince (1981) - Cover Painting
Outpost Gamma (1981) - Cover Art
Champions (4th Edition)/Hero System (1992-1993) - Cover Art
Phantasy Realm (2002) - Rule Booklets Cover Art
ROGUES LEVEK=LS 11-20 Remastered: Skilled Skullduggery for your Devious Deceiver!
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:08:48
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:08:48
A new episode has been added to the database:
ROGUES LEVEK=LS 11-20 Remastered: Skilled Skullduggery for your Devious Deceiver!
Drift Delvers - Episode 67: To and Frobkas
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:07:28
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:07:28
A new episode has been added to the database:
Drift Delvers - Episode 67: To and Frobkas
World of Darkness: Twin Cities by Night "Lament" Prelude: “The Shape of a Missing Thing”
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:07:06
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:07:06
A new episode has been added to the database:
World of Darkness: Twin Cities by Night "Lament" Prelude: “The Shape of a Missing Thing”
Dice Funk S12: Part 49 - Cymbeline Traumatic Encephalopathy
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:05:04
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:05:04
A new episode has been added to the database:
Dice Funk S12: Part 49 - Cymbeline Traumatic Encephalopathy
This Week in Geek History January 4 - 10
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:00:01
/pic6325365.png)
January 4
January 5
January 6
January 7
January 8
January 9
January 10
I'm sure this list is incomplete. Feel free to offer suggestions for this and upcoming weeks. If you want your birthday included just add it to this geeklist: RPG Geek Birthday List
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 06:00:01
by Steve
January 4
1785- German folklore and fairy tale collector Jakob Grimm [microbadge=28103]
1958- Sputnik 1, 1st artificial satellite, falls to Earth from orbit
1975- This date overflowed the 12-bit field in DEC computers [microbadge=9487], predating the Y2K bug
January 5
1931- American actor Robert Duvall [microbadge=34613]
1932- Italian author Umberto Eco [microbadge=38367]
January 6
1822- Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the ruins of ancient Troy [microbadge=6988]
1973- Schoolhouse Rock premieres on ABC with Multiplication Rock [microbadge=18415]
January 7
1610- Galileo discovers 1st 3 moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa & Ganymede [microbadge=5407]
1745- Frenchman Jacques Montgolfier, who, with his brother, invented the hot air balloon [microbadge=8334]
1964- American actor Nicolas Cage [microbadge=31734]
????- Lou_Crazy
January 8
1937- Dame Shirley Bassey, singer of the theme songs to three James Bond films [microbadge=1375]
1941- Graham Chapman of Monty Python [microbadge=42513]
????- Brichs
January 9
1925- American actor Lee Van Cleef [microbadge=31149]
January 10
1904- American actor Ray Bolger [microbadge=30943]
1927- Premiere of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis [microbadge=27610]
I'm sure this list is incomplete. Feel free to offer suggestions for this and upcoming weeks. If you want your birthday included just add it to this geeklist: RPG Geek Birthday List
Busy
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 04:59:23
Game Over On borrowed time...
Happy Saturday and happy playing!
-Rachel
Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked it; then please click the green thumb [microbadge=23724] at the top of the page. If you really liked it; then please subscribe.
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 04:59:23
by Rachel
Busy working on something special :whistle:, back tomorrow!Happy Saturday and happy playing!
-Rachel
Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked it; then please click the green thumb [microbadge=23724] at the top of the page. If you really liked it; then please subscribe.
Frank and Leanna stop by SideQuests!
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 00:09:04
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 00:09:04
A new episode has been added to the database:
Frank and Leanna stop by SideQuests!
Viridian SS: Extinct
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 00:08:36
Posted: Sun, 04 Jan 00:08:36
A new episode has been added to the database:
Viridian SS: Extinct
