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WHAT HAPPENED TO MANUALS?
Posts
McBick
1339
McBick
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CloseI noticed that many modern games lack a good manual and instead add an hour long tutorial in the beginning to explain all the important stuff(Controls, Story, Mechanics) followed by additional tutorial stuff for more advance stuff later in the game. I not only miss manuals for their bonus artwork, but also so I don't have to play through a bunch of tutorial stuff that could easily be explained in a manual. Manuals can also remove the need to add an hour long cutscene at the start of the game to explain everything and let the player dive right into the game.
I feel like no matter the game I always have to sit through some boring tutorial and sometimes they go as far as explaining every single button on your controller, this is what a manual is for! Maybe I am just old school and enjoy starting a game without having to watch a long cutscene followed by a long tutorial right after or shortly after. Do you think manuals should be phased out for monotonous tutorials in game?
Note: The super detailed manuals that were almost like the commercial guide books were the best!
I feel like no matter the game I always have to sit through some boring tutorial and sometimes they go as far as explaining every single button on your controller, this is what a manual is for! Maybe I am just old school and enjoy starting a game without having to watch a long cutscene followed by a long tutorial right after or shortly after. Do you think manuals should be phased out for monotonous tutorials in game?
Note: The super detailed manuals that were almost like the commercial guide books were the best!
Darken
3952
this sounds like a game talk topic than design really.
it is a little like why do we even put game cartridges/cds into boxes anymore because we might as well download everything to our brains. the problem is a game like dark souls needs that ingame tutorial while an NES wannabe game doesn't need an hand holding section or even a manual. it depends on the game but the game industry is a bit too rigid for that so here are your 5 page black and white booklets with a dlc card behind it (for every single game).
to me the manual thing doesn't matter much other than that one pokemon "TRAINERS BOOK" and that really cool legend of zelda nes walkthrough in a tiny booklet with pictures. it's way too hard for the industry to get back to that point so wallow in nostalgia i guess.
it is a little like why do we even put game cartridges/cds into boxes anymore because we might as well download everything to our brains. the problem is a game like dark souls needs that ingame tutorial while an NES wannabe game doesn't need an hand holding section or even a manual. it depends on the game but the game industry is a bit too rigid for that so here are your 5 page black and white booklets with a dlc card behind it (for every single game).
to me the manual thing doesn't matter much other than that one pokemon "TRAINERS BOOK" and that really cool legend of zelda nes walkthrough in a tiny booklet with pictures. it's way too hard for the industry to get back to that point so wallow in nostalgia i guess.
GoatBoy
706
I prefer to learn while playing than read a manual, personally. (That said, I think tutorials should be short and/or optional).
Manuals are great for quick reference if you forget how to do something though! And the artwork is a plus. Sometimes they have character bios and additional neat information that isn't really essential to playing the game too. So I guess I like them, but I don't think they're essential.
Manuals are great for quick reference if you forget how to do something though! And the artwork is a plus. Sometimes they have character bios and additional neat information that isn't really essential to playing the game too. So I guess I like them, but I don't think they're essential.
McBick
1339
I wasn't sure if this was the right place for this topic, but since it had to do with game design I thought it would fit.
I haven't played Dark Souls, but with a good enough manual(With Pictures) you can skip tutorials for game mechanics or at the very least limit them to only the complicated stuff. I think companies are just removing/decreasing the quality of manuals from games to further increase their profits even if it lessens the game play of the game. Also the reason we still have boxed Cartridges/CDs is so we can own the game physically. I also prefer this because I don't have to deal with inputting a 16 character code to prove I own a game every time I install the game.
I haven't played Dark Souls, but with a good enough manual(With Pictures) you can skip tutorials for game mechanics or at the very least limit them to only the complicated stuff. I think companies are just removing/decreasing the quality of manuals from games to further increase their profits even if it lessens the game play of the game. Also the reason we still have boxed Cartridges/CDs is so we can own the game physically. I also prefer this because I don't have to deal with inputting a 16 character code to prove I own a game every time I install the game.
I wish developers put effort into good manuals. They were a lot of fun to read. Plus they eliminated the need for extensive tutorials like the OP points out.
One case I can make for phasing them out: When you design a game such that you need to refer to the manual, it requires players to actually have the manual.
I've seen so many people play old NES games on youtube (Game Grumps for instance), not be able to figure out how to play it, then toss it into the bin and call it bullshit. When if THEY ONLY HAD THE MANUAL they might have been able to figure it out. I think manuals these days are just for the sake of redundancy.
Good game design dictates that players shouldn't need instructions on how to play your game. There's so many buttons on the controller, and so they ought to be able to just jump into a game and figure out what to do themselves by pushing random buttons. Button combinations or anything more complicated than that might need an in-game example or text box that spells it out for you.
One case I can make for phasing them out: When you design a game such that you need to refer to the manual, it requires players to actually have the manual.
I've seen so many people play old NES games on youtube (Game Grumps for instance), not be able to figure out how to play it, then toss it into the bin and call it bullshit. When if THEY ONLY HAD THE MANUAL they might have been able to figure it out. I think manuals these days are just for the sake of redundancy.
Good game design dictates that players shouldn't need instructions on how to play your game. There's so many buttons on the controller, and so they ought to be able to just jump into a game and figure out what to do themselves by pushing random buttons. Button combinations or anything more complicated than that might need an in-game example or text box that spells it out for you.
GOG has PDF versions of manuals when you buy the game.
*gazes lovingly at the Baldur's Gate II manual*
*gazes lovingly at the Baldur's Gate II manual*
RyaReisender
200
I noticed this too. And even if they have manuals and you buy the physical copy of the game, the manual will only be included as PDF rather than a nice, good smelling booklet. =(
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
At some point video game developers realized that, since they were making a video game anyway, they could let you play the manual instead of reading it. It's the same idea as letting you experience the story through the gameplay instead of reading about it in a datalog in the menu - in video games, people prefer to do stuff interactively. Also, you learn it a lot better that way.
The thing about making it mandatory is actually just a way to make it more interesting - in a story-driven game, the manual will be pretty boring if no story is presented during it. But there's plot happening during the tutorial, they can't let you skip it. It's a calculated effort to make the game more interesting to people who want to use the tutorial... at the expense of making it less interesting to people who would prefer to skip it. You can't please everyone.
The thing about making it mandatory is actually just a way to make it more interesting - in a story-driven game, the manual will be pretty boring if no story is presented during it. But there's plot happening during the tutorial, they can't let you skip it. It's a calculated effort to make the game more interesting to people who want to use the tutorial... at the expense of making it less interesting to people who would prefer to skip it. You can't please everyone.
Manuals are nice for reference too. It's rare when I start and finish a game without an extended break inbetween and being able to go back and see how to do X again without restarting is always nice (or pulling up other information from a static source that isn't necessarily in-game). Plus manuals used to come with world maps and other cool supplemental documents and I loved those 
turkeyDawg
195
Yeah, even as the guy who always reads the manual before playing the game, appreciating all the nice illustrations, and always making sure to get a copy with one when buying used games... I honestly wish all that shit was viewable in the game. Even if its just pulling up a PDF document from the title screen menu, I just wish it was in there.
Case and point, I bought Akai Katana via Xbox's Games On Demand service, which does NOT give you a manual in any way, shape, or form. Thing is, all the plot details are in the manual! I've had to rely on internet resources to know what's going on. I'm seriously considering buying a physical version just to have a damn manual (its a cheap game nowdays). Worst part is, because its a download, I don't think I can register it at Rising Star Games' website and download the manual that way...
Slightly related, I've noticed most download-only games have a How to Play section in their menu. Honestly, that seems like a good place to put a nice, fully illustrated manual, rather than the walls of (tiny) text and small handful of screenshots they normally put there. Trouble Witches Neo! has got the best one of these I've seen, with cute little chibis everywhere.
Case and point, I bought Akai Katana via Xbox's Games On Demand service, which does NOT give you a manual in any way, shape, or form. Thing is, all the plot details are in the manual! I've had to rely on internet resources to know what's going on. I'm seriously considering buying a physical version just to have a damn manual (its a cheap game nowdays). Worst part is, because its a download, I don't think I can register it at Rising Star Games' website and download the manual that way...
Slightly related, I've noticed most download-only games have a How to Play section in their menu. Honestly, that seems like a good place to put a nice, fully illustrated manual, rather than the walls of (tiny) text and small handful of screenshots they normally put there. Trouble Witches Neo! has got the best one of these I've seen, with cute little chibis everywhere.
author=IsrieriI think you underestimate how thoroughly hopeless a lot of gamers are... I mean, I've seen people struggle to figure out how to use a control stick to walk around in a 3D game! Meanwhile, most shmups are just holding/tapping a button and wiggling the control stick, yet the average gamer will tell you that they're totally impenetrable and only lifeless autistic Japanese pedophile virgins can make it past the first stage. Some of those gamers even get paid to put that crap in so-called "professional reviews"!
Good game design dictates that players shouldn't need instructions on how to play your game. There's so many buttons on the controller, and so they ought to be able to just jump into a game and figure out what to do themselves by pushing random buttons.
I have never read a manual. I just don't like reading boring instructional stuff when I can get my hands on the game. That said, I usually figure out stuff quickly and don't need a tutorial.
The best kind of game is a game that introduces concepts well enough that you don't need a tutorial or a manual. Things just become natural. Or at least I think that's how it's done, maybe they're disguising a tutorial as some random gameplay mechanic or something. I'm pretty terrible at talking games.
The best kind of game is a game that introduces concepts well enough that you don't need a tutorial or a manual. Things just become natural. Or at least I think that's how it's done, maybe they're disguising a tutorial as some random gameplay mechanic or something. I'm pretty terrible at talking games.
Tutorials should be optional, in case you've played the game before. At least, that's how I always did it. Mainly because making a tutorial battle is a bit tricky, and making a tutorial menu is even worse. I ended up with walls of text, which I'm sure nobody read. If you're gonna make a tutorial, you have to pretty much make a mockup of the menu using pictures or something.
Okami, in particular, is incredibly good about this. With so many skills and abilities, more than half the game is tutorial of some sort. Or hints, or riddles. "Hey Ammy, if only you could try painting the sun..."
author= LockeZ
The thing about making it mandatory is actually just a way to make it more interesting - in a story-driven game, the manual will be pretty boring if no story is presented during it. But there's plot happening during the tutorial, they can't let you skip it. It's a calculated effort to make the game more interesting to people who want to use the tutorial... at the expense of making it less interesting to people who would prefer to skip it. You can't please everyone.
Okami, in particular, is incredibly good about this. With so many skills and abilities, more than half the game is tutorial of some sort. Or hints, or riddles. "Hey Ammy, if only you could try painting the sun..."
Sviel
2006
Manuals got dropped because most people do not read them. Granted, people on this forum probably read them at a higher-than-average rate, but when we're talking about the masses, one cannot assume that they will read a thing.
Thus, the tuts were put in-game since it makes sense in an interactive medium and it eliminates the non-reading issue. However, they should never be an hour long and, ideally, should be skippable. It's very possible to have in-story reasons for skipping tuts.
There's kind of a hold-over from table-top gamers that seem to relish super complicated mechanics, though. Trying to explain those in a video game is tedious and tends to have mixed results. Chances are, if player needs a manual to play, the game is too complicated for mass enjoyment. If they can't pick it up and figure things out to some passable degree, then the designer has failed to properly give feedback on their actions or has made the game systems too obtuse.
Of course, some people like that stuff, and manuals are appropriate for them...but few major companies are interested in pandering to such a small, picky niche.
Thus, the tuts were put in-game since it makes sense in an interactive medium and it eliminates the non-reading issue. However, they should never be an hour long and, ideally, should be skippable. It's very possible to have in-story reasons for skipping tuts.
There's kind of a hold-over from table-top gamers that seem to relish super complicated mechanics, though. Trying to explain those in a video game is tedious and tends to have mixed results. Chances are, if player needs a manual to play, the game is too complicated for mass enjoyment. If they can't pick it up and figure things out to some passable degree, then the designer has failed to properly give feedback on their actions or has made the game systems too obtuse.
Of course, some people like that stuff, and manuals are appropriate for them...but few major companies are interested in pandering to such a small, picky niche.
Unless it's a fighting-style rpg. Kingdom Hearts did well in this, because they tried not to break the rhythm of the game by explaining mechanics.
Of course, many of their tougher tutorials had sink-or-swim interface, as in, figure out how to time blocks for this cerberus or Org13 snmiper... or die.
Of course, many of their tougher tutorials had sink-or-swim interface, as in, figure out how to time blocks for this cerberus or Org13 snmiper... or die.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Have you not actually played the Kingdom Hearts games or did you just block the first hour of island exploration / roxas minigames out of your memory? Not that I could blame you if you did.
Playing MMOs or other online games with other people is the WORST.
"plz skip cutscenes"
"No. I want to watch this."
"*RAGE!!!!*"
Then they rush through everything, skip/speedthru through all dialog, and its rush rush rush and its all you can do to keep up and fuck this this is no fun at all I want to PLAY THE GAME not BLAZE THROUGH IT fuck.
Diablo players are probably the worst for this.
/tangent.
But basically, if you aren't catering to this SKIP ALL THE THINGS crowd by putting waypoints and directions and glowing objects for clicking everywhere, then ur doing it wrong apparently. Heaven forbid you expect the player to READ DIALOG and act on its content.
"plz skip cutscenes"
"No. I want to watch this."
"*RAGE!!!!*"
Then they rush through everything, skip/speedthru through all dialog, and its rush rush rush and its all you can do to keep up and fuck this this is no fun at all I want to PLAY THE GAME not BLAZE THROUGH IT fuck.
Diablo players are probably the worst for this.
/tangent.
But basically, if you aren't catering to this SKIP ALL THE THINGS crowd by putting waypoints and directions and glowing objects for clicking everywhere, then ur doing it wrong apparently. Heaven forbid you expect the player to READ DIALOG and act on its content.
People who play JRPGs tend to like reading a lot more than people who don't. So this forum is probably biased towards the "reading" category. Especially since a lot of us are reminiscent of the good ol' SNES days where manuals were really popular. But given that this is only a small section of the gaming world, a lot of people are obsessed with FPSes and MMOs. Not that this is terrible, but they tend to focus a lot on getting straight into the action rather than reading through a lot of text.
My preference would be: have optional tutorials for those who want to get right into the game, and an optional manual.
My personal preference is to ditch the tutorial and the manual and just get right into everything.
My preference would be: have optional tutorials for those who want to get right into the game, and an optional manual.
My personal preference is to ditch the tutorial and the manual and just get right into everything.
I swear to Lord Aremen, if I get another fucking 'manual' that doesn't have anything in it about the story or characters I will lose my nut. FFS
I LIKE to see artistic renderings of the characters outside of a game. It's cool. Also, those folded up 'manuals' that are an A3 page... I do not think you know what a manual really is, game company. Fuck you.
That said, personally I like experimenting with buttons and seeing what they do. I don't like being told "Hey, arrows move you! LAL" I mean, unless you have a super duper game-changing system that requires me to know more, I can figure out which buttons allow me to interact with shit.
Also, am I the only one for whom it makes no sense to start telling a person how to move, interact and open a menu... after the player has already been forced to move to interact with the character that tells them this shit? Because, like, dude, they KNOW. They just had to move to that character and interact with them to get your shitty fucking tutorial on HOW TO DO JUST THAT! I think they figured that shit out themselves. Pretentious as fuck.
(I don't mind characters talking in-battle to expand on a new system, or someone telling you how to use a system like alchemy and the like - that's understandable - but for the most part people know how to fucking play a game. Seriously, there's like, what, less than 15 buttons on the fucking control pad? That's not much to mess with and experiment. If you need to be told that either the D-pad or one of the two sticks lets you move, you may have more than a few issues wrong with you. :/ )
I LIKE to see artistic renderings of the characters outside of a game. It's cool. Also, those folded up 'manuals' that are an A3 page... I do not think you know what a manual really is, game company. Fuck you.
That said, personally I like experimenting with buttons and seeing what they do. I don't like being told "Hey, arrows move you! LAL" I mean, unless you have a super duper game-changing system that requires me to know more, I can figure out which buttons allow me to interact with shit.
Also, am I the only one for whom it makes no sense to start telling a person how to move, interact and open a menu... after the player has already been forced to move to interact with the character that tells them this shit? Because, like, dude, they KNOW. They just had to move to that character and interact with them to get your shitty fucking tutorial on HOW TO DO JUST THAT! I think they figured that shit out themselves. Pretentious as fuck.
(I don't mind characters talking in-battle to expand on a new system, or someone telling you how to use a system like alchemy and the like - that's understandable - but for the most part people know how to fucking play a game. Seriously, there's like, what, less than 15 buttons on the fucking control pad? That's not much to mess with and experiment. If you need to be told that either the D-pad or one of the two sticks lets you move, you may have more than a few issues wrong with you. :/ )
Actually, I just realized that a lot of RMN games have a "manual" of sorts - the gamepage. The gamepage often has information on it about controls, characters, setting, and other features that are usually in a manual.
Actually, the first place I go to in a game (after going to Settings and calibrating display, resolution, brightness, volume etc...) is to the Controls config. Then I look to see what actions are assigned to each button, and (often) tweak it because I am old and set in my old ways when it comes to controls (pulling back means I fucking LOOK UP, you peons who don't understand flight controls!! Also, Descent has ruined FPSes for me)
So yeah, the intro blurb + me looking at controls config is enough. Let me playyyy
So yeah, the intro blurb + me looking at controls config is enough. Let me playyyy
