RTFM: Remembering the Forgotten Manuals

MikeWehner

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RTFM: Remembering the Forgotten Manuals

Game manuals used to be important guides instead of a place to store warranty information.

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Dr3Daemon

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Interesting. I guess as we download more games and turn to forums and FAQs for advice the traditional manual is a bit redundant now.

Reminds me of a conversation I was having with my wife about how games used to come in two parts. The first was the game itself, the other was the manual and cover-art that told you how to interpret the game - back when your main character was 12 pixels and it was only the cover art that told you what the artist who assembled those pixels had been imagining.

The vital bridge between these two parts was the user's imagination. As the technical need for manuals and box art has been removed, by in-game instructions and glorious visuals, the side effects of giving context and igniting the imagination have also been lost (or at least moved - the hundreds of in-game books in Skyrim are the spiritual successors of those pages of back-story).

But in this modern post-manual world the most important question is this - if there is no manual to read, what do you do on the journey home when you have just got your new game?
 

Kahunaburger

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Strongly agree with this article. I'd take the Mechwarrior 2 manual (about as thick as the cd case and full of info on game mechanics, controls, and backstory) over literally every tutorial I've ever played through. It's the difference between letting the player explore and dragging the player through a guided tour.
 

Scow2

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Dr3Daemon said:
Interesting. I guess as we download more games and turn to forums and FAQs for advice the traditional manual is a bit redundant now.

Reminds me of a conversation I was having with my wife about how games used to come in two parts. The first was the game itself, the other was the manual and cover-art that told you how to interpret the game - back when your main character was 12 pixels and it was only the cover art that told you what the artist who assembled those pixels had been imagining.

The vital bridge between these two parts was the user's imagination. As the technical need for manuals and box art has been removed, by in-game instructions and glorious visuals, the side effects of giving context and igniting the imagination have also been lost (or at least moved - the hundreds of in-game books in Skyrim are the spiritual successors of those pages of back-story).

But in this modern post-manual world the most important question is this - if there is no manual to read, what do you do on the journey home when you have just got your new game?
Agreed. I still open the manual of new games I get in hopes of getting something interesting to read. Sometimes, it pays off (Two Worlds - the allegedly terrible one - comes to mind for having a Good Manual).

I still have my Warcraft I and II manuals. Without them, I'd never have had interest in the games, nor interest in World of Warcraft, after the WC II manual painted such an intriguing picture of the World of Azeroth.
 

Jaeger_CDN

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All I could add would be Amen brother, Amen

This has been a pet peeve of mine for many years. I still remember buying Ultima V and getting a cloth map, metal trinket, and a manual plus a quick guide for potions... in otherwords a full box that wasn't a CE version. My feeling is that once Adobe introduced the PDF and it became the defacto document format, that was the slow end of the manuals of yesteryear.
 

Something Amyss

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Dr3Daemon said:
Interesting. I guess as we download more games and turn to forums and FAQs for advice the traditional manual is a bit redundant now.
Doesn't hurt that 80% of the games on the market play practically identically.
 

surg3n

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I'm not convinced.
Old game manuals were great, there's no denying that - but what I'd disagree with, is the idea that we need them back.
We got controller layouts because usually we didn't get to define the controls, or even see them in game - nowadays every game has customisable controls.
We don't need a comic book included with the game to set the scene, we have Hollywood standard openning videos to set the scene now.
We don't need interesting facts about facts - that's what the internet is for.

I'm all for having something tasteful included with a game, like say - the little art book I got with Unreal3, that's pretty cool - good book for the toilet that one. Anyway, the inclusion of that just wouldn't sway my decision to buy a game - it might encourage me to pay an extra £5 for a limited edition, especially if it comes in a metal box... but when was the last time publishers only charged an extra £5 for something like that!
When I bought Doom3 for the XBox, I got a free copy of the original doom, it's better than the XBox Live version, and it's in a really nice metal box. It's not just manuals that are suffering, it's the wallets of anyone who likes this stuff. Limited editions should charge enough extra to cover the costs - no more, it shouldn't be a bloomin cash cow for publishers.

So, I'm saying we don't necesserily need game manuals to be bigger, but it would be nice if publishers were more thoughtful, maybe tried to mix things up a bit, maybe see that standard game packaging as a bit cheap, and something that can be improved upon. It'll take more than thicker manuals to improve the buyer experience.
 

Xanthious

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So this inspired me to go through my games and see how they stack up in the manual department. I have to say my results were mixed. Some games like Culdcept, Disgaea 3, and MLB Power Pros 2008 all have 30+ page manuals that are very well put together. A step down from that are games like Dark Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, and Infamous that are around the 20ish page range but still very nicely put together. I noticed that while GTA IV only had a 15 page manual it had a LOT of flavor and to add to that it came with a poster sized map which is something you don't see much of anymore. However, most of the games had pretty poor offerings in the manual department.

I think manuals will soon be a thing of the past sadly. I love going back through my SNES collection of games and Genesis games and leafing through the occasional manual from time to time. Hell I still have my NES games from my childhood that have my handwritten codes and notes in the back of the manual. I've always been someone that like the author enjoys game manuals and still to this day I refuse to buy a used game that doesn't have the original manual included.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I really miss good manuals, i liked having something to read when I wasn't at the game and being able to get more back story and fluff from it plus some awesome art. The lack of good manuals is one reason I buy used games and am very willing to trade in games I finished. If I'm just buying game data on a disk then its not worth much and it means I can always get it later for cheap since I don't need to worry about the condition of a manual with it.
 

achilleas.k

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I'm reminded of when I discovered what was possibly the only second hand game store on the island roughly 20 years ago, where you could trade in SNES games. I was lucky enough to find a used copy of LoZ: A Link to the Past and I jumped at the opportunity and traded in one of my lesser games for it (even though I had finished the game a year or two before on a friend's console). As we were waiting outside the store with my brother for our mother to pick us up, we opened the box to look at the goodies. That's when we realised the game cartridge wasn't even in the box, a standard security measure, especially since used game boxes aren't sealed.

The point of the story is that the box was heavy enough without the cartridge so we hadn't noticed until we had opened it. Between the thick manual and the full map of Hyrule, it felt as full and heavy as any other game box + cartridge. The map is still somewhere in my old room. I might frame it and hang it on my living room wall, now that I'm reminded of it.
Ah yes, I also remember the hints booklet, which was sealed with a Nintendo sticker and gave tips on how to progress through the hardest parts of the game. I still remember the warning that it should only be opened in case of emergencies.

surg3n said:
I'm not convinced.
Old game manuals were great, there's no denying that - but what I'd disagree with, is the idea that we need them back.
We got controller layouts because usually we didn't get to define the controls, or even see them in game - nowadays every game has customisable controls.
We don't need a comic book included with the game to set the scene, we have Hollywood standard openning videos to set the scene now.
We don't need interesting facts about facts - that's what the internet is for.

...

So, I'm saying we don't necesserily need game manuals to be bigger, but it would be nice if publishers were more thoughtful, maybe tried to mix things up a bit, maybe see that standard game packaging as a bit cheap, and something that can be improved upon. It'll take more than thicker manuals to improve the buyer experience.
Perhaps controls in manuals are unnecessary, but haven't you sometimes seen an option in the settings screen and wondered what it was, only to Google it? Commercial software is still sold with manuals for these reasons. No matter how standard the setting, it used to be that game devs assumed that every game the made would be the first game someone played, because it very well may be for some people, even today.

Also, character back-stories could be included, even if the intro cinematic covers the gist of it. How awesome would it be if the Mass Effect codex were in printed format? Yeah, it would cost more and they would probably have it as part of a collectors edition, but I think the point the article is trying to make is that these things used to be standard and now they're selling them to us at a premium. It seems unfair, to say the least.
 

Rednog

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Oh rose tinted nostalgia glasses how you rear your ugly head over and over. Maybe 1 in a hundred manuals were actually interesting/amazing as you described. But the sad truth is that a majority of them were just warning, legal information, basic set of "moves", and on screen information.
Also, where does Downpour fit into the Silent Hill universe...? I'm sorry but do the silent hill games really tie into each other besides them all taking place in Silent Hill? Silent Hill is a story about one's personal hell and coming to grips with why they are tormented. There is no set time line between the games and there is no connecting story. Hell one could even argue that all the Silent Hill games are taking place at the same time. You see the character from 2 running across your screen in downpour at one point, and you can sneak into the room from 4. That's the whole reason why Silent Hill is a scary place you don't know that much about it. Do you really want someone to sit down and be like ok this is why this is such an evil place, this is the character's complete and whole past and why he is in Silent Hill. No! That is the whole reason you play the game, it's to be brought into the narrative by the game and not having to rely on a leaflet.
 

StriderShinryu

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The worst modern manual award goes to *drumroll* Batman Arkham City!

It comes with a nice bit of paper telling you that, in order to be environmentally friendly, they are not including a printed manual and that the instructional information is accessible in game. Cool, I can get behind that.

And behind this info card you find.. a second ptinted sheet with your Project $10 code. Hmm.. well no big daal I guess. It`s only one sheet.

And behind your P$10 card you find... a booklet of advertising for various Arkham City related merchandise that is, oddly enough, the same size and number of pages as a short printed manual would have been. Yeah... just... yeah.
 

Pipotchi

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I remember the manuals for Warcraft 2 and Starcraft had full on novels in them giving you details on every faction in the game world, what they were up to and why you should care.

Good stuff
 

DuelLadyS

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One of my great dissapointments in recent gaming was buying my new Vita, taking the plastic off of Touch my Katamari, and finding- nothing. Not even a placeholder paper. I thought I'd gotten ripped off until I was told 'no, Vita games just don't have paper manuals at all.' This was wholly disheartening, especially when I looked at everything in the virtual manual and realized how cute it would've been in print. Not cool guys- not cool.
 

ScruffyMcBalls

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I've always been a huge fan of manuals, love 'em. I refuse to buy a game if it doesn't come with one. And I remember two of the best/weirdest I've come across, first up is Metal Gear Solid's manual, which was quite simply beyond belief. Full of action illustrations, storyline, full cast bio and a small hint book, all in that fantastic sketch art-style, loved that thing. Then Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy's manual, which was more of a poster... with a map in the middle. Weird, but cool and I appreciated Naughty-Dog doing something different. Bottom line, is that while I can pick out any scene from either game and talk for hours about it, I can do the same with the manuals, and that's something I want back. The ability to say something -ANYTHING- about the manual itself, so I can remember it fondly in the years to come like I do the games.
 

Bantis

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Pipotchi said:
I remember the manuals for Warcraft 2 and Starcraft had full on novels in them giving you details on every faction in the game world, what they were up to and why you should care.

Good stuff
I remember, and still have, the great spiral bound manual that came with Baldur's Gate II. It's a thick book with all kinds of details and what not. I remember that one being the best of the Infinity Engine games but I recall they were all pretty good.

Very good stuff.

I also remember my terrible habit of trying to read new manuals while driving back home from the store. ^_^

Not so good stuff. :)
 

weirdee

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Disclaimer: Super Mario 3DS Land's manual IS actually one page, without any alternate languages due to separate regional editions.

Then again, given the overall design ethic, they already use their game as a manual anyway, not to mention that the 3DS in general is designed to include the manual with every application :p
 

Pipotchi

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Bantis said:
Pipotchi said:
I remember the manuals for Warcraft 2 and Starcraft had full on novels in them giving you details on every faction in the game world, what they were up to and why you should care.

Good stuff
I remember, and still have, the great spiral bound manual that came with Baldur's Gate II. It's a thick book with all kinds of details and what not. I remember that one being the best of the Infinity Engine games but I recall they were all pretty good.

Very good stuff.

I also remember my terrible habit of trying to read new manuals while driving back home from the store. ^_^

Not so good stuff. :)
I cannot remember if it was the manual for BG1 or 2 that had all the little comments from Elminister and that other guy, Volo something? Really helped flesh out the world of the game if you were not a fan of D&D
 

Thaluikhain

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Pipotchi said:
I remember the manuals for Warcraft 2 and Starcraft had full on novels in them giving you details on every faction in the game world, what they were up to and why you should care.

Good stuff
Warcraft 2, yeah, had the backstory of Warcraft 1, what happened in between, lots of stuff on each unit, and stuff on each faction, more detail that appeard in the game.

But Starcraft...the Terrans aren't just from Earth, they story makes up this convoluted story about what happened on Earth, and then says the Terran force were sent off, got lost so none of that matters, then came up with their own, totally different system of...went on for ages and hardly mentioned in the game.

Mind you, not played WoW, but Warcraft 1-3, and the expansion to 3 had a great detailed and fairly coherent backstory to it.

Cap: umbrella corporation

Fine for a game site, just not right now.
 

ccesarano

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Dr3Daemon said:
But in this modern post-manual world the most important question is this - if there is no manual to read, what do you do on the journey home when you have just got your new game?
Considering most of our ages, probably drive the car heading home.

I have some nostalgia over old manuals myself. Booklets and Nintendo Power are basically what taught me how to draw as a child. I'd grab one, put it on the arm rest of the couch, grab a notebook and just imitate what I saw. It was, in fact, a fantastic way to learn. If I were to lament anything from modern manuals and magazines it would be the emphasis on 3D art striving for realism. While a kid can sit there and try to imitate it, they don't really get to absorb a sense of style from it. To this day the way I draw cartoony shelled monsters draws inspiration from Bowser and the Koopas.

I'd love to see more hand drawn art work. Hell, have some hand drawn concept art for Brutal Legend in the manual, for example. It's more than possible considering the style.

But, that does not speak to the practical application of a manual. I feel video games are following other pieces of software that are slowly beginning to stop printing physical manuals and instead have everything in PDF or on a disc. It's cheaper that way, after all, though it hits a major controversial issue when you consider a lot of these discs do not contain a physical copy of the EULA, and if you unseal the disc case, put it in your drive and then disagree to the EULA, you can no longer return that item to most retailers since it has been opened and therefore could have been illegally copied onto your machine, or a number of other issues.

That's a major digression, but certainly one video games are relevantly in.

In truth, I really do want a manual as a reference at the very least. Perhaps building on material in the game to greater detail. As a recent example, at the start of playing Xenoblade Chronicles I was unclear on the instructions as to activate a chain attack. It told me to activate it, but not how. I paused the game, grabbed the manual and flipped on through. To my dismay, the information was the exact same as in the game itself. It wasn't until the game taught me how to Flee that I accidentally stumbled upon how to activate chain attacks.

Even though the game has in-game documentation (which I had checked), I'd like to have the paper manual to flip through while I still can. Having a physical object like that is very convenient as it's easier to find whatever I'm looking for. This is especially true when it comes to games where I stop playing for a week or two to even a month, and suddenly it's asking me to perform a task I cannot remember how to execute. I've checked manuals before, and then found absolutely nothing on the task I had forgotten. This leaves me to check the Internet, which is harder and longer to execute than simply flipping through a booklet.

There is value to physical instructions. It's not just a matter of teaching a player, it is also a matter of reference, and even if all games don't "need" them, all games should have them, and they should be extensive rather than a simple "here's what buttons do". I'm not asking for a novella with each game, though. Some games are more complex than others.

As for narrative material, this depends on the game itself. Warhammer 40K: Space Marine probably could have done well to have some basic introductory information to the 40K universe. Who are the Space Marines? What's some of the key language they use? What's up with the Space Orks and Chaos Marines? What's "The Warp"? Once again, not looking for a full encyclopedia here, but 10-20 pages of basic information of the universe could help people that aren't familiar. It could also help provide a stepping point.

I like that 40K: Space Marine doesn't waste time trying to teach people about the universe in game, but those not familiar could easily become confused and just shrug the story off as being weird. True, some will probably research it, but I feel as if more would if the manual came with more information.

And then release a much more detailed codex with a collector's edition.

Not all games need this, but it's not always about need. Sometimes it is about enriching the experience, something that is often over-looked in an industry supposedly focused on entertaining consumers rather than just people looking to make a buck.