The Death of the Game Manual

[Gerry]

Just bought Batman Arkham City for the Xbox. The "manual" inside consisted of one piece of paper for a code redemption and another that mentioned something about 3D support.

There is an online PDF of the manual (which is a bit of a PITA if I'm sitting on my sofa playing the game), but it makes me a bit sad to see the manual seemingly disappear for games entirely. Even when a manual does exist it seems like a token effort.

Sigh, I remember the days of PC gaming where there'd be a 100 page manual waiting for me once I'd unboxed the game. Are there any games that still provide decent documentation outside of the special/enhanced/expensive editions?

 

[Simon F]

Sigh, I remember the days of PC gaming where there'd be a 100 page manual waiting for me once I'd unboxed the game.

...which would double as the copy protection?

 

[Arwin]

...which would double as the copy protection?

How awesome was that? *ahem*

I'm not saying that manuals are without charm (still have a few of them saved). But these days of high dpi displays (compared to back then at least), we consider games that need a manual outside of the actual game to simply be badly designed.

I like how the Vita has a manual link for all games (including PSP) on its LiveArea page, but I never use it.

Just for the heck of it I checked it on the Vita now for LBP, and I get a 44 page manual in my own language when I click on it. That contains 12 pages of warnings, ratings, disclaimers and so on. Then you get a pretty decent manual, but obviously it's not nearly as effective as that introduction level that actually tells and shows you what to do and you can try it out right then and there. So LBP, I think, is an extreme example of how the game itself is so well designed that the manual is fully integrated into it.

The manual stops short of explaining the actual create, or the manual would have been closer to 500 pages. (Not exaggerating - the create mode has 67 tutorials that often explain multiple parts, uses and components)

 

[Rodéric]

Not sure I care much though, we now have in-game manual in the shape of a tutorial that takes you by the hand (or simple prompts depending on the game).
Less paper wasted, an in-game manual/help/controls recap would be most welcome though, AFAIR it's the case to some extent in Batman Arkham City, you can check moves and how to trigger them.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Just bought Batman Arkham City for the Xbox. The "manual" inside consisted of one piece of paper for a code redemption and another that mentioned something about 3D support.

There is an online PDF of the manual (which is a bit of a PITA if I'm sitting on my sofa playing the game), but it makes me a bit sad to see the manual seemingly disappear for games entirely. Even when a manual does exist it seems like a token effort.

Sigh, I remember the days of PC gaming where there'd be a 100 page manual waiting for me once I'd unboxed the game. Are there any games that still provide decent documentation outside of the special/enhanced/expensive editions?

You haven't bought any games for quite a while, it seems. Manuals haven't existed for years. Current paper inclusions are only there to tell you the button with an X on it is the X button. But then manuals are also a little redundant as many games have 'learn as you go' tutorials, which is often better. I miss chunky manuals on chunky games, like the Master of Orion type manuals - lots of info about lots of game aspects. But they were for more complex games, and destroyed forests. Switching to digital manuals makes sense. It's a loss I'm happy to accept.

 

[Gerry]

You haven't bought any games for quite a while, it seems. Manuals haven't existed for years. Current paper inclusions are only there to tell you the button with an X on it is the X button. But then manuals are also a little redundant as many games have 'learn as you go' tutorials, which is often better. I miss chunky manuals on chunky games, like the Master of Orion type manuals - lots of info about lots of game aspects. But they were for more complex games, and destroyed forests. Switching to digital manuals makes sense. It's a loss I'm happy to accept.

Oh, I've bought loads. Batman: AC is the first I've seen which literally had no manual at all. Nothing. Nada. Plenty of others are as you say, simply a method of telling you what the controls are though.

It was just a bit of a bind since B:AC kinda throws you in the deep end a bit more than the first game (understandably) so it has rather less of a tutorial stage than most games.

I dunno, would've been nice to have the manual on the disk somewhere and have it viewable in-game. I'm just getting old and cranky; this much I can admit.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Manuals on disk is definitely needed. I wonder if the games companies are in cahoots with the game-guide companies? EA have been shocking with their lack of explanation in FIFA, although they have added training options, which of course none of use wanting to play local coop care to sit through when wanting to play the game.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Printing paper is expensive. IMO inline tutorials are the best way to go for teaching the player functions (not boring tutorial levels, I mean discrete tutorial messages that are integrated with the game).

What's missing is the kind of strategic information you'd get in game manuals. A good game manual doesn't just provide controls, but also tells you things about playing the game, gives background lore, etc. Reading text on a TV screen is still annoying.

 

[Rodéric]

What's missing is the kind of strategic information you'd get in game manuals. A good game manual doesn't just provide controls, but also tells you things about playing the game, gives background lore, etc. Reading text on a TV screen is still annoying.

Been so long I had almost forgotten, yes that was really nice !
I suppose reading on the Wii U padlet would be less of an issue.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

With the interwebs, PDF, tablets and whatnot, it'd be easy to provide the content and let the consumers access it however they want, whether browsed on their console, their PC, their tablet, their phone, printed out at home, etc.

 

[Grall]

Printed manuals? Good riddance!

Can't even remember the last time I did not open a manual against my own will.

In-game tutorials and well-designed UI/gameplay > manuals.

 

[orangpelupa]

btw all 3ds game have digital manual included. unfortunately it is not very informative

 

[BoardBonobo]

Game manuals always used to be more than just a set of instructions though, they often contained extra gaming information such as background stories etc. In fact I think it was Stargilder that contained a full novella by Ken Follett.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

As mentioned before, those extras were often part of the copy protection. "What is word 6 on line 4 of page 12?" And all that is covered on the website these days. There's no real reason not to go digital with such content, other than the smell of freshly printed manuals.

 

[Cyan]

Game manuals always used to be more than just a set of instructions though, they often contained extra gaming information such as background stories etc. In fact I think it was Stargilder that contained a full novella by Ken Follett.

Sigh.... I remember buying in 1997 a DID game called Super EF2000 (Super Eurofighter 2000), and the game had a remarkable 300 pages manual from which I learnt more about avionics than I had ever learnt or I will learn. Those were the days.

Now I recently purchased the best sports game ever made, imho, FIFA 13, and it doesn't even include a manual. EA are slapdash, how dodgy is that?

I had to search in the EA's official web of the game in order to find the manual.