How do I played games: Manuals and Tutorials in the years to come
This article does a great job on providing a game-learning manifesto for future implementations of learning and tutorial systems. I was planning on discussing the decline of quality game manuals, so I’ll attempt to provide my own perspective and detail on what Ramachandran presented regarding the ideal structure and content of game manuals.
My personal view of video game manuals is that they should not attempt to provide a tutorial or walkthrough of any sort, as a tutorial is most effectively located within the game itself, leaving a written tutorial to be a useless redundancy. The exception is for PC games, where the manual should provide step-by-step information about installing and executing the game for those who are not so computer literate. Ramachandran has already given some solid advice in how to instruct a player within a game, as that is where I’ve found a lot of players, me and my fiancee included, start their learning experience. Some people never open the manual, which means that the manual must serve strictly as a supplement (as opposed to a requirement) as much as it possibly can. Personally, I can classify the times when I read the manual into three distinct categories: initial excitement period, bored/bathroom downtime, and “WTH?” moments.
With that said, the manual should provide two main things. Ramachandran touches upon these two things briefly. First and foremost, the manual should provide, as Ramachandran describes, “full color art, additional literature for the player, and some other extras” – in other words, backstory, character descriptions, and anything else that serves to immerse the player in the context of the game as opposed to the the game iteslf. When I play a game, I generally hope to be immersed by the experience, and I expect to begin that immersion from the moment I crack open the manual. In the “initial excitement” moments, the first thing I want to see is a glimpse of the world I’ll be entering: the lay of the land, the philosophies, history, and culture of the people, who will oppose me, and what kind of help I can expect. There’s nothing worse than opening a manual and being greeted with legal disclaimers (as necessary as they may be), controller button layouts, “How to Start a Game” (press Start?), how to rotate the camera, etc. By providing context to the game within the manual, a player can maintain that immersion even when he’s on the john. Don’t give me that weird look – you all do it, too!
There’s a slight catch here when writing a manual for games that have no real narrative, such as most sports games and puzzle games. For these games, adding extra-immersive material into the beginning of the manual becomes a more difficult task, but it’s far from impossible. I’ve got some ideas to throw out there. For sports games, the manual could include team profiles, timelines, and landmark moments and achievements. For EA’s yearly franchises, the manual could detail the major games, trades, and events throughout the past year. For racing games, the manual could include similar histories and profiles for car manufacturers, it could highlight specific “featured cars” and what sets them apart, or the manual could describe the settings of the races and what challenges racers can expect from each track or locale. For puzzle games, the manual could include popular strategies for common scenarios, or it can even go so far as adding a pseudo-narrative, much like Meteos
Secondly, game manuals should always include a thorough, indexed reference of in-game concepts, modes, and topics at the back end of the manual, where the player can easily find information about anything that may be confusing, vague, or unfamiliar in the game. The information should not baby the subject matter – it should be as detailed as possible. It should assume the player has played the game, gone through the tutorial, and knows more or less what he or she is doing. It is important that all of the information is indexed in order to quicken searching for a desired topic. Can you imagine the Civilopedia written like a novel? It’d be horrible. As an appalling example of a vacuous manual, I present to you the manual included with any recent EA sports game. The manuals are barely ten pages, if even that, comprised of obligatory disclaimers and controller diagrams, a poor description of the newest incremental feature, and an overwhelming move list. While the move list may make a good reference, the rest of the manual is completely devoid of any explanation of player/team stats and team management/career modes, which are a huge part of the appeal of the franchises. Even the rules of the sport itself are nowhere to be found!
As a final addendum, the game manual should always provide credits at the end – not necessarily prominently, but they should always be there. This is just the developer in me speaking.
As much as manuals may incur an added cost to the publisher, I think they’re absolutely critical to the experience of the game. As I was organizing the things in my new apartment, I stumbled upon my dusty collection of old PC game manuals and discovered the easiest way to distinguish between the good ones and the bad ones – the bad manuals had some staples, but the most memorable manuals had a spine. Am I right?
I’m glad we see so eye to eye on the subject! Thanks for the plug.
i get home from the store, open the box, use the bathroom (while reading said manual using one-hand sterile technique), emerge refreshed and ready to get going.
granted, with more hyped games and the internet by the time i buy the game i already have a good idea what the story is. and with those tutorial sections, who needs an intro to the controller anymore?