THE MANUAL/HELP FILES (ver1.0): Hosted by Travathian

[Sieve Too]

Definitely need a printed manual. That way I can learn the game without having to sit in front of the computer. Online help is nice but is not a substitute for a decent manual. Let's face it. It's much easier to thumb and skip through a printed manual than click through an online one. And until the day we all have 42 inch monitors, the help screen just overlaps and clutters up the game.

[Travathian]

Does anybody want historical information about the civs included in the manual like in Age of Empires? I kind of thought the info was interesting, but if the number of civs gets too high, it could be just a short blip about em.

[DanS]

INDEX -- Add my voice to yin26's call for an extensive index. The sad fact is that I hardly used the SMAC manual because it didn't have an index. I like the Civ II manual very much.

SCRIPTING/SCENARIO LANGUAGE -- This should be addressed, even if superficially and at the back of the manual. A broad overview plus a short synopsis of each parameter would be nice.

[Travathian]

They did include all of the scripting/scenario language for CivII but only in expansion pack Fantastic Worlds.

Is this something everyone thinks should be included in a seperate manual? Wait until a CivIII expansion?

I'm inclined to say have it wait until an expansion, simply because most people wont use those tools or build their own scenarios, and thats space which could be used for other things.

[DanS]

Travathian: I would like a 350 page manual, so that's not a problem I see... Plenty of room.


[This message has been edited by DanS (edited May 26, 1999).]

[Travathian]

350 pages? Is the game gonna be on a mini disc or in a seperate package?

[yin26]

-=*MOVING THE THREAD UP*=-

[Ecce Homo]

One should be able to learn the game from scratch with an on-line tutorial in two parts. Part 1 should be for understanding the interface, part 2 should be just like playing on Chief level but with even more advice.

[NotLikeTea]

As to a tutorial, I'd like to see one that is integrated into the game.

This was attempted with the tutorial help messages, but I don't think this was done too well.. I'd like to see an ingame tutorial, with it's own scenario, designed for the tutorial. Click here, change this, modify that, not the more generic tutorial messages used now.

[Sieve Too]

Taking a cue from Microsoft (Oh no!!!!), how about "Question mark help"? You know, the little question mark button on the toolbar that changes your cursor to a pointer/question mark. Whatever you click on with this cursor pops up specific help for the item. Very useful for busy screens like the city window.

[yin26]

-=*MOVING THREAD UP*=-

[Ecce Homo]

Could the Civilopedia be compatible with MS Windows' help program?

[NotLikeTea]

Bah! I hope not.. I have a fervent dislike of MS help for this kind of thing.. the only thing worse is HTML help.

Note: If the game comes with HTML help, I'm going to return it.

On fire.

[yin26]

-=*MOVING THREAD UP*=-

[Kris Huysmans]

Scenario creation must be also included in the manual:
1)A description of rules.txt
2)How to change graphics
3)Tips to make balanced scenarios without errors