Game Manuals - dying off?

[baddude1337]

One of my personal positives about a boxed game is a manual. It's nice to get a flashy manual with some more back story to the game, a run down of the basics and explanations of weapons and enemies, but lately this seems to be disappearing. A game I picked up recently (I think it was Alice: Madness Returns) had a manual that literally consisted of 2 pages of the health warnings. Are developers finally just not caring about them anymore, in favor of training and tutorials, or are they just cost cutting? And what are your thoughts on manuals?

 

[Kargathia]

The last few years I can only remember a few game manuals that actually gave background info, and weren't just a dead-tree tutorial.

Generally a simple google query gives better information on how to play the game, so I can't really say I'm sad that's gone.

 

[Hal10k]

The thing is, a good game can teach you everything that you might find in the manual in the game itself, making the manual itself redundant. If it has to rely on a seperate booklet to explain things, then the game isn't doing a good enough job of expressing things to the player.

 

[The Cheezy One]

One thing I have noticed is that these days, game manuals are more integrated with the game. Rather than being an instruction booklet, they are faux guides and handbooks. I can't remember the last time I read a guide that said "This is a game".

 

[thenamelessloser]

I think for console gaming most people just start playing the game and hope for a tutorial and rely on the interweb for any other guidance.

With PC gaming a lot of it is online downloads now and may as well read a help online than read a manual on the computer. A The big advantage for manuals after all is able to consult something while you're playing which is awkward to do when the manual is on the computer itself.

I have mixed feelings on this, the internet, tutorials, and in game help does make the manuals rather pointless from a purely pragmatic purpose but at the same time they can be rather fun to read especially at times when one can't be playing the game such as waiting for public transportation and yet want to do something related to the game. Also, reading about the lore of the game universe can be rather fun, but the internet can serve that function as well.

The thing is, a good game can teach you everything that you might find in the manual in the game itself, making the manual itself redundant. If it has to rely on a seperate booklet to explain things, then the game isn't doing a good enough job of expressing things to the player.

Highly disagree with this, this has nothing to do with whether the game is good or bad. Also, in some games figuring out how they work is part of the fun. I think it is fine to teach within the game itself but it isn't a requirement to me at all for a game to be good.

 

[Shadu]

Why spend the money to print a small paphlet that no one really reads? I mean, yes, when I buy a game, I like to have everything in it, but honestly, I never read it. It's more of a point of pride for me.

Personally, I find game manuals pointless. The game tells you everything you need to know. So, I'm one of those people that are making game companies turn away from them.

Also, access to the internet probably didn't help.

 

[Zantos]

There's no real need for them any more. Everything has a tutorial now to teach all the controls, and there's been a recent trend in "characterising" everything now by way of every character spews everything about themselves at the slightest provocation making the backstory section irrelevant. I like game manuals, but they're not really needed now, the only time I use them now is to remind myself of controls if I haven't picked up a game in a while. Even then, you can usually do that in the "Controls" section of the start menu now.

 

[Harlemura]

I think it was Alice: Madness Returns

I know it's just not the same, but I think Madness Returns had instructions you could access from the main menu.
Never actually looked at it so I'm not sure how good it was, but yeah.

I see where you're coming from though. Sometimes it's nice to just be able to refer to the controls or mechanics at a glance without having to go back through the whole tutorial. Especially if the tutorial doesn't even teach you everything.
Silly Mortal Kombat. I'm still not sure how you're meant to do the recovery roll thing when you hit the ground.

EDIT:
Thinking about it, several fighting games need instructions. Well, Capcom games at the very least.
I don't think the game itself ever actually tells you about half the mechanics of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (Advancing Guard, Team Ariel Counters, Crossover Counters) and Street Fighter IV (Focus Attack Dash Cancelling... okay, that's all I can think of). They're things I only found out about through the instruction book.

 

[KingSofa]

The last game manual I remember even touching was for the original Alone in the Dark, running on a 386 with a 40MB HD and 2MB of RAM. If I have issues with the interface in a game or don't know how to do something I typically just Google it. Seems to me that manuals started dying off right around the time we started to see real tutorials.

 

[number2301]

I miss proper game manuals. Elite 2:Frontier had a properly excellent manual, loads of stories about the game world, and guidance on how to actually control the game. It even came with a book of short stories!

I fairly recently bought Empire/Napoleon Total War hard copy, expecting a proper PC strategy game manual. But nothing. Not a single thing.

Gutted.

Sure your typical console game manual isn't missed, but there were good ones out there!

 

[Irridium]

The thing is, a good game can teach you everything that you might find in the manual in the game itself, making the manual itself redundant. If it has to rely on a seperate booklet to explain things, then the game isn't doing a good enough job of expressing things to the player.

That's the kind of thinking that gives the robots the advantage [http://www.pcworld.com/article/235878/robot_absorbs_civilization_manual_goes_on_to_win_games.html]!

And besides, it's not like it takes that much effort to pause the game, and read something from the manual. Or it could just offer some background into the characters/world. Better that then an info-dump or a Dragon-Age style codex that has stupid amounts of info in.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

Well we kinda have the internet now. Don't really need a manual or strategy guide when you have youtube and gamefaqs.

 

[Shockolate]

Well, when my brother rented Fear 3 from Blockbuster, it came with an instruction manual.

It was literally one page. A folded page. There was no staples, no staple holes, just one piece of paper.

Am I the only one who got this?

 

[neonsword13-ops]

I would usually take all of my manuals I have collected over the years and put them in a basket in the bathroom for, you know, busy times. I would brush up of something I didn't know or learn something the developers stashed away.

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

I think gaming manuals are indeed a dying art. Tutorials are slowly replacing them and that´s a damn shame. I love to read the manuals of games like GTA IV just for the jokes.

 

[PureChaos]

i really only read manuals for backstory, character/enemy bios etc. the actual controls i figure out as a go along, especially as most games have an in game tutorial. i may read it more thoroughly if i'm on the train or something but that's about it

 

[Kahunaburger]

my copy of the Witcher 2 came with 2 manuals (well one is a game guide really but still...)

Yeah, that game in general has a very "RTFM" mindset, which I personally like. However, the reception to that game shows us why most devs don't include manuals.

 

[Hal10k]

The thing is, a good game can teach you everything that you might find in the manual in the game itself, making the manual itself redundant. If it has to rely on a seperate booklet to explain things, then the game isn't doing a good enough job of expressing things to the player.

That's the kind of thinking that gives the robots the advantage [http://www.pcworld.com/article/235878/robot_absorbs_civilization_manual_goes_on_to_win_games.html]!

And besides, it's not like it takes that much effort to pause the game, and read something from the manual. Or it could just offer some background into the characters/world. Better that then an info-dump or a Dragon-Age style codex that has stupid amounts of info in.

That's the point. In a good game, you don't have to pause the game to look something up in a manual, because the game has already taught you about it. Background is also something that a good game can convey without resorting to an infodump in any form (I cite Half-Life 2 as the perrenial example). If the game is good enough about conveying information, a manual is just redundant.