Instructions vs Tutorials

Narj

Narj

Narj

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What with downloads being much more popular these days, it seems that the days of the instruction manual are pretty much numbered.

Has anyone else noticed that even with retail games, the most you get in many cases is a "quick start" pamphlet?

I remember the days when I'd buy a game, read the manual on the commute to/from work to get an idea of what's going on, then fire the game up when I got home and get going without having to do tutorial missions and the like.

Admittedly, some games seem to suit a tutorial mode more than others, but could the fact that so many people are impatient these days and unwilling to read through a manual be contributing to the "dumbing down" of games, especially RPGS?
 
I'll take a good well thought out tutorial over a manual any day, but a lot of them are patronising and hold you up from actually playing the game, in which case I'd rather read a manual. The worst ones are those that stop you every five seconds with a popup that you can't dismiss for a few seconds telling you something that you already know.

That said, I agree with you that not all games suit a tutorial as well as others. :)

I'm not sure about the "many people are impatient these days" I think it's always been that way somewhat. I remember as a kid I'd only read the manual of a new game while I was waiting for mum to finish the shopping or when installing. :p
 
orderoftheflame said:
I'm not sure about the "many people are impatient these days" I think it's always been that way somewhat. I remember as a kid I'd only read the manual of a new game while I was waiting for mum to finish the shopping or when installing. :p
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You're right, but I think it's more prevalent these days (now we're in an age of instant everything); look back at the days of BG2 when the manual was more like a doorstep. :p

Also, I *HATE* games that don't allow you to skip the tutorial level(s) for each new game! :mad:

Manuals do have their uses, even for pretty simple games - I mean, these days I sometimes have to keep checking the controls options page if I've not played a game for a while, which gets annoying. A paper manual or reference card is handy in this case. Hrm, has there ever been a Steam "Display/Print manual" option? Thinking about it, an overlay for displaying a game manual would be nice.

It were all fields around here in my day...etc
 
I used to love a good manual, the biggest I had was I think for a really old Amiga game, space shuttle simulator or something like that.

I had a double sided A4 poster for the wall with all the dials on etc and the manual was like a bible it was so thick. But then, the game never was for the impatient. If you didn't start on the launch pad you had to wait for 7 HOURS for the shuttle to be driven out to it :D
 
PianoBasher said:
look back at the days of BG2 when the manual was more like a doorstep. :p
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Randomly as it happens.. I've got my copy right here. :p Perfect example of a game that would be very difficult without a manual.

141 pages including the indexes, and pages 55-109 covering just spells. :D

PianoBasher said:
Hrm, has there ever been a Steam "Display/Print manual" option? Thinking about it, an overlay for displaying a game manual would be nice.
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You can get the majority of manuals from Steam as a PDF to print. Don't think the in overlay web browser supports them though. :(
 
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I really don't have an issue with tutorials as long as they are not mandatory. Long winded one's that start the game are a pain in the arse for things like FPS games. In story driven stuff it's OK as long as it doesn't mess too much with the action at the beginning and interfere with the story. Repeating the game and having to go throw the tutorial every damn time is a complete ball ache and would make me want to NOT play the game again lol. Games with an option to turn off the tutorial comments (pop-ups) are definately better.

Games like Eve really need a tutorial just to get you to keep going, as it's a very steep learning curve otherwise, and the manual would be very cumbersome. I definately would prefer more learning over simplistic gaming though.
 
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Scougar said:
Games like Eve really need a tutorial just to get you to keep going, as it's a very steep learning curve otherwise, and the manual would be very cumbersome. I definately would prefer more learning over simplistic gaming though.
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Plus, in constant need of being republished.

I've an old manual for Ultima online the second age and shards are unrecognisable for me now :(
 
Manuals can only teach you so much about mechanics of a game, having the game tell you "this does this" then gives you something to practise it on is far better way.

My personal favourites are games that give you something, tell you what it can do, then sit back and see how you deal with your surroundings, popping in occasionally to explain the less obvious stuff or simply after 2 minutes of you bashing into walls aimlessly.

To be honest though unless it's something like Street Fighter, if a game requires a manual to help you remember your options, it's doing it wrong, intuitive mechanics shouldn't require documentation.

My pet hate are games that start you off as some kind of living god and make you run through "the basics" of running, jumping and climbing for 15 minutes, see Force Unleashed 1 for a good example, they even do it AFTER the Invici-Vadar segment where you get to play around with all the cool force toys.
 
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Fenris said:
My pet hate are games that start you off as some kind of living god and make you run through "the basics" of running, jumping and climbing for 15 minutes, see Force Unleashed 1 for a good example, they even do it AFTER the Invici-Vadar segment where you get to play around with all the cool force toys.
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I think the official name for that is an abilitease. Metroid games are the worst for that.

I tend to agree with you about good design and mechanics not needing much instruction, regardless of format.
 
I really like a shiny, COLOUR manual which gives some backstory to the game as well as the instructions. These days, you're lucky to get a 4-page flimsy black and white pamphlet. :mad:
 
one thing that annoys the hell out of me is......pdf manuals!!!

If it hasn't got one at all, fine, if you just want to use a tutorial, fine, but don't bloody bother with a pdf manual because I can't bloody read it when I am in the game anyway! :(
 
AHarvey said:
one thing that annoys the hell out of me is......pdf manuals!!!

If it hasn't got one at all, fine, if you just want to use a tutorial, fine, but don't bloody bother with a pdf manual because I can't bloody read it when I am in the game anyway! :(
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This is why I thought a book-flip style manual overlay for Steam would be nice :)

But yeah, as above, I liked all the colour stuff you got with some games... big fold out maps, back-story, sometimes you even got comics... I remember the "Newspaper" that came with Rockstar Ate My Hamster years ago - hilarious! :D
 
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Depends on the game doesn't it? Some games are so intuitive or simple a tut is more than enough. Then you got games like deep strategy or flight sims that tuts don't really cut it. A nice printed manual helps there.
 
We need two levels of tutorials.

One for someone who's heard of computermalators but is always slightly unsure whether or not they need to leave food out for their mouse. They can start with "move the mouse to the edge of the screen to move the camera" "well done!" "now do the same thing using the arrow keys" "you're so super".

The second level would be for people who've, you know, played games once or twice before, know how to "right click" and can figure out the fact for themselves that the camera will move when they scroll off-screen and just want to learn the mechanics of this particular game.

Currently it seem that half the time I either have to sit through all of this rubbish or skip the tutorial completely and just jump in and wing it. Which does usually work out okay, actually, I guess.
 
I must admit I am rather partial to a good tutorial, as they can really help me get into a game. The best ones make it rather seamless as part of the actual game/storyline.... something like Vampire Bloodlines is a good example where you have Jack teaching you how to do stuff like feeding.

As mentioned your really basic stuff like teaching you how to crouch under / jump over obstacles, is a bit of a chore though.

These days manuals are generally not worth the effort anyway, just going through the motions, unlike say, Civ2 which was around 140 pages and had a lot of useful info on game mechanics etc.
 
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