Dominions 2 Demo - Manual petition to Illwinter

liga · #1 February 20th, 2005, 08:30 PM

I have tryed and asked the devs if I could include the original manual in the addenda to provide an electronic full (or at lesat with the top of knowledge) version that could be give to people an idea of the deep of the game ... but i got not a real answer .. i think that they prefer to keep the original manual just only in the official game.

I'm be able to get new adept (at the moment we are in 14 in my group playing dom2) making lan party and introducing the game to the new player in hot seat sessions.

Anyway as soon as we got permission form the devs I will be really happy to help in preparing a manual for beginner and one for advanced players!

good luck and good play
Liga

johan osterman · #2 February 21st, 2005, 09:52 AM

Quote:

liga said:
I have tryed and asked the devs if I could include the original manual in the addenda to provide an electronic full (or at lesat with the top of knowledge) version that could be give to people an idea of the deep of the game ... but i got not a real answer .. i think that they prefer to keep the original manual just only in the official game.

...

Actually this has little to do with illwinter and more to do with shrapnel. Shrapnel considers the full manual a selling point of the game, a reason not to go with a pirated version, which is why the manual is not available as a pdf. Whether or not this has had an adverse or positive effect on the sales is all but impossible to know, but according to shrapnel their experience has been that a printed manual, and lack of electronic one, is a good selling point. Dom 1 used a pdf manual, which was a little more comprehensive than the dom2 manual, of course that lead to some criticism as well.

liga · #3 February 21st, 2005, 10:58 AM

Quote:

johan osterman said:
Actually this has little to do with illwinter and more to do with shrapnel. Shrapnel considers the full manual a selling point of the game, a reason not to go with a pirated version, which is why the manual is not available as a pdf. Whether or not this has had an adverse or positive effect on the sales is all but impossible to know, but according to shrapnel their experience has been that a printed manual, and lack of electronic one, is a good selling point. Dom 1 used a pdf manual, which was a little more comprehensive than the dom2 manual, of course that lead to some criticism as well.

Was not my intention go into the commercial strategy of both Illwinter abnd Shrapnelgames ... anyway I think that without an "official" authorization both form IW and SG I would not
start any work with part of the official manual in it!

... and about how I have teached 14 people the game ... after a brief introduction to the game I have made them play a Lan game with me as a 'Living manual' ...

good play to all!
Liga

Ironhawk · #4 February 25th, 2005, 06:21 PM

I also found the demo something that was pretty lacking. The first time I played it I was totally unimpressed. None of the games interesting features were really brought out to me. It was only later when I friend brought me back to it and pointed out a few things that gameplay became very interesting. In turn I tried to also interest some of my friends but they all turned away because of the demo :/

As for the manual, liga, I found the answer to this when I posted a thread some time ago about why dom2 was only available on a physical CD and had to be mailed, as opposed to downloaded. A Shrapnel Games person posted and said that they felt it was thier most effective way to combat piracy. Whether this is true or not - given that other small download-only houses (like galciv, etc) seem to be doing ok - I dont know.

I will say this tho. By the time the actual physical manual actually arrived at my place I didnt even need it anymore. Only look at it one or two times a month.

Quote:

liga said:
I have tryed and asked the devs if I could include the original manual in the addenda to provide an electronic full (or at lesat with the top of knowledge) version that could be give to people an idea of the deep of the game ... but i got not a real answer .. i think that they prefer to keep the original manual just only in the official game.

I'm be able to get new adept (at the moment we are in 14 in my group playing dom2) making lan party and introducing the game to the new player in hot seat sessions.

Anyway as soon as we got permission form the devs I will be really happy to help in preparing a manual for beginner and one for advanced players!

good luck and good play
Liga

Endoperez · #5 February 26th, 2005, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Ironhawk said:
I also found the demo something that was pretty lacking. The first time I played it I was totally unimpressed. None of the games interesting features were really brought out to me. It was only later when I friend brought me back to it and pointed out a few things that gameplay became very interesting. In turn I tried to also interest some of my friends but they all turned away because of the demo :/

As for the manual, liga, I found the answer to this when I posted a thread some time ago about why dom2 was only available on a physical CD and had to be mailed, as opposed to downloaded. A Shrapnel Games person posted and said that they felt it was thier most effective way to combat piracy. Whether this is true or not - given that other small download-only houses (like galciv, etc) seem to be doing ok - I dont know.

I will say this tho. By the time the actual physical manual actually arrived at my place I didnt even need it anymore. Only look at it one or two times a month.

What were those interesting features? SCs? Better items? High-level summons? Clamming?

I am slowly putting together a tutorial scenario, and it would help if I knew what I should introduce in it.