New Manual??

Taliseian · #1 March 7th, 2001, 06:52 PM

Greetings,

Note - at work right now, not at home computer with game...

With all the patches and changes, has there been any thought given to putting out a new manual in a downloadable format that has been updated with the new changes?

Just curious.

Taliseian

------------------
=====
The World of Lyrlusa
A Dungeons and Dragons Campaign World
http://www.crosswinds.net/~lyrlusa
=====

Will · #2 March 9th, 2001, 04:49 AM

Or for that matter, are any of the players contemplating re-writing the manual entirely, and slapping a name such as "Unofficial Space Empires IV Manual, by The Fans" on it?

Will anyone volunteer to head such a project (with help, of course)?

Am I automatically volunteered for the project by merely mentioning it?

Does anyone think Aaron and Co. would mind?

And does everyone believe that the fans have way more time on their hands than Aaron and Co. (who have day jobs), and could write the manual a lot better, both because of free time willing to be relinquished and first-hand knowledge of the player side of the game (as opposed to the programmer's viewpoint)?

Does anyone really care?

Windborne · #3 March 9th, 2001, 03:10 PM

I found both manuals to be vague, incomplete and utterly useless, most of the game wasn't included in either manual, most spots were (of course) mentioned in the paper manual, with an arrow pointing you to the Online one, but the Online one didn't bother to fill in the gaps any!

Sirkit · #4 March 9th, 2001, 06:47 PM

I would voulenteer to do this except Last time I voulenteered to make an FAQ/Guide I was left to my own devices, witch sucked! and then hell and my life met and had a romatic love affair, I witch 2 members of my family died and my personal life whent to Sh*t, so unless someone is going to give me a damn good reason to do this I ain't doing it, however I'll help.

So we need a few more people and an editor and we might actually get this show in the road! A person who knows HTML would help too so we could post it on the net for everyone to see

Will · #5 March 10th, 2001, 02:05 AM

Heck, wrangle up about three or four other people willing to help out, and I'll do something I'll probably regret later: I'll head the project (I'm just not going to put any more than 8 hours a week into it, I want to have SOME time for other things). The HTML wouldn't be a problem, I am fairly good at it any anyone can learn the basics in about half an hour.

So, anyone else?

Nitram Draw · #6 March 10th, 2001, 02:22 AM

I don't think the manual would have to be completely rewritten. Most of the game is explained in the Online manual. Most.
What it needs is a more detailed explanation of each subject explaining what each item does, how it works and why you would use it.
Maybe a little better organization would help as would the ability to print it out, without all the pictures. I miss being able to refer to the manual while I play.
Also some explanation of how to customize it, an explanation of the modable file, would be nice but I think that has been requested.
I doubt if anyone would mind provided it was given away.

tictoc · #7 March 10th, 2001, 03:15 AM

Whitehojo's excellent Excel spreadsheet work could be used as a basis for this. I'm assuming all that needs to be done is update the entries as per the latest patch and add links to more descriptive entries for each item, the backbone of the work is already done by whitehojo (credit where due) so it's not as if anyone has to start from scratch. Any thoughts on this?

tic

[This message has been edited by tictoc (edited 10 March 2001).]

Instar · #8 March 10th, 2001, 06:00 AM

HEY! Id love to do this! SIgn me up! My HTML is good, my grammar and spelling is good too.

Sirkit · #9 March 12th, 2001, 07:44 AM

Uh oh I think I started something

raynor · #10 March 12th, 2001, 06:49 PM

Sign me up as well.