In game manual.

[Taledus]

Sorry if this has been posted...thinks thread should be limited to one idea for discussion so the thread Links to Already suggested Ideas! http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1504 could be properly updated and easy to determine if your idea has been posted... There are currently 13 pages with several "my ideas" threads it has been difficult to find stuff that is already listed *more OCD thoughts

Personally I like having some structure to the items, and there has been a post that lists everything in order (I saw it early I just can't remember where it is). However it might be good to have it compiled into a pdf with pictures or something for offline viewing that can be launched within the game. Of course every update to the game would have to re-work the file to match any item updates.

Likewise, instructions, skills, etc, etc, etc could be put in. Perhaps this could be something that ships out with the game? I'm not referring to some elaborate commercialized manual, just something simple. This game is unique...I think having a manual would make it stand out and add to the pimpness

[sdevaney]

There is the start of a manual in About/help.

[Taledus]

Right, but there is not really anything in there about the items, etc, etc...is the perfect place for it though.

[nyktos]

Not yet, because it's only in the preliminary stages... We'll get there.

[sdevaney]

I don't see a reason to put a list of items or skills in the manual.

[nyktos]

agreed.

the main focus of the guide / manual should be...

A. to bring light to the most common questions & problems
B. to inform the player about game mechanics that aren't currently mentioned in-game.
C. and possibly to put a little more emphasis on the fact that this is in beta & open source...

maybe put even more emphasis on the helpfulness of our amazing Forum Community?

but, at the moment our focus is more content for the next update...
the manual will get more attention towards the end of the project.

unless someone wants to jump on in & start something?
that would really kick-start this topic!

the new help page was just a thread we were working on,
and it ended up in the game after we tweaked it a bit...

things we might need to mention - how many levels between skills, XP loss upon death, etc.
a simple F.A.Q. section might be a quick & easy way to introduce the information to the player.

[Taledus]

Alright...maybe not items or skills. Perhaps just a basic few or something to break in new players who like to read the manual. Examples of stuff for crafting (if it is even going to be included).

I'd jump in, but being new here I would probably leave out a lot. My char is currently only lvl 7, and I haven't really done a lot in the game just due to personal time constraints. I do see a lot of suggestions that are going to be included, or have been thoroughly discussed, and frankly the list of stuff is huge...

And right now, yes it probably is too early to start defining anything for the manual...but not too early to start planning I don't think. But I guess I was visualizing a full guide for items, skills, etc...I don't know where my mind was with that. At any rate, I got something started anyways

I will look around tonight and see what I can compile if no one else wants to...I like compiling and organizing things anyways. I'll post up what I can find if that's okay.

[nyktos]

I want to eventually write a guide for the whole game, aside from android & the forum. But for now I'm too involved with other aspects of the game. On another note, the fact you haven't played very long will help. What are the first few questions you needed answered when you started? We might just add some things to the current help section...

[Taledus]

Well I'm not only new to this game but new to owning a tablet. The only real question I had about starting out was about the save confirmations...everything else about the game was pretty straight fore ward about what all it currently does. Being able to find that your question is already being discussed on the forum is a different story

However, I do have experience with programming (just not for android), graphics arts, story boarding, & game design...figuring out most of the elements wasn't that difficult for me. I'm an old school gamer and 2d rpg's are pretty much all I like to play. I somewhat envision a game manual for something like this to be along the lines of an NES or SNES style manual that pretty much gives a rundown of everything in the game, controls, items, storyline, etc...pretty much the summary of the design document.

The FAQ's being added would only be a small plus to it because frankly the less a game costs (in this case, free) the less likely people are to read any manual whatsoever. I usually do not chime in on OS'd projects purely out of experience with volunteer work going to waste for something that no one wishes to take time with or just losing motivation on...but I really like this game 1. because it is for my tablet and I can take it with me & 2. because it can be played offline.

Items, weapons, skills are being discussed for adding and tweaking, so having any of those is only going to get extremely tedious with the person keeping up with making the actual changes to the manual. Right now aside from the controls the only thing I can think to add is the storyline...right now I'm searching for my brother in the game, aside from a few quests I have picked up, that's all I know as far as storyline. But then again I think that maybe no storyline and more of an open feel for the game play might be suited for this game. I do feel that while a lot of the retro elements need to remain for the game, it should stick out somehow from the others...offer something a bit more that others don't even if it is an OS'd project.

I have some intricate ideas about crafting, advanced AI stuff, and a few other things, but I think I will save creating a thread to discuss them until the game progresses a bit further.

[phydeaux]

I believe mob ai is being worked on, but you'd have to wait for a reply from sdevaney for a confirmation... I'm not sure about crafting, although the topic has been brought up a number of times, and will probably be brought up more...
I'm not a dev, mainly because I have no compy net access, so I can't teach myself java easily or keep up with the current working source... But I'm trying! I can easily read the source code, just can't write it.
Happy hunting