Might have been said before! But bear with me! this is long winded, but worth the read.



You know? This is a Turn Based Tactical Game.. (uh.. actual term around there somewhere.. )



I remember back when i got my first game of this kind, (actually it was my FIRST EVER video game!) Civilization 2!

It came with a MANUAL. No, not a .PDF with some nice art, not a forum post telling me how to play, 500 PAGES of paper back, bound, published goodness! In fact I think I might still have that book somewhere.



This game Endless Space is very familiar, yet very alien to me all at the same time! How I'd LOVE to hold in my hands a 500 page ~ or whatever manual on actually HOW to play it!!



Not a PDF.. because then I'd have to print the darn thing, and that costs.. oh and it would be printed in B&W.



I propose, that manuals would be created! On purchasing the game you have the choice to order a manual, in paperback or hardback for the game!



Hell I'll be willing to sink $30 into this! This is a great game, a nice illustrated manual that I can hold and study how to play the game would be very nice!!



In fact if a developer comes with me for this I'd be willing to put that $30 into a kickstarter or something similar!



Anyone else interested in this?

I'm interested, but i don't need a book, i would like to get full description of every aspect in this game, how everything works, not only simple rules "how to" with only essential rules, i would like to see full manual, i know that game will be growing, so make it in pdf and update every time when something new is added, there is now only wiki, i know that is much to do to write everything , but printing informations from wiki is not comfortable

There is a PDF. In steam, in the library page for your game, find "manual" on the right hand side and click to download.



Many people and game companies view paper as obsolete. Many people use color printers to print the pdf to have that "old time paper book" feeling.

The reason companies have moved away from big-ass printed manuals is because they are surprisingly expensive. When .pdf became common, it allowed the games developers to save the money that was getting sunk into printing costs (which really helps small developers like Amplitude).



I'll admit, I do miss getting things like my 200+ page Neverwinter Nights manual, or the 50-ish page Diablo manual complete with history, flavor, some monster descriptions, and the like, but I understand why they did it. It was one of the things that allowed PC game prices to remain at $50 for nearly TWENTY YEARS.

Moved to the right section, please post suggestions only in the proposals section.

Renamed the title.



Though I agree that there is indeed enough stuff to fill a printed manual with in the case of Endless space, I don't think it is financially viable to put a very extensive one into the physical version that will be released in August.

I'm not sure even Slowhands can write a book so fast.

I dont think this game need a big manual anyway - I learned most of it using the tutorials. Most of it is automated anyway. But yes paper manuals and proper boxes are gone the way of the dodo unfortunately, another example of how modern day living is lacking quality compared to old games, where you got massive gorgeous boxes, manuals, disks, books, poster etc for the price of the game.



And I don't see prices going down either. A few days ago I was in a Game shop (very rare these days) and I couldnt believe the prices - £49 for a PC game! - cant remember which one. That ain't cheap. And the last Call of Duty Black Ops 2 was around £45 wasn't it? I refuse to buy any game at that price unless you get a gold figurine in the box. No wonder most people download or buy from Amazon.



These days you want a manual you wither have to print and bind one yourself or buy one separately (did that once for LOMAC 2 spiral bound manual - never again didnt even look at it!).



I do miss reading a good game manual in bed for a few hours though. Maybe I should get a Kindle?