A Functional Manual In .pdf That Includes Updates Post Launch

from Elemental Forums

I had a good time reading the manual while the game was installing and it led me to believe that the game was going to be something pretty damn good. The manual was quite informative at the time, even though the game quite clearly didn't work, and appreciably reflected what players can expect in the game and helped them to understand key game concepts. The game has since changed in serious ways and is going to keep changing.

Unfortunately, it seems more than likely that Stardock is going to keep printing the same manual and/or not include addendums in boxes that are hitting retail. Even if Stardock does ship new manuals and/or addendums, players that have been following development of Elemental at a distance aren't likely to have a nice, clean, clear manual or addendum to their manual to help them keep track of new game mechanics. A solution to the problem is rather simple and is something that we've seen with the new Civilisation V game: a downloadable .pdf that functions as the game manual.

Granted, Civ V's manual is pretty bad in that it contains several serious misprints and complete omissions of referenced game mechanics (unit maintenance) but it is easily accessible. Stardock would be operating at too much of a loss to print these things and they could also play the game of hopping on the green bandwagon if they used a .pdf file downloaded via Impulse. It seems to me that this is a simple solution and wouldn't take too much effort on Stardock's part.

(Note: 'Check the wiki,' is not an appropriate response.)

6,456 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

While an updated PDF would be nice, all updates have a changelog which contains verbose descriptions of all things updated.

Since it seems that the core mechanics of the game are going to be changed, I would assume that Stardock will keep their Elemental page updated with the relevant information.  "Check the wiki" may not be a valid response to you, but "Check the Elemental website" can very well be.  Also, as long as the Hiergamenon is updated, everything is at they player's fingertips.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm 99% certain Brad has stated that with the new 1.1 patch there will be an updated PDF file of the manual.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Jharii, reply 1
While an updated PDF would be nice, all updates have a changelog which contains verbose descriptions of all things updated.

Since it seems that the core mechanics of the game are going to be changed, I would assume that Stardock will keep their Elemental page updated with the relevant information.  "Check the wiki" may not be a valid response to you, but "Check the Elemental website" can very well be.  Also, as long as the Hiergamenon is updated, everything is at they player's fingertips.
End of Jharii's quote

I assumed that the game I purchased would function, however it did not. After finding out that Stardock put out this idea called 'The Gamers' Bill of Rights' I was even more surprised that I purchased a game that, somehow, just did not function. I've come to the point, looking at the state of PC gaming and my experience with Elemental, that putting trust in companies that make significant mistakes like this is difficult at best. As consumers and gamers we simply can't assume that companies will keep us in the loop in any real way, not when our experience with them says otherwise. My only experience with Stardock has been this mess and I just can't assume that they will keep things updated.

 

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Teslacrashed, reply 2
I'm 99% certain Brad has stated that with the new 1.1 patch there will be an updated PDF file of the manual.
End of Teslacrashed's quote

I've been following Elemental updates at a bit of a distance and if Frogboy stated that there will be an updated .pdf of the manual that would be fantastic! :grin:

Truth be told, it will get me to play Elemental again and do something to help my serious disillusion with this game and PC gaming. Too much that has been bad has been going out and there's just no reason for it.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Frogboy did say he was working on the manual at one point.