possible new updated manual in PDF?

[dr.hal]

It would seem that there is enough expertise on this forum who might have the time to take chunks of the manual and rework it if they were given the original and then post it for review/suggestions/corrections and then one person put it all together and presto, a new manual. If volunteers are needed, wouldn't this forum be the place to start looking for them? Hal

[Canoerebel]

No, that won't work. 
 
You're thinking:  "And why not?"
 
Trust me.  It won't.  Nightmare.  Awful.  Take Forever.  Would have all Kinds of Errors and Omissions.
 
The only person that could handle updating the manual is somebody who is intimately familiar with the entire game and all updates.  And I mean Intimately.  There are people that have that kind of comprehensive knowledge, but probably they actually have lives and want to enjoy them, so they would run screaming from the very notion.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Let me tell you guys how I did it for WitE...


I was the second ALPHA WitE member responsible for working manual whilst WitE was in development and I established the original TOC ("Table of Contents") for the document.

Before me another ALPHA WitE member Rafael ("rjh1971") was first responsible for the manual and he created first working version of WitE documentation by placing each and every tidbit and rule into one single place.

When WitE was close to finalization professional manual writer was employed to finish the work and put everything into place (this was much needed move since both Rafael and I are not native English speakers). It was huge task and it was done very good!

Before it was send to Matrix for finish the final WitE working manual was pure text WinWord document (small, I think, B5 paper size that Matrix uses for manuals) and separate pictures (in text there was info where every separate picture or table should go).

After WitE was released and after numerous improvements were made to game I asked Joel (2By3) and Erik (Matrix) if I can create updated WitE manual. They accepted and I started to work...


Here is what I did:

#1
I used original pure text WinWord manual and crated proper US Letter sized document. I placed every picture and table into appropriate place.

#2
I placed all changes in Addendum (in chronological order - every patch being listed separately).

#3
I put every "forgotten rules" that we discovered since release into document and fixed all sighted errors that both players and tester noticed after release.

#4
I connected TOC with every section (i.e. the document was TOC "jumpable").

#5
I made whole document "section jumpable" (i.e. if you click on "See section xx.yy.zz" you would jump to that section).

#6
After much work I made the document contain copy of each and every applicable rule change from Addendum to appropriate section in main manual body.



So... it is possible to be done... it just takes time and dedication...



Leo "APollo11"

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

Let me tell you guys how I did it for WitE...


I was the second ALPHA WitE member responsible for working manual whilst WitE was in development and I established the original TOC ("Table of Contents") for the document.

Before me another ALPHA WitE member Rafael ("rjh1971") was first responsible for the manual and he created first working version of WitE documentation by placing each and every tidbit and rule into one single place.

When WitE was close to finalization professional manual writer was employed to finish the work and put everything into place (this was much needed move since both Rafael and I are not native English speakers). It was huge task and it was done very good!

Before it was send to Matrix for finish the final WitE working manual was pure text WinWord document (small, I think, B5 paper size that Matrix uses for manuals) and separate pictures (in text there was info where every separate picture or table should go).

After WitE was released and after numerous improvements were made to game I asked Joel (2By3) and Erik (Matrix) if I can create updated WitE manual. They accepted and I started to work...


Here is what I did:

#1
I used original pure text WinWord manual and crated proper US Letter sized document. I placed every picture and table into appropriate place.

#2
I placed all changes in Addendum (in chronological order - every patch being listed separately).

#3
I put every "forgotten rules" that we discovered since release into document and fixed all sighted errors that both players and tester noticed after release.

#4
I connected TOC with every section (i.e. the document was TOC "jumpable").

#5
I made whole document "section jumpable" (i.e. if you click on "See section xx.yy.zz" you would jump to that section).

#6
After much work I made the document contain copy of each and every applicable rule change from Addendum to appropriate section in main manual body.



So... it is possible to be done... it just takes time and dedication...



Leo "APollo11"

God Bless you, Leo! [&o]

Please don't forget to mention that you volunteered all of this time!

Can we get a volunteer for AE? [:D]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

No, that won't work. 

You're thinking:  "And why not?"

Trust me.  It won't.  Nightmare.  Awful.  Take Forever.  Would have all Kinds of Errors and Omissions.

The only person that could handle updating the manual is somebody who is intimately familiar with the entire game and all updates.  And I mean Intimately.  There are people that have that kind of comprehensive knowledge, but probably they actually have lives and want to enjoy them, so they would run screaming from the very notion.

I've seen college work groups writing a group paper come to actual blows, and that was four people who were physically together and could read body language. Group writing projects almost never lead to a better product than could be done by a single writer left alone.

[littleike]

The dream of an ancient dusty big final manual where found answers to all game questions like the tome that wizards consult at the flickering flame of a candle up there in the manor tower is something of subliminal that every game player ( me too) has always had.

I also asked many times for a revised copy of the manual thinking that this final release would be able to resolve all my questioning about the game rules and strategies. But as soon as time was passing i have been thinking that the wait for a final manual perhaps was only an alibi to don't study as deep as this game require to be managed.

That said is indubitable that Witp AE has had so many upgrades and tweakings that the need of something more revised documentation has become more than a necessity.

If the release of a revised manual is not planned ( i also will be happy to pay for it ) we have only the actual manual and the forum.

The actual manual is still invaluable because it describe all of the game stuff and It is a good operating manual ( to learn how and where to do things ) but outdated or incomplete in strategies description.

So if we suppose to upgrade and use the manual only for his operating part (leaving the strategies) we need only to update the mask descriptions adding the buttons that have been deleted,modified or added during the patch process. This could be done very easy looking at the manual mask description and having the game opened on the same mask.
Creating this addendum where to describe the use of the new buttons with all the mask variations integrated by a description of the colors and symbols used in the masks and reports could finish the work on the manual.

For the strategies and a deeper description of techniques we could use the forum and create a document to be added for topics:
Many things are just in there:

The air coordination guide
The repair ship 101 guide
could be the first two topics


This sort of "strategic guide" could be put in an adobe acrobat document form for consulting purposes and expanded for topics ( a sort of the avalon hill The general publication dedicated only to this game) Obviously this guide should be managed from someone very expert to whom forum members could submit their topics created from their experience or extracted from the forum threads for subsequent approval revision and publication.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: littleike

The dream of an ancient dusty big final manual where found answers to all game questions like the tome that wizards consult at the flickering flame of a candle up there in the manor tower is something of subliminal that every game player ( me too) has always had.

I also asked many times for a revised copy of the manual thinking that this final release would be able to resolve all my questioning about the game rules and strategies. But as soon as time was passing i have been thinking that the wait for a final manual perhaps was only an alibi to don't study as deep as this game require to be managed.

That said is indubitable that Witp AE has had so many upgrades and tweakings that the need of something more revised documentation has become more than a necessity.

If the release of a revised manual is not planned ( i also will be happy to pay for it ) we have only the actual manual and the forum.

The actual manual is still invaluable because it describe all of the game stuff and It is a good operating manual ( to learn how and where to do things ) but outdated or incomplete in strategies description.

So if we suppose to upgrade and use the manual only for his operating part (leaving the strategies) we need only to update the mask descriptions adding the buttons that have been deleted,modified or added during the patch process. This could be done very easy looking at the manual mask description and having the game opened on the same mask.
Creating this addendum where to describe the use of the new buttons with all the mask variations integrated by a description of the colors and symbols used in the masks and reports could finish the work on the manual.

For the strategies and a deeper description of techniques we could use the forum and create a document to be added for topics:
Many things are just in there:

The air coordination guide
The repair ship 101 guide
could be the first two topics


This sort of "strategic guide" could be put in an adobe acrobat document form for consulting purposes and expanded for topics ( a sort of the avalon hill The general publication dedicated only to this game) Obviously this guide should be managed from someone very expert to whom forum members could submit their topics created from their experience or extracted from the forum threads for subsequent approval revision and publication.

All good ideas, but I've been hanging around here and in the WITP forum for over six years and it's never quite happened. Why? Time. Money. Time. Interest. Expertise. Time.

There have been aborted attmepts at Wikis. That might be a way to go if you're interested.

But what it seems to come down to is players want to play, not write. I write, sometimes. It's hard, lonely work. It's even harder when it's for free.

And expertise? A bare handful of players come close to having enough to do the project, and most of them (all?) already put in years designing and coding the thing. Many of them are at work on the Da Babes project, which seems to me, a non-designer, as probably a heck of a lot more fun than writing a manual.

If michaelm ever gets caught up in real life and wants to do a one-pager on buttons and ASCII symbols in the TOE screens, and colored text, etc. I would be the first to thank him. But I don't expect him to. He's done more than enough already.

And Matrix? Oh, look! A pig, up in the AIR!!!! [:'(]

[PizzaMan]

ORIGINAL: littleike


For the strategies and a deeper description of techniques we could use the forum and create a document to be added for topics:
Many things are just in there:

The air coordination guide
The repair ship 101 guide
could be the first two topics


This sort of "strategic guide" could be put in an adobe acrobat document form for consulting purposes and expanded for topics ( a sort of the avalon hill The general publication dedicated only to this game) Obviously this guide should be managed from someone very expert to whom forum members could submit their topics created from their experience or extracted from the forum threads for subsequent approval revision and publication.

If they are only limited to non-gamey yet historical type strategy and tactics, great. We'd need to avoid strategy and tactics like 4E below 10k, CAP, and Search Archs.