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Old 05-11-2013, 01:43 PM   #49
Déjà Bru
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Join Date: Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AstaSyneri View Post
When I clamor that the manual isn't up date, I am being bashed that the manual is more or less done by the community.
First, let me thank you for your effort here. It is a good idea and a noble effort, but it's not going to work because of what I say below.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hefalumps View Post
One problem I see is that there are parts of a manual/wiki that only the developers like Markus and Andreas could complete. For example, someone in the community could take a stab at what we *think* is going on with all the numbers on a team's "Front Office" tab, but it always seems like there are discrepancies that the community can't reconcile, and only the developers could probably explain (e.g. numbers for budget room not adding up, next year's payroll not matching between "Finances" and Salaries", etc.)

So while the community could probably put together a pretty thorough overview of the game, the screens, the configuration options, etc., we would still need the developers to be willing to fill in some of those behind-the-scenes details.
Exactly. A proper manual must have the insight and oversight of the developers, not the community. In the past, the manual has been written by a trusted insider (Steve Battisti comes to mind, bless him, wherever he is now) with the guidance of Andreas and Markus themselves. hefalumps makes excellent points here. The manual already has "a pretty thorough overview of the game." When the community would need the expertise to fill in its blanks, who among us has private and instant access to Andreas and Markus? Nobody? At least nobody who is not already doing a fair share of volunteer work on a game? So what do we end up with as a result? Right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Painmantle View Post
And to you patrons that continually defend OOTP for not having one produced on a regular basis (That means updated with EVERY VERSION) because they are a small company with limited recourses or whatever reason is given is kind of embarrassing.

If you people went to the store and bought a product off the shelf and the assembly manual or the instruction manual's were incomplete or missing you wouldn't be ok with that just because the company was smaller and didn't have the funds ,manpower or resources to produce the written material that is so vital to your purchase.

Do I personally need a manual? NO But there obviously people who do need one and most importantly there are people who WANT one and that reason alone should be enough for OOTP to make an effort to produce one instead of coming up with excuses why there isn't one than having the OOTP Playing masses back them up for a poor business decision.
I'm one of those patrons but I consider myself a realist rather than apologist. Yes we do need a manual. The point is, there IS a manual and it's not too bad. It's not up to date, yet. It soon will be, I trust. As I said someplace else, this is a two (and a half?) person enterprise. When I see OOTPB on sale in its own end-aisle display in Walmart, THEN I will expect an up-to-date manual on Day One. Until then, I'd rather the two (and a half?) people concentrate on improving and de-bugging the game first.
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Last edited by Déjà Bru; 05-11-2013 at 01:45 PM.
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