Dominions 3 - The Manual

[Tim Brooks]

There seems to be a couple of threads now on the Dominions 3 Manual, so I thought I'd start another one, just to make things a little more confusing.

We have looked at the manual from all angles. Seems alot of you are worried about the binding, and frankly so were we. In fact, it got to the point where we had to make a money desision. So to keep costs low, and I hope this doesn't disappoint too many, we have cut the size down to 150 pages and we will be going with a less expensive...

I'm just joking! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Here is where we are:

The manual is in final proofing and is at 299 pages. This may slip to 300 pages, but that would just be a formatting thing, not adding anything else at this point -- the content is set. We will be spiral binding the manual, using a, and I think I have the name of this correct, plasti-coil binding. This is supposedly both durable and attractive, and we will make the coil as large as we can while controlling those costs, for those worried about the size. The manual will go to the printers on Monday, Sept. 15th, and at this point it keeps us on schedule for the October 2nd release. Of course, unforseen problems could still affect final release date, but we don't anticipate any troubles.

Folks, Bruce Geryk and Illwinter have done an outstanding job on this manual. I think everyone will be happy with their efforts. It is by far, the most detailed manul we have ever published. Many thanks go to Bruce and the Illwinter team.

I spent some time reading these forums this morning (something I don't often get the time to do), and let me just say, this fan base is awesome! Thanks for supporting Illwinter and Shrapnel Games!

[DominionsFan]

Sounds awesome Tim! Manual with 300 pages...I just can't wait to get my Doms 3. copy and start browsing the manual before playing. Oh and yes the fans here are really cool, I also like them very much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[PDF]

Wonderful, it's like in the good'ol days where PC games had a nice big fat manual ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
I'm really furious with the marketing brainlessness that has led to DVD cases and leaflet manuals, and really happy that SG doesn't follow !

[PashaDawg]

Thanks. Sounds great!

Pasha

[Nerfix]

Sounds very good.

[Caduceus]

I hope you mean Monday September 18th, or it is going to be a long wait for the manual!!

Thanks for all your extra effort, Tim and the rest of the Shrapnel staff!

[Endoperez]

Great news!

[JaydedOne]

First-rate, Tim. Thank you.

[Agrajag]

Thanks for letting us know.
I've looked around da internet to see exactly how a "plasti-coil binding" looks like, and it seems nice, as long as Dom3's plasti-coil binding will be as big as in the pictures http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Caduceus]

To be honest, the first two paragraphs of the post scared me!

[Gandalf Parker]

Tim Brooks said:
I'm just joking! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



*big sigh*
You got me on that one. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Feeling Halloweenie or something. Just had to scare us?

The other news is great. Thanks.

[Nerfix]

Little fear keeps the addrenaline running in a healthy manner.

[tibbs]

Sounds like this book will be great for pressing leaves.

[Arralen]

Burn the heretic !!!

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/firedevil.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/firedevil.gif

[PhilD]

Tim Brooks said:
The manual is in final proofing and is at 299 pages. This may slip to 300 pages, but that would just be a formatting thing, not adding anything else at this point -- the content is set.



No, please don't change this to 300 - I want to see what a manual with an odd number of pages looks like http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Outstanding news. Will I be able to refrain from running the game until I've read it all? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

PhilD said:
Outstanding news. Will I be able to refrain from running the game until I've read it all? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



LOL
Only if it comes in the mail just as you are about to leave the house for something you cant get out of. Rip open box, snag manual, rush out the door, get in trouble for reading the manual instead of the important thing you were supposed to be doing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif "Turkeys?!? Umm... I meant to say... I do."

[NTJedi]

PhilD said:
Will I be able to refrain from running the game until I've read it all? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



I usually don't read the manual or play tutorials of any new game... I just jump right into advanced or expert difficulty. Usually I do just fine... of course every once in awhile I'll be baffled on how to do some task in some game and thus dusting off its manual.
Reading game manuals are best on a long drive when someone else is driving or reading material for the bathroom.

[WraithLord]

The manual sounds absolutely great, thanks!

I think it goes a long way towards justifying dom-III price tag.

[baby_arm]

I've looked around da internet to see exactly how a "plasti-coil binding" looks like, and it seems nice, as long as Dom3's plasti-coil binding will be as big as in the pictures


I used that binding when I printed out the 200 page Conquest of the Aegean manual and it came out really nice. Seems very durable and it won't have the problem of eventual "glue loss" over time of normal binding. Probably the best choice.

[Caduceus]

I believe they will be using ground Hoburg in the binding to keep it extra-durable.

[PhilD]

Gandalf Parker said:
Rip open box, snag manual, rush out the door, get in trouble for reading the manual instead of the important thing you were supposed to be doing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif "Turkeys?!? Umm... I meant to say... I do."



That would be going to teach some class. I've actually been using the Dom2 story of battle replays being incompatible between OSes as an example of what can go wrong when programming and compiling for multiple platforms.

(For those who weren't around at the time: battle replays were inconsistent between Windows and, at least, Linux - despite the game using its own random number generator and not some library function. The bug was finally tracked down to some code lines that went something like:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>if (RollDie(x)&lt;RollDie(y))... </pre><hr />
and it turned out that the different compilers would make the left function call before the right, while others would do the reverse - something that, unless I'm wrong, isn't specified in the norm - and that was wreaking havoc with the random number generator reproductibility)

[Gandalf Parker]

Those werent inconsistancies. They were realistic commander reports. "Ummm we WON. Yeah thats it oh great god of destruction. We totally kicked their ahnks all over the battleground." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[SurvivalistMerc]

This is marvelous. One of my only pet peeves about Dom2 was that the manual was 20 pages of information then the popup help printed in a difficult to find and parse format. Strong. I look forward to reading your work.