Current Events > Why did video game instruction booklets die off?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Those were good.

To save money
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The internet
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To make physical copies cheaper to mass-produce.
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Cheaper not to make them and now that games have bigger budgets and more memory it is preferred to introduce stuff inside the actual game itself
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No more passion.
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I don't mind it as long as they have the controls on the insert.
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Most games have in-game tutorials now.
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What am I suppose to read in the bathroom now?

__aCEr__ posted...

What am I suppose to read in the bathroom now?

The games wiki on your phone
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stone posted...

Most games have in-game tutorials now.

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Benify posted...

No more passion.

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To save trees
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just how much money have these companies saved from abandoning booklets?

Cornmuffins posted...

To save money

This is pretty much the most incorrect answer possible.

You will never be able to convince me that instruction booklets are more expensive than the tutorials that replaced them. Even if you do have to print a million of them.
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DevsBro posted...

Cornmuffins posted...

To save money

This is pretty much the most incorrect answer possible.

You will never be able to convince me that instruction booklets are more expensive than the tutorials that replaced them. Even if you do have to print a million of them.

This. It probably costs ¢ to produce.
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Cornmuffins posted...

To save money

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I seriously miss those bigass manuals that diablo 2, warcraft 3, wow and FF11 came with.

godamn.

Loved giant booklets with little bios of everything. Miss that smell
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1Superlinkbro posted...

DevsBro posted...

Cornmuffins posted...

To save money

This is pretty much the most incorrect answer possible.

You will never be able to convince me that instruction booklets are more expensive than the tutorials that replaced them. Even if you do have to print a million of them.

This. It probably costs ¢ to produce.

IDK I think it's cheaper to pay a few people to do a tutorial than it is to make a decent manual filled with art, instructions, etc and pay for all that extra weight/resources. Once the tutorial is in game that cost is gone. It seems like companies are trying for more of a digital push and a physical manual just doesn't seem cost effective to me. I did a lazy google search and wasn't able to find a definitive answer so these are just my random ideas
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It probably has more to do with digital distribution being a major thing so they need to include any important information that would normally go into a manual in the game itself anyways.FluttershyPony posted...

I seriously miss those bigass manuals that diablo 2, warcraft 3, wow and FF11 came with.

godamn.

Ah, the book manuals. Those types were great.
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fallout 4 came with one
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Shit went digital fam
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For most games now you would need a pretty hefty booklet when an in game tutorial can do the same job
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-To save money and trees.
-Games have ingame tutorials now.
-Some games have digital manuals.
-Wikis.
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Most games don't even really need an instruction book anymore. I remember studying the controls to prepare myself.

These days you constantly have button prompts to remind you.
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senran kagura 2
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It's so funny. Back in the day, it was a treat to read an instruction manual or player's guide and get a hint of what a character's personality was supposed to be like. Today, video games have voice acting and a lot of times are more about the stories, good or bad, than the gameplay.

In hindsight, I'm kinda surprised we didn't see more in the way of comic book tie-ins back in the day. It seems to me that, if I were in charge of creating a video game world, I'd want players to be able to appreciate the characters that inhabited it.

no need for them

Because the internet.
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It all started when they began printing them black and white, then those manuals were thinning and then ultimately erased.

It's funny how their excuse was to cut down costs, but when they started releasing their games digitally, the prices remained the same, and we were never truly the owners of those games.
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They're a novelty at best. Everything has a tutorial or is explained somewhere. Your stats? Explained. Biography? In the game. Controls? In the menu.

It's not like they can condense all open world items and skills into a small book, that'd be called a guide.
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One of the games I got recently had one and I was so happy.
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Ki_cat_ posted...

Controls? In the menu.

So, like, right in the middle of something you're supposed to pause the game and then click 5 things to figure out the one button you need?

You pull up the page of controls on the internet and have it just chilling to look whenever it's needed.
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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

Because the internet.

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

Ki_cat_ posted...

Controls? In the menu.

So, like, right in the middle of something you're supposed to pause the game and then click 5 things to figure out the one button you need?

You pull up the page of controls on the internet and have it just chilling to look whenever it's needed.

Your alternative is worse.

You're supposed to just pause the game, always have a web page next to you, open it up and read when you're in the middle of something?

The controls are either explained to you in the first 5 minutes or the menu is really accessible. I've never had to spend more than a few seconds to remember a button prompt.

Which stupid game are you playing where the controls are hidden behind 5 other layers of junk? It's usually:

>Pause
>Options
>Controls

Or something very similar to get a simple layout.
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because games became so simple you don't need instructions to play them
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Donkey Kong Country's manual had the whole story in there.

Urien posted...

Donkey Kong Country's manual had the whole story in there.

Crocodile capture banana, monkey get it back?

And Mario's booklets go into depth about the story a little more beyond "rescue Peach!"
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Actually, I do kinda remember that one. It seemed kinda drawn out and melodramatic, but in an endearing sort of way. The Kremlings stole the bananas on a dark and stormy night, Donkey Kong and Diddy debated over what to do next. That does contradict the game itself though because D.K. discovers Diddy captured and his banana horde missing in the first level.

Ki_cat_ posted...

And Mario's booklets go into depth about the story a little more beyond "rescue Peach!"

Yeah. The one for Super Mario Bros. 3 actually made it seem like they were fleshing out an interconnected world.

Anyone remember the manual for Super Mario RPG? Luigi didn't get to be in the game, so he was the one doing the walk through of the controls and layout.

I remember Bubsy manuals had the story in there too. No idea why I remember that lol
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Crocodile capture banana, monkey get it back?

It's been a long time since I read it, but I think I remember Donkey Kong having actual dialog and wearing a watch.
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