I was just wondering as I think I may like to do one soon, not sure what on though! So this was just a little question to see if there are any aspiring guide writers?
The only discouraging fact would be knowing that there will almost certainly be a guide already released or one currently in the process of being written. Unless you select a reasonably obscure title that nobody has a desire to use a guide for in order to complete.
When I do use a guide though, I tend to be quite picky. Maybe you could be one of the better guides in a long list of not-so-great options. Do you have a few titles in mind at least?
Once I had a few days without a PS3. My Warhawk clan had recently recruited some new CTF players and pilots so I wrote an 8 page guide that covered the tactics for each possible set up of a Zones game. Warhawk is a game that, at high level tournament play, is won or lost within the opening 45 seconds. So, it was kind of important for our guys to learn the modes they weren't familiar with. Since it was a guide made specifically for my clan and only covered team tactics for one game mode I didn't publish it on any sites. If I had access to my PS3 I probably just would have gone over everything with them in the daily practice servers.
I considered doing a photo guide for the collectable cards in Motorstorm Apocalypse but two problems came up with that. One; it required playing Motorstorm Apocalypse, which is not a good game. Two; the built in screenshot feature that I planned on using adds a watermark to the photo that says Copyright Sony Computer Entertainment or something like that.
I thought about it when I was younger (like 15-18) but now it is rare for me to play any single game for longer than a few hours. The idea that I might learn enough about a game to write as an authority is laughable.
That said, I HAVE been considering doing a little write-up on how to start using GameMaker, as I have been doing quite a lot of work in it.
The only discouraging fact would be knowing that there will almost certainly be a guide already released or one currently in the process of being written. Unless you select a reasonably obscure title that nobody has a desire to use a guide for in order to complete.
When I do use a guide though, I tend to be quite picky. Maybe you could be one of the better guides in a long list of not-so-great options. Do you have a few titles in mind at least?
this, I thought about it once or twice but I would always come to the conclusion that someone could, or usaly has done it better.
I could never write a strategy guide. While I am super thorough in every game I play and try to always get the best possible ending or talk to every NPC, I hate doing shit more than once after I've succeeded. Even on games that I've enjoyed a second playthrough of, if I've seen a segment of the game I'll rush right through that shit unless there's a scene or something I enjoy.
As for advice, I think that the most successful guides I've read were the ones that kept instructions relatively light and direct, and had a section for different systems instead of trying to do it tutorial style throughout the guide. Sometimes you want to know how to work the fun little side system without worrying about someone using (not always great) humor to drag on what could be a paragraph with a searchable ID tag.
@mosespippy: Aw man you really just gave me an urge to play WarHawk. That was such a great game....
On topic: I have never, nor will I ever write a guide. I just don't think I could commit the time, nor would I have the patience to write it in enough detail that I found find sufficient.
yeah, i wrote a guide on boosting in dead rising 2.
it was pretty much get a bunch of survivors online and then disconnect and get the people to the safe house. you will get a bunch of xp. if you keep on doing it then you will level up. my friend and i did that a couple of times, except one person couldn't get the xp.
Writing a guide requires you to play a game for a billion hours to learn all the secrets and shit and I'm a pretty busy guy. It's hard enough just playing all the major games each year.
Waste of time, games are super easy these days. And with multiplayer, it comes down to glitches, exploits, and reflexes, generally. Also, why write a guide when you can record it and make a VLOG on it. Much easier and much more effective. I save my reading time for Cosmo and Seventeen mags.
I wrote a guide to I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 once. Here it is:You avoid the zombies, you shoot at them with anything you can find ( spread shot or ninja stars are the best), and you keep this up till the song ends. Do not get stuck in the corners and do not die, that is probably the most important thing to remember. The song last 13 minutes, so you need to prepare yourself by shot gunning three 5 Hour Energy Shots JUST TO BE SURE YOU DO NOT FALL ASLEEP DURING THE NEXT 13 MINUTES! Be sure to pause the game and run around your house for TWO MINUTES (any more, then you will forget why you took this break) at the seven minute mark so you can wake up your legs and focus on the task ahead. Lock your door, break up with your girlfriend/boyfriend, drown any pets you have (unless its a fish, then fry it) , and kill your parents before you start so that none of these things can bother you. Good luck.
Hmmm, it seems that the general consensus is that people don't tend to have enough time to write a guide, which is fair enough. I've not decided whether I'm actually going to do one, still debating it through by looking at my game collection. However, I was just messing about with the guide editor before and it seems like it has the ability to be effective.
I am both in awe of those that write massive guides with an enormous amount of detail and at the same time, pity them. Being that knowledgeable about anything that is just entertainment seems a waste of precious time. I do appreciate theri work though and use it a lot to get me past the blocks.
The only discouraging fact would be knowing that there will almost certainly be a guide already released or one currently in the process of being written. Unless you select a reasonably obscure title that nobody has a desire to use a guide for in order to complete.
When I do use a guide though, I tend to be quite picky. Maybe you could be one of the better guides in a long list of not-so-great options. Do you have a few titles in mind at least?
Well just do a better guide. I'm thinkin about actually starting video guides for a simple reason, most of them are goddamn awful.
I wrote a full ASCII guide for Dark Chronicle a few years ago. Never published it as it's for personal use. If you're serious about wanting to write a guide it's generally best to pick a game with an official walkthrough so you can use the bestiary and item tables.
Concerning not knowing what to do it on is a bit odd. Most people want to write a guide for a specific game, not want to write a guide in general and then pick a game.
I only did Dark Chronicle as it is my favourite game of all time and I probably won't write a guide for any other game ever again.
Also, depending on the game, a guide can take several hundred hours to write properly. It's a huge commitment if you want to complete it.
Not on this site, but I've been a part of a guide for Oblivion when it first came out. And seeing that my English wasn't that good back then, i'm quite stunned that there's no bad mispelling in it. The guide is essentially for stuff that's not easy to learn about the game: Like how to cure vampirism, what cities got for magic school specializations, shrines et cetera. If I remember correctly it was quite fun. Of course the guide isn't big, but it was my first take on it. I have it in my bookshelf if I need some handy hints for Oblivion one day. I may write one for Skyrim in the future too, just for my personal usage of course.
Would anyone appreciate the implementation of background information/lore into a guide? It would be interesting if in each section you elaborated on what was occurring in the story in the side margin. Perhaps add a pretty picture or two? An all out production would be valued by the community.
I was just thinking about how enjoyable it would be to read through a Half-Life guide/commentary simply due to the amount of content that doesn't present itself during the game. Although it's debatable whether or not that game really needs a guide.
I've written basic guides for End of Eternity and BlazBlue Continuum Shift. Except that EoE guide is only like half-finished and BBCS got patched thus making the few character notes I did write in detail obsolete. There was also supposed to be a joint effort on a DoW2 Retribution, but most of it fell to me and at some point I realized that maybe a handful of people are still playing the multiplayer (not The Last Stand, the other one) so I kind of lost interest. Now it's hard enough just keeping up with my "Endure This! Run!" of The Last Remnant.
Feel free to do a guide, but keep in mind that not many people are going to think to look here for it unless you point it out (like so...ahem).
I wrote a full ASCII guide for Dark Chronicle a few years ago. Never published it as it's for personal use. If you're serious about wanting to write a guide it's generally best to pick a game with an official walkthrough so you can use the bestiary and item tables.
Concerning not knowing what to do it on is a bit odd. Most people want to write a guide for a specific game, not want to write a guide in general and then pick a game.
I only did Dark Chronicle as it is my favourite game of all time and I probably won't write a guide for any other game ever again.
Also, depending on the game, a guide can take several hundred hours to write properly. It's a huge commitment if you want to complete it.
I know it's a bit odd but it's just something I could do as a little side project thing. As for the game, I was thinking of doing Lost Odyssey as I play it so I can get a general walkthrough written as I play the game and then update when I do my second playthrough with item lists etc. At the moment though I think I may do a smaller game or a section of a game, like a boss guide just to try my hand at writing.
@Hargreaves93: Don't write your own bestiary or item tables. Take them from the official walkthrough. This is key.
Lost odyssey would be a good one to do but make sure you really like that game :p
I assume you've already finished the game a few times already, but if not, take your time playing through it without thinking about writing a guide. You have to stop every few seconds to take directional/combat/boss strategy notes.
You will also have to go through certain secions multiple times (usually on multiple playthroughs) to get the perfect route/strategy as you will not know this even on your second playthrough.
On your guide playthroughs, play using a walkthrough as reference (official is best as it won't influence your writing style). This will save you hours of trial and error and will make directions easier to write due to usually having a map.
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