Post by ewiley28 on Jul 29, 2008 8:29:27 GMT -5
Simple request: Any kind of documentation, even just a text file or forum post..
My thought is Danielle and Jason are pretty busy just dealing with keeping up with deluge and valiantly keeping the game going forward.
Instead of writing a manual, they could set up a section of their software with their favorite wiki software and the members could write the manual. This would allow it to be updated and allow the convenient hyperlinking of wiki-ing and would be a better fit than burying them in the message boards.
Danielle and Jason would have to add the wiki to the website and I think they should go ahead and take a moment to write a little blip explaining what the purpose of the manual is in their mind and what kind of information should be in it. This will help to clear up what kind of information should be included. Like, I think spoilers should definitely be omitted, but it would be a judgment call whether or not they were willing to have the names of the levels included. Including them could be nice, because it would provide a natural segue into information about what items do, but the developers could want this information to not be available until a player got to the level (at least until there's a gamefaq type entry somewhere).
People have already begun doing this type of work and have shown that with the screen capture ability, this can be done well by players. There's already information including screenshots within the message boards that could be adapted to create a general beginner's start here page, location pages, movement information, strategy information, tool information, character details, etc.
The wiki nature would allow the refinement and improvement of this information and would also reduce the strain on the developers to police information as the nature of the wiki is to transfer that over to the membership.
Setting up a wiki at the domain and providing a statement about what kind of information the developers want included (and specifically any things they really don't want) represents much less of a time investment and lost opportunities to refine and update the software while producing a product that not only will continue to be improved, but will also grow as the game grows.