manual pdf

[StillInThe90s]

I made a game manual a while ago but ditched it since it felt a bit over the top. Still, it may be a good idea to have one for the non AGSers.
Could someone please have a look at it? (what is relevant, readable, grammar, that sort of stuff)
- Link -

Also the license segment feels a bit all over the place. Suggestions there?

[Mandle]

It looks so awesome that I think it really deserves to be released with the game!

I'll admit that I haven't read through the entire thing but concentrated on the Legal part you mentioned.

I have a few suggestions for fixes there where I felt the wording was a bit unclear and some grammar points:

The game may be distributed (duplicated or copied) at will for free, provided all associated files are included and remain unchanged (all filenames, file types/forms and file content should remain unchanged). The game, and the files associated with it, may not be distributed if any of the above conditions are not met. Nor may it be distributed in return for any form of payment, for any purpose.

[StillInThe90s]

Thanks Mandle!
I'm posting the whole thing in plain text, minus the character presentation part, if anyone feels like giving the technical stuff a gaze.
(Mandle's changes are included)

Spoiler

1 §. The launcher
Start the game using the 'Camp1.exe' launcher in the game directory. This opens a menu with the options: 'Start game', 'Setup' and 'Cancel'.


2 §. Game setup
If everything works properly and you are uncomfortable with changing setup options, there is no need to open this window. If not, these are the options in the game setup:
Graphics driver: Which graphics driver the system should use to handle rendering (Direct3D is recommended for most newer systems).
Graphics filter: Helps running low-resolution games (such as Camp 1) on high-resolution monitors/screens. It can, for example, make the screen less blurry in fullscreen mode or increase the displayed size of the game in windowed mode.
Run in a window: Check this box to run the game in windowed mode. Note that this game will display a very small window if run without a graphics filter.
Digital sound: Choose your sound device or 'No Digital Sound' to disable sound altogether. Note that both music and sound can be turned off from within the game.
Advanced: Shows some advanced options (hidden by default) that players normally do not need to change.

2.1  Advanced options
Use 85 Hz display: This is only relevant for some older monitors.
Side borders on widescreen monitors: This is  relevant for some monitors that can not handle this themselves.
Force alternative letterbox resolution: Relevant for screens that, for example, are stretching the image a lot.
Maximum sprite cache: Limits the amount of RAM the game will use for sprite cache. Low limit = slower game, high limit = faster game. Changing this will probably not affect this game at all.
Run Winsetup: Runs the AGS engine's default setup.



3 §. Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the classic 1990:s adventure games but with a simplified, two-click interface. This leaves the player with the following options:

Walk - left click on an empty spot.
Look at something - right click.
Pick up or interact with an object - left click.
Select inventory item - left click.
Deselect inventory item - right click.
Combine inventory items - left click to select an item, then left click the second item.

3.1  Mouse-over description text
Whenever the mouse pointer hovers something of interest, it displays a small description. Things that the player can interact with, pick up or look at are always indicated with such a description (although everything in the game is not useful).



4 §. Buttons & panels
The main interface, at the bottom of the screen, holds the player's inventory (which displays scrolling arrows when its content becomes too large), a button for the game notes and an options button.

4.1  Game notes panel
When something worth remembering happens throughout the game, the player character will take a note of it. These notes can be read for as long as they are relevant, by opening the 'notes' panel. The 'notes' button will flash whenever something new is added to the notes.

4.2  Options panel
This panel holds all the options in the game, except for those handled by the external Setup (see 'Game setup'). The buttons 'Save game', 'Load game', 'Restart' and 'Quit' opens their own panels respectively.
'Resume' will close the options panel and continue the game.
'?' opens a gameplay quick help screen.
'Audio volume' is a volume slider.
'Music' turns music on or off (on by default).
'Gui' sets whether the main interface will show all the time or pop up on mouse-over.
'Dialog' sets whether or not character portraits will be shown during dialogs.
'Gamma' is a slider for increasing gamma (basically makes everything brighter). This is useful for darker screens and systems with dark gamma set up.
'Speed' slider controls the general game speed.
'Default' reverts all setup changes to their default settings.

4.3  Shortcut keys
Tab / O - Options panel
Space bar - Skip cutscenes or jump to the point where the player is walking.
N - Game notes.
F5 - Save game panel.
F7 - Restore game panel.
F9 - Restart game.
Left / right arrow keys - Scroll inventory (also: mouse wheel).
F1 / H - Help screen.

5 [I left out the character presentation part here]

6 License & disclaimer
This software is provided on an "as is" basis, without any warranty of any kind. The author of this game and the authors of the AGS engine and other parts of this software, assume no responsibility for any damages that may occur as a result of using this software.
   The game may be distributed (duplicated or copied) at will for free, provided all associated files are included and remain unchanged (all filenames, file types/forms and file content should remain unchanged). The game, and the files associated with it, may not be distributed if any of the above conditions are not met. Nor may it be distributed in return for any form of payment, for any purpose.
   All rights reserved (founder of Waxwing Games). Code, text, art and audio from the files provided with this game may not be obtained, altered or used separate from the game for any purpose.

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[aikex222]

Looks great, i think it could have some images like for the interface, game option...

[StillInThe90s]

Good point. Added a couple of images. I'm a little worried that too many pictures might make ut cluttered.
- Link -