DF-21 Forums

[C. Zoui]

I whipped up a little manual for DarkXL that intentionally mimics the shape and layout of the original Dark Forces manual in tribute.

The goal of this document is to provide information on DarkXL--what it is, what the features are and how you can control them, etc--plus the information in the original manual that can help guide new (and also old and forgetful ) players.

The 'DarkXL' portion of the manual is obviously largely blank at this time, and I'm open to any formatting suggestions. I figure Lucius could fill in something there when the final version is closer to completion and the final features and functionality are known. Although the format of the 'Dark Forces' portion of the manual remains largely unchanged, 95% of the content was re-written by me to provide for better reading (and less out-right copying). I also omitted things I felt weren't as useful and things I felt were too spoiler-ific (like Boba Fett).

It would be nice to have a long, rectangular-shaped version of the DarkXL title logo to match the dimensions of the original DF manual title logo (current title logo for the DarkXL manual is of course by MagicAl). The DF-21 logo is just a placeholder. The DISCLAIMER section needs reworking. I'm still trying to get the TOC page numbers to line up straight in a column (PowerPoint, where this was created, does not appear to have many of the capabilities of Word that would allow me to do this). The credits are just temporary suggestions.

I hope that the final manual can be converted to PDF, or else it's pretty much useless. The free programs I've used for conversion either can't imbed the fonts needed or don't convert images with transparent backgrounds properly. They also automatically compress the images with bad artificating (why these programs feel the needs to compress ~5KB .gifs is beyond me). I'm going to need Adobe Acrobat 9 (probably Pro Extended), and because I'll only be able to use the 30-day trial, I will only attempt to use it around when the manual and DarkXL are nearing completion.

Pics of each page (some quality degradation):
http://rapidshare.de/files/40940929/DXL_Manual_Test_Pics.zip.html

Original PowerPoint file (as it's meant to be seen, requires PowerPoint):
http://rapidshare.de/files/40940958/DXL_Manual_Test_PPT.zip.html

[C. Zoui]

Oh, and I still need good images of the turrent and welding arm 3DOs. The viewer I used only seems to be able to view each entity in separate pieces.

[Magic_Al]

I can help with a number of the issues you raised. I'll look at what you've got.

_________________
----- MagicAl`s DARK FORCES Niche -----
http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://homepage.mac.com/anewmanagn/magic_al/

Armed only with a blaster pistol and an intimate knowledge of
Imperial methods, MagicAl prepares to go to lunch....

[C. Zoui]

Thanks. You will probably need the CitizenBold and CitizenLight fonts to view the PPT document as it is meant to be seen. That's what I used to create it. The text looks a lot better than it appears in the pics.

Also, I can add some brush effects to the pages to make them look a bit weathered, as if they were written on some kind of used paper. Along those lines, I can add little touches like tape marks over the pics to complete the 'amateur-assembly' look of the original manual (they used 'paperclips', but that seems a little too 'real-life-office' to me). All of this will, of course, increase the file size.

[dinohog]

Hi C. Zoui, I think the manual looks good.

Aligning the page numbers in the TOC is easy in PowerPoint. Just use "tabs" to space out the page numbers rather than "spaces". The underlining of each row will still work. If you click to view the rulers in powerpoint, you can set tab spacings just as you would in Word. In this case, you can set one right aligned tab to align the page numbers down the right hand side. If you want, pm me your e-mail and I will send you that one slide set up as I have described.

For the transparent backgrounds, what might work is this. In PowerPoint, on the picture toolbar is a button to "set the transparent colour". If you select the image you want to have partially transparent, then click this button, then click the area which is to be transparent, the transparency will show up in powerpoint. I've used this when I have pdf'd presentations and it doesn't always work in the pdf and I haven't quite figured out why. It should be worth a try.

So, if the two solutions do not make sense, please let me know and I'll try to help further.

Bye for now, Dino.

[Magic_Al]

Here's my take on a Dark Forces manual cover that treats DarkXL as a platform. It's based on the Macintosh Dark Forces manual cover. In this concept the DarkXL logo would appear inside, on a chapter title page separating the Dark Forces instructions from the DarkXL instructions.

http://homepage.mac.com/anewmanagn/magic_al/DarkXL_Manual_Cover.pdf

This is assuming it's even necessary to re-tell the Dark Forces story and instructions, since DarkXL users are supposed to have a legit copy of Dark Forces already. Arguably a DarkXL manual might only be about what's new in DarkXL, and then the cover would have the DarkXL logo and might not be called Coded Transmissions. It would still be cool to mimic the style of the Dark Forces manual though.

_________________
----- MagicAl`s DARK FORCES Niche -----
http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://homepage.mac.com/anewmanagn/magic_al/

Armed only with a blaster pistol and an intimate knowledge of
Imperial methods, MagicAl prepares to go to lunch....

[klasodeth]

Perhaps this manual could also ultimately incorporate instructions for the editor, making it quite a bit more useful than the original Dark Forces manual would be for the same purpose.

[C. Zoui]

dinohog: I normally create tab leaders for this type of thing by selecting text and using Format>tabs. I completely missed the ruler, though. Thanks. I'll give it a go. I'll use the transparency tip in the unlikely event that Acrobat 9 cannot do them.

I'd be more than happy to add a level editor section if the timing is right.

Regarding the usefulness of original DF information, I'd wager that most owners of the game will not still have their manuals. Hell, some of the DF faithful here do not even know where their manuals are. For some of these people (not the faithful, obviously) it will also have been over a decade since they've played the game.

I also hope that DarkXL will convince some people who had heard of DF but never played it to give it a try. It's pretty easy to find and buy the original CD, but it's much rarer and more expensive to find the CD and manual together. Most of these people will thus be installing the game and going in blind.

Al, it seems you are going for the grayscale look. I understand that the original was essentially black and white, but I think this is one area from which we should depart. The lack of color was probably just a money issue for them, and we have no such limitations, unless you count the bandwidth costs from slightly larger, colored file sizes. Plus, it makes detail harder to see in the enemy/item pictures when all the tones are so similar.

I think that if the manual provides both DarkXL and DF information, the DarkXL information should come first. This has nothing to do with Mac vs. PC manual canon and everything to do with the user experience. People will be asked to navigate DarkXL menus before they're ever asked to actually play the game. I suppose the installation instructions could be put in a readme file, but I think it's easier for the user if DarkXL features are explained first.

[Gez]

[klasodeth]

[Magic_Al]

I wasn't making a Mac vs. PC point, but rather I was trying wrestle with the idea of original vs. port. The black and white thing was just to be faithfully retro. Nevermind on either I guess.

Now that I've thought about it, a proper organization for the manual would logically resemble the order in which a typical player would proceed through the software. A suggested title and outline:

Star Wars: DarkXL - Accelerated Dark Forces - Setup, Gameplay, and Editing Guide


1. Dark XL Setup


Installing DarkXL and Loading Dark Forces Data



Classic vs. Enhanced Modes


2. Star Wars: Dark Forces - Gameplay Manual: Coded Transmissions


(Information from original Dark Forces manual presented in in-universe style. Although if it's not going to copy the original manual text, maybe it shouldn't use the Coded Transmissions title either? It could be in-universe but have a different title because it's from a different character's perspective -- maybe's written by Crix Madine instead of Mon Mothma or Jan, or maybe it's written by Kyle himself, like it's his journal or something. Maybe DarkXL, in-universe, is a recreation of Kyle's old adventures that he shows his Padawans at Luke's Jedi Academy.)


3. Loading Add-on Single-Player Levels/Mods

4. Multiplayer


(assuming DarkXL includes a multiplayer mode and some bundled multiplayer maps created by the community here)


5. Level Editing

This arrangement solves the stylistic problem of recreating the in-universe tone of the original manual by confining the in-universe portion to the Dark Forces, and it also correctly distinguishes Dark Forces from DarkXL by presenting it as separate content that DarkXL runs, just as add-on and multiplayer levels would be separate content.

_________________
----- MagicAl`s DARK FORCES Niche -----
http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://homepage.mac.com/anewmanagn/magic_al/

Armed only with a blaster pistol and an intimate knowledge of
Imperial methods, MagicAl prepares to go to lunch....

[The MAZZTer]

... Why does the manual have to be a booklet? I would be happy with a HTML-based version myself.

_________________
http://www.mzzt.net/ | I am a respectable admin with a respectable sig.

[lucius]

I like the idea of having a DarkXL / Dark Forces manual. I was originally intending to put up the editor instructions on the website and you can take the information and put it in your manual as well - it'd be nice to have a single document that provides the most important information, possibly with links for more in-depth information or tutorials. As for the style, I like the idea of having DarkXL and Dark Forces information in the same manual - to some new people the experiences will be tightly coupled. I also like the idea of having an "in-universe" vibe and a cohesive theme, this will make the manual and the project in general seem more polished.

As for multiplayer, it is planned but not until after the beta is released. I realize that it may seem weird to have a beta with a big feature missing - but the beta is intended to be for Dark Forces gameplay, Mods working, Level Editing and some extended features. Additional extended features and multi-player will come later.

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DarkXL....http://darkxl.wordpress.com

[Marley]

[sweatervest]

[C. Zoui]

[lucius]

[C. Zoui]

DarkXL has not received anywhere near the exposure it can get. I know a number of places that could spread its existence to literally hundreds if not thousands of people who would definitely play it.

I'm convinced that this is a good thing. While announcing it during late alpha or early beta would surely bring in more people to test the game, the fickle nature of internet gamers means that this is best avoided; for internet gamers, there is always a flavor-of-the-week (if not flavor of the day) to be had. My experience in numerous gaming communities is that you get one shot to impress people before they move on and don't come back. The hardcore will always check it out and come back to it, but the bulk of people (and you can include those who never played the original in this category) seem to evaluate a project based on existing features, not future promise.

I will probably advertise DarkXL later down the road, when functionality of the entire game is 95% and the super extras like multiplayer have been added. There are also better methods of advertising than others, and I will certainly use them ( Swag contest, anyone?).

[lucius]

Sounds good to me.

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DarkXL....http://darkxl.wordpress.com

[Emon]