Will there be a Game Manual?

[Marten _kluge]

Will there be a game a manual? If the wiki is considered to be the game manual, can there be a way to access it ingame?

[Guest]

A manual? AHAHAHAHAHA #LOLNO

Actually, who knows. Maybe make a suggestion about it in the appropriate forums.

[Rithsom]

The tutorials can be considered a manual, but they are only for learning the very basics of the game. I heard there will be new ones in 1.0 for more complex things such as interplanetary transfers, though.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Rthsom

[Hcube]

IMO the wiki is way too incomplete to be a game manual... Its both too precise and lacking useful stuff : you can learn some precise (and sometimes superfluous) data about a part or a planet, but then the page "How to get to Jool" is incomplete, even though learning to go there is very important.

[Hobbes Novakoff]

Pecan made an absolutely amazing guide to KSP, but it mostly relies on 48-7S engines so it'll need revision.

[Kerb Johnson]

We need a series of books. The Kerbal Reference Library.

Volume 1 - The Manley Way.

Volume 2 - Whackjob and You (Or Why Moar Boosters is ALWAYS Better).

Volume 3 - Valentina Kerman: On Flight (And Successful Landings)

Etc.

[WOODY01]

It seems to be an acceptable practice not to release a manual or a very limited manual and rely on the player base to inform each other. Seems most games I have bought for awhile now if they do have a manual it contains a very limited amout of information.

If I was developing a game the manual would be the very last on my to do list and probally be very limited. My reasoning it would take time, resources and effort away from other things and there always seems there are plenty of players willing to make some sort of guide, contribute to wiki, create charts with stats and other info, make a video and answer player questions on forums. This happens even if a comprehensive manual exist. A lot of people seem to look elsewhere for the information before going to a manual.

It is also rather easier for a lot of people to learn with in game tutorials, not sure how good the tutorials Squad comes up will be or what exactly they will cover.

IMHO it is not a too bad of practice not to release a manual since the vast majority of gamers have access to a reliable internet connection and if the devs include a good tutorial. Personally the last thing I look for is a manual when I have a question about a game. I minimize and do a google search.

[Master Tao]

These suggestions have been moved to the Suggestions & Development forum.

[pincushionman]

What should a game manual have?

1) Controls information. Not just what the default key bindings are, what do those things do for us. Also, camera controls and whatnot.

2) Parts information. Not necessarily weight and dimensions, but features and what the parts do. What kinds of engines are available, and what resources are required for them? Why would I need an antenna? What does a stack separator do that a decoupler doesn't?

3) Theory. This is not needed in most games, but is certainly needed in KSP. What are dV, TWR, and Isp? What is staging, and why should I do it? Tsiolkovsky's rocket equation. Kepler's laws. Balance of moments. Bernoulli's principle. Aircraft stabilities. Basic strength of mate…

Part 3 alone would quickly become more like an engineering textbook or reference guide than a game manual, and is outside the scope we should expect any game developer to provide. What we could expect is a basic overview of game mechanics, and links or references to reliable sources where those subjects are covered in detail by experts who know how to teach those subjects.