Shroud of the Avatar Manual

In the Release 50 Instructions, there is a preview of the Manual that is currently being worked on.

I'd like to touch on both of the images included, and provide some feedback while it is a work-in-progress.



First, this is the type of page that I really want to see in the manual. The best of the Ultima manuals were written as in-world pieces. Take a look at a few of these:

• History of Britannia and Book of Mystic Wisdom (Ultima IV)
• Book of Lore (Ultima V)
• Compendium (Ultima VI)
• Memoirs of Sir Cabirus (Ultima Underworld I)
• Book of Fellowship (Ultima VII)
• A Safe Passage Through Britannia (Ultima Underworld II)
• Beyond the Serpent Pillars (Ultima VII: Part 2)
• Chronicles of Pagan (Ultima VIII)
• Journal and Spellbook (Ultima IX)

So I love this page, with a couple exceptions. First, the game logo needs to go. It doesn't fit with an in-game theme. I'd strongly recommend moving this to the cover and showing it as a ribbon or sticker there.

The writer here is unknown, unless they sign it later in the book. I'd assume this is Arabella, and she gives you this book upon stumbling into the Isle of Storms. If so, please let this book be accessed in-game!

Little little niggle about this page; the history isn't all correct. Its been over 500 years now, so make sure all referenes to the Cataclysm are written with the current year (as of the writing) in mind. It also references the Titans as no longer existing; however, they only seem to have vanished relatively recently.



So, where to start here. This is still early in the book (page 10), yet we've already done away with the in-game narrative and started talking about windows and how to play. Can we just, not?

Look, I realize that there needs to be a Playguide of some sort, that explains how to use the UI, gets you started on character creation, and maybe even provides a walkthrough of the Isle of Storms. But this should NOT be part of the manual. It doesn't need to be as attractive as the manual, just a plain white PDF.

The manuals in Ultima were gorgeous set pieces, providing you backstory, lore, treatises on magic and astronomy, talked about towns and dungeons you might find. Shroud of the Avatar has all of those, without a whole series of games leading up to it that players might be expected to learn from. If anything, it deserves MORE of the in-game information than a short intro and a bunch of UI instructions. Make the manual great again.

Hopefully, @Lord British, @DarkStarr, @Chris, @Scottie, and @dallas can agree with me on this.

 

So they weren't manuals at all?
More like a compendium of the world?

 

They typically separated the lorebook from the game instructions. You had the lorebook, which was nicely bound and only stuck to game lore, then, on the side, you had a sheet or foldout with the game instructions to get started.

The lorebook was a "feelie" just like the map, coins, and other trinkets, in the sense that it was presented as if it really came from a character in the world of Britannia.

 

Interessting. The oldest thing I still own is a Warcraft 2 manual. I love it because they managed to mesh lore and game directions perfectly.

 

This used to be really common, not just Origin did it. I remember Sierra doing it, too. It's one of the things I kinda miss from the 80s and 90s

 

I couldn't agree with you more! The best part of the old Ultima manuals were that they looked like actual "books of lore" etc. I hope they go back to that!

 

I agree... separate the manual from the lore section. If possible have two booklets - or one lore booklet with a separated manual at the end. On a personal note - I am not really a big fan of the SotA logo, the less I see it, the better

 

I agree with all of these things.

In addition, proofreading! Just in the first page alone there are at least 5 typographical/grammatical errors. I realize its early days, but this stuff is important.

 

This is the initial layout for the physical manual, and we are now finishing the text. We agree this is important stuff!

 

Very important indeed! I love that Portalarium is taking their time to make sure it looks awesome. Keep up the good work!

 

Also, some of the Ultimas also had something like a reference sheet... for instance, if I remember correctly, U5 had a sheet with a list of the game commands and also the spells and words of power. I think some of the players on the forums have tried to put something like this together for others to share and print out.

But I'm thinking if they're already going ahead with putting together instructional information in the box, something like an official reference sheet might be useful for a lot of players.

 

Here we go...

Some image and PDF scans of Ultima V player documentation here, for the Commodore 64 version. See the list of links on the right hand side of the page for the following items,

Journal - This is a two page journal that also serves as an introduction to the story. I think it was probably printed front and back on one sheet, but I don't remember.
Manual - This is the 60-page lorebook, The Book of Lore.
Map - More than just a trinket, it was also useful in showing the moon phases for the moongate locations -- as well as just helping players understand their surroundings, as there was no in-game map and players were dropped off in a hut in the middle of the forest. The map, along with the descriptions of locations in the lorebook, made you want to explore the world.
Players Reference - This is an 8-page pamphlet of game instructions.
Quick Reference - This is a quick reference card, with information front and back -- it was printed on a thicker stock of paper, so players could keep it in front of them while playing and it wouldn't get out of shape.

Of course, the box also came with a Codex Coin -- not pictured there -- which was said to have been used to summon us to Britannia.

At any rate, the journal, lorebook, map, and coin were designed to look like real items from Britannia.

EDIT:
Just found another site here with the same game documentation PDFs, also has the documentation for other Ultima games, and also the cluebooks.

 

sUPstar DJ...

 

The Codex of Ultima Wisdom has list of everything included with each of the releases, with pages dedicate to each book and trinket.

http://wiki.ultimacodex.com/wiki/Ultima_V:_Warriors_of_Destiny#Included_with_the_game

 

And I hope it's not on glossy magazine paper. I just checked my box of assorted Ultima stuff and confirmed that they used nice paper. Almost everything was saddle-stapled, too.

 

Yeah the lorebooks where cool back in the day! I know the devs are looking for load screen suggestions. How about an interactive lorebook. Have plenty of time to read during load times and it would make the load time wait not as bad.

 

Am I the only one that likes it the way it is now? Sure, proofread, but the layout and how the information is presented is wonderful as is.

 

Nobody said the contrary... just chill its aesthetic concerns

 

Soooo I'm guessing the /home command isn't actually a thing?

 

Not since Release 13...
http://sotawiki.net/sota/Commands#Home