Comments on: In Praise Of: Microprose Manuals. https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/ Science, gaming, and all things in between. Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:25:57 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.36 By: Alexander Mulkerrin https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-35266 Thu, 02 Mar 2017 09:14:52 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-35266 Sorry for leaving a comment on such an old article but I much appreciated the nostalgia it invoked. I just so happened to have the original Civilization manual on the desk next to me and I had an enjoyable glance through the Additional Notes chapter. That Civ1 was my first computer game as well as the first game manual I experienced probably has a lot to answer for :3

Extra commentary by the developers is always a delight, I quite enjoy the increased online presence that game developers have now. Development blogs and game postmortems are great reading material.

It’s a good thing the Civilization series started off with such in-depth, in-game documentation. (srsly the Civilopedia was like a toy, prototype of Wikipedia :P ) It is a practice that the series thankfully kept up. Shame many games now opt to simply link to a wiki on a web page, an offline wiki incorporated into the game client would be much better.

Re: gamdev advice
Sorry Necromunda is one of the oodles of supplementary Games Workshop games I never played. I did play Battlefleet Gothic though. Did you know that now (2017) there is a faithful videogame adaptation AND a new tabletop ‘spiritual successor’ by the original developers called Dropfleet Commander? :o

]]> By: Act now to preserve our disappearing videogame culture – or it's 'game over' - Flush Arcade https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-34109 Wed, 14 Dec 2016 12:28:47 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-34109 […] of the time, from fan-made strategy guides and hand-drawn covers to fiendish copy-protection and luxurious manuals, is more difficult to […]

]]> By: Act Now to Preserve Our Disappearing Videogame Culture – or it's 'Game Over' https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-32793 Wed, 05 Oct 2016 14:31:46 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-32793 […] of the time, from fan-made strategy guides and hand-drawn covers to fiendish copy-protection and luxurious manuals, is more difficult to […]

]]> By: Act now to preserve our disappearing videogame culture – or it's 'game over' - Latest News/Reports Worldwide Updated Daily https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-32653 Thu, 29 Sep 2016 19:10:33 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-32653 […] of the time, from fan-made strategy guides and hand-drawn covers to fiendish copy-protection and luxurious manuals, is more difficult to […]

]]> By: hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-128 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:17:40 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-128 You know, there’s probably another post to be written on the changing face of the enemy in videogames. The old cliche is that aliens, zombies and Nazis are the three basic enemy types that can be portrayed as unambigously bad without any problems, but I note that the Russians are increasingly making a comeback as the enemy of choice for the modern FPS, while we’ve been shooting pretend insurgents for about a decade now without anyone raising any significant concerns about the moral iffiness of such an activity.

]]> By: hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-127 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:05:56 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-127 I deeply regret turning out many of my game manuals in a fit of madness back around 2000. If only I had known the direction that the industry was headed in. If only I’d known they were an endangered species. Alas, alack, etc.

]]> By: innokenti https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-126 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:46:20 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-126 Game manuals. While I would welcome Necromunda wholeheartedly I’d prefer Mordheim or GorkaMorka first.

]]> By: Janek https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-125 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:28:26 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-125 I’ve still got my Silent Service 2 manual and keyboard overlay knocking about in the attic somewhere, with its tactics, technical specs, details of historical actions, and accounts from veterans. So awesome.

]]> By: Smurf https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-124 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:43:53 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-124 True. I’m just pleased to get any sort of back story. THE BLARGS CAME FROM PLANET FUCKWIT AND ENSLAVED THE FLURPS WITH THEIR NOBNOBS. BY THE WAY YOU ARE FLURP. AND THEY KILLED YOUR WIFE is better than SHOOT THE ALIENS BECAUSE THEY ARE EVIL.

Actually after typing that I’m not so sure anymore.

]]> By: hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/in-praise-of-microprose-manuals/#comment-123 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:59:15 +0000 http://scientificgamer.wordpress.com/?p=422#comment-123 To be honest the quality of backstory has taken a bit of a dive in recent years as well. These days just making up a few exotic sounding words for your fantasy world (see MIGHTY PANDYSSIAN CONTINENT) is seen as a sufficent amount of flavouring.

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