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Making the Manual 11 Feb, 2003, 21:55 / 6 comments

By Jake


IGN XBox has an Emperor's Tomb "designer diary" of a slightly different type. The journal is by Gregory Harsh, the graphic designer responsible for the game's manual, made to look like Indy's journal. After getting a sneak peek earlier this month (shh) I have to say that it's pretty nice looking, as anticipated (see our previous report). The IGN story includes some details you'll find if you dig through the book, as well as some pictures of the manual itself. Some bits of the article are a little shady, especially the opening:
Console game manuals have a history of sucking. PC games often have nice packaging and great, in-depth manuals filled with extra goodies that don't necessarily pertain to gameplay. But in the console world, manuals are often in black-and-white and sometimes fail to even cover all gameplay aspects.
When was the last time a PC game had nice pack-in goodies and a manual superior to that of a console game? Like ten years ago maybe. I haven't seen an amazing full-color full-size PC manual in years, while nearly every console manual I own is full color, and about 150% the size of my PC ones. That aside, it's a very interesting worthwhile read especially for Indy fans (and fans of nice game pack-in stuff), so check it out. It's not even an "insider" story!
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6 Comments

  • Zaarin on 12 Feb, 2003, 00:38…
    "The PC manual is black and white, and fits in the jewel case for the game" - My copy of the PC-version had a manual in full color and bigger than the jewel case...but I bought the boxed version, not the one in a DVD-case...
  • QueZTone on 12 Feb, 2003, 03:31…
    from which planet are you?

    got any pics of that manual? my manual was just in the jewelcase front :/
  • Jake on 12 Feb, 2003, 02:00…
    Weird. Maybe I'm insane....
  • Jake on 11 Feb, 2003, 22:07…
    Wow I got all gripey about the manual thing. Oh well. A good example of this is EMI. The PC manual is black and white, and fits in the jewel case for the game, while the PS2 version is DVD case size (makes sense right?) but is in full color with a bunch of custom illustration stuff. That's not to say that the custom illustration stuff is any good, but it's certainly a step up from the near Xeroxed PC one. Guess the IGN writer was just looking for a good opening. And all that aside, the Indy manual is fantastic looking. ... the end.
  • QueZTone on 12 Feb, 2003, 03:32…
    they make it look like a diary..i presume its not really bound in a leather cover right? hehehe, ahh it couldnt be that great :)

    but i hope they'll include a miniposter or smth with the game too, it sure deserves it.
  • Jake on 11 Feb, 2003, 22:03…
    designer... diary... get it? *sigh*