Written Walkthroughs...Dying Trade?

[Marksdad]

@vimmers,
I will do it IF other reviewers point out lots of 'stuck' situations (Surouth's Five Skulls,e.g.)
Otherwise,I will refer to it only if I absolutely cannot figure out where to go/what to do next.

[Jorge22]

Well, we don't actually have to apologise to anyone, do we? That's why there are written walkthroughs, video walkthroughs and stuck forums - because there's an audience. Do our lives revolve around trle (some might say yes)? Nope. Personally, I like exploring things myself but quite often, depending on the games, I find myself too lost to really have that much fun. So, it's not like one follows a walkthrough from the start to the end but taking peeks isn't a bad thing when you think many games/levels are quite different from the official games I remember in which you could actually make some sense out of them while still having fun.

I'll give everyone an example of a game that went down the pit because it became too cryptic: Broken Sword. I mean, I used to like that game a lot. But the last one they released was just way too impossible to figure out by oneself. So, did it fail because it started by being point and click and then because it became some sort of hybrid? I really don't think so. But being stuck forever simply isn't relaxing. Well, not to me at least. And I believe I'm not alone.

[DoggettTV]

I want to thank all my supporters who follow my walkthroughs.
But I wanted to remember that I'm not the only one doing the walkthrough the day after the release.
No one forces you, to look my videos when I publish them...

[Jorge22]

Wise words. Too true. Too true indeed.

Besides that, maybe I haven't been clear enough about our classic written walkies: they are wanted and people like Dutchy, Phil and others have done an excellent job too for which I'm sure we are all grateful.

[Chel]

I love having the option of a written walkthrough available, but I also like to solve things on my own and I have a lot of fun interacting with everyone in the 'Stuck' section of the forum. I also think that delaying a walkthrough for a few weeks has another benefit: level builders can look at the Stuck section and see where we're having issues, which could be flow or logic related, which in turn can give them some insight into where their internal head logic might not translate so well for the rest of us! I'm sure plenty of designers create puzzles that seem 100% logical to them and leave some of us players feeling like we need to have ESP to figure them out!

[Phil]

For some reason I didn't notice this thread until now. The answer to the submitted question is no, so there's no reason for me to participate by voting. The variety of opinions expressed in the foregoing posts illustrates the wide range of feelings on the subject, and I intend to make no changes going forward. And allow me once again to voice my appreciation for those who take the time and energy to produce both written and visual guides through our custom levels. Merry Christmas, everyone!

[DoggettTV]

For some reason I didn't notice this thread until now. The answer to the submitted question is no, so there's no reason for me to participate by voting. The variety of opinions expressed in the foregoing posts illustrates the wide range of feelings on the subject, and I intend to make no changes going forward. And allow me once again to voice my appreciation for those who take the time and energy to produce both written and visual guides through our custom levels. Merry Christmas, everyone!

You're awesome ^^

[JesseG]

I picked the first option, but this really needs a “I like both paper and video walkthroughs” option, because I do. They are both very useful for different situations, and I could even envision them being linked to each other in some fashion...imagine the paper walkthrough using a couple of timestamps to the video walkthrough, I think that would be very cool.

In terms of timing, I don’t think there should be an artificial delay. If an early release makes people ignore the stuck forums, then maybe the stuck forum is the true dying trade. But some raiders genuinely enjoy it so maybe not.

[JoeTheCrazyGamer]

I prefer to watch video walkthroughs but only if they have commentary. Because I watch them for entertainment. as for playing the level first time tho I try to complete levels without referring to a walkthrough tho but if it takes ages I'll check,

[Dutchy]

The results are in... We'll keep writing them and maybe release them after 1 week in stead of 2, only when the level is involved in some kind of competition we can change the release date? All in?

[Jorge22]

Fine. Personally, I never mind quick walkthroughs at all. As Dogget said no one forces anyone to read/watch them. I think it's yet another storm in a teacup...

[billie2001]

I prefer written WTs (less spoilers) but I also appreciate a video WT for sequences that I cannot figure out myself.
I don't see any point in artificially delaying a WT, as it is our last resort anyway.
But we could also keep the forum thread alive by not referring the player who asks for help to the WT.