Darox
Controversial!
Administrator
Get a life
   
Karma: +92/-51
Posts: 9000
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« on: August 31, 2008, 02:02:35 AM » |
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Alternate Title: What not to do when writing a guide.
Pictures in the place of content Well done, you found some pretty pictures of all the tooltips. It can summarize the basic stats of a skill. But tooltips don't tell you how to best use the ability, or even all the useful extras, like the fact that seaweed aura works even while building structures. In the case of buildings and units especially, it barely tells you anything about the stats of the building/unit at all. I understand that pictures can be useful for clearly showing something, especially in things such as walling strategies and hiding places, but really, that's all you need them for.
Cookie cutter games This mostly occurs from writing your guide as a linear set of commands, telling the reader exactly where to go and what to do. This doesn't teach the reader how to play as and make the most of your chosen unit, it just teaches the reader how to follow a set of commands and results in the same game being played over and over. Not only is a cookie cutter guide a detriment to creativity, it is also highly ineffective in a fluid game like Island Defense where the slightest changes in gameplay can render your strat ineffective or even damaging to the player.
Assuming nothing goes wrong This goes hand in hand with the cookie cutters. Many guides I have seen detail setting up a single wood base, then going to gold, then finally basing in the end game, or alternately for titan, getting a minion, feeding off convenient weak bases until you are level fourteen. In a perfect world, yes, this can happen. But the purpose of a guide shouldn't be teaching people what they should do to achieve a perfect run against an easy opponent, it should teach them how to succeed against difficult challenges. I don't think I've read a single guide that promoted the value of early basing. That told people how they should play as a gold race when a minion is gotten in the first minute. Not all games are a walk down park lane and you should be preparing your readers for a bumpy ride.
Useless, irrelevant, junk If you are writing a guide to a specific builder, why are you telling people simple things like how to hotkey their main builder. The title of your guide is not 'How to play Warcraft 3' or 'Island Defense for First Timers'. Why are you telling them that moving away from the gold mine when you spawn is a good idea? Why are you instructing them on the basic art of detonation? All these pointless additives don't add to your guide but just add fluff to fill in the blanks. If your guide is titled 'Island Defense Basics for Newbies' then a section on what detonate is and how to use it is justified, but for a guide titled 'How to use the Nature builder' it is completely irrelevant. I think one of the worst offenses is telling people how to use the skill that lets the mine gold. All it serves to do is patronize your readers and create meaningless fluff to inflate the size of your guide.
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I HATE ALL MINORITIES. WHITE POWER. I ALSO BEAT WOMEN. Yesterday my girlfriend pissed me off so I punched her. Why did she piss me off so much? She got snippy and was all like "You're a pedophile" so I got pissed and was like "Bitch, don't call me that, and how the hell do you even know that word? You're only 8."
P.S. Darox rocks.
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Eji1700
Spearloc
 
Karma: +4/-10
Posts: 285
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« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2008, 05:27:20 AM » |
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1st reply.
Im not a mod or anything, but can I ask that we at least don't start crap like this? Also weren't there replies to this already or am I just losing it?
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Darox
Controversial!
Administrator
Get a life
   
Karma: +92/-51
Posts: 9000
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« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2008, 06:51:01 AM » |
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There were, but Murs deleted them because...
I don't know.
Because he was upset with me?
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I HATE ALL MINORITIES. WHITE POWER. I ALSO BEAT WOMEN. Yesterday my girlfriend pissed me off so I punched her. Why did she piss me off so much? She got snippy and was all like "You're a pedophile" so I got pissed and was like "Bitch, don't call me that, and how the hell do you even know that word? You're only 8."
P.S. Darox rocks.
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Illumanus
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« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2008, 05:32:50 PM » |
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Murs is upset easily :/ Then he strikes back with a vengeance. He coined the term "RadioactiveFTnub" b.c I was talked too much +_+
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Quick! You only have 4 minutes to save the world! Karma + me to do it! If you already +'d me, then thank you for saving the world!  But she made me cry v.v
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Aeos]fuw[
Worker
Karma: +1/-0
Posts: 2
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« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2009, 10:11:14 PM » |
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maybe hes just insane? 
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evo
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« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2009, 09:50:44 AM » |
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way to bump up a topic from october!
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Mayhem.
Speedy Turtle

Karma: +5/-13
Posts: 133
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« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2009, 11:04:58 AM » |
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I know right!
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go to clan idak for good inhouses. peid as well.
idg sux dix!!
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Lord_Kamakazie
TOWER CONTRACTER
Titan Hunter
  
Karma: +10/-7
Posts: 476
Life in 360 Degrees
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« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2009, 12:40:02 PM » |
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Bumping a stickied topic is clearly a crime.
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you can rape the world and be creative now
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evo
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« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2009, 03:03:57 PM » |
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clearly, when the bump has no relevance to the topic.
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Lord_Kamakazie
TOWER CONTRACTER
Titan Hunter
  
Karma: +10/-7
Posts: 476
Life in 360 Degrees
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« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2009, 03:30:51 PM » |
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clearly, when the bump has no relevance to the topic.
you are way too anal for a 12 year old
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you can rape the world and be creative now
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D1RE
Beta Tester
Titanious Minion
Karma: +25/-35
Posts: 663
I be huntin' dem trolls, mon
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« Reply #10 on: January 31, 2009, 03:40:20 PM » |
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clearly, when the bump has no relevance to the topic.
you are way too anal for a 12 year old You've been drinking too much again?
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evo
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« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2009, 03:43:41 PM » |
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clearly, when the bump has no relevance to the topic.
you are way too anal for a 13 year old
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Mayhem.
Speedy Turtle

Karma: +5/-13
Posts: 133
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« Reply #12 on: January 31, 2009, 04:09:22 PM » |
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clearly, when the bump has no relevance to the topic.
you are way too anal for a 13 year old SHEEP FUCKER
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go to clan idak for good inhouses. peid as well.
idg sux dix!!
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Aeos]fuw[
Worker
Karma: +1/-0
Posts: 2
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« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2010, 07:18:27 PM » |
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i find it quite entertaining that i seem to be the only one in good spirits and cry more ur still a little boy so shut the fuck up or ill rip ur little head off and stick it up ur ass 
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Zen1400
Beta Tester
Titan of the Abyss
Karma: +56/-58
Posts: 2250
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« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2010, 11:24:48 AM » |
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I find it quite entertaining that after almost a year you would come back and flame him, seeing as chances are most of them are gone.
You know after reading your post again its kind of creepy how happily fucked up it is.
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nuKKaH
Spearloc
 
Karma: +10/-11
Posts: 200
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« Reply #15 on: February 06, 2010, 11:56:29 AM » |
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>> these guys again
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