Problem with Intro/Menu screen

[SimpleZen]

I still don't see a FAQ in the forums here. Maybe I'm blind, but I had looked before asking.

The F.A.Q will be in the Manual folder inside the Recettear directory.

Thanks, I see it now. Although considering how Steam buries the game files, I would've never seen it or thought to look there for a manual.

Thank you again TGJ for your help. Just needed a little nudge in the right direction. Very fun game so far.

And that's what we're here for!  

Thank you for your help too  

My reply is in green because my browser doesn't like this editor.

[joshrl]

I still don't see a FAQ in the forums here. Maybe I'm blind, but I had looked before asking.

The F.A.Q will be in the Manual folder inside the Recettear directory.

Thanks, I see it now. Although considering how Steam buries the game files, I would've never seen it or thought to look there for a manual.

Silly Steam! And welcome to the forum!

[SimpleZen]

We added this to the FAQ for a reason. ;.;

Maybe adding a FAQ to the forum entitled "Rules, Policies, FAQs & News" would be a good idea.

[joshrl]

I never looked at the main Headings for the fora! 

Good finding.

[dkellis]

I think the custom.exe thing, or at least the ZXCV keys thing, needs to be emphasized up top in bold or something. I see a lot of questions about it in various places, like the Steam forums.

The next most frequently-requested answer is that you can exit the dungeon at every five levels.

After that, probably a general catch-all for how Carpe Fulgur is not responsible for the code, and EGS is busy with Territoire.

[TGJudgement]

Thank you again TGJ for your help. Just needed a little nudge in the right direction. Very fun game so far.

You're welcome.

I think the custom.exe thing, or at least the ZXCV keys thing, needs to be emphasized up top in bold or something. I see a lot of questions about it in various places, like the Steam forums.

The next most frequently-requested answer is that you can exit the dungeon at every five levels.

After that, probably a general catch-all for how Carpe Fulgur is not responsible for the code, and EGS is busy with Territoire.

If you think that'll reduce the number of obvious questions by more than 15-20%,then you're vastly overestimating the collective intelligence of the internet.

[SimpleZen]

I think the custom.exe thing, or at least the ZXCV keys thing, needs to be emphasized up top in bold or something. I see a lot of questions about it in various places, like the Steam forums.

The next most frequently-requested answer is that you can exit the dungeon at every five levels.

After that, probably a general catch-all for how Carpe Fulgur is not responsible for the code, and EGS is busy with Territoire.

If you think that'll reduce the number of obvious questions by more than 15-20%,then you're vastly overestimating the collective intelligence of the internet.

I think your statement is a pretty wild jump to conclusions, and very unnecessary. Has there ever been a poll to estimate the collective intelligence of the internet, or does that come from some entirely personal idea of global stupidity that has nothing to do with this conversation? I think people here need to be a little more open to others trying to help or asking a simple question. It doesn't matter how easy the answer is, or if an idea won't reduce 'obvious' questions by a certain percentage. Am I really on the forums created to discuss the game and ways to make it more successful? The general attitude of some of these responses seems to discourage that.

[TGJudgement]

I think your statement is a pretty wild jump to conclusions, and very unnecessary. Has there ever been a poll to estimate the collective intelligence of the internet, or does that come from some entirely personal idea of global stupidity that has nothing to do with this conversation? I think people here need to be a little more open to others trying to help or asking a simple question. It doesn't matter how easy the answer is, or if an idea won't reduce 'obvious' questions by a certain percentage. Am I really on the forums created to discuss the game and ways to make it more successful? The general attitude of some of these responses seems to discourage that.

Yes,it was a bit of a generalization,but it was directed at a particular comment (that you also quoted),so it was only as unnecessary as most of the other comments on this thread...although on second thought,maybe It would've been more appropriate to say "attention spans".
As for being "open to others in trying to help",well..I'm pretty sure you noticed I helped you without giving you crap or anything like that,so I'm not sure if this is aimed at me or not...

I'm sorry if you thought this was a thinly veiled attack at you,because it wasn't.Right now,some parts of the game are indeed obscured,and the F.A.Q. is pretty much in a place that almost no one goes to,so missing it is no big deal.



A way to keep the F.A.Q. a bit more in prominence, in my opinion, would be to stick it on a new "support" section.At least people would know where to go to read it.

The F.A.Q will be in the Manual folder inside the Recettear directory.

(lol...missed this one earlier)

hmmm...an .htm file...
Well,most games have .pdf file links on their store pages (and a few on the right click,even),so I guess if CF has time to burn on making a .pdf (or can make the htm file work as one of those manuals),that could be a route they could take...

[SimpleZen]

I didn't feel attacked because of your post. It's more about my general hope that when people give a suggestion like dkellis, or when someone asks a question like I did, that it isn't shot down or disregarded as someone missing the obvious, like with SpaceDrake's insinuation. If it was obvious, it wouldn't have been said/asked. If dkellis sees a lot of people asking the same question, it certainly wouldn't hurt to move the control keys to the top. Measuring how much it would actually help isn't really possible, but it can't hurt. It's not a bad suggestion, although my problem was more related to the uncommon placement of a FAQ buried in the steamapps directory, and not on the forums where it says there should be a FAQ.

Maybe you're right about collective intelligence or attention spans, but I prefer to think everyone here is capable of being intelligent, focused individuals. Whether they act like it or not has to do with a million other factors. I don't mean to sound like I am attacking you in turn, but I just don't like generalizations. I tend to argue against them whenever I see them, offline or online.

There are a number of ways to make the controls more obvious for those that jump right in to the game. It really is only 4 keys and the common directional keys. Only three of those need to be presented on the main menu (up/down/confirm action). Just an idea, or a person can always just come to the forum and ask about it like I did if they don't guess it. That's only a problem if there's a growing impatience with the same question being asked before. A stickied FAQ somewhere would help with that a lot.

[dkellis]

My MMOG of choice is City of Heroes, so I'm used to answering repeated frequent questions. I might not be able to do polite and friendly, but at least I can be helpful, if terse.

I do know how often certain questions get asked even if there is a FAQ right there stickied up top, or otherwise in obvious view. I'm not aiming for 15-20%, but a 5% reduction is considered good enough for me. The primary mindset people look for a FAQ with is "Something is Wrong, make this not be Wrong anymore". Not exactly conducive to patience and reading through long passages.

A problem is that the actual FAQ is a little, well, Wall Of Text. I understand why, since it covers quite a bit of pertinent information including what this hypothetical forum-stickied FAQ would, but there's just a lot of it.

So the issue becomes trying to pare down the Forum FAQ to its bare essentials, with information at a glance.

The most common question I've seen by far is "how do I get out of the dungeon", but the most common question causing people to be angry is about the control scheme, and people expecting mouse clicks to work. So I think the ZXCV thing should be at the top, followed by the dungeon thing.

The bit about Carpe Fulgur not being the original developers will be an attempt to head off all the feature requests/demands, since I see SpaceDrake running around trying to answer essentially the same question with non-copy-and-paste answers.

[TGJudgement]

(...)although my problem was more related to the uncommon placement of a FAQ buried in the steamapps directory,(...)

It is actually very common for games to have their F.A.Q.s/manuals on the main directory,since most of them are just copy-paste of the retail files.But it is still a pain to find it for the unitiated since that,with steam,you have to dive through the files to find their game install path.

Maybe you're right about collective intelligence or attention spans, but I prefer to think everyone here is capable of being intelligent, focused individuals. Whether they act like it or not has to do with a million other factors.

Thankfully,these forums so far seem to be harboring the good kind of people,who can keep a good discussion without going caps lock raging when things don't go their way.We do have the tendency to go a bit off-topic, but that's not really a problem in my opinion.
I just hope it stays that way...

My MMOG of choice is City of Heroes, so I'm used to answering repeated frequent questions. I might not be able to do polite and friendly, but at least I can be helpful, if terse.

Yeah,I used to post on the forums of a certain server of a certain game,and let me tell you,helping people who can barely construct a sentence (or understand one) can be a real exercise in patience...and that was just the forums!

[dkellis]

Thankfully,these forums so far seem to be harboring the good kind of people,who can keep a good discussion without going caps lock raging when things don't go their way.We do have the tendency to go a bit off-topic, but that's not really a problem in my opinion.
I just hope it stays that way...

I believe it is, at least for now, a factor of size. We're not large or popular enough to attract more than, well, normal people. (Otherwise SpaceDrake and BlondRobin would have to add forum administration and community relations on top of their existing jobs. I would not envy them if so: community relations people have to be trained to, quite possibly, eat bees.)

And sometimes people just lose it, for brief moments. Maybe a bad day, or just a not so good day, and something someone says is read the wrong way, and something snaps. Otherwise intelligent and rational people do this; I'd like to say I don't do this now, but I definitely did it before. (Now, I just wander off to cool down.) Except the angry rage posts remain on the boards until deleted, and even then they remain in our memories, tainting further conversation.

Besides, I've found that the real firestarters aren't the rageposts, but the snarky ones. It's very difficult to try to be clever on the Internet without offending someone inadvertantly. For example, the statement about the "collective intelligence of the Internet", which actually hit a little too close to myself.

Yeah,I used to post on the forums of a certain server of a certain game,and let me tell you,helping people who can barely construct a sentence (or understand one) can be a real exercise in patience...and that was just the forums!

I should clarify that I'm usually quite happy to answer questions, and when I'm not I simply don't answer or post. The example was just to illustrate that yes, I do understand that a FAQ is not an instant answer to all questions, or even the questions addressed in the FAQ.

People who actively look for a FAQ outside of idle reading material are often looking for an answer to Something Going Wrong, and they would like some way to Make It Not Go Wrong Anymore. A FAQ will not stop the ones frustrated enough to want to vent from asking questions anyway, but it might ease the ones from those not quite so annoyed.

[TGJudgement]

I believe it is, at least for now, a factor of size. We're not large or popular enough to attract more than, well, normal people. (Otherwise SpaceDrake and BlondRobin would have to add forum administration and community relations on top of their existing jobs. I would not envy them if so: community relations people have to be trained to, quite possibly, eat bees.)

Well,I didn't make it clear,but yes,I also believe that is mostly a factor of size.If it gets bigger tho,I guess it comes with the territory.But I guess I should still be hopeful...(And spacedrake/BloodRobin could delegate that job to someone else,I guess...would still massively suck for that person though,no doubt there)

And sometimes people just lose it, for brief moments. Maybe a bad day, or just a not so good day, and something someone says is read the wrong way, and something snaps. Otherwise intelligent and rational people do this; I'd like to say I don't do this now, but I definitely did it before. (Now, I just wander off to cool down.) Except the angry rage posts remain on the boards until deleted, and even then they remain in our memories, tainting further conversation.

For me,what the person does after the fact really sets how I perceive said person.Yes,caps locking is very annoying,and usually makes me skim over it,if not flat out skip the entire post.But if said person at the very least changes his attitude,I may even end up completely forgetting his ragepost.
It comes down to learning.And I think it's good it sticks on your memory in my opinion,as I believe it shapes how you approach this again,and not "taint it",as you put it.

Besides, I've found that the real firestarters aren't the rageposts, but the snarky ones. It's very difficult to try to be clever on the Internet without offending someone inadvertantly. For example, the statement about the "collective intelligence of the Internet", which actually hit a little too close to myself.

What you might see as a snarky remark,it might actually be a normal side comment,specially on a place like the internet where tone,facial expressions and body language are very hard (sometimes impossible) to convey at all.Language barrier is another for me,so it doesn't help.

I should clarify that I'm usually quite happy to answer questions, and when I'm not I simply don't answer or post.

Well,I only got the same mindset later,probably when I only started to hang out with like-minded people that politely asked and thanked,instead of demanding and then just running off into whatever...

People who actively look for a FAQ outside of idle reading material are often looking for an answer to Something Going Wrong, and they would like some way to Make It Not Go Wrong Anymore. A FAQ will not stop the ones frustrated enough to want to vent from asking questions anyway, but it might ease the ones from those not quite so annoyed.

Now you're assuming I said it was worthless doing it,which I did not,implied or otherwise,say.Hell,I even just suggested a place to slap the F.A.Q. into.What I did say (in a very contrived way,I guess) is what you just said yourself:It's not a fix-all,cure all panacea,and a lot of people are still gonna miss it.25% would still be a good number tho...

Anyways,I'll leave it at that.My suggestions still stand,and if no one wants to comment on them,then whatever.