manual New Manual

[Kinophile]

@Oleksandr's thread on tactics got me thinking...

I've always hated the current CM manual style. I'm heavily trained & experienced in visual design so I thought, well, why not? 

So I'm now redesigning and formatting the manual in a tongue-in-cheek FM-001 style, in InDesign.

COVER SHEET:

Obviously that's my own CM:BS logo. I was a bit lazy and don't have the correct, official one handy.

Still, this gives you an idea....

Edited February 27, 2018 by kinophile

[Artkin]

Very interesting. Luckily I have free printing here at school.

[Oleksandr]

37 minutes ago, kinophile said:

@Oleksandr's thread on tactics got me thinking...

I've always hated the current CM manual style. I'm heavily trained & experienced in visual design so I thought, well, why not? 

So I'm now redesigning and formatting the manual in a tongue-in-cheek FM-001 style, in InDesign.

COVER SHEET:

Obviously that's my own CM:BS logo. I was a bit lazy and don't have the correct, official one handy.

Still, this gives you an idea....

Alright man I have to say that this is beautiful. 

Now what would you like to achive with it? 

When I was thinking about pdf type of file for new gamers - it was at first to put all the good ideas people had and then put them all together in one place (thats how tactical life hack appeared) and then like pick best ones (obviusly by asking if authors of those ideas dont mind), make a vizualization to each one and then make like a pdf file or something.

Afterwords I was thinking about simply trying to recreate certain things from those tactics what are on a paper (different statutes and all that) in the game. Like that one 25 parts of battalion assault - wasnt perfect though. 

Another idea I've had in the past is to go from squad level commanding (spliting teams, which goes where in the open and in the building) and then move from squad specifics of each nation to platoon, then from platoon to copmany, then from company to battalion level commanding and so on.

Now issues related to a project like this are pretty obvious - by making a document like that you will be massively critisized. Look at me, Im not even saying that I know how to play the game and I do get a lot of hate. People are lazy sometimes, instead of reading that the thing they look at is a  "showcase" they are going right into specifics like its a real guide of real combat. Think about it - you will do a wonderful work, you will make a screenshots for it, you might make a video, you will do wonderful design, and then in the middle of your work some people will come across and will start flooding around saying that everything you did with your heart and passion is trash, wrong, that you are a noob and that you should uninstall lol and so on and so on. 

There are ways to avoid that actually - simply in the very begining of that file to write that it is "subjective view" and then support that with "there are more than one thing to do something right or wrong but we hope that this will help" - that will simply zero down all the haters but trashy talks will still fly around. Someone once said, "initiative is being punished" or something like that - it is probably true. 

Now there is another thing - time. I'm currently working on several modifications, and I still got a lot of things to post. Besides that there is personal life, every day to day responsobilities and so on. 

I've already spent tons of hours doing stuff for this forum. 

So I love the design. I love an idea. I like how it might look like. But there is a huge question - is it worth it? 

And you know what? After some quite a long time doing stuff I came to a conclusion - sometimes its better to give people chance to figure things out themselves. It is a professional work you talking about here, think about it - is it worth it? You will spend a time what you could spend with your family, you will spend your time what you can spend while doing something else you know? 

So on this one I guess I'll pass. I've dedicated a lot of my time to this game, I've tried to make Ukrainian Armed Forces look good in this game by making mods (and some are still to come and believe it or not i didnt knew how to mod anything, i didnt knew photoshop before october 7th lol) but I'm not sure that I have that fire inside to do massive work for free while being massively critisized. And my advice to you - do not spend your life on it. You are a talanted person - do something what will make you happy. Posting a screenshot with a comment and then reciving some hate is not that bad - doing something very nice, professionally organized, well developed, nicely designed what is whole another level and then being hated will be bad. 

I'm still going to be posting stuff on this forum and CMMODS sites and then I will finish few maps and so but honestly Im not feeling like taking it to another level. 

Sometimes its just better to enjoy the game with people you like to enjoy it. 

Once again - that poster you've made is wonderful. If you will go for it - you need to be strong and dedicated. I wish you all the good luck in your work. 

There are no universal principals in art of war and even if there are some - people will never be ready to accept them. 

So thank you for mentioning me in this post, thank you for asking for my opinion - Im really gald to know that some people getting inspired by something related to what I did, and I wish you luck in what you will do. 

 

[Kinophile]

Thanks. 

Specifically, I'm going to rework the existing Game Engine manual into a more modern and readable design. It's a good place to start as the content is already created and I can literally copy/paste and then format. 

Then I can Illustrate with all the missing screenshots. 

I'm doing this as a design exercise, to keep my creative juices flowing, as a little speed test and to satisfy my inner design demon (God I hate the current design!). Plus, I need to get to know InDesign better and a doc like this is a good stress test. 

Once this is done I think the IDD file could be easily adjusted for other manuals within the CM universe. 

Edited February 27, 2018 by kinophile

[MOS:96B2P]

1 hour ago, kinophile said:

@Oleksandr's thread on tactics got me thinking...

I've always hated the current CM manual style. I'm heavily trained & experienced in visual design so I thought, well, why not? 

Interesting.  There are multiple CM manuals.  The CM 4.0 Engine Manual is for all the Combat Mission Games except for CMSF1 and CMA.  Then each game is released with a specific Game Manual with equipment lists etc for that game.  This sounds like a cool idea and whichever manual you redesign and reformat I look forward to reading it and adding it to my CM source references.    Based on your other work that can be downloaded at CMMODs III I'm sure it will be excellent and professionally done.  +1 for the great idea.            

[Erwin]

Maybe a detailed tutorial that demonstrates the features of the CM2 system specifically CMBS while you learn to play - as opposed to the dry academic manual which overwhelms one with info, is hard to read and by the time you get halfway you've forgotten the info given at the start. 

In other words a manual in which one is given context and info is given in a useful order which would make retention of all the info much easier.

[sburke]

3 hours ago, kinophile said:

@Oleksandr's thread on tactics got me thinking...

I've always hated the current CM manual style. I'm heavily trained & experienced in visual design so I thought, well, why not? 

So I'm now redesigning and formatting the manual in a tongue-in-cheek FM-001 style, in InDesign.

COVER SHEET:

Obviously that's my own CM:BS logo. I was a bit lazy and don't have the correct, official one handy.

Still, this gives you an idea....

I like the general idea, but I do worry a bit that you aren't gonna have a copyright issue.  I would consider running by BF to make sure they have no concerns.  Meanwhile what might be an alternate is some of the other suggestions - how about "A Player's guide to playing CM" that is a compilation of knowledge accrued on the forum.

[Kinophile]

@Battlefront.com clarity re copyright issues?

No intention of claiming the presented information or content as my own; purely a reformat/repackage of the existing manual. Almost the equivalent of a texture mod  And always clear that it is NOT official.

For now, I'm going to stick with just the GE-4 manual. Its dry certainly, but gives me plenty of coherent content to work with. I certainly agree that context is critically missing from some parts, as are any illustrations whatsoever. I wont be taking away any information, if anything I'll be adding and clarifying.

 

[Kinophile]

14 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:

Interesting.  There are multiple CM manuals.  The CM 4.0 Engine Manual is for all the Combat Mission Games except for CMSF1 and CMA.  Then each game is released with a specific Game Manual with equipment lists etc for that game.  This sounds like a cool idea and whichever manual you redesign and reformat I look forward to reading it and adding it to my CM source references.    Based on your other work that can be downloaded at CMMODs III I'm sure it will be excellent and professionally done.  +1 for the great idea.            

Thank you! 

[Kinophile]

Having some fun with this. Sheet shows a grey background so that it can be read against the forum's white bg, but the final product will be white.

Not 100% sure I've got the hulldown command properly correct here, feel free to correct me.

if anyone wants to pitch in with some screenshots, that would be great! Turn Off Icons, Objectives text, etc.

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by kinophile

[A Canadian Cat]

1 hour ago, kinophile said:

Not 100% sure I've got the hulldown command properly correct here, feel free to correct me.

Are you rewriting it too? My first impression is that you were just using the existing content to rework the design.

But if you are re-writing it then ditch the "Using the hull down command as a move command" description or put it second with a warning (don't do this ever!) . You should always use the version with the target command. That way the worst case is your vehicle will be on the top of the ridge fully visible. In the move command the worst case is your vehicle end up where you expect the enemy to be.

[Kinophile]

Ahhhhhhhhh I see 

[HerrTom]

Beautiful! InDesign can easily handle long documents like this? I'll have to take a look. I tend to use LATeX myself, but you definitely have a sexy manual.

[Kinophile]

I'd say it should - its a document design program, no? Although TBH I haven't pushed it much, this manual with some 120pages will be a good stress test! 

I'm keeping the style fairly neutral, going to let the screenshots add the colour. I'll just have to check their levels in B&W. 

 

Edited March 1, 2018 by kinophile

[HerrTom]

I mean, when you put it like that...

I just have practically zero experience with it haha.  Illustrator and Photoshop are my domain (or should I really say Pro/E and ANSYS? haha).

[Kinophile]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0iqnjh5t1evjwhe/CMM-GE4_P6.pdf?dl=0

Current state. Basically covers installation, setup and controls/options.

This is a very Don Quixote project, but for some reason its sticking with me.

 

[HerrTom]

You've got some aliasing in your logo!  I can't unsee that, but otherwise looks pretty awesome.  Tone seems somewhat casual, but I guess that's what you're aiming for, eh?

[Kinophile]

Yar, that logo is not final (not even the official one) and is a lower res smart layer for the game screens.  I do appreciate and gell with your anti-anti-aliasing mentality! 

The official manual itself is quite informal, if you read through it. I find I'm being more specfic and step-by-step in parts than the original. 

BTW, I'm open to good military book quotes for my section pages! Nothing famous, just interesting lines/anecdotes from good authors. Preferably modern. 

Edited March 5, 2018 by kinophile

[Ridaz]

Any update on this project? Would love to get my hands on the final version.