I wanted to post this when the topic first appeared, and now that the competition is underway, I can. I was a beta tester on Mike Carletta’s The Song of the Mockingbird and the walkthrough he wrote for it really blew me away. The chatty style matches that of the game. It tells you not only what to do, but why you’re doing it. In one or two places it gives you a clue before revealing the solution, giving you one last chance to work it out for yourself. Occasionally it suggests trying things that won’t work, but which will nevertheless help broaden your understanding. I thought it was exemplary and I’m going to use it as the model for my own walkthroughs going forward.
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I agree, this was really big. As much as I like a move-by-move walkthrough, I think Mike’s gave you latitude to try things out and solve a secondary puzzle, maybe not as satisfying as doing things yourself, and maybe trivial, but still enough of a puzzle.
Certainly some of my favorite moments have been when I’ve done something wrong or taken that path that doesn’t quite work, and I see why it doesn’t, and the lightbulb goes off, and that’s not something a move by move walkthrough lends itself to. (Unless the walkthrough is wrong. But we don’t want to go there.)
I’ve also found myself worried I’m begging people to look at something funny in a walkthrough. “Hey, you might want to look at this before continuing!” makes the point but is clunky. And an AMUSING section at the end of the game, while it works, is just a list and does force the player to play through again. It’s tough to nudge people constructively to look for neat stuff, whether in IFComp or real life, but yeah, this walkthrough does things well.
I’ve certainly read walkthroughs that try to add jokes that aren’t in the flow of the game, but they can put the focus on the author, which isn’t terrible, because it provides some relief and encouragement, but it isn’t great. And I certainly have a worry that any creative energy I’d put n a walkthrough might be better off in the game… so it’s best if we stay within the lines. In the case of SotM there’s a lot to work with inside the lines, though!
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