Subj:Re : Guides and Manuals - How are they made? Date:10/31/02 9:35:28 AM Eastern Standard Time From:nintendo@noa.nintendo.com To:CaptianN64@aol.com Sent from the Internet (Details) Message(#6851-000080-9161\809161) Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo, Although I can't speak specifically to game instruction manuals and Nintendo Power Player's Guides, I do have information regarding the publication of Nintendo Power magazine, our monthly game play publication. I've listed that information below. Please note that other Nintendo Power publications and game instruction manuals follow a similar process. Designing Nintendo Power magazine requires the efforts and cooperation of many people. The writers and editors work closely with Nintendo's Research and Development Department and Game Play Counselors to produce the information and tips that appear in the magazine. Once the content of each issue has been determined, the general layout is sent to V Design, the company that is responsible for the inside artwork of the magazine. The next step in the process lies with a company called Griffes Advertising. Artists at Griffes Advertising devote many hours and use a variety of materials to create the unique characters you see on the cover of each issue. The figures are then photographed in different settings to make them look lifelike. Each character is designed exclusively for use in a single issue of Nintendo Power magazine. After V Design and Griffes Advertising have completed their part of the publishing process, the magazine is then sent to Japan, where it is proofed and approved. The printers, located in California, are among the last people involved in this truly international effort. Once the magazine is printed, it is then sent to our mailing houses, also located in California. There's a lot of work that goes into each issue, but the result is the hottest game play information around! Wouldn't you agree? Sincerely, Nintendo of America Inc. Mitch Crim Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/ Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529 ORIGINAL MESSAGE: ----------------- From: CaptianN64@aol.com Posted At: 09:23:01.000 10/29/2002 Posted To: Nintendo Subject: Guides and Manuals - How are they made? Hello. I have a few questions about game manuals and guide books. I don't know of any place that has information on this sort of thing, and I don't remember Nintendo Power magazine covering it, so I don't know where else to find this sort of information. I'm interested as to how game manuals and guides (official Nintendo Player's Guides) are made. For video games, such as Zelda, who makes the game manual? -In EAD's case, the development group for Zelda and Mario, do members of the EAD staff actually create the game manual? -Or is there some other group that makes the manual with help from the development group, EAD? From comparing the U.S. and Japanese manuals for Zelda games, I've seen that they're basically the same, the U.S. manual almost a direct translation of the Japanese manual, so from this I understand that for the U.S. versions of Zelda games, the manuals are simply translated with the same content, and tweaked for minor changes, but the U.S. manuals are basically the same as the Japanese counterparts. How are game guides made, specifically the guides made by Nintendo Power magazine of the Official Nintendo Player's Guide series? I know that the Ocarina of Time Player's Guide was made with help from EAD and Shigeru Miyamoto, and that supposedly the Japanese guide is pretty much the same. But what about an earlier guide, the Zelda: A Link to the Past Player's Guide released in 1992? - I can figure that Nintendo Power made this guide, but did they get any assistance from EAD in making this guide? - Where does most of the information, such as all of the facts about Hyrule's culture, come from? - Was the guide made with any help from or with the development group for Zelda: A Link to the Past, EAD, or was it created just by Nintendo Power magazine? - Was the Zelda: A Link to the Past guide made with information from the official Japanese guides for the Japanese version of A Link to the Past? I know that the official Japanese guide is made up of 2 books, and I'm wondering if information was taken from these 2 books and used to make one book, the Zelda: A Link to the Past Nintendo Player's Guide, in the U.S. I understand that's a lot and my questions may not be able to be answered. Any help is welcomed, and thanks in advance. Mak