The Community Manual in Print

Angelspit · Unread postby **Angelspit** » 25 Jan 2007, 02:28

Stéphane Fidanza, <a href="/http://www.archangelcastle.com/h5/comma ... >Archangel Castle</a> and Heroes-Fr are taking orders for a French version of the community manual. For 31,50€ (about $40 USD), you get a printed manual in A5 format which looks better than the official game manuals of other games in my library. If you live in France, place your order no later than February 4th (PayPal, wire transfers and checks are accepted).

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/show_b ... php?id=249

Angelspit · Unread postby **Angelspit** » 25 Jan 2007, 02:40

I just noticed that the Web site claims the printed manual will be based on version 2.1 of Hammers of Fate, and "probably" on patch 1.4a of the base game... Back to the future?

arturchix · Unread postby **arturchix** » 25 Jan 2007, 08:15

Looks awesome! The price is clearly too high for a manual though - I would be ready to pay maybe 10-15$. Is there also an English print version?

Since this is some sort of official manual, they probably got some insider info long before the release.

Corelanis · Unread postby **Corelanis** » 25 Jan 2007, 08:55

Are the people who contibuted getting royalties?

Pitsu · Unread postby **Pitsu** » 25 Jan 2007, 09:04

Since Ubi did not pay them (or did they?), they decided to make some money on their own? 30 euros sounds more than just the printing cost, close to the game's own price...

Elvin · Unread postby **Elvin** » 25 Jan 2007, 10:45

Well 30 euros was the price for HoF! But the quality is certainly excellent and almost everything is greatly detailed. Last version of the manual was missing a few things about fortress but they have probably been added. Now where's that damn 2.1?

gornfr · Unread postby **gornfr** » 25 Jan 2007, 11:17

Hi !

The high price is because of the limited quantity of purchasers (below 50 people for now I guess).

The prices quickly decrease if many people order one manual.

I think they'll wait for the next patch 2.1 before to send the manual to print.

I strongly hesitate to purchase one...

Sir Charles · Unread postby **Sir Charles** » 25 Jan 2007, 19:16

LOL. Are they joking?!? That's nearly the same price as the game itself. Don't get me wrong, they did a great job with it, but trying to make money off it seems a bit unrealistic (and greedy) IMO.

CloudRiderX · Unread postby **CloudRiderX** » 25 Jan 2007, 23:42

The community manual - that's the one made by the fans, right?

soupnazii · Unread postby **soupnazii** » 26 Jan 2007, 00:38

thats right.

@gonfr

but that doesnt make snese. they will lower the price if many people buy? but people wont buy unless they lower the price lol... whatever its their money not mine...

SAITAN · Unread postby **SAITAN** » 26 Jan 2007, 02:55

help my map editor wont function right please help

Corelanis · Unread postby **Corelanis** » 26 Jan 2007, 06:46

Does this mean they wont update the one available online?

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 26 Jan 2007, 18:31

40$ for a book? Ppl will pay money for anything, won't they.

Cleanpea · Unread postby **Cleanpea** » 26 Jan 2007, 18:53

perhaps they can ship it with the second expansion

SAITAN · Unread postby **SAITAN** » 26 Jan 2007, 23:24

help me my map editor wont work

soupnazii · Unread postby **soupnazii** » 27 Jan 2007, 02:53

saitan, try making a thread on the forums im sure some1 will help you there.

morthi · Unread postby **morthi** » 29 Jan 2007, 08:57

@Corelanis

we will make updates for online manuals in pdf. Printed version is helpful hand for this gamers who watn to have this manual printed in colour and looking nice

@soupnazii

price depends on number of buyers - if there will be many than price will be low and if there are not to much buyers price is high - thats the rule of printing

@CloudRiderX

thats right. its the same manual that u can download from site

@Sir Charles

nobody is making money on ths manual - u pay only fod printing and shipping + paypal fee nothing else

sfidanza · Unread postby **sfidanza** » 01 Feb 2007, 09:55

morthi (handling the polish localization of the manual) already replied, but I think the topic deserves a reply on my own as well, seeing as I'm right at the center of it, to make sure everything is cleared up.

As morthi gave the short answers, I feel like giving the lengthy ones.

First of all, the announced price for the printed copy is the printing+shipping cost, nothing more. We do not take any benefit, or any cost for the time spent. In fact, we are not selling the manual, we are organizing a collective printing. Exeter (from Archangel Castle) and Winfola (from heroes-fr) have started looking for low-cost printing around november 2006, as some people were asking about it. We conducted pre-order surveys in the french community to determine how many would be interested, at which cost. All that took some time, as soupnazii pointed out: the equation is not that easy to solve!

With the low quantity of ordered copies (currently 35-40), finding an affordable printing service wasn't easy. Around Christmas, I found sprintoo.com (the site is in french of course), allowing the total price with shipping cost of 31.50€. That was on par with the price we indicated in the preliminary surveys, and we decided to go on. We know the price is rather high, and clearly not targeted to a broad audience. Thing is, it's this or nothing, since we didn't have any support from Ubi in this project. This comes down to an economic reality: printing a 260 pages full color book is expensive.

Now, about the 2.1 update:
- of course, we will continue to offer the manuals in pdf, as soon as possible. The printing initiative mostly means more work for me. By the way, we're working on the update right now, including all the new fortress/runes features of HoF that were missing, as well as the new 2.1 necromancy/training details.

- I received no special information from ubisoft regarding patch 2.1 content or inner working. The claim that we made was solely based on our hope that 2.1 would be available (luckily it is), and the fact that I would work the nights to get things done in time. I plan to start the printing next week (february 5th-6th), so I've got some work to do...

All in all, the project is the only result of dedication, around and for a (small) community that wanted it done. It was never planned to broaden the target audience, for which the price would of course seem high (a little higher even due to shipping fees).

Now, if anybody is interested in the english version, I'll accept orders at the price depending on your shipping address (35.20€ for European Union and swiss, 35.70€ for anywhere else). What I would suggest however, is to discuss it with your local community, as I guess it would be cheaper to find a local printing service. That's what morthi is currently trying to do in Poland.

For any specific question regarding this, feel free to write me at
manuel.heroes5@gmail.com

I hope that this lengthy explanation answers the various concerns expressed here. Thanks to Angelspit for having raised the issue.

arturchix · Unread postby **arturchix** » 01 Feb 2007, 10:58

Now, if anybody is interested in the english version, I'll accept orders at the price depending on your shipping address (35.20€ for European Union and swiss, 35.70€ for anywhere else). What I would suggest however, is to discuss it with your local community, as I guess it would be cheaper to find a local printing service. That's what morthi is currently trying to do in Poland.

I'm interested! However I would like to have a heavy discount!

The Heroes Round Table