1. It’s in the Game The Art of Creating a Helpful Video Game Guide
(Super-Ultra-Hyper-Championship Edition)

2. HALO! (sorry) I’m Andrew Mills Senior Information Developer
for Arm in Cambridge
You can tweet me
Or me at:

3. How I started writing video game guides1.
Uncharted Grounds
How I started writing video game guides

4. A Link to the Past The first game I played was Centipede when I was 7.
I began writing gaming guides when I was 12.
In 1999 I had my first magazine guide published.
My first professional guide was for Metroid Prime 2.
By 2012 I’d produced over 140 professional guides.
Formats include: print, web, DVD, eBooks, and apps.

5. My first printed guide in N64 Magazine, 1999.

6. 2.
Shadow of my Colossus
Making help... helpful

7. My Ultimate Goal
To remove a player’s frustration by making easy to replicate solutions that work every time.

8. Max Pain How to make it helpful.
Replay key ‘bottlenecks’ until I had a solution that worked 100% of the time and was easy to replicate.
Would never move on until I was confident other people could copy my strategies (so not “lucky”).
Screenshots should add real value and help.
If it’s hard for me, then it’ll be hard for others too.

9. That warm, fuzzy, feeling you get for helping someone

10. 3.
My Journey
Key considerations

11. Wipedout Questions I needed to ask myself for every game:
What format(s) is the game available for?
What style/genre of game is it?
Does it even need a guide?
Would it likely sell well enough to justify making?
What type of guide would work best?
Full guide?
Bosses only?
Collectables & achievements/trophies only?

12. The Author May Cry How many hours will it take to finish once?
How many collectables does it have?
Does it reveal where you’re missing any?
Are they in separate categories?
What save options are available?
How often does the game auto-save?
Can I copy, backup, or import saves as needed?
Any announced DLC plans?

13. Hardware and software requirements4.
A Mass Effect
Hardware and software requirements

14. Hardware What tools did I need to make a game guide?
Pre-release code requires a special dev’ kit.
High-Definition capture card (e.g. Elgato).
Lots of hard-drive space for video captures.
OBS for PC game video capture.
3DS games required a specially-modded 3DS.
Microphone for audio commentary.

15. Software What tools did I need to make a game guide?
Audio, image, and video editing package (Adobe CC).
Sigil (free ePub editor).
Notepad++ (free HTML and CSS editor).
MS Word
VLC for taking screenshots from video footage.

16. The production workflow5.
My Half-Life
The production workflow

17. An overview of the process
Play and observe
Create a flatplan for content
Formulate strategies on replay
Record video of final strats
Timestamp key areas in video
Write guide/script based on videos
Take screens from video
Export guide to other formats

18. My video game guide ideas for the future6.
Modern Warfare
My video game guide ideas for the future

19. Place your screenshot here
Live Guide
Place your screenshot here
Uses APIs to get info in real-time from the game.
Auto-opens at the place where you’re stuck (at a checkpoint, at a boss, e.g.)
You can scale the level of help you need (from basic hints to full detail).
Tracks all collectables automatically.
Full stats from multiplayer matches.
Analyses playstyle and makes suggestions for improvement.
Text, video, and audio help available.

20. THANKS! Got any questions? You can find me at: @the_tech_author
LinkedIn: techauthor

21. CREDITS
Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free:
Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
Photographs by Unsplash