News as at 4 September 2009

Welcome to the Illustrated Walkthroughs

Professor Layton 2 This walkthrough has been updated to include puzzles, puzzle names, character names, item names, etc for both the Diabolical Box (US) and Pandora's Box (UK)

Several enhancements have been made to this second Professor Layton walkthrough such as showing the specific direction arrow for movement steps, hint coin warnings, tips, etc

Professor Layton 3 Work has started on posting the walkthrough and preview pages are available

Professor Layton 4 Work has started on writing the walkthrough for the first section of this game

Broken Sword DS Work has started on posting the walkthrough, although other walkthroughs have a higher priority

Dragon Quest V While a draft walkthrough has been written for this game (including monster locations, etc), it's now very unlikely that this will be posted


The Secret Files 2 : Puritas Cordis Walkthrough is available

A new feature of this comprehensive walkthrough is that the steps use specific starter words to indicate which steps are optional steps that are there to show useful information, etc

The more complex puzzles are generally solved a bit at a time to nudge players in the right direction

There's also some "just for fun" steps along the way to point out comments and wisecracks that players may find interesting or entertaining (such as references to the first game)


If you would like to provide feedback, suggest a game for the Illustrated Walkthrough treatment or just say hi, you can chat (or leave a message) with CuppaJava or IRC

The Illustrated Walkthroughs

The Illustrated Walkthroughs represent the next generation of walkthroughs and solve many of the common problems associated with traditional text guides.

Many Many Pictures

Have you ever been lost in a game or stumped on what to do next just because a description has been obscure or misleading? Have you ever wished that you could just see where you're meant to be or where the item you're looking for actually is?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs (using a combination of pictures and arrows) show you where to go, where you're meant to end up and exactly where the things you need are.

Step By Step Instructions

Have you ever found it hard to keep your place in a guide due to too much information being placed into one long paragraph?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs provide you with short, easy to follow, step by step instructions.

Puzzles Before Solutions

Have you ever wondered why a guide tells you to do something for no obvious reason (like you may be solving a puzzle that you have yet to see)? Have you ever felt that you were missing out on seeing some puzzles?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs take you through the game in a logical progression, showing you puzzles and clues before the solution, thereby giving you the chance to solve them first.

Reduced Spoilers

Have you ever been frustrated after being told exactly what will happen in the story (usually in the same paragraph as the steps you're following) before you see it?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs are relatively spoiler free with no discussion about the plot, the story or what will happen.

Clickable Indexes

Have you ever been missing an item in a collection or couldn't find someone or something?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs have indexes down the side which will take you to where you'll find a missing item, where you'll first meet a character, etc.

Efficiency

Have you been trekked back to a location just to do something or pick up an item that you could have done or picked up when you were just there?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs are the result of playing through the game at least two or three times and tweaking the walkthrough to make the route taken and the actions performed more efficient.

Accuracy

Have you ever been told to walk left when you really needed to go right? Have you ever been told to use an item that you were never told to pick up? Have you ever been told to do something and nothing happened?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs, while perhaps not perfect, strive for accuracy and any mistakes are quickly fixed. Time is also spent making sure that the actions shown give the desired result rather than settling for mistaken assumptions.

Live Chat

Have you ever wanted to quickly ask about something, provide feedback or make a suggestion but didn't want to send an email?

The Illustrated Walkthroughs allow you to make contact (including with other players) using either CuppaJava Live Chat or IRC. Even if nobody is around at the time (US/Australian evenings is usually the best), you can leave a message.

The use of live chat combined with polls allows you to influence how the Illustrated Walkthroughs are presented, what features they have and even what games are covered.