The Manual Did Design Work the Game Couldnt

10. The Manual Did Design Work the Game Couldn't

DOS and console games shipped with physical manuals because there was no room in-game for tutorials, lore dumps, or control explanations. This meant designers could offload explanation to paper and keep the cartridge/disk lean for actual gameplay.

Rule of thumb (mostly obsolete now, but instructive): Separate "things the player must discover through play" from "things that are faster to just tell them." Not everything needs to be taught via level design — sometimes a single sentence is more respectful of the player's time than an elaborate tutorial level.