David Knight has been an avid gamer since the days of the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. His first foray into the gaming industry came in 1995, as a scenario designer for SSI’s WWII strategy game Steel Panthers. Since then he’s written more than a dozen gaming guides — and id Software’s Rage is his latest. Here, David takes us behind the scenes of the making of the guide.
I must be honest. I knew very little about RAGE before I was asked to write the official game guide. Sure, I saw the commercials with Blake Griffin, and I knew it was a shooter. But just knowing it was an id Software title was enough for me to say, “YES!” As a longtime FPS fan, I spent countless hours honing my skills on Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and QUAKE. Admittedly, those were hours that I probably should have been doing more “productive” tasks, like homework. In retrospect, I guess those hours spent gibbing opponents were productive.
After playing an early build of RAGE for a couple of weeks, I was invited to id’s office in Dallas to meet with a few members of the team. Only minutes after stepping through the front door, Tim Willits (RAGE’s creative director) had me in his office telling me everything I could ever want to know about the game. Throughout the day Tim scheduled appointments for me, allowing me to talk to a variety of team members. It soon became clear that everyone at id was committed to making the RAGE guide as complete and accurate as possible. By the end of my one-day visit, I had recorded more than seven hours of audio notes, picking up cool hints and tips from everyone I met. Next came the task of getting everything down on paper.
How do you tackle such a huge title? There is so much to do in RAGE that it became a complex organizational endeavor. We eventually settled on splitting the campaign content into two separate chapters. The guide starts with a critical path walkthrough of the campaign. This will certainly appeal to players who just want to get through the game. We’ve even included a handy flowchart, showing exactly how the campaign progression works. However, for those who want to experience everything RAGE has to offer, we created an Extended Play chapter. This chapter contains details on every side quest, race, vehicle jump, mini game, as well as every other Wasteland activity you can complete to earn cash or enhance your character. But these two chapters are just the beginning of the guide. Other chapters include detailed information on weapons, vehicles, and the addictive multiplayer modes. Then there’s the Wasteland Compendium at the back of the guide. This was designed as a quick reference tool, allowing readers to quickly look-up critical information, such as the ingredients for crafting Fat Mammas … quite possibly the most kick-ass ammo you’ve ever fired from a pistol! Or maybe you just want to see how much money you can get for that Water Purifier you looted? It’s all there in the Wasteland Compendium, along with a handy gallery of every RAGE Frenzy collector card.
Beyond the print guide, we’ve also put together a digital game guide, available on the web. This guide offers everything available in the print guide, with the added benefit of interactive maps and video. There are tons of objects scattered throughout the Wasteland, and these maps show every pick-up, jump, and collector card, complete with zoom functionality and embedded videos. The maps also allow you to toggle collectibles and other points of interest on and off, providing a more streamlined approach for dedicated Wasteland scavengers.
Creating the guide for RAGE was one of the most challenging projects I’ve ever worked on. But thanks to some awesome support from id and our dedicated team at Prima Games, I am extremely proud of the finished product. By now I’ve played through the game at least three times. But I look forward to giving it another go once RAGE releases next month. Seriously, the game is that much fun! And even though I wrote the guide, I know I’ll be referencing it to rediscover the secrets of the Wasteland. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you’re desperately trying to find some Desert Spore for your next batch of Apophis Infusion.
David Knight has been an avid gamer since the days of the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. His first foray into the gaming industry came in 1995, as a scenario designer for SSI’s WWII strategy game Steel Panthers. As online gaming communities sprung up across the Web, David lent his enthusiasm and design skills to many fan sites. In 1998 he co-founded and co-hosted Game Waves, a weekly webcast featuring industry news and game reviews. David’s involvement with Prima Games began in the late 90s as a technical editor. After co-authoring a couple of guides with his brother Michael, David authored his first solo game guide in 2002 for Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. Since then he’s written more than a dozen guides for Prima Games, including books for Battlefield 1942, Star Wars Battlefront, and SWAT 4.
Beyond the print guide, we’ve also put together a digital game guide, available on the web.
We want to hear from you! E-mail comments and feedback to dknight@primagames.com.
