Tell me more ×
Game Development Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional and independent game developers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote -2 down vote favorite

There are some games where there is an in-game encyclopedia where you can know many things about characters and settings of the game. For example, the Codex in Mass Effect. I want to know if it is exclusive to Bioware, and get inspired about other encyclopedia systems.

What are some other examples of in-game encyclopedias? How effective is it? I also want some examples where the in-game encyclopedia is not effective at all or an ignored feature

share|improve this question
The civilization series had an encyclopedie, that basically was also a definitoon for the rules of the game, but offering some additional hirostical information about the topic. I think it is well done... – tom van green Nov 12 '12 at 6:30
UFO: Enemy Unknown (1994) have in-game encycolpedia of some sort (Ufopedia). So it's definetly non-exclusive to BioWare. – Petr Abdulin Nov 12 '12 at 6:34
4  
From the FAQ: What kind of questions should I not ask here?: "You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page." This is not a useful sort of question to ask here, and it's not a question about an apparent practical game development problem. It might belong on Gaming/Arqade. – Jonathan Hobbs Nov 12 '12 at 6:46
1  
Not only Civilization, but also Colonization (Colonizopedia) and probably many other games by Sid Meier had an encyclopedia. Also, sometimes, e.g. in Mass Effects, encyclopedia is pure boring. I would love for ME and Dragon Age Origins to have 10 times less codex entries, but also 10 times more interesting. – Markus von Broady Nov 12 '12 at 7:59
Many games have something like an encyclopedia. Usually it is just a bestiary guide and a short blerb on the background on each character. My personal favorite is the one in Star Wars Rebellion, because they basically use it as an excuse not to give you a real tutorial (although there is a tutorial written in the game booklet). While the game is fun, the encyclopedia is near useless and just provides some additional facts that don't help you at all (or that you would have just assumed naturally). Basically it's bad because it's huge, presented all at once, and provides crap information. – Benjamin Danger Johnson Nov 12 '12 at 17:11

closed as not constructive by Jonathan Hobbs, Laurent Couvidou, Josh Petrie, Byte56, SHiNKiROU Nov 12 '12 at 20:14

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Metroid Prime games uses mechanism called scanning. The player can scan objects and enemies in the game for more information, which is saved in a log book. The background story of the game is also scattered as scannable text in the game world. If the player scans enough in the game or even everything that is possible, a small additional ending video is shown when completing the game. See http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Scan_Visor

Pikmin 2 has similiar log book called Piklopedia, but the content is filled automatically. See http://pikmin.wikia.com/wiki/Piklopedia

In both of these games filling the missing entries to the encyclopedias is a challenge on it's own.

share|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.