OK third try... Nobody should
NEED an external source of information to play a game, everything needed to play should be within the game FULL STOP, needing an external source represents a failure of the author to include all the tools for players to discover the games features for themselves.
Walkthroughs should be aids not requirements.I consider any game that
needs a Walkthough a failure.
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errr... What??... is that what you took from my post?
BTW wasn't talking about making players jump through more hoops.. if they already know the location of the secret trigger they should be able to trigger it immediatley, I saying new players should have a chance to discover it themselves. a short sequence of clues is all I'm talking about, it doesn't need to be easy... just present, some kind of logical chain that gives a reason why clicking that patch of map does something.
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The digging for treasure could work sure but I was thinking more like
- "did you hear about Angry Ann... Seems she mellowed after her husband prayed at that fairy circle by the old willow...weird!!"
or maybe
- You find a Secret Tome telling you how to make an aftershave from particular mushrooms that make women much more forgiving to you
or for the cheat mode, something like
- Looking closer at a scribble on the Alley wall, you read "if you pay homage to the spirits of the stump, they might leave gifts for you were you need them most", (((Yeah I know... I suck at poetic writing)))
when you click the patch of mushrooms you might see a prompt "looking closer at the stump you see what appears to be a miniature garden, it looks kinda dry though... will you water it?"