Author Details HIDE
Any guides published on kianl.com on my behalf are 100% expert content. I personally play the games I write about and study them in detail (sometimes for quite a long time). To understand the level of my involvement in the process, you can read my guides for the online game Undawn, which contain not only superficial textual information, but also video content, hidden mechanics identified in one way or another, a damage formula, expert advice based on personal experience with confirmed in practice, gaming achievements.
You can also check out my detailed guides for the space action game SpaceBourne 2 and the sandbox Smalland: Survive the Wilds, for which I even made a semi-interactive map of resources and creatures (unfortunately, the map was not popular enough to continue development).
Conventionally, my work can be divided into 3 phases.
- The first stage is familiarization with the game. At this stage, I explore the most basic mechanics, collect information about the game from the inside, and see what works and how it works. During the process, I carefully identify and write down any potential newbie problems and questions that need to be addressed. This phase lasts 10-20 hours. After this, I can say that I understand the game enough to write a minimally reliable, albeit rather superficial review of it and, possibly, a series of simple guides. If they turn out to be uninteresting to the game’s audience, then that’s all over, and I go explore another one.
- The next phase is getting game achievements. I don't allow myself to teach others something before I do it myself. This is especially true for online games, where results are critical to users, and not empty chatter and unsubstantiated theories. Therefore, first I get in-game achievements (rank in the arena, defeating a difficult boss, fully leveling up one or another hero, fully studying any game mechanics, etc.) and only after that I start writing guides. If I am not sure about something, then there is always a prefix “presumably”. This phase can last for weeks or months.
- I call the last phase “expert”. It includes an in-depth study of game mechanics (for example, identifying hidden damage formulas, systems for compensating for failures, the intricacies of the operation of certain character parameters, etc.), building “cunning schemes” (for example, schemes for successful trading on the in-game market to earn in-game currency) , building effective builds for the end/late game, etc. I only move to this phase if I'm really interested in the game, or if someone will pay me for it. This type of work requires a lot of time, effort, and often a patient partner within the game.
This way, you can be confident in my expertise regarding the games I write about. However, I would like to emphasize that if the guide has not been updated for a long time, this means that I am “done” with the game. For this reason, I can't always give you the additional information you need in the comments, since after a few months I don't remember much, let alone the changes that happened during that time.
However, if you have questions, suggestions or wishes, you can always put them in the comments under a specific post, or contact me by E-mail: admin@kianl.com.