In-Game Encyclopedia

[SHiNKiROU]

In some games, especially in highly detailed science fiction and fantasy settings like Mass Effect, there is an in-game encyclopedia called the Codex that explains the details of the setting. Some details are descriptions of the alien races, how FTL works, and so on.

The nature of the encyclopedia varies. In-game encyclopedias can be unreliable narrators that present multiple points of views (or disregard some points of view). The in-universe nature also varies: Some are journals written by the protagonist, and some are actual in-game books, and some are the protagonist's collection of books and documents. The medium and writing style can also vary. While some encyclopedias are simply articles enforced by Wikipedia's style guidelines, other are diaries, lab data, news articles and even images, videos and apps.

I want to learn from some examples.
Are there any visual novels that use in-game encyclopedias? How they are used? How effective are they? If the encyclopedia is being updated throughout the game, how should the update be notified in middle of a VN? If you are using an in-game encyclopedia, why?

[dramspringfeald]

Are there any visual novels that use in-game encyclopedias?
The plan is yes and there is a chance once I figure it out that finding more info will unlock different endings.

How they are used?
They give you the player bits of information to help pain the world around you. not just Tech specs but who is who, what is what and what happened leading to the story on a more "global" scale. Think of them as commentary or interesting things for the "true players"

How effective are they?
well they tend not to have ANY effect on the game and if that is how it is supposed to work on most games. they jsut provide color to the world you are drawing.

If the encyclopedia is being updated throughout the game, how should the update be notified in middle of a VN?
PDA, Collectible items, random books strewn through out dungeons, Random access or even a Wiki IN the game.

If you are using an in-game encyclopedia, why?
Well for mine there is all kinds of juicy tidbits about what is going on, who is who, how the bad guy came to be, and once I figure it out how to unlock the semi-true happy ending. Seeing as I'm dealing with Paradox theory and the whole butterfly effect it COULD be used to unlock different endings.

[gekiganwing]

There are a decent number of VNs which have a built-in encyclopedia. Here is a current VNDB list of ones with a partial or full English version / patch. Though it's embarrassing to admit it, I have heard of nearly all of these, but I've barely looked at any of them. For instance, my copy of Hakuouki is sitting unused... So I can't really say if the encyclopedias are useful...

[papillon]

I have had people *ask* for more in-game encylopedia stuff because I often have complicated settings and backstories that you have to pick up as you go along (although being able to look it up seems like cheating!)

Long Live The Queen did eventually have a tiny amount of extra information added, which can be brought up by clicking the ? next to a character portrait when you speak to them, but I wanted to avoid having a full navigable encylopedia because, among other things, I thought it could get too distracting, even overwhelming. I may not be right, but that was my concern.

I think Seraphine (never completed) did have some sort of glossary/encyclopedia as well...

Kara no Shoujo has a constantly-updating investigation notebook because it's a mystery game. There's a Notebook icon attached to the dialog box, and every time text is added or changed, that icon pulses briefly. Which... is less helpful than you might think, because it's doing it ALL THE TIME (slight exaggeration, but often) and it's generally adding what someone just said to you anyway so there's no reason to go and look at it right then. However, that's still less distracting than, say, Torment, where you heard "Updated my journal" being said an awful lot.

[Greeny]

I wasn't planning on it but now I'm starting to consider having such a thing... More as a bonus, from the main menu or game menu, like a CG gallery, than something that directly ties into the game, though.

[Funnyguts]

Fate/Stay Night has a bit of information about each Servant collected in a book as you discover it, so that's something. And really, 'giant bunch of information collected in documents' is pretty much the entirety of Analogue: A Hate Story.

The best encyclopedias are ones that give you what you need easily and quickly, preferably giving you lots of information at once. However, the encyclopedia should not be required reading to complete the game, only a supplement for people interested in your lore.

[SHiNKiROU]

I found that in my sci-fi universe Telemon, it requires a character with IQ higher than 125 to deliver the exposition, but the neural interface allows one to look stuff up on the Internet during the middle of a conversation.

My idea is to highlight keywords in the middle of conversations, and clicking it will give a short summary of it. I doubt that idea because it slows the reader down.

However, I think the in-game "Urban Dictionary"-style encyclopedia seems to be a great idea because it allows variable length (one-sentence to paragraphs), explains future slang, in-universe and considers multiple points of view.

There are things that cannot be put into the in-game encyclopedia, however. For example, I made up a backstory for a heart-shaped pillow, and it should be delivered in conversations.

Actually, it's very easy to avoid infodumps. Mass Effect can be played through without reading the Codex because spaceships work like spaceships in Star Wars and (space opera X), and future guns look and behave like guns in any other games. Future slangs can be figured out through context easily.

The problem in my case is that there are unfamiliar elements like beam-powered propulsion and weird alien senses. These elements cannot be related to other popular science fiction in the reader's head.