"Graphics or Pictures of Miniatures for Rule Diagrams?" Topic

Which do you prefer in rules when there's a diagram to show how a rule or set of actions work (such as an example of play) – black and white graphics (line drawings) or pictures of based miniatures with arrows and lines inserted? Pretty much every set of rules I have read used the line drawings, but I was thinking using pictures of based miniatures might be pretty cool.

As long as the picture is clear either one works just fine. The minis with arrows certainly can make for some very nice eye candy.

I've only seen the 'minis with arrows' work in the Flames of War series. If the photos were of that quality, and that level of graphic clarity, then yes, I agree that would work very well.

Of course, if you're printing the rules, costs go up for colour printing, as opposed to using b/w diagrams.

Don't go with b/w photos though, I beg you. Shades of grey may be fine for re-hashed vampire romance fiction, but do no justice to the games designer.

Graphics.

I second the 'no black and white photos' comment. For clarity, I prefer line drawings. Color photos are nice (sometimes really nice) but they don't add much when trying to get a point across.

I second the notion of clarity. If pictures get the point across better OK but it is hard to beat b&w line art for simplicity.

Black and white line drawings every time, both for clarity and ink-friendly printing off of PDFs, or keeping costs down for printed rules.

I agree that black and white photographs of miniatures are not a good idea.

Photos of minis are always welcome but for utter clarity, you can't beat a diagram. I can't see why the diagram can't be in colour.

Color line drawings.

It puts the miniatures and terrain at a similar level of abstraction as the rules.

I think color is important so you can easily code in levels of sensitivity and leverage representationalism (the open dirt areas are brown, the forested areas are green, the water is blue …) and standard abstractions (the bad guys are red, the good guys are blue, civilians are grey …) to enhance comprehension.

Color photos are OK, but quite often the level of photography is not quite up to the clarity needed. I'm with the B/W diagram camp (especially with B/W rules set).

If you use color photos in a B/W ruleset, they often come out muddied. Gray scale conversion helps.

Stick with diagrams. From a usability perspective, diagrams require less mental interpretation and so are easier to understand.
Secondly, your view of what constitutes acceptable figures and/or terrain may not match that of your reader. For example, someone might not buy any rules that used 15mm models in illustrations, regardless of the rules quality. But they might consider rules that mentioned 15mm in the text.

Rules should be written so you don't need either. If you can't do this, then use diagrams. Pictures are worthless.

Both diagrams and colour pictures. It depends on what you want to explain.

Precise movement and position, etc, need diagrams. However, pictures which give an overall view of what the group/unit is doing can also be helpful (and more pleasant to look at).