BradyGames rocks the charts with #1-selling strategy guides: more than 1 million Vice City guides in print

by Louis Bedigian

Having trouble recovering all of that cash that was lost in the beginning of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City?  Wish you had a helping hand, a guy on the inside that couldn’t be caught?  Thanks to BradyGames, now you do.  Although much success has been achieved, strategy guides are not an easy thing to create.  David B. Bartley, BradyGames’ Senior Project Editor,  took a break to tell us about the key features of the Vice City guide, outlined the hard work involved in the guide creation process, and explained the importance of increasing that hard work when faced with success.

Ever since they released the record-breaking Final Fantasy VII Official Strategy Guide, BradyGames has been at the top of their game.  Selling more than a million copies, the FFVII OSG packed all of the important information a gamer needed to fully complete Square’s most beloved masterpiece.

BradyGames’ success was no fantasy, however.  Although they did infiltrate many more homes with the release of their official Final Fantasy VIII, IX and X strategy guides, their biggest success was yet to come.

It began with Grand Theft Auto 3, Rockstar’s near-perfect do-anything-you-want driving game.  BradyGames accompanied GTA3’s launch with the release of a new strategy guide.  Detailed maps, in-depth strategies and revealed secrets were just some of the guide’s highlights.

Fast-forward a year.  Rockstar has released another Grand Theft Auto game, one that is even closer to perfection (and is in many ways perfect), and BradyGames has released another strategy guide to help gamers become the leading mafia man.  It’s only been out since October, and already more than a million Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Strategy Guides are in print.  With more than 180,000 sold in the first month, BradyGames’ guide has quickly become the #1 guide available for Vice City.

What makes it so special?  What sets it apart from the rest?  And what have the creators of the guide been doing to celebrate its success?  David B. Bartley, Senior Project Editor, took time out from his busy schedule to answer those questions and more in this informative interview.

Question: Like the game itself, BradyGames' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Strategy Guide is blowing up the charts with record-breaking sales.  What have you guys been doing to celebrate its huge success?

David Bartley: Working even harder… after a couple of good night’s rest, of course. Actually, although we are delighted with the success of the game and the guide, that was just one of many victories we scored last year. We feel even better about the way we’ve always done things here at Brady: publishing only quality guides, only on quality games. We’re anxious to keep that positive momentum rolling. Other than that, it’s not the big party atmosphere you might expect – I mean, more than usual anyway. We have a lot of fun every day. We all left work together to attend the first showing of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, then gorged ourselves on Mexican food afterwards. Other times, if the schedule provides a brief respite, we might all fire up a network game of Serious Sam and blast each other for the afternoon. Usually, though, we’re hard at work on the next wave of great games and guides. These days, the schedule never really lets up during the year – it just gets even busier in the fourth quarter – and that’s exactly the way we like it!
 

Q: What are some of the key sections of the Vice City strategy guide?

DB: The true beauty of the Vice City guide is all the extra material we could have left out, but went the extra mile to include. Of course we would provide full coverage of every main story and extra mission (no small task in itself), but we vowed to augment each one by featuring route maps, as well. Then there’s the crown jewel of the guide: the Bonus Stuff section. This chapter is loaded with maps and tactics that reveal everything from Power-up locations and Hidden Packages to Rampages and Unique Stunt Jumps – all of them. 100% of the game. That’s what we were shooting for, and that’s what readers got.
 

Q: Exactly how much work goes into creating a strategy guide?  [Tell us about the strategy guide creation process -- how much time is involved, how many people, etc.]

DB: Ironically, sometimes the most elaborate and detailed guides are the work of the fewest people at Brady. Typically, a guide is managed by a single editor, who works with the author and serves as the point person for all content, including maps. There is also usually just one designer, who puts together all the backgrounds, styles, and treatments used throughout the guide, and one Production person who executes the layout. Of course, there’s also a lot of work behind the scenes in licensing, sales, and marketing, art and screen shot preparation, but most guides rely primarily on the efforts of three or four people, including the author. As I mentioned earlier, that number is sometimes reduced to even fewer, when the editor and designer team up to shoulder the majority of the effort on our Signature Series titles. The result of this highly-focused effort is a truly custom-made guide, brimming with bonus content. Of course, it also results in a couple of few very long weeks for the Signature team.
 

Q: Do game developers or publishers give you hints or any kind of information to help you conquer a game, or are you required to figure out every secret on your own?

DB: That depends on with whom we’re working, but there is always at least a fair amount of assistance provided. When the game is particularly complex, as is the case with every Blizzard game, that guidance is absolutely essential. Thankfully, the folks in the land of Diablo and Warcraft are among the most cooperative and helpful that we have the pleasure of working with.
 

Q: How far in advance of a game's release do you get to begin working on a guide?  [Do you get beta or full versions of games?]

DB: Again that depends on the game. Since we work exclusively on officially licensed titles, we are always provided with a beta. We then write the guide on the various builds leading up to the Gold Master as the game is being tweaked. Sometimes those builds are sent to us as the developers complete them, and other times we write the guide on site at the developer’s headquarters so we can match their schedule even closer.
 

Q: How do you capture screenshots for the strategy guide?  Are there any special PC hardware or software involved?

DB: Most of the time we use a digital camcorder to capture our screenshots. We input the signal from the game directly into the camera and capture the shots onto a memory stick. They are then read into the computer and prepped for layout. Occasionally, a capture card is used. The signal is fed directly into a capture card in the computer. A program, such as Adobe Premiere, is used to view the game and capture the screenshots.
 

Q: What determines which titles will receive strategy guides from BradyGames and which ones won't?

DB: Quite simply, if it’s a quality game, we pursue it.  Fortunately, we have long-standing, exclusive licensing agreements with many of the game publishers who create these quality games, like Squaresoft, Blizzard, Activision, and Capcom. We’re always keeping our eyes open for great games, and not just the ones everyone is expecting.
 

Q: How many guides have you worked on for BradyGames?

DB: Too many to count -- probably about 15-20 a year these days. The number (and quality of each) increases every year. It sounds contradictory, but it’s true. The longer we maintain our original core group of editors from 1994, the better, quicker, and more efficiently we are able to do what we do.
 

Q: Have you ever worked a strategy guide for a game that was so deep and so complex that you had to ask for a deadline extension?  [If so, what was that game, and how long did it take you to complete that particular guide?]

DB: Deadline extensions are never an option in order for us to be timely with the game’s release. That doesn’t mean you won’t occasionally hear desperate cries from the editorial hall at Brady, as we put in round the clock hours to not only meet impossible deadlines, but also achieve all we want to accomplish to make it a quality guide. Vice City was one of those situations. Warcraft III was another. Although we had a little more time on the latter title, the depth and complexity of the subject matter nullified that factor. It’s always very rewarding, and more than a little amazing, to proudly hold a printed guide in your hands and be able to say that despite the time limitations and workload, we did not make any compromises.
 

Q: Where did you get your start before going to BradyGames?

DB: I graduated with a degree in Advertising from the School of Business at Indiana University in 1990. The creativity and fast-paced environment of the ad world was my first professional passion. That’s the field in which I worked for the first several years after college, including creative services manager for Macmillan Publishing (then Brady’s parent company) before making the switch over to editorial. I wouldn’t have made the change had it not been for the obvious similarities between a career conceptualizing ads and one developing strategy guides for video games. In fact, I like to joke that all the “wasted” time I spent reading comic books and playing games on my Odyssey2 while growing up have provided the equivalent of a Ph.D. in my current profession.
 

Q: A lot of highly professional strategy guides have been written for sites like GameFAQs.com.  How can these authors (and other aspiring writers) break into the industry as professional strategy guide writers?

DB: If they’re talented, enthusiastic, and responsible, then there’s always a chance they could be writing our next strategy guide. Additionally, they need to be great gamers and have actual publishing experience.  The important thing to remember is that everything they have accomplished thus far must now be executed in the deadline-critical arena of book publishing, where we don’t enjoy the luxury of pouring over a single game for months after it’s been released.
 

Q: 2002 was a memorable year, but with The Getaway, Devil May Cry 2, Panzer Dragoon Orta and War of the Monsters due out this month, 2003 looks like it's going to be even better.  Of those games, which are you looking forward to the most, and what other games are you currently anticipating?

DB: I’m going to speak directly from the heart of a Blizzard fan. I can’t wait for the Warcraft III expansion, and I’m hoping World of Warcraft is right behind it. If you ask me again in May, I’ll add about 25 games to that list, once I’ve immersed myself in the sea of electronica that is E3.

Same here!  E3 always changes my list.

Thank you for your time, David.

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