I don't include web manuals in general.
The purpose of this thread is to include manuals that had physical editions, so that a person buying a digital (re)release of a game here gets everything that he'd have gotten had he bought the game in a box.
It's more for preserving/archiving purposes than it is for utilitarian purposes. Like the sites that include scnas of game boxes and everything; only I do manuals only.
GOG can't include web manuals in the Goodies section anyway, because that section doesn't do links. Out of the 4000+ games included on GOG many are digital only, and many of those have some sort of (to a bigger or lesser degree official) guide/wiki/webpage with instructions or similar, especially given that currenlty the distinction between a web manual and simply a webpage is being blurred. It'd be a nightmare to include all those.
I can make exceptions in case of remasters or console ports, where only the original release had a physical manual, but otherwise
having a physical manual is a prerequisite of being on this list. If the game had a physical PC manual but it can't be found, then I might include the next-best-thing alternatives, like manuals in other languages, text files, or web resources if they contain similar material.
Talisman and Shovel Kight are on it because they had physical manuals.
HunchBluntley: I know I mentioned it here previously, but it might be good to mention that that game has a (non-PDF)
web manual linked to from within the game
OK, if that linked from the game then I say it's the closest thing there is to the physical manual, I'll include this link.
HunchBluntley: On a semi-related note: in checking to see if you'd linked to web page manuals in other cases, I noticed that the online manual for
Shovel Knight had its URL changed. I'm guessing they redid the whole thing, since there are now manuals for all the games/chapters that are part of the Treasure Trove. The URL for the übermanual's new landing page is as follows:
https://www.yachtclubgames.com/blog/shovel-knight-treasure-trove-instruction-manual (The page includes links to web manuals for each of the individual titles within the Treasure Trove.)
Thanks, fixed.
ZFR: Looks like the map is up, so maybe it was just a temporary glitch. I'll keep your link in mind if if dver happens again.
HunchBluntley: They're not quite the same anyway. The one he linked to is higher-res and has had more cleanup done to it (removing the creases from the physical map and the seams from digitally joining the scanned sections), but is older, while the one you have linked -- while grainier and having visible creases -- includes the areas from the expansions, which aren't present in the 2002 version.
OK, I'll include the second link too.