Tutorials -- advice??

[DanMarshall]

Hi guys--

I'm currently coding my tutorial level, and it's going really well. It covers the basics really well, while letting you actually play the game (so remains fun).

The game itself is not dissimilar to Unreal Tourney meets Worms, so there's some definite rules that need explaining, as well as what the powerups/ guns available to you are.

I was just wondering if anyone has any particular 'pet hates' in tutorials that I should avoid? As far as I'm concerned, the traditional 'assault course' is to be avoided. To paraphrase a magazine: "WELL DONE, SOLDIER! You've opened a DOOR! By GOD YOU'RE THE BEST GODDAMNED SOLDIER WE'VE EVER HAD!")

Any advice? Anything I should definitely avoid?? Anything I should definitely put in that may have slipped my mind?

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[Robert Cummings]

It should be written is as a level zero, not a tutorial, where you play and discover with some minor help.

[Sharpfish]

Yeah, judging from the majority of titles that do well - they throw hints/tool tips at you rather than having a specific tutorial. Of courses if your game is way off the casual radar, you may well need a more in depth tutorial.

The assault course thing really annoys me in some games because you can NOT skip it (better games you can).. it's like "yeah, we have all learned out to aim, open doors, jump and climb a million times before - give us the CHOICE to skip at least).

I'd go with a couple of tutorial levels if you have more than a few "need to understand" features so that you don't overwhelm the player. Also consider making them completly skippable. When I check out demos I always skip help screens etc and come back to them ONLY if I can't figure out what to do. Otherwise it just slows the process of getting into the action and by then the player is already bored and not ready to give emotional commitment to your game.

easier said than done though if the game doesn't follow traditional casual styles.

good luck with your game - it sounds interesting!! (big UT fan here)

[Gary Preston]

Battlefield 2 has a neat way of getting you into the action quick. The first time you do something or have the oppertunity to do something you have not yet done, you get a popup telling you the available action/key and a voice explaining what to do.

For example, run past a radar installation and a voice will remind you that this is yours and should be defended, if its not UAV will not be available. Choose the other side and run past it, you'll be told that you should try to blow it up and assuming you have the right equipment what to do.

This works well imo when you have already played games in the genre before so you know all the basics. It saves you grinding through a tutorial just to find the few bits of the game that are different.

That said, for a complete beginner it might still be nice to have a "optional" ground up tutorial. Then its up to them whether they do it or not.

[oNyx]

>I was just wondering if anyone has any particular 'pet hates' in tutorials that I should avoid?

What I really dislike is if those actions, which weren't introduced yet, doesnt work. Like a double jump in a jump n run. (Its of course a different thing, if you need to collect special items first.)

[cliffski]

Battlefield 2 has a neat way of getting you into the action quick. The first time you do something or have the oppertunity to do something you have not yet done, you get a popup telling you the available action/key and a voice explaining what to do.

and it seems to do so ramdonly, again and again and again. I do not need a patronising voice talking in my headphones mid battle telling em how to go forwards in an FPS. I would MUCH have preferred a standard tutorial that I could skip or quit out of.
Maybe thats just me. make the tutorial optional, and if possible, speed adjustable. some of us read quickly!

[Davaris]

I'm rewriting the tutorial for my game because when I was playing another indie game I found that I was to lazy to read anything. So I've decided to move all the detailed stuff to an online manual and have a transparent overlay come up with short sentences and arrows pointing to the relevant areas.

[Gary Preston]

and it seems to do so ramdonly, again and again and again. I do not need a patronising voice talking in my headphones mid battle telling em how to go forwards in an FPS. I would MUCH have preferred a standard tutorial that I could skip or quit out of.
Maybe thats just me. make the tutorial optional, and if possible, speed adjustable. some of us read quickly!

I only had the info during my first couple of days play. I've not had it since. Then again all neat ideas can fall foul if they're implemented alongside several bugs

[James C. Smith]

My pet peeve is tutorial pop-ups that have an “ok” or “continue” button. I prefer message that tell me what to do and then go away when I do it. In other words, if I just play the game the tutorials close themselves.

I did not do this in Ricochet and now I hate to play the first 10 levels Ricochet. Big Kahuna Reef is better about this. My next game will be much better. No OK buttons. Just play! (but still helpful text when needed)


I helped Mike convert some pop-ups in Water Bugs to not require a click to dismiss them. By “helped” I mean I pointed out that there was another way to do it and complained until he changed it. :-)

Also, keep the text as brief as possible.

Remember, a picture can be worth a thousand words. Sometimes 2 lines of text can be replaced with a simple picture and a caption.

An animation can take that same concept to the next level. Don’t tell me what to do. SHOW me and animation of it being done.

[Dan MacDonald]

Totally agree with james, that's a major pet peve.. you have a dialog telling you what to do. but you have to close it before you you can do what it's telling you. So what if you mess up or you didn't read it right. Well, your screwed

[DanMarshall]

Good advice, thanks James...

I have to admit at the moment there's a pause, and a 'press space to continue' once you've read the latest bit of info (and seen the pic that shows it). I did have any key unpausing the action, but doing so meant that the pausing unpaused immediately, and you didn't get the benefit of the pause in action.

I'll change that, though, so you can move and unpause...

Hmmm... all interesting advice. Thanks guys...

[GBGames]

I hate reinstalling Black & White. I already know how to move about in the game, but it insists on forcing me through the first area which is nothing but a tutorial:

"Move your mouse to the right side of the screen, now click and hold, and you can rotate. Try it."
"Good! Now try..."
"Good! Now try..."
"Good! Now try..."
"Good! You know, I think it is very obvious you know what the heck you're doing already, so I'll leave you alone and let you get to the game."

I obviously made that last one up.

My girlfriend loves The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, but hates when parts of the game are obviously designed to let you practice doing something. For example, when you first get the grappling hook, you are supposed to use it to get to the next part of the dungeon. She hated it because it was boring and repetitive and obvious.

I prefer tutorial levels to be indicated as such. Black & White has a section which allows you to practice moving around, and if anything you should be dropped there in the beginning and asked if you want to stay for a bit. Otherwise, get to the game.

If you don't want the player to be able to skip something because you know they will need information to continue, keep in mind that not everyone is a newbie coming to your game for the first time. Tutorials and tips should be made so that beginners find them useful and veterans will not find them annoying.

Look at Super Mario RPG and Super Mario 64 for some good examples of games that tell you what you need if you need it and otherwise don't get in the way.

[bignobody]

I've just about finished the tutorial for my current project, and am feeling fairly pleased with it. Of course, no one else has seen it yet

I wanted to keep it seperate from the main game as once the player has been through it once they will probably never look at it again. For the same reason, I don't have any tutorial elements when they are playing. I think after the player understands the game mechanics, it just becomes annoying. To give an example: the old coin-op Gauntlet would freeze the game, put up a dialog and play a voice over when something happened for the first time. Nice the first time you play, but gets annoying after a few replays ("Yeah! I know I take damage if I walk into a grunt! Let me get back to killing already!").

So, in my game menu I have a Basic Training section, which is the tutorial. On first run, it is the default choice on the menu. On successive runs, Play is the default choice.

My tutorial is mostly explainations and animations, but also involves 3 interactive sections. I think it strikes a nice balance. We'll see what others think soon...

[Viridian]

I think the Grand Theft Auto series does this well. During the first couple of missions, you'll get terse popups on the screen explaining what various things do, like "Drive into the garage to save your game" or "Press R2 to cycle through your weapons". They are small but readable, do not require you to click to get through them, and are NOT voiced by an in-game character (since that ruins immersion). Thus, starting a new game of GTA 3 isn't painful at all, unlike some other games (Black & White, as mentioned, being the worst offender).

If you MUST voice your tutorial text, get an excellent actor with a fascinating voice, like Richard Ridings, the guy who did the voiceovers for Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2. I could listen to THAT guy all day.