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[Gimym TILBERT]

Oh god


I think that it's a bad idea...

Fixed

[JMickle]

megaman is also a great example of level design teaching gameplay (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM for egoraptor's gushing about the series)

to tackle the problem of having SO MANY KEYS ON A KEYBOARD, do what most flixel games to and have the main controls need to be pressed to activate the game! Fathom was great because you had to press Z and X to start, so your fingers were already on the keys by the time you get to the gameplay. No more instructions are given to you (for reasons to do with the story) but you get a hang of what you can do right away, the first screen practically screams "go right" at you. Everything is designed to get you to do what the developer wants you to do, without forcing you.

Not saying it isn't without flaws but it is a fantastic basis to work from to incorporate an intuitive tutorial into your game. I am following very similar design philosophies for my own project, using players' own inquisition to teach them the controls.

[stevesan]

megaman is also a great example of level design teaching gameplay (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM for egoraptor's gushing about the series)

to tackle the problem of having SO MANY KEYS ON A KEYBOARD, do what most flixel games to and have the main controls need to be pressed to activate the game! Fathom was great because you had to press Z and X to start, so your fingers were already on the keys by the time you get to the gameplay. No more instructions are given to you (for reasons to do with the story) but you get a hang of what you can do right away, the first screen practically screams "go right" at you. Everything is designed to get you to do what the developer wants you to do, without forcing you.

Not saying it isn't without flaws but it is a fantastic basis to work from to incorporate an intuitive tutorial into your game. I am following very similar design philosophies for my own project, using players' own inquisition to teach them the controls.

That egoraptr should be like required viewing for allll the designers

[DavidCaruso]

if your control scheme is complex and you're worried they won't be able to figure out everything by themselves then just do this at the beginning of the game



and then you can immediately start throwing scenarios at them which require that they know how to use this shit, since they've already been able to screw around and figure out what all they can do

Of course this is mostly in the context of action games anyway, but a similar approach could probably work for other types of games, it'd just be a bit more convoluted to implement.

[Gimym TILBERT]

[XRA]

STALKER had a tutorial?   

anyway, bring back the attract mode...

[ThePortalGuru]

Fuck these.  Fuck everything about these.

[Strife]

megaman is also a great example of level design teaching gameplay (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM for egoraptor's gushing about the series)

I saw this the other day on one of my buddies' Facebook pages. Everyone reading this thread needs to watch it. Conveyance is such an amazing technique in action games, and if you pull it off right, you absolutely do not need a tutorial.

[DavidCaruso]

I take what I said back!

[stevesan]

megaman is also a great example of level design teaching gameplay (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM for egoraptor's gushing about the series)

I saw this the other day on one of my buddies' Facebook pages. Everyone reading this thread needs to watch it. Conveyance is such an amazing technique in action games, and if you pull it off right, you absolutely do not need a tutorial.

Yeah he pretty much sums up what I was trying to say. In hilariously correct fashion. The thing with Zero is another great technique: Show another character doing something awesome rather than telling the player.

[stevesan]

I take what I said back!

Haha I have nothing fundamentally against these things... but they should only be there for reference. The game should still stealthily teach (convey?) the actions in-game.

[stevesan]

STALKER had a tutorial?   

anyway, bring back the attract mode...

Haha yeah it was terrible. The first guy you meet basically tells you everything in one huge chunk about your PDA and stuff. I'm loving my time in STALKER right now, but man that tutorial was shit.

[Jasmine]

With some games, like RTS games, the first 2-3 levels of the campaign are essentially tutorials, that teach you how to play.

iirc, Tomb Raider had a tutorial at the beginning that was actually very useful, since the gameplay was quite unlike other first person games that came before it.

I don't know if/how tutorials have changed in recent years because I haven't bought any games for a long time.

[C.A. Sinner]

The tutorial in Driver was harder than most of the rest of the game and tought you skills you  never needed again. 

[Strife]

The tutorial in Driver was harder than most of the rest of the game and tought you skills you  never needed again. 

Oh geez, I remember that. xD "Maybe I'll call you when I need a ride to the grocery store."