ID:1301188
 
I'm looking for a way to get the player's attention with instructing them on how to play games.
Most byond games are notoriously bad for just plopping a player down on a map, and not telling them anything at all about how to play. I want to avoid that (because it's something that makes me log out instantly)

Question is, other than what i'm doing now which is this:

http://puu.sh/3mVyC.jpg


and this:

http://puu.sh/3mVE9.jpg


What are some better ways to handle onscreen instructions?


The second method seems glitchy, it doesn't show up like it's supposed to with 100% certainty.

In the general sense of teaching new players you could weave tips/tutorial-esque things into dialogue of early cut-scenes or via a beginner quest. This works great because it gives them clear things to do and on the way they will learn the mechanics.

However as far as on screen things like tool tips, I think those are a solid idea as well; I don't know of any other ways other than a F.A.Q./Guide.
Sigh*
I don't want to write a guide cause it's alot of info but I probably should write something.

I'm going to try to go with the first approach you mentioned more though.

I found the issue I think-- the tutorial instructions weren't showing up at all.
In response to Dariuc
I've got some recent experience with this, and I can honestly say that a guide is not a good idea. I mean, if someone playing the game wants to make a guide or wiki then great, but you shouldn't do it.

Why? Because it'll waste your time and motivation. After releasing my game I spent hours a day for days writing up an informative guide that uses tables in order to keep everything to being as short, and minimal reading as possible; yet I still have multiple people who miss it or refuse to open it because they hate reading.

There are literally a couple of players who know the game, know about the guide, and purposely refuse to open it because they're too lazy to read. My responses come out longer than the guides answer, but some of them still hate opening it and going to what they want; they just want it right there right now where everything else is.

Several new players just plain don't find it unless directed to it, even though I've put buttons and stuff up for it in all sorts of different places. It is... ridiculous. Gamer's nowadays aren't like they used to be. They've gotten used to having everything weaved into the opening so that they can use it or ignore it, or in rare cases just optional tutorials that they'll probably skip unless they get their butts kicked and like the game enough to go back.

I don't regret writing the FAQ or the skill portion of the guide I made, and some people do read, especially if directed to it, but I just feel like its not good enough. I've seen tutorials fail, and I've seen the FAQ/guide method fail. The only thing I haven't seen fail yet is weaving things into the early areas of the game, so that it can either be ignored, or skipped over by speeding through dialogue.
In response to Toddab503
Right, good points all of which I've also observed heavily. Most gamers nowadays I find are well..shallow and impatient.

It's also mostly due to the videogame market. They are sold mindless, soulless games, so they don't know any differently.

All why I try to incorporate logic and presentation into the games I want to make. Stem the tide so to speak.
You need a small amount of text, but too much and the player (in the majority of cases) simply won't bother reading it. Too little, and you won't transmit the intended information. My current approach to this is to provide a small amount of text, and very limited options at the beginning, slowly upping the amount of options/choice as the game progresses, with occasional further "pop-ups" of text, informing them only of the most imminent new features.

I also intend on writing a lengthy guide, but it won't be required to play at all. Rather, experienced players that want to up their game will want to consider it, for more accurate stats and advanced tips.
In response to Dariuc
Dariuc wrote:
Most gamers nowadays I find are well..shallow and impatient.

I think this is generally true about modern civilization...just look at the slow pace of old movies, and old (really old!) literature. Entertainment has been growing faster and easier to use.

However, as a gamer I don't like to have to read a guide. At least, not right at the beginning. At that point I am just trying to see if the game is fun, and I feel that I should be able to figure out the most basic controls with minimal effort. I do prefer PC games that let you change the controls, and I will definitely look up help resources if I am stuck on a specific aspect of the game.
In my experience, the best kind of tutorial is a completely hands off approach, until it's needed.

That is to say, to make it not needed in the first place is the optimum solution but it isn't exactly always feasible. A good example of this is Decedance. You can join that game, join a match, and you intuitively know what to press and do, with a minor bit of guessing.

Having said that when it IS required it's often best to just, let the player do whatever they need do, and if they're getting stuck somewhere, after X attempts at something, I'd have a small indicator float above the players head, be it a certain key, or an arrow pointing to where they need to go. Something small that says "thanks for trying but, you're stupid, do this".
In response to Rushnut
Rushnut wrote:
you intuitively know what to press and do, with a minor bit of guessing.

This is not true for people who have never played video games before. I've had to tell people to press the arrow keys to move around. They would never guess WASD. Those kind of people should still be able to figure out at least the controls of your game without having to do research (which they are least likely to do).

BYOND games often seem to me like "games for gamers." You have to already be very interested in games, programming, or a specific niche (roleplaying, anime games). Many BYOND games follow the route of a long wall of text guide, we are all guilty of it. We just need to become aware of it and overcome it.

GOD SPEED
I think you missed the point of what I said.

When the pen was invented it didn't come with a tool tip, or much instruction. People just had to put their brain to use to figure out how to use it. This wasn't hard because the pen isn't difficult to use in the first place.

If you make your game easy and simple to play in the first place, you won't need much in the way of a tutorial. On the other hand there are people who have never played a video game before, and they are a very, very small minority. The effort, work and ultimately the unprofessionalism of an ugly tutorial is not worth it for the three or four people that have never before played a game and decided to start with yours.
I gave an extreme example to represent the ideal goal of making a game that can entertain the least likely customer. It's never going to be perfect, but you can at least try.

What about someone who has never played an FPS with the WASD control setup? Or who has never played a PC game? I had trouble learning to play console games at first, even though I had played on PC for years already. I also continue to find games that are a chore to figure out right at the beginning, and it really turns me off. On the other hand I play Zangband, a game where every letter does something and every capital letter does something else. But I have a special interest in that. I don't have a special interest in DBZ games so when I try them and they are like a jungle of buttons and commands and bullshit, I quit.
Extreme hand holding is what's been killing this industry for the longest time now.
You need to realize that teenagers, which is most likely going to be 90% of your target audience, have a really low attention span(well most of them, at least) and they certainly don't have the patience to sit there and thoroughly read a game's guide; mobile games do a good job at solving this 'problem' though, and it's through the use of interactive tutorials. Instead of scaring away the player with long walls of text, throw them into a world where that 'long wall of text' can be accurately portrayed by their actions; segments from those guides are incorporated into an interactive tutorial and they're later reinforced by some objective or challenge so the player can use what he learned. An epitome of this is Realm of The Mad God.
In response to Magnum2k
+1 ROTMG is a really great example of nothing really being taught to the player, yet the player intuitively knows how to do everything.
In response to Rushnut
RushNut, there's a tutorial now.
I said nothing really being taught. You're shown "You are a guy" "You can shoot" "Go kill chicken".
In response to Rushnut
I disagree. You can't intuitively know how to do something unless you've done something like it before. Meaning if you are a first time game player you will have to learn regardless. yes, making a game simple can make it easy to learn a game or effortless to play it, but for the most part most games are complex enough that you actually need some sort of tutorial.

Which also kind of makes up my point- the industry has been dumbing down games so much because people themselves are lazy. Part of the fun of many games is learning how to play and mastering them. Making something instantly accessible just because people are too "impatient" is in my mind a bit silly.
I don't think the industry dumbing down is an issue of accessibility or because the players are lazy. (Not 100% anyway) The laziness is more circular if anything, companies sees game A do well, so they make their own game, game B, use similar mechanics. Player liked game A, and see similarities in game B, so they buy that too.

This goes on and pretty soon when thinking up ways to make game J, all that seems viable is to use the set in stone mechanics. This is nor a good or bad thing- this lets people pick up things faster if they are alike- like scraping burned wood and other oils on cave walls is to pens/pencils on paper.

But that's kind of getting off topic. Best thing you can do is implement all of these ideas but emphasize it being their choice or trick them into doing it; offer them the ability to retrace this.

Set up a tutorial, with tool tips along the way, make it an option to turn off tool-tips, upon finishing the tutorial (how ever much it might be integrated into the game seamlessly or not) give the player an in-game-guide-book or simply link them to a place where questions can be posted/answered.


The lesson of the day is people are constantly looking for things to be doing, the more trouble it is for them to get into a game the less likely they're going to give you the time of day. This goes especially true for free games as there is literally no investment made into actually playing.