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Post by fallen on Sept 24, 2017 15:28:24 GMT -5
We are working on the game's tutorial -- relying on your officer to step forward and give advice, quips, describe the UI, game concepts, etc.
Try to put on your new player hat. What needs tutorial the most?
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Post by bookworm21 on Sept 24, 2017 15:43:40 GMT -5
crew management - taking the new player through choosing their first extra officer, which will give them a basic understanding of the crew UI, and of the jobs available ("we need a doctor hint hint")
The tutorial could also take the player through the installation of the (now default) passenger cabin, by replacing some kind of junk part (+1 ship ops?). This could lead nicely from a 'starter mission' or contact to transport someone.
I think the trading and economy simulation is fairly self-explanatory, although pointing out with some text maybe what all the urban and wild zones ratings bars mean would be helpful (especially the trade law one)
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Post by fallen on Sept 24, 2017 15:48:31 GMT -5
bookworm21 - thank you for weighing in. Very valuable. As you've pointed out, we're working on streamlining the experience to reduce the hurdles you need to get over (passenger cabin). The next update may include your starting officers being Quartermaster and Doctor, which would also help you avoid some early required actions that everyone takes every play thru (promote to Doctor ... at least I hope you're all doing this ). Giving advice and teaching the concepts is still key, but avoiding putting "do or die" kind of things in the first minutes is good too
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Post by bookworm21 on Sept 24, 2017 15:53:35 GMT -5
That's true. I was aiming my suggestions for a forced "you must click here to advance" kind of tutorial, but thinking about it that sort of tutorial really bugs me! (and presumably many others)
It would definitely be good to avoid do-or-die optional choices for new players!
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 16:01:29 GMT -5
I might suggest ...
1. Having a pre-assembled crew that has Merchant, Spy, Explorer officers (I'm predisposed to Merchant captain, but... whatever). Maybe a QuarterMaster could be 2. Walk-thru of hiring crew, show where pilot (or other) is understaffed 3. Walk-thru of promoting crew to officer, adding job and talent 4. Land on planet 5. Sell, buy at exchange 6. Meet contact on planet, accept mission (spy mission) 7. Travel to planet to do spy mission 8. Return to 'home' planet to complete mission 9. Go to orbit and land on 'other' landing zone (Wilderness) 10. Explore wilderness zone and get resources 11. Another turn to get fight with pirates 12. Walk-thru of fighting and win 13. Add resources from stash to ship. 14. Orbit, Return to home sector landing zone. 15. Pay crew, heal crew, spice crew. Point out that dashboard shows when crew can be upgraded. 16. Accept new mission (1 jump mission, maybe a one way delivery) 17. Travel through gate to new sector 18. Ship encounter enroute to mission planet 19. fight ship and win. 20. Encourage player to continue to travel to planet to do mission. 21. OK, you are out of the nest.... good luck.
Obviously, the ship used should be big enough to fit this scenario, starting credits should be enough to carry the new player for awhile post-tutorial, big enough crew to have most save talents covered from start. Perhaps even make it a custom 'super duper easy' difficulty.
Strong encouragement to join DISCORD and FORUM for guidance and help from us awesome folks. :-)
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Post by fallen on Sept 24, 2017 16:02:00 GMT -5
That's true. I was aiming my suggestions for a forced "you must click here to advance" kind of tutorial, but thinking about it that sort of tutorial really bugs me! (and presumably many others) It would definitely be good to avoid do-or-die optional choices for new players! We won't be investing in a hand-holding force-you-to-do-such-and-such tutorial, so much as a "ask for help if you need it, we'll give advice based on what's up right now" kind of thing.
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 16:06:30 GMT -5
Additional thought. I'd be happy to utilize whatever tutorial scenario you put together (map seed, template, pre-built crew, ??) and do a Let's Play using it, so I could do a walk-thru that new players could actually follow step-by-step.
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Post by fallen on Sept 24, 2017 16:07:01 GMT -5
I might suggest ... 1. Having a pre-assembled crew that has Merchant, Spy, Explorer officers (I'm predisposed to Merchant captain, but... whatever). Maybe a QuarterMaster could be 2. Walk-thru of hiring crew, show where pilot (or other) is understaffed 3. Walk-thru of promoting crew to officer, adding job and talent 4. Land on planet 5. Sell, buy at exchange 6. Meet contact on planet, accept mission (spy mission) 7. Travel to planet to do spy mission 8. Return to 'home' planet to complete mission 9. Go to orbit and land on 'other' landing zone (Wilderness) 10. Explore wilderness zone and get resources 11. Another turn to get fight with pirates 12. Walk-thru of fighting and win 13. Add resources from stash to ship. 14. Orbit, Return to home sector landing zone. 15. Pay crew, heal crew, spice crew. Point out that dashboard shows when crew can be upgraded. 16. Accept new mission (1 jump mission, maybe a one way delivery) 17. Travel through gate to new sector 18. Ship encounter enroute to mission planet 19. fight ship and win. 20. Encourage player to continue to travel to planet to do mission. 21. OK, you are out of the nest.... good luck. Definitely need to add Discord icon to the main page. We're not going to add a hand-held ordered tutorial like this, it is too heavy handed for the game's freedom. We don't believe the investment will result in significantly better off players. Good list of concepts that could use enumeration.
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Post by fallen on Sept 24, 2017 16:07:30 GMT -5
Additional thought. I'd be happy to utilize whatever tutorial scenario you put together (map seed, template, pre-built crew, ??) and do a Let's Play using it, so I could do a walk-thru that new players could actually follow step-by-step. Let's Plays and Twitch of getting started and getting your feet under you as a Captain will be much appreciated!
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Post by contributor on Sept 24, 2017 16:47:27 GMT -5
I know that a lot of things seem pretty self explanatory to those who have been in the Alpha and ST RPG vets, but I wouldn't underestimate how disorienting some things could be to total newbies. I think one of the challenges is going to be addressing the various ways that someone might advance based on the type of Star Trader they want to be. I don't know though if there is some way to segment the tutorial, or have a couple that might cover some of the bigger classes (trading/smuggling, exploring/smuggling, combat based pirates or bounties, mission-doing-types (spy/diplomat etc.).
I think getting somebody to build up enough rep and find a contact to buy their first or second trade permit would be pretty helpful.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 24, 2017 16:55:01 GMT -5
I know that a lot of things seem pretty self explanatory to those who have been in the Alpha and ST RPG vets, but I wouldn't underestimate how disorienting some things could be to total newbies. I think one of the challenges is going to be addressing the various ways that someone might advance based on the type of Star Trader they want to be. I don't know though if there is some way to segment the tutorial, or have a couple that might cover some of the bigger classes (trading/smuggling, exploring/smuggling, combat based pirates or bounties, mission-doing-types (spy/diplomat etc.). I think getting somebody to build up enough rep and find a contact to buy their first or second trade permit would be pretty helpful. I totally agree with you. We are not underestimating the complexity of the game for new player. We will work on helping the new player orient themselves on each screen and accomplish basic tasks. Part of the joy of a game like STF is exploring the ways to advance and we will help guide the player toward those ends. At the same time, we respect our audience and the fact that we're making games for gamers who have played games. Gamers do NOT WANT (emphasis yours) heavy tutorials in their games.
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Post by DaReaper95 on Sept 24, 2017 17:32:23 GMT -5
That's true. I was aiming my suggestions for a forced "you must click here to advance" kind of tutorial, but thinking about it that sort of tutorial really bugs me! (and presumably many others) It would definitely be good to avoid do-or-die optional choices for new players! They may be annoying, but they are definitely the most effective and informative. I find the most effective ones are the ones that tell you exactly what to do, and let you ignore it if you are so inclined. "We need a doctor" but you can opt for whatever you want. It'll point out the button to create a doctor but if you think you know better and wanna make a bounty hunter, go for it. The only place I would say then needs a "force" is the passenger cabin.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 24, 2017 18:02:54 GMT -5
That is why we will focus on providing orientation information on a task-by-task basis.
At face value they can appear to be the most effective and informative but in practice they do not deliver.
Like you said, it is important to provide timely, contextual, informative feedback for the new player guiding them towards the intuitive next step. If they elect to ignore that guidance, or become distracted by another game element, we should both allow them to go "off script" ad hoc as well as return to the contextual guidance event in the next scenario where it is appropriate for them to engage with it.
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Post by John Robinson on Sept 24, 2017 18:11:48 GMT -5
Additional thought. I'd be happy to utilize whatever tutorial scenario you put together (map seed, template, pre-built crew, ??) and do a Let's Play using it, so I could do a walk-thru that new players could actually follow step-by-step. MintDragon Right guy for the right job! You got the street cred
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 18:47:43 GMT -5
awww, thx for the vote of confidence John Robinson. Due to my projects earlier this year, I was able to get pretty good at ScreenFlow; looking forward to doing a series of vids (Let's Play-style) for ST:F
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