[Music]
we've talked previously about how a good
tutorial is integral to being able to
deliver a deep rich game and still reach
a large audience today we're going to
talk about how to actually put one
together while the specifics vary from
game to game there's a few simple rules
that pretty much every game should be
able to follow number one less text text
is a terrible way to deliver a tutorial
it kills pacing it destroys immersion
and it'll often be skipped by the very
players that need the tutorial the most
like everything else in games your
tutorial should be interactive the
player should play through the actions
they have to learn this not only creates
a better experience for the player but
it also ensures that they actually
understood what the tutorial was trying
to convey as opposed to text or even
in-game cinematics where once they end
you have no idea if the player actually
understood what you meant number two
don't front load your tutorial many game
designers seem to think that they need
to deliver every piece of information
the player will ever need right at the
beginning of the game any first-year
teacher or HCI student can tell you how
bad an idea that is yet somehow we
managed to forget it all the time when
building games if you front load your
tutorial and teach the player everything
at the beginning they'll be overwhelmed
with information and undersupplied with
engagement throwing so much information
and a player right away means they're
likely to have forgotten a lot of what
you taught them by the time they need it
it also means that they might very well
get bored with your tutorial and either
start rushing through it skip over it
entirely or simply turn the game off and
discuss if a player skips your tutorial
you've failed as a designer because
you've wasted resources making your game
less engaging for the player instead you
should provide the player with
information as they need it introduce
gameplay elements as they become
important if you do this the player gets
to start playing faster it allows you to
give them information in digestible
chunks and it means that they'll get to
start practicing what you taught them
right after they learn it remember that
this goes for all the parts of the game
not just the commands the player will
input if there's a UI element that they
won't use right away or a menu that
won't do anything for the first 30
minutes of the game don't clutter up the
screen with it the less info you throw
at the player from the outset the better
and when you do introduce new UI
elements or commands it'll be even
easier to make the features you're
introducing glaringly clear because
there really can be little confusion
about what's being introduced when a
brightly highlighted compass or a
mini-map suddenly slides onto the screen
number three make the tutorial fun all
the time in this industry we trumpet the
fact that people learn better when
they're having fun and somehow we seem
to forget this fact when we build our
tutorials your tutorial should be
exciting and interesting they should be
engaging is any other part of the game
this is hard to execute on but vital for
most games it's necessary for at least
some of the tutorial to happen at the
very beginning and like with books and
movies humans are prone to snap
judgments about their entertainment if
you can't grab the player in the first
10 minutes of play you're gonna lose a
large part of your audience and the
whole point of the tutorial is to make
your game accessible to more people here
you simply have to remember to use all
the things that make the game play
you're teaching fun in the first place
and then make it fun in the tutorial to
the modern warfare training missions
basic braining in Psychonauts the City
of Heroes intro mission and the death
Knights starting quest chain in World of
Warcraft all great examples the best
example of this is of course portal
which was 90% tutorial but was so much
fun that none of us seemed to notice
number 4 reinforce learning through play
going along with making the tutorial fun
and distributing the tutorial throughout
your game is the idea of reinforcing the
things taught in the tutorial by
highlighting their use in gameplay you
don't want to make this hammy or overly
telegraphed but you need to help the
player understand how to apply the tools
they learned about in the tutorial
during actual gameplay again if you can
make your tutorial feel like gameplay or
better yet simply be game play it should
mostly solve itself number 5
listen to your players your tutorial is
probably the most important thing in
your game to play test when you're a
designer who's been working on a project
for a year or two it's very easy to
think that things are intuitive or
obvious that are actually totally
incomprehensible when you build a system
and spend eight hours a day with it it
becomes second nature and that's great
but it often blinds us to what needs to
be taught case in point
James was once brought in on a
consulting gig for an RPG asked PC game
as a designer one of the first things he
always does is press every button but
after about 15 minutes of trying he
couldn't figure out how to open his
inventory so if you had to ask the
answer triple click the player after
years of working with the system no one
in the company even thought twice about
it here simple playtesting is the answer
as always don't talk to your players
watch where they get stuck watch what
they have trouble with and then listen
to what they say to you after that then
you can ask questions additionally be
mindful of your demographic it's very
hard to get past our own personal
perspective and so sometimes we forget
the things that seem second nature to us
might not be to everyone
for example James recently had an astute
young designer come up to him shocked by
the realization that the young end of
the demographic he was working with
might not be able to read yet luckily
with quick thinking and dedication he
was able to work around this one and
deliver a tutorial that any age can use
but you'd be surprised how many senior
game designers
get similar things for all you beginning
designers the most common one to forget
is that not everyone might be familiar
with the conventions that you're used to
using WASD to move better make sure your
target audience is used to that
otherwise you're gonna have to teach
them lastly there are two more simple
tips to remember one tutorials should be
skippable or shouldn't interrupt the
flow of play you don't want to have to
force everyone to sit through your
tutorial every time they start the game
again
- anything conveyed in a tutorial should
be accessible at all times
it doesn't have to be in any deeply
immersive fashion but simply putting a
help encyclopedia in the options menu or
giving the player access to how-to
videos from the pause screen will go a
long way after all we've all come back
to a game after having put it down for
six months and forgotten how to do that
one stupid thing and if you can't easily
go back and refresh yourself on how to
play you're gonna put that game down
again and probably not buy the sequel
but for all this the biggest reason that
tutorials seem haphazard and in many
cases just inadequate boring or terrible
isn't because most professional
designers don't know this stuff it's
because often the tutorial is left as
one of the last things to be completed
in the development cycle and how can you
distribute the tutorial through gameplay
if all the gameplay is already built how
can you make sure your tutorials fun if
you're scrambling to get the product out
the door simply put as a designer you
have to think about how you're gonna
teach the player to play your game as
you're building it if you don't do this
if you don't consider the communication
problems that are inherent in every
complex decision in your game you'll
deliver a clunky front loaded tutorial
at the last minute and really take away
from the players experience it's not
something that's hard to do and it
doesn't actually cost any development
dollars
it just takes discipline discipline to
always be mindful of how you're gonna
teach the player as you build the play
itself because every game is an
education every game brings us to worlds
we've never been to and throws us into
situations we don't recognize every game
asks us to translate between some series
of button presses or clicks and actions
happening on the screen so every game
requires a tutorial and if you're
mindful of this and disciplined in your
design you can create the best tutorial
there is one that no one remembers is
there see you next week
[Music]