Everyone hates it when a game pops up a screen,
to tell you to do every little thing.
When they interrupt the action,
to inform you of things that seem incredibly obvious.
The problem is:
what is intuitive to you,
might not be intuitive to someone else.
But as designers;
while we do actually have to let the players know how to do everything,
we can do it in more creative ways.
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One idea that separates a beginning designer from one with a little more experience
is knowing that they're not designing things on a screen.
Now, I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out!
They're actually designing an experience for the person in front of the screen.
And this idea is at the heart of how we make a tutorial informative,
rather than overbearing.
Helpful, rather than condescending.
Because the key to doing so lies in context sensitive information.
Now, what do we mean by context sensitive information?
Information that only appears under specific circumstances,
and if those conditions aren't met, never appears at all.
Let me give you an example.
Imagine level 1-1 of Super Mario Brothers
Remember that Goomba that walks towards you, right in the beginning of the game?
I always like to call him Phillip...
Anyway, imagine if that Goomba killed you,
and the next time you approached it:
the game would flash the words "Press B to jump" over your head.
Players who already knew how to play the game,
or who had already figured out the jump button,
would never see this message.
But players who maybe had never played a video game before,
or didn't immediately get what to do,
would get the information they needed to keep playing the game.
Now imagine this done on a mass scale,
for basically everything you need to teach in your game.
Now:
the tutorial is custom tailored for each player,
and that's awesome!
Each player only sees exactly what they need to see,
and never feels talked down to by being shown the rest.
Two different players may have totally different tutorial experiences.
Some might not even need to see any tutorial messages at all!
But each gets the information that will let them understand
whatever they might not intuitively know.
So why aren't all tutorials built this way?
Well, the short answer is:
because it's difficult!
To do this well requires really understanding your player;
thinking about how the player plays the game and not just about the game itself.
And to do so poorly potentially can be disastrous:
It can mean people missing out
on vital pieces of information they need to play.
But the truth is: it's not so difficult that we shouldn't be doing it.
It just involves a lot of observing your player.
Because to do this well,
fundamentally means: understanding what the player is thinking,
by the actions they take in the game.
If you're building a shooter,
and the player doesn't throw a grenade in the first 15 minutes of play:
it probably means they don't know how,
and you should show them.
If they keep running into a low wall:
You need to teach them how to jump.
If they stay crouched,
while walking around for 30 seconds straight:
it probably means they accidentally pushed the "Crouch" button,
and you need to teach them: how to get up.
The more complex the behavior;
the more you're going to have to observe how your player plays,
in order to understand exactly when they need to be prompted,
But it can be done for almost any mechanic.
Systems, on the other hand, are a little bit harder.
If you're making an RPG, and you need to teach the player:
that every point they put into strength,
will up their damage with melee weapons by 3 points:
Well, that's just something you have to tell everyone
the first time they level up.
Though James has seen some interesting experiments
even on the system side:
where teams try to assess players play style during play test,
and use that to give players the information they need when they need it
But if you're going to use contact sensitive information to teach the players how to play your game,
you're also going to have to design your levels to help you
If you look back at that Mario 1-1 example again,
the beginning of that level is set up to allow the designer to be a hundred percent sure
the player knows the basic mechanics of the game,
before they set up any real challenges with them
We actually did a whole episode on this,
but the TLDR is:
the Goomba forces the player to jump,
and to the different heights of the pipes
requires the player to understand the different kinds of jumps to get past them
And when you're building your levels, you should do this too.
If your initial level or area has challenges in it
that test the players skill with each of the basic mechanics of your game,
it's very easy to create context-sensitive tutorials
because each time they encounter one of these challenges,
if they struggle with it,
as it designer,
you'll know what information they need
The more you can isolate the mechanic you're testing,
while still making your challenges engaging,
the more effective this will be
Context-sensitive tutorials
also come with the advantage that they can be displayed again,
if it seems like the player is struggling
Maybe you give them a bit more time before you pop something else up again,
but for instance, if you're like me,
and you've ever put down a complex game for six months,
only to return to it and be a bit baffled,
I would love for a game to check on my time away,
and maybe pop back up some of those context-sensitive tutorials
to get me back up to speed
which reminds me;
no matter what type of tutorial you're building,
it should be repeatable
There's no reason not to let your players access your tutorial again in 99% of games
And there's nothing worse than being all excited to come back to a game you've set down,
only to find there's some vital piece of information you forgot
that you have no way
other than restarting or going to the internet
to get again
So take the time
and know your player,
not just your game,
so you can create a tutorial that no one feels bad about playing through
Why haven't the credits come in yet?
Oh no, did I forget how to end episodes?
AH! That's right!
Thank You Zoe.
See you next week everyone.
Yeah, nailed it !
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