Can We Make Better Tutorials for Complex Games?

Richard

So I just started playing Solasta Crown of the Magister (clunky name alert) and I suspect it is going to offer rich pickings on this front. Even the title page for the game includes a popup tutorial box, saying that there will be a tutorial. Underneath this is a confirmation button marked "understood". And when you hover over that, you get a little popup box explaining that you click that if -- and only if -- you have understood that there will be a tutorial. My will to live is already severely diminished...

Björn Kaidel

Concerning your "ad break before the game suggestion" idea: When I watched the video after it went public on my TV (which has no ad blocker whatsoever), I got no ad break. Might be a bit confusing for new viewers that you announce an ad, but then there is no ad.

Matt Hauke

Super interesting video, Mark. I particularly like the idea of stripping the systems away to make it easier to learn. I know as R6 Siege grew they really struggled to entice new players who weren't familiar with the style of the game. Most people get what a FPS needs to do but it has such a specific play style and harsh learning curve they needed to figure out a way to make it more user friendly to newbies. And that's what they did, by splitting the more casual and competitive games modes into these 5: Learning Area, Newcomer, Quick Match, Unranked and Ranked. It's a progressive playlist which ultimately leads you to the latter two which are the best representative of how to play the game which are less and more competitive respectively.

B

my favorite moment in this video 16:13

Mark, I advise you to take a look at Football Manager. It uses the system you are talking about at 8:50 It hasn't got any difficulty options but it lets you to start a game with Assistants who take control over some of a game systems like transfers, budget, trainings, youth players and etc. But when you are getting more familiar with a game you can take contol over particular systems by yourself

Tim Rattray

Mark, have you seen Guilty Gear Xrd's tutorial? It's the best I've experienced in a fighting game, teaching you systems through mini-games (that you have to repeat, but with variations). It's a really unique structure for fighting games. Maximilian Dood made a good video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oWBwcYr1LM Also, that game has a ton of "missions" that break down character-specific information and counters. GG is a complex series so it's impressive how well they tutorialized it.

Brian M

Yeah, “conferring” maybe?

Ethan LP

"Inferring" around 2:30 is a weird word choice IMO

Anhel

I had a similar experience when playing CIV 5. Completed a couple of runs on "settler" and "chieftain" difficulty levels, and then hit a skill wall when trying other difficulties. I had a feeling like the game expected me to not only know the basic mechanics, but also more obscure interactions and strategies. Sure, I enjoyed the game. But I did not feel like wasting dozens of hours on youtube videos and tutorials just to progress further, so I dropped it.

SirCalalot

Here’s me, reading the “Game Dev Business Handbook” by Michael Futter on a bank holiday Monday thinking, “hmm, I wonder when Mark Brown’s next video is out...”