The importance of a new tutorial system.
Blarney_Stone
Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2013-03-08 Member: 183808Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Several people have posted on this matter in the "Proposed Balance Changes" thread, but I believe this to be an important enough issue that it deserves its own thread.
The balance mod is going live in the next couple weeks, and most who have played the mod for more than a couple hours seem to be of the opinion that the changes coming will be for the better. The mod adds many more strategies, makes underused elements viable and stops games from being as predictable as they were in vanilla NS2. These changes will most likely breathe some life into the competitive scene.
Seeing as this is a complete game relaunch we're talking about here, chances are that the release of this mod is going to come with a sale and a free weekend. This is where the problem emerges. To put it simply, NS2 has a major player retention problem. It's sold plenty of copies, but currently has fallen off of the top 100 games on Steam. A startlingly low number of the players from the last free weekend stuck around past it, despite a good number of copies being sold.
Now, part of the issue has been performance. Hopefully the introduction of LuaJIT will mollify these concerns. The BT mod itself will also help to remove another issue in player retention, that being the staleness and predictability of competitive matches. On the other hand, there is another reason this game loses so many players that isn't being addressed - the steep learning curve and the lack of a good tutorial system.
This game has an extremely steep learning curve. There is more depth and strategy to be had, and more things that need to be learned, than most multiplayer games have to offer. As a result, it is very possible for new players to feel completely lost and unsure of what to do. Unfortunately, there is no good tutorial system in place to make the introduction to the game's mechanics easier for them. The YouTube videos included in the game are entirely unsatisfactory. They do not share all of the important info, and many of them are so poorly done that it would be extremely difficult for a new player to glean any important information from them. Struggling to pick up all of the complex gameplay mechanics and without an informative tutorial, many new players become frustrated and leave the game behind.
The introduction of the balance mod will increase the learning curve for the game, particularly when it comes to alien movement. The Skulk and Fade can move much more quickly in BT than in vanilla, but in order to do so players must use a more skill-based system, and also one that is less intuitive for a beginning player to pick up. Additionally, the BT will make all of the current tutorial videos more or less obsolete, as so many elements of the game will be changing.
Because of this, I am requesting that UWE strongly consider completely revamping their tutorial system from the ground up to make it more intuitive for new players. The BT will improve the game, but without a better tutorial in place the game will still struggle to retain new players. The next free weekend will end up exactly like the last one did unless serious changes are made to the way UWE caters to new players.
If anyone from the community is willing to provide assistance, they should speak up, here or otherwise, as this is a problem that affects all of us.
I'm sorry for the essay-length post, but this is a topic that I strongly feel is vital to the continued survival of NS2.
The balance mod is going live in the next couple weeks, and most who have played the mod for more than a couple hours seem to be of the opinion that the changes coming will be for the better. The mod adds many more strategies, makes underused elements viable and stops games from being as predictable as they were in vanilla NS2. These changes will most likely breathe some life into the competitive scene.
Seeing as this is a complete game relaunch we're talking about here, chances are that the release of this mod is going to come with a sale and a free weekend. This is where the problem emerges. To put it simply, NS2 has a major player retention problem. It's sold plenty of copies, but currently has fallen off of the top 100 games on Steam. A startlingly low number of the players from the last free weekend stuck around past it, despite a good number of copies being sold.
Now, part of the issue has been performance. Hopefully the introduction of LuaJIT will mollify these concerns. The BT mod itself will also help to remove another issue in player retention, that being the staleness and predictability of competitive matches. On the other hand, there is another reason this game loses so many players that isn't being addressed - the steep learning curve and the lack of a good tutorial system.
This game has an extremely steep learning curve. There is more depth and strategy to be had, and more things that need to be learned, than most multiplayer games have to offer. As a result, it is very possible for new players to feel completely lost and unsure of what to do. Unfortunately, there is no good tutorial system in place to make the introduction to the game's mechanics easier for them. The YouTube videos included in the game are entirely unsatisfactory. They do not share all of the important info, and many of them are so poorly done that it would be extremely difficult for a new player to glean any important information from them. Struggling to pick up all of the complex gameplay mechanics and without an informative tutorial, many new players become frustrated and leave the game behind.
The introduction of the balance mod will increase the learning curve for the game, particularly when it comes to alien movement. The Skulk and Fade can move much more quickly in BT than in vanilla, but in order to do so players must use a more skill-based system, and also one that is less intuitive for a beginning player to pick up. Additionally, the BT will make all of the current tutorial videos more or less obsolete, as so many elements of the game will be changing.
Because of this, I am requesting that UWE strongly consider completely revamping their tutorial system from the ground up to make it more intuitive for new players. The BT will improve the game, but without a better tutorial in place the game will still struggle to retain new players. The next free weekend will end up exactly like the last one did unless serious changes are made to the way UWE caters to new players.
If anyone from the community is willing to provide assistance, they should speak up, here or otherwise, as this is a problem that affects all of us.
I'm sorry for the essay-length post, but this is a topic that I strongly feel is vital to the continued survival of NS2.
Comments
A lot of people here seem to focus on whether or not the BT mod will save or ruin this game, blah blah this particular change is terrible blah blah Docking is ruined, etc.
While these topics are obviously woth discussing, ask yourselves this: does the vast majority of the people who bought this game, but no longer play, actually care?
Most of them were probably trying to figure out how to play anything other than Rifle marine, because the role of the rest of the stuff was not adequately explained. What do all these structures do? What are the general tactics other than kill stuff? How do I get this, how do I get that, why am I getting steamrolled?... not to mention the patience and practice involved in getting somewhat decent with the actual movement/shooting mechanics.
Oh well. I'm just saying I don't want this game to be reduced to basically the forum's population, that's all...
It would need to cover all aspects of the game split into different chapters.
Alien movement could be easily explained on a test parkour where you could see how to do it in a demo beforehand (including a visualization of the buttons pressed) and then you would have to repeat it yourself.
I look forward to the balance update, I can't wait for biodome, and the performance boost was very nice indeed. But all that is a tragic waste if this game can't get more players. If F2P weekends are the best way to garner fresh players, and I think that's true, then the game needs to be approachable withing that time frame. As is, it's not. It took me more than a weekend to do anything but die in this game, and over 100 hours before I discovered the secret behind all that double-jump shadow stepping business. (and all that's about to change, good grief). It takes serious commitment to become even competent at this game.
As is, learning this game is like teaching yourself to surf. You know how to swim, and how to skate. Paddling out and catching a wave should be easy. But it isn't. No one taught you how to duck dive, so you're going face first into the breaks, choking on wave after wave and getting no further from the shore. But you're determined, and a strong swimmer, so eventually you get past the breakers and sit atop your board. Time to catch a wave. The first one's coming, and you start to paddle, but nothing happens. No one taught you to time your paddling, how hard and when. So you sit patiently for the next wave and try again. A little better, you caught some momentum but didn't get far. Wait some more, try a few times, and finally catch a wave. You're in it now, you can feel the ocean behind you, propelling you, and you try to stand. Nope. No one taught you how. You should have pushed up sooner, lifted your knee faster, planted your foot further forward, and turned your ankle a few more degrees. But you don't even know that those things matter. You just know your balance was off and the window of opportunity is smaller than you expected. Next time you'll try not to lean, and to get up quicker. But next time is a while off. That's the hardest part about surfing. You have to paddle back out, wait for a good wave, try to catch it, and if all that works out you get another 3 second attempt at standing. Drown, repeat. It takes a while just to learn what you're doing wrong, let alone how to do it right.
But if you had taken one lesson, the first thing you'd be doing is practicing proper form on the beach, learning which foot goes first, popping up as many times as it takes to get the hang of it. You'd know when to catch your first wave, and how to stand once you did. You might even surf your first day out. Doesn't take long to teach my friends the basics, and get them standing at least on their first day. Me, I taught myself to surf, and it took me all summer.
everybody seems to agree that a tutorial is important and i guess could be done in a week if you know what you are doing.(at least the basics, a nicely detailed tutorial map takes obviously longer)
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/130340/possible-idea-to-help-resolve-pubstomping#latest
After this you should have a more interactive set of tutorials. Something they can open up in game and click alien or marine. Get a list of topics weapons, buildings, research paths, lifeforms. Allow them to narrow down what they are looking for and get information to ONLY what they are specifically looking for. This more interactive tutorial would serve as a way for players to see something in game and go look it up in the tutorial to find out what the fuck that just was. They want to know Why 3 crag shells were just placed on the ground? Well they go look up aliens>buildings and have them click on the picture of the building they just saw. They want to know why every one was yelling (kill the obs!!!) well they can go look up marine>buildings>observatory "obs" and see just what that thing does! Have it play a video and explain what the structure does, it's importance and what it costs.
Would be amazing if a few members of the community were able to assemble such a thing.
I recommend a forced basic tutorial lasting no more than 3 minutes that's fun and simple, starting with one minute video briefly giving an overview - with successive optional tutorials that go into more detail. Each should start with quick video, as mentioned, followed by the user having to mimic said actions.
I agree, I know it is sacrilege to reference this, but the opening tutorials on the gun range in COD:MW 1&2 would be a superb model if someone could fit that in. Short, interactive, fit contextually, and you get graded at the end. The contextual part would be harder for aliens, but I would suggest keeping that to Skulk and Gorge Play. Maybe add advanced tutorials for higher life forms/ Higher Tech as optional.
Another good tutorial was for Chivalry (although I am terrible at that game) I feel like I understood how to play as soon as I got online.
Any community efforts to create a tutorial mod or other cool helpful tutorial system would of course be welcomed with open arms! As has been the case since the birth NS, the best tutorial system out there is people being kind, patient, helpful to new players
More importantly, I simply do not have the skills or time to pull this off. I rarely find the time to learn enough of the editor to work on my map, let alone how to do any scripting. Doesn't hurt to throw ideas out there though. I really feel like a SP mode would help the learning curve a lot though.
Just had a fascinating chat with current1y outside the thread - It turns out he had never realised the existing gameplay primer existed :P
This fascinates me - Is this a common trend? Were many of you unaware of its existence? If so, did you instinctively dismiss the popup on game start?
Given it has ~23,000 views, it clearly has not been watched by everyone who bought the game...
If the "tech tree" had the tech flow, building/weapon/lifeform descriptions, costs, and recommended usage, new players could enter the game at least knowing what everything is, even if they don't know how to use it properly.
Also, if there was a prompt when starting the game for all players with "rookie" status on strongly recommending they look at it to familiarize themselves, it would help, at least until they have a few hours of game time.
Personally, I don't have the patience or willpower to sit through multiple training videos in order to learn a game as sometimes, a lot of things can be considered "too basic" and sound condescending, but if an easy to use, interactive list of all objects and lifeforms in the game existed, new players might not feel so overwhelmed and actually learn a bit.
Edit: found this from a while ago, Dropbox link still seems to work;
http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/122159/marine-tech-tree-interactive-infograph
I've never seen whatever it is you're referring too, but I have hints and stuff disabled in options; or is this something that you only see when you first install the game after a certain patch?
I think a straight line room which explains all the basics before you can play would be neat, like forcing you to do each thing in the game with a brief explanation as to why/what it does, and give a checkmark so they can continue onto the next part
Also, notes about protecting/taking res towers should appear every 30 seconds. It should mention that if you have less than 4 you are definately losing the game. The dots in the bottom-right aren't exactly clear about what they represent, either.
Whenever a res tower is built/places, a message like the "power under attack" message should appear in the middle of the screen informing rookies.
Also, just rename all Extractors/Harvest to Resource Towers...
Yes I'm pretty sure it is a common trend. And I believe a tutorial where the player can actually play might be better than simple videos (but yours were still useful for commanding).
I think it showed up for all the new players, but its human nature to click away popups.
Perhaps if there were four more... "Are you sure?" "Are you really really sure?" "You're gonna have a bad time if not?"
:-P
It was implemented sometime in March? Around Gorgeous update, reason why 90% ish of the people still playing haven't seen it.
First suggestion:
There are many quality tutorials available on youtube. UWE could incorporate some of these videos into their tutorials; advanced fade movement, advanced lerk play, etc, but especially commanding tutorials would be extremely helpful.
Second suggestion:
For training mode/Experimental mode
I would like to suggest the following to further developing bots mode to resolve the learning curve issue. I personally was unaware that a bots-mode existed until yesterday. Perhaps somehow making the mode more obvious would be helpful to new players. If this could somehow be combined with training/experimental mode, all the better. Allowing players to transition easily from training experimental mode to a bots game could be useful and less imtimidating. Adding something on the main page next to "play", "play with bots", might be useful. I suspect new players would be far more likely to click "play with bots" initially, and espeically after getting roflstomped in game. Pop-ups as previously described, largely go unnoticed.
While in bot mode, I noticed commands were not readily apparent. It seems, a player is only allowed to play as the marine com. If a list of commands could be provided in-game w/o having to open the console or search online, this might allow for better use of bot mode. Something simple like a help menu might be pretty easy for the Lua-savy to produce.
Commands like /help
/menu
/addbots
/addalienbot
/removemarinebot
/restart
/addmarinecom
/setdifficulty hard
The learning curve could be dramatically reduced in this sort of sandbox environment, especially if also incorporated into combat mode. An hour or two spent defending spawn on co_core w/ a shotgun against 5 leaping skulks would surely accilmate a new player to the physics of the game.
I recall my first experience as onos in ns1 clearly. Saving up all game only to be crushed quickly by 4-5 marines was beyond frustrating. A bot combat mode would avoid that terrible sinking feeling. "To devour effectively, you must aim for the feet"
Something tells me, everything I've described here already exists.
my 2 cents. I'm sure others have viable solutions.
I would be willing to give it a try, although I am far from the best NS2 player around so perhaps the job would be better suited for the more experienced.