Help Idea. Index.
Karrd
Join Date: 2005-02-26 Member: 42555Members
Join Date: 2005-02-26 Member: 42555Members
I already started to bring this up <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?s=7264466974929995776&showtopic=101325" target="_blank">here</a> , but realized this area would be the more appropriate place to discuss it.
The idea is to create an indexed database of short help articles that can be accessed while playing the game.
Basically, something like this should take relatively little work to put together but would go a long way towards helping new players would be an on hand help system for NS2. I'd rather not go into the many reasons why this or other things like it are needed, so let's try to limit discussion of just to how this might be done and avoid discussing the learning curve, training maps, active help systems or other means. There are or can be other topics for that.
The fundamental idea is to create an indexed database of short articles describing everything in NS2. This way, for example, if a newbie gets stomped and doesn’t know what just happened to him could be told to look up stomp. At their disposal would be short article describing stomp, with information about what it is (“stomp is a supporting attack that paralyzes a marine…”), who does it (“it is performed by an Onos… “), what is needed to do it (“after a second hive is up.”) and other useful information (“Jetpackers are immune to stomp”). By integrating this directly into the gameplay it would make it a whole lot easier for new players to get up to speed on all the background information.
That’s the bones of the idea. It should be simple (if not exactly quick) to implement.
A few more non-essential parts of the idea:
Dedicated key- I’d recommend creating a dedicated key rather than simply integrating it into the chat. Not only does this make it easier for experienced players to tell a newbie what to look up (because they won’t have to worry about triggering the article themselves) it would also allow the index to use partial words (such as com chair, comm, cc etc. ).
Semi-wiki it- After the game launches (or even during beta testing) you could allow players to submit articles for descriptions. Not directly to the help system, but perhaps to something of a wiki that a dedicated person (if not a paid person than it shouldn’t be hard to find a volunteer) can search through for appropriate articles. Then you could periodically update the help, something that shouldn’t be too hard with steam.
Anyways, have at it….
The idea is to create an indexed database of short help articles that can be accessed while playing the game.
Basically, something like this should take relatively little work to put together but would go a long way towards helping new players would be an on hand help system for NS2. I'd rather not go into the many reasons why this or other things like it are needed, so let's try to limit discussion of just to how this might be done and avoid discussing the learning curve, training maps, active help systems or other means. There are or can be other topics for that.
The fundamental idea is to create an indexed database of short articles describing everything in NS2. This way, for example, if a newbie gets stomped and doesn’t know what just happened to him could be told to look up stomp. At their disposal would be short article describing stomp, with information about what it is (“stomp is a supporting attack that paralyzes a marine…”), who does it (“it is performed by an Onos… “), what is needed to do it (“after a second hive is up.”) and other useful information (“Jetpackers are immune to stomp”). By integrating this directly into the gameplay it would make it a whole lot easier for new players to get up to speed on all the background information.
That’s the bones of the idea. It should be simple (if not exactly quick) to implement.
A few more non-essential parts of the idea:
Dedicated key- I’d recommend creating a dedicated key rather than simply integrating it into the chat. Not only does this make it easier for experienced players to tell a newbie what to look up (because they won’t have to worry about triggering the article themselves) it would also allow the index to use partial words (such as com chair, comm, cc etc. ).
Semi-wiki it- After the game launches (or even during beta testing) you could allow players to submit articles for descriptions. Not directly to the help system, but perhaps to something of a wiki that a dedicated person (if not a paid person than it shouldn’t be hard to find a volunteer) can search through for appropriate articles. Then you could periodically update the help, something that shouldn’t be too hard with steam.
Anyways, have at it….
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