Development Blog Update - Unknown Worlds Podcast #17
Max
Technical Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment Join Date: 2002-03-15 Member: 318Super Administrators, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts, Future Perfect Developer
Technical Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment Join Date: 2002-03-15 Member: 318Super Administrators, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts, Future Perfect Developer
Comments
Looking forward to next week's podcast.
The tutorial aspect of the game (whether it is in or outside of the gameplay) would obviously a key aspect. The main problem with new players in NS1 was the fact that people would get in the commander chair and they would not know what to do. Even if there was some sort of 'training' session I think it would help out immensely with new players.
I think a tutorial in the game would be the best possible solution. My person feeling is that tutorials that are not happening while the game is going takes you out of the game world. For instance, take World Of Warcraft. Now besides the many flaws the game has the main problem with it is that when you are trying to explore or do any quests you just always have thotbott open with it. Now of course if you look at the quest log they will give a short description but once you leave the actual game play I feel that the immersion of the game is taken away.
Charlie: Welcome to Unknown Worlds podcast number 17. Today is Friday February 8th and this is Charlie and with me is Max
Max: Hi. We’re gonna keep this one a little short, because we are super busy
Charlie: We’re on fire!
Max: We are. [inaudible] and we have GDC coming up the week after next week I guess.
Charlie: Yep. That’s the Games Developers’ Conference where over 10,000 game developers descend upon downtown San Francisco and spend a week attending lectures and going to parties and schmoosing with all the various game industry people. Actually this is my 10th year – I can’t believe it. And it’s on of my favorite times of the year, I have to say, though every year I get stressed up about it. This year I think, I don’t know; maybe I’ll be less stressed.
Max: We don’t really have a reason to be stressed.
Charlie: That’s true
Max: Well GDC is traditionally a place where you can go and learn stuff, but there is also a lot of business that goes down.
Charlie: right. But I always feel like everyone is working on their cool game and I’m struggling with NS 2. I guess this year, we actually have… there is enough [inaudible]
Max: there is enough
Charlie: thee is enough stuff I mean I can confidently say: “we are building NS2,†which I probably couldn’t say last year.
Max: Yep
Charlie: We are kicking butt. We have a lot of cool stuff to announce pretty soon here, but not this week unfortunately. So, we’re going to keep this one short. Game Developers’ Conference coming up real soon. You want to talk about the Norwegians?
Max: Sure. We can’t say too much about it, but something that people who are interested in independent development might [inaudible] about. You know, we don’t have a lot of resources, so one thing we’re doing is working with a group of students in Norway, who are working on a project that we are not ready to announce. But as part of their senior thesis.
Charlie: Right
Max: So that’s pretty fun and good to have. [?] See what they do
Charlie: Yeah. I hope that they can do well with just the spec that we showed them.
Max: Yeah
Charlie: ‘Cause we don’t really have a lot of time to engage them in long conversations about it. They seem pretty excited about it. Hopefully they’ll just go.
Max: So that’s fun. And we’re actually thinking about maybe trying to work with some interns locally as well.
Charlie: Programmers? Is that what you were talking about before?
Max: Uh, I was thinking about it, but…
Charlie: OK.
Max: Or artists or…
Charlie: We definitely have a few great intern artists lined up who are ready as soon as we get our office, which looks like, I think it’s going to be March 1st. But we don’t know. Yeah, so do you want to talk about some other big stuff before?
Max: No
Charlie: No? OK. Well, we are working on some other big stuff, which we will announce in a week or two – NS2 related of course, but pretty exciting stuff. Max has been programming his [butt] off
Max: is that your reference to Garry?
Charlie: I don’t know. Is that what he says?
Max: Not exactly like that, but
Charlie: Oh yeah. Right. All I hear is the clicking of keys from Max’s corner. And he’s going deep with this. It’s pretty awesome to watch. So we will talk about that stuff soon. But stuff we can talk about this week: you want to talk about the NS2 tutorial?
Max: Sure. There was a big thread on the forums about tutorials and whether or not we should have one in Natural Selections 2
Charlie: started by Naggy
Max: what that might look like.
Charlie: Oh this is an old thread. Oh wait no, no it isn’t. It was just created, I just noticed – like a month ago. I just saw it for the first time. So I think we actually have a lot to talk about the tutorial. And as we were preparing for the podcast, we realized it’s kind of a difficult issue.
Max: We’ve talked in previous podcasts, I think it was 5th podcast, the concept of bringing a lot of guidance into the game. I think we talked about a sort of active objective or dynamic objective kind of system, which would help guide you and give you an idea of what you should be doing, if you don’t have any idea.
Charlie: Right
Max: Well Natural Selection 1 has a little bit of
Charlie: it does?
Max: The hivemind. I guess the only thing it tells you is, if you don’t have a gorge, it tells you that, right?
Charlie: Right. It does a few of the lines, that’s true.
Max: So that kind of thing
Charlie: It actually says “builder†instead of gorge, which is really embarrassing.
Max: [inaudible] So, that kind of thing, maybe on a more expanded scale.
Charlie: Right. Well, i think we talked about the waypoints showing you the exact route instead of just a blinking destination dot.
Max: That would potentially help you with navigation and learning the maps.
Charlie: But i guess what we’re trying to say is: we don’t know about a tutorial but we know that we want the game to teach you a lot more as you’re playing and be a lot more helpful and polite.
Max: Oh yeah. So i think that both of us agree that in an ideal world there would be no tutorial, right?
Charlie: It’s so weird. In an ideal world you wouldn’t need one, but you would have one anyways, just in case people wanted it.
Max: I guess
Charlie: Ideal ideal: we have millions of dollars, someone else is going to do the work, it’s going to take no time.
Max: I don’t think you’d want it.
Charlie: You don’t think you’d want it?
Max: If you don’t need it, there is no reason to have it.
Charlie: It seem like… you can see we keep going back and forth on this – there is some, I can see
Max: [inaudible] It’s not an ideal world.
Charlie: Ok.
Max: But that would be the ideal, if you could just learn everything in the game. Or I guess ideal would be: everything would be immediately obvious. But yeah, if the game could dole out the information when you need it.
Charlie: I think ideally we wouldn’t need it, but I think a tutorial could be something really cool if it gives you back story information
Max: I thought that was an interesting idea. Because it’s a multiplayer only game, the back-story…
Charlie: How do you teach the back-story?
Max: … comes from people who dig through the stuff posted on our website or…
Charlie: … or the inflection on someone’s voice when they say something [Or does that mean that they are annoyed with that person?] There are hints – map names, map readmes – there are hints all over the place, but that doesn’t really give you a story.
Max: But a tutorial would potentially give us an opportunity to introduce that story, maybe introduce a character or two.
Charlie: Right. What happened in Natural Selection 1 and what was the outcome and how much time has passed? Give you an idea of what to prepare for.
Max: So we like that idea. Whether or not we do that, will probably come down to the matter of resources.
Charlie: The game design will be such that –we’re planning on not needing a tutorial to learn the game.
Max: Right.
Charlie: Unlike NS where I knew that we needed tutorial and we just didn’t have enough time to even start one and it’s kind of a miracle that anyone is playing at all –It’s like trial by fire – but someone’s playing.
Max: I think people are capable of learning.
Charlie: Of course, but it’s so brutal watching someone for the first time! It just kills me!
Max: It’s painful for you to watch them,
Charlie: No, it’s painful for other people – I’ve noticed it. Bob – I just made him play. He was only playing because I was watching. If I wasn’t he would have gone.
Max: So yeah. We want to ease the player in. So I guess we still don’t know if there is going to be a tutorial.
Charlie: I think also – not to beat a dead horse – but theoretically people could always say, the designer could say: “we can put in more difficult, because they will teach us during the tutorial.†But I think that, especially in an office environment or in a LAN café, or some place, people are not going to run the tutorial. So I think using that as an argument doesn’t work.
Max: If you put it in the manual, then it’s OK, you can do whatever you want. That’s a pretty weak argument, because nobody wants to read the manual. Reading manuals is not fun.
Charlie: Right. You read the manual after you’ve decided you love the game and you want to learn every possible detail about it.
Max: Maybe.
Charlie: That’s what I do with the manuals.
Max: I never read the manual.
Charlie: I have.
Max: [inaudible] types of people in this world.
... Yeah, transcript quality has fallen over past few podcasts - i've been busy with other stuff. Hopefully i'll finish this transcript tonight... As always, if you have any corrections or additions, send me a PM.
If the player is wondering around aimlessly and get lost, they hit F1 and directs them straight back to the action, or to a dropped item, or if they have a welder it directs them to a damaged building, damaged marine.... etc
or perhaps it just flags that player so the commander knows to pay special attention? or both
A simple 'example match' between two players (visually show where you start in the map, and then where the enemy base is) and what you need to do etc.
Perhaps an example video showing off each item and how they work?
Those sorts of things may be more useful, if someone knows how to do something, but not necessarily how to use another.
Only the most analytical players will perform a tutorial at all before playing. The issue with this is that the people who don't fall into this category are the people who will also quit the game before giving it a fair chance. For this reason, I think a tutorial would be insufficient.
Some people are willing to dedicate massive amounts of conscious thought to a game, and others just aren't. NS has no problem accumulating the first type - the second is who you ought to be focused on, and I think (like some other posters) that a very robust dynamic help system is the most efficient way to accomplish that, under the assumption that you don't want to remove the elements of gameplay which give NS the complexity that holds the interest of the first type.
With that said, dynamic help is only a band-aid on a broken leg. Once it gives a player a chance to see how great a deep and complex game is, hopefully they'll want to understand it better, which is where I see a tutorial fitting in.
If the player is wondering around aimlessly and get lost, they hit F1 and directs them straight back to the action, or to a dropped item, or if they have a welder it directs them to a damaged building, damaged marine.... etc
or perhaps it just flags that player so the commander knows to pay special attention? or both<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That sounds like way too much work for something that could be done so easily. All you really need is a voice over and pop up boxes like they have in BF2. And have a tick box in the options that lets you turn help off.
I wanna know more about the NS background tho!
I think both Dynamic Help and a Tutorial might be a good idea, if done right. But I think that they should only cover the basic stuff to get people playing, otherwise it would serve little than material for people that already know and love the game.
A lot of people that play multiplayer games don't care about storyline, because it does not add anything to gameplay.
Thus adding storyline might have a repelling effect on the tutorial.
Nice to hear you got some interesting stuff coming up, and hope your work with the Norwegians go well.
Now, into business we delve; I'm grateful for the insight about the tutorial and I'm glad you guys are thinking about how to improve on it. The way point system would help a lot. Locating certain parts of the map when people are spamming things in chat like 'POWER CORE POWER CORE' can get pretty frustrating at times..
I can see what you guys mean by saying that the tutorial Isn't really needed, but if you think about it there will <i>always </i>be people who need help with something in the game, be it the actual game play or the way the game works. My original insight on the tutorial was something along the lines of 'linear game techniques 101 with a side of storyline'. That would involve doing all the things that a player would come across in the game. Now, I know you guys will be having the pop ups to explain a lot of things, but I'm not sure if the text alone will get it through to some people. Some things are only learned whilst playing, but at the same time some are only learned by investing time and effort (eg. Bunny hopping/turning mid-leap). This could be countered with videos as have been already suggested, but videos alone would only teach you so much. Even if a tutorial was put in, it wouldn't have to be frustratingly long. Maybe you could get the Norwegian guys to do something on the tutorial for one of their assignments (if they aren't already..)
So long as the player knows how to use what they are given they will grow. This obviously applies to newer players who have no idea on what they are doing due to the fact that it becomes more frustrating as they take longer to pick it up. The thing that makes watching newer people play 'brutal' is due to the fact that the game is so different from your average FPS. This can obviously be seen on the Kharaa team as you're forced to melee, which to most is unusual. What's also brutal about watching new players is that they are forced into a community in which being new is a bad thing (noob + commander = <!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->rage<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->). Obviously they must learn on the go. When you guys were talking about the manual side of things, I'm not sure if that would apply to something like NS2, which<i> won't</i> have a singleplayer campaign. Sure, I wouldn't read a manual if I was going to play a game that tells me what to do while I'm playing anyways, but to put it to practice in a multiplayer-only environment It's a lot harder because you can't force the player to do said thing at said time.
All in all, I'm gratetful for the feedback on the tutorial. Lookin forward to the weeks ahead!
I wouldnt abandon dynamic help, a mini video tutorial at the start of said map sounds good look at tf2
but also the stock html document tutorial could easly be presented into a slide show on the installer.
i also like the F1 idea gg skorp
It could go like <i>"Did you know that with a welder you can repair your teammates armor? [click here]" </i>and when you click on the button a small slideshow pops up with one marine welding another and explaining why this is a good thing to do.
Maybe you could even track what a certain player is doing and in case he welds his teammates constantly this particular hint would not show up again.
Of course there should be an option to turn this feature off. And watching a micro-tutorial should not interfere with what you are doing (so that while you watch the small welder-slideshow you are still connecting to the server and loose no time by watching it).
Oh and the hints should be updated from a central server whenever a player starts NS2 (without having to manually download and install them). Then you could even display news in this boxes like
- CAL finals tonight on this HLTV [click to bookmark]
or
- the most viewed threads in the official NS forum this week "(1)How to blink properly" "(2)Will there be a Wii version", etc.
That would be really cool and help to get all the player into the community. You could cooperate with certain trusted fansites to display News to players who don't speak English.
Oh and the German version of this podcast is ready: <a href="http://www.lerk.de/2008/02/die-story-von-natural-selection/" target="_blank">http://www.lerk.de/2008/02/die-story-von-natural-selection/</a>
Next thing i know i'm putting Armory and infantry things like that and they Vote me out. yet nobody wanted to become Commander. After that we lost.
I tried.
Next thing i know i'm putting Armory and infantry things like that and they Vote me out. yet nobody wanted to become Commander. After that we lost.
I tried.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think brucey presents us with a rare opportunity here, being that this is his first time playing NS1, I would love to hear in great detail from beginning to end what his experience was like for him without us being critical of it. It might give us some incredible insights into what NS2 can offer to be a better experience for someone like brucey.
students make excelent slave labour currently im a work placement student (or intern in the US). But i do ecological assessments for a consultancy firm. I do it as a volenteer to get the magic years work exp demanded by future jobs. But i recon the company i work for has probs made a more than 5k out having me on board so they offered me apost graduation job. I would definatly recommend getting an intern aslong as u a are resonably good at assessing peoples motivations.
Tutorials - i never read manuals or play tutorials unless i get really stuck playing a game, or im uber interested in details. I think the only game ive ever really needed the manual for is X3.
One thing that might be good is a community based peer submited manual. Like if u created an area for manual documents and admined it players could post their own game guides. I often use these for more complex games Like x3 or infact ns1 as they have tried and tested info in them and they are good on detail cos time and money isnt the issue. If you created a page subdivided it in to sections for - basic movements - teams - stratergys - comm stratergys etc im sure the community would send in loads of PDF game guides, then u cud just filter out the confusing stuff and allow new gamers to use them.
P.S. i assume the siren in the back ground was the GDC police commin to bust yo unorthadox programing asses for pushing the boundarues of game development too far?
I agree with that - and would also like know brucey's reaction to NS1. There is a thread with similar topic: "<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=103049" target="_blank">Why do your friends not like NS1?</a>"
Charlie mentioned that NS1 did need a tutorial and they're aware of the learning curve problem. I think it's a good goal to <i>try</i> making NS2 so it doesn't need a tutorial. If you achieve it: great!
I think making the alien side intuitive to play might be very difficult - it's just too different from every FPS most people ever played. The commander mode is something people may be familiar with from RTS games - but here the comm is ordering and affecting the game of real people.
Maybe NS2 doesn't need a tutorial and you can just let people learn by playing using some in-game tools. They can discover what works and what doesn't through trial and error (Things like: as a skulk running straight at a marine is a bad idea) - but in the end that would be extremely annoying in my opinion. Player-created NS2 guides with tips on how to play the game more effectively will probably be created eventually, but i think a set of instructions explaining uniqueness of alien play style and commander's role should be in the game when it ships.
nice. also these tutorials can be created before the game is polished and released meaning its the perfect advertising campaign at the same time <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
lets get a sub forum dedicated to tips, tricks, and how to get the best use of each alien/item/situation <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
dude, that's kinda the opposite.
<!--QuoteBegin-dynamic+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dynamic)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
so a 'dynamic help' system would be closer to tooltips, but more like.. automatically generated instructions / automatically recalled information, based on the situation the player is in.
<!--quoteo(post=1670024:date=Feb 9 2008, 07:58 PM:name=schkorpio)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(schkorpio @ Feb 9 2008, 07:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670024"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->or perhaps it just flags that player so the commander knows to pay special attention? or both<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hmm, isn't it sorta the same as a 'give me a waypoint' command then?
<!--quoteo(post=1670041:date=Feb 10 2008, 07:06 AM:name=BCSeph)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BCSeph @ Feb 10 2008, 07:06 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670041"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->A simple video of a run-through of the basics wont be too hard to make. I think it will be worth it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah i like the video idea.
i still like the tutorial idea though too..
<!--quoteo(post=1670068:date=Feb 10 2008, 08:21 PM:name=Testosteron)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Testosteron @ Feb 10 2008, 08:21 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670068"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Or you could place hints whenever there is <i>boring-time/idle-time</i> (like connecting to a server, map change or while you're browsing through the server list).
It could go like <i>"Did you know that with a welder you can repair your teammates armor? [click here]" </i>and when you click on the button a small slideshow pops up with one marine welding another and explaining why this is a good thing to do.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
kinda like 'tip of the day'? i like it.
though it's not intrusive to the actual game, and it is something you -choose- to click, so it doesn't really need to be disabled..
but tracking what the user does, and disabling those tips, would be quite convenient; allows them to get the greater range of tips.
as for the auto-updating of hints, i think that could be done with steam's updating service
the news idea might be pretty nice, too. though i hope it's context sensitive.. i don't wanna hear about a polish NS event in perth australia...
<!--quoteo(post=1670091:date=Feb 11 2008, 06:26 AM:name=CanadianWolverine)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CanadianWolverine @ Feb 11 2008, 06:26 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670091"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think brucey presents us with a rare opportunity here, being that this is his first time playing NS1, I would love to hear in great detail from beginning to end what his experience was like for him without us being critical of it. It might give us some incredible insights into what NS2 can offer to be a better experience for someone like brucey.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
wow.. yeah. that'd actually be really helpful.
<!--quoteo(post=1670094:date=Feb 11 2008, 06:33 AM:name=invader Zim)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(invader Zim @ Feb 11 2008, 06:33 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670094"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->One thing that might be good is a community based peer submited manual. Like if u created an area for manual documents and admined it players could post their own game guides. I often use these for more complex games Like x3 or infact ns1 as they have tried and tested info in them and they are good on detail cos time and money isnt the issue. If you created a page subdivided it in to sections for - basic movements - teams - stratergys - comm stratergys etc im sure the community would send in loads of PDF game guides, then u cud just filter out the confusing stuff and allow new gamers to use them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
though i do like this idea...
<!--quoteo(post=1670099:date=Feb 11 2008, 08:19 AM:name=afratnikov)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(afratnikov @ Feb 11 2008, 08:19 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670099"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Player-created NS2 guides with tips on how to play the game more effectively will probably be created eventually,<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
but the thing is; few people actually do, and no one should ever have to, search for and read guides to play a game
<!--quoteo(post=1670099:date=Feb 11 2008, 08:19 AM:name=afratnikov)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(afratnikov @ Feb 11 2008, 08:19 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670099"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->but i think a set of instructions explaining uniqueness of alien play style and commander's role should be in the game when it ships.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
agreed. and there's plenty of ways they could do that
<!--quoteo(post=1670099:date=Feb 11 2008, 08:19 AM:name=afratnikov)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(afratnikov @ Feb 11 2008, 08:19 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1670099"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Maybe NS2 doesn't need a tutorial and you can just let people learn by playing using some in-game tools.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
what do you mean by this?
As someone who has recently trying to 'teach' NS to some of my friends, Id like to dump some ideas into this post.
First, new players should start as the marines (as they are more understandably easier to relate to for most players), so lets assume that players _start_ as marines. I dont think this is unreasonable for people who are at the 'needing a tutorial' stage.
There is already an inbuilt help system which is the commander who sets orders for marines to follow. Let's also consider the recent mention of the addition of the squads which potentially adds another place where orders can be issued to new players. So lets just imagine how that would work....
Player joins game and is asked to select their level of 'skill'. New player picks 'recruit' and enters the game and is assigned to a squad.
"Use [key] to view map. Join your squad at the glowing point on the map..."
Commander picks the squad and clicks on a res point (or drops a 'secure location' marker in a room, or a 'destroy alien infestation', basically picks from a number of 'meta actions').
Squad members get a marker on the map and scrolling explanation of the order (varies by 'skill' level').
The squad leader picks a route to the destination from his map and issues "Follow me!". The squad commander notices that a newbie player has rolled up so he brings up the squad HUD, assigns the new player to 'fireteam-1' (his team) and clicks <marine-4> <follow><cover> <marine-1> to order the new player to follow him and cover his back.
The squad heads out 1/2 way to the res point, the squad commander hears something ahead and hits the '<hold>' hotkey. He brings up the HUD menu and clicks <fireteam-1> <cover> then <fireteam-2> <advance to> (his aim point lets him place the waypoint for the both teams).
Our newbie player gets a '<hold>' order flash on his HUD and sees a <cover> order flash along with a waypoint maker. He turns and faces that position as the 2nd team move in.
Two skulks drop down onto the 2nd team, so the 1st team open up and take them out.
The squad commander flashes <clear> and they move on.
Once they are at the waypoint the Squad Leader selects the whole squad and hits <defend>. The squad all get some 'cash/points' for doing the commanders order (see below). The commander drops the res tower.
The squad leader requests a comminications uplink so that the room coordinates can be locked into the dropship teleporter (to respawn marines here). The commander clicks on the room's terminal point and the squad leader gets an uplink point.
The squad leader puts team-2 on <build> and team-1 on <defend>. He then walks over to the terminal point and jacks in. That brings up the map and the squadleader enables this as a spawn point and selects it as the default respawn for his squad.
While jacked into the command uplink, the squadleader notices that there is movement heading his way, so he closes the outer hallway doors (from the command interface) and then drops back to the squad menu.
Our newbie player hears <incoming> and a red waypoint appears on the just closed door. Our new player runs behind some cover and aims at the door....
Ok, so that was way more micro management than you'd probably need, but the idea is that rather than have 1 commander and everyone else being a grunt, you could have 1 commander, N squad leaders and everyone else being a grunt (or even add fire-team leaders). Commander gives meta orders which other _humans_ break down into more simplistic steps.
Now why would people do this? Well you'd have to reward them for it. Give the ability to customise weapons to people who achieve commanders orders. Give marines who have been given 'cover' orders a bonus to damage if they arent moving. Give marines given an advance order a speed increase. Give marines given a cover order 'motion tracking' in a radius around that 'cover waypoint'.
'Pay' humans in game for issuing and following orders ingame and make those orders able to be broken down and explained (with ingame help) to new players.
*shrugs* probably wont work..... but I figured id float it..
------------
Re: marine squads and spawning with your squad.
Often I like to try and stealth alone away to try and get a phase gate near a hive or something. Just FYI.
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Re: Tutorials
I think fan's would love to make tutorial movies and lessons! We are all painfully addicted... use that!!
Id rather the core programmers time was spent on something like putting BOTs into the system. Bots are _great_ for making CS maps (I really miss them for DOD maps) and it allows people to 'play' single player... Even just alien bots would be useful.
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Re: Help for new players...
There are some things that could be _great_ for making the game easier for players (new and old).
Number one would probably be to use _consistent_ names for the hives and maps... (North/South/East/West, Upper/Lower/Port/Starboard/Fore/Aft). Make all 'Engineering' areas look recognizably like engine rooms (and put in labels and tags in surrounding rooms and halls).
Make a consistent set of models for some of this so that after playing 3 maps of NS2 you _understand_ what "head to Port Engineroom" means without scanning the whole map for some weirdly named place.
In many maps, I still have to bring up the map to find where the comm just told me to go. The map has a top and bottom, use that... make all the 'bottom' rooms 'aft'. Always!
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Re: Comm dropping weapons
Ive seen a few games saved by the comm dropping a couple of HMG's so I dont think you want to take that way.
Also you _dont_ want to have 'killing' being the thing that provides marines with 'cash' to buy weapons (good players will starve new players of 'cash' so they wont learn).
I think you want to _reward_ people for following the commanders orders, so 'brownie' points for doing a commanders orders, this helps teamplay, makes the commanders orders followed and lets people who 'help' the commander get the new toys, not Mr Leet Shooter.
You'd need to make the reward based on the 'work' (to stop the comm dropping 100 'goto' waypoints in spawn to be quickly collected) (distance moved, buildings built, length of time room defended/aliens killed).
Or better yet dont make doing things cash to purchase, but rather make it how far in front of the queue you are.
I would vote against an ingame tutorial mode.
I realize this is very difficult to do ... and could eat up a whole dev team.
I would vote FOR video tutorials.
I would vote FOR spawn tips (little tips that show up while you are waiting to spawn) that would be geared towards
what side you are playing.
+ Skulks should use the walls ceilings etc to initiate attacks...they do best using surprise, agility, and up close.
+ Marines should crouch for better accuracy...
But most of all I would like to see gameplay elements simplified
so things are easier to be picked up on.
I don't know
etc<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->As you say, far too much micromanagement. 3-4 main orders to the marines in the area should be sufficient and also not overly complicated.
1-2 min MAX