Can We Make Better Tutorials for Complex Games?

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...

Richard

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.

Björn Kaidel

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.

Matt Hauke

my favorite moment in this video 16:13

B

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

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.

Tim Rattray

Yeah, “conferring” maybe?

Brian M

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

Ethan LP

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.

Anhel

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...”

SirCalalot