tutorial and help system

INITIAL FIRST-RUN FIRST-LEVEL

Some more targeted notes for the immediate need for the demo. Make first load turn DLvl 1 into a prebuilt tutorial level forcing you to prove you know the basic systems:

basic movement - lateral movement, jump, crouch
finding a better light
sprinting
stuck & locked doors - kicking them down - it makes noise but it's faster than finding the key
igniting flames in the environment
practice throwing bricks at bottles - teaches inv management and per-hand throwing
dragging a sarco lid open and finding a melee weapon
shift dodges & running away - important to teach both sprinting and the need to flee
at the first down-staircase, go down to the deepest part of the crypts, find what you seek, and return to the surface with it

TAUGHT WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES OCCUR LATER

finding another firearm of the same type and unloading it
finding a one handed firearm and deciding if a one-handed weapon is better in order to hold a light in the other
explosives are also effective against many things
one of the best light-sources you can find is a dark lantern; you can attach that to your belt this way and use N/F etc

FOR FEATURES NOT YET MADE

journal & notes
findable DLvl maps
melee - possibly training dummy spawn on 2nd level of first run
game saves on down spiral stairs
ropes, climbing, clambering, crawling
hiding in furniture
barricading
unlocking & locking & staking doors
fire & smoke
stress & sanity - trade-off of lurking in darkness versus remaining in the light
wound care
armor
traps

NOTES

auto popup things F1 to read, maybe, and go to journal?

teach player

teach player with small bits at first then add it together
use skill gates

teach player using the world, not popups

tutorial adaptive help or tutorial mission & help system (just documentation maybe as part of a basic journal system)

initial stages of game will be tutorial and low-pressure, no time-limit and will have opportunities to teach basics. Area context-aware corner of screen notices of what to do, what keys. They should go away on their own if player leaves or gets past area. Only should appear first time through and game should ask first play if want tutorial messages.

Lecture hall - basic movement and interaction, conversation? Train station - inventory/equipment, looting containers, conversation? Train - armor, infiltration, conversation Forest - orientation, cautious pace, have a place to practice reloading and firing, melee Graveyard & church - carried light-sources and lighting candles etc in the environment, moving heavy objects Crypts starts the game proper

Inv and offhand is probably most necessary to teach Melee too Gun advanced reloading too

turn on/off tutorial messages, and reset ones seen in options

many of my tutorials can be inbetween playthroughs (to not overload player at start) game tries to guess who the player died and there's a segment at the beginning teaching that melee stealth deception imposter resource management conversation consumables encumbrance doors light an 'easy mode' could be a stripped back game with fewer systems to worry about don't tell them what to do, just give them the objective and light guidance

tutorial bird: Crow talking funny tts old game for tutorial bird (Sinister Names)

Maybe SCP narrative layer intro is playable tutorial?

RESET TUTORIALS button in settings

What do we learn from some big game tuts?

Create a narrative scenario in which teaching makes sense in the game world, try to incorporate anything you see or hear into the logic of the game world
Incorporate the first plot point into the tutorial
Reduce the possibilities of action to not overwhelm the player, and add mechanics one at a time
Let the player make mistakes in a safe environment first
Use as little text as possible and dub as much of it as possible - maximum of 7+-2 words on the screen at once, don't overwhelm the player
Determine which parts have to be explained and which the player can figure out by themselves - really short, just showing keys, saying nothing else, is probably enough?
Make it possible to skip or rush through parts of the tutorials, if player is experienced
Give instructions only when they are relevant
Passive messaging - In addition to avoiding interruption, passive communication can stay on the screen until the player takes the desired action.

OLD IDEA Opening mission is tutorial survival and reach surface, is not meant to be won, but could be with excellent play on subsequent tries. Or perhaps is foreshadowing and ends with a portcullis dropping or dangerous enemy appearing, screen cuts, then time rolled back to earlier and main game begins. Could also be a dream, hackneyed as that is. Dream of being trapped underground and wanting to escape. fails the start and end in the same place preference starts in media res for low attention span ppl could be flashbacks while on the train ride?

important to test the skill as a gate to proceeding to ensure its learned

Text motes in world like up_stairs ones are probably not as good as a canvas UI note on the top of the screen saying what to do next. Better still would be a decal or something very visible on a nearby surface showing the key to press (like the game Clockwise)

~~F1 like in desktop apps to overlay some basic help stuff and keys~~

Mooses2k / SecretHistories