Clarify gameplay for new players

[pennomi]

As is the problem with a lot of rpgs (I'm looking at you, nethack) Flare can be a little bit intimidating to the new player. I recently watched a video playthrough by a new player who struggled completely with the game, for a couple of reasons, but mostly because he completely missed the powers menu. (Also, the directions to the goblins encampment are really ambiguous)

I'm thinking of solving this in a few different ways.

First off, I noticed that our indicators on the actionbar are not obvious enough. The little yellow border around the four menu icons could possibly flash, or better yet, those icons could be converted into a flashing versions. Also, the indicators should always be active if there are unspent points in the character/powers menus. I think the log and inventory indicators behave fine as is.

Secondly, we could have some sort of (optional?) tutorial messages for new players. Maybe some events that trigger once per game? Maybe a tutorial level or NPC? Maybe there could be NPC "hint statues" in each town that cycle through keyboard shortcuts and hints that can be used throughout the game.

Also, I definitely think issue #732 will help new players immensely.

[stefanbeller]

I persuaded @jtoelke yesterday to playtest current master branch.

And one piece of criticism was to not have enough story as well in the starting place. Maybe we could add 2-3 more NPC which just tell a little about the background story (Why are we here? Where am I? What is mankind supposed to be doing?)

Also finding the way to the river encampment is not easy. We could refactor the map a little or make the instructions where to find it more clear. ("Just follow the river up north, If you are weak, stay on the west side of the river")

[makrohn]

I definitely remember not being able to find the goblin encampment. I thought I'd found it in Frontier Plains.

I'd be happy to work on a couple npcs, as I did with my own mod, to explain some sort of backstory. If we decided to incorporate my own mod into frontier, we could have the hero be one of Altea's refugees, or a member of the Raven Co. If the former, then after finding Altea's amulet, she could be tasked by Altea with helping Martigan clear out the goblin encampment and restoring peace to the land. If the latter, hey, nothing says "mercenary" like scouring the land for treasure. Either way, we might want to improve the horrible recolors I did for their sprites, and maybe substitute in the Kickstarter portraits.

[clintbellanger]

Note, let's not focus too much on the current NPCs. It's very likely that every current map, NPC, quest, etc. will be replaced.

[pennomi]

Ah, right. I probably shouldn't have brought up plot difficulties, as those will be completely different for Flare the game. Either way, I think that a more visible "needs attention" indicator on the four menu icons is pretty important.

What do you all think, is flashing too annoying? Especially if players wanted to "save up" points in their power menu to buy higher level stuff later on? To me, it would probably be okay to let the indicators flash.

[clintbellanger]

I'll design something for the menu indicators.

The Diablo 3 menu buttons have a pulsating glow but it's easy to miss.

I'll try to create a large red button-like exclamation point that sits on top of (not covering; a few pixels above) the menu buttons, especially to indicate when there are points to spend.

[dorkster]

I just finished implementing flashing, and I don't find it annoying at all (maybe it's still not noticeable enough?). For people that want to save up points, opening the powers menu once will dismiss the "needs attention" status for that icon.

[pennomi]

I still think we should change the behavior of dismissing those notifications to if there's unspent points, it's always flashing.

[stefanbeller]

For flare game a new campaign/mod is being planned, which should address some of the usability issues. Also the menus draw attention by now, thanks to @dorkster