Game needs a real tutorial

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by void2258, September 29, 2014.

  1. void2258

    void2258 Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    27
    The game needs a proper tutorial, not just a video. Many of the controls are non-obvious (for example, how do you get units into orbital transports?). It needs a step by step, in game, interactive introduction of all the major controls and keys for new or even veteran players. The video does not almost anything about actually playing and controlling the game.
    Bsport, Fr33Lancer, bradaz85 and 7 others like this.
  2. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    Getting units into orbital transports is self explanatory though, select transport, right click unit you want. Every game does that. :p

    But +1 we do need a proper tutorial to help players get the gist of the game.
    Remy561 and corteks like this.
  3. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,879
    Likes Received:
    7,438
    Agreed. Desperately needs a tutorial. A lot of the negative reviews are because of the lack of tutorial. I've seen several people say that they can't do ___, but they can.

    In the meantime, shameless plug: http://pamatches.com/tutorials/
  4. void2258

    void2258 Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    27
    Most games have you select the UNITS and move them to the transport. This game is backward, which is confusing and makes it harder to do since getting multiple units in there is difficult. Should work both ways.
    Krossmaskinen and mjshorty like this.
  5. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

    Messages:
    3,879
    Likes Received:
    3,597
    It does work both ways.
  6. void2258

    void2258 Member

    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    27
    No, it doesn't. Clicking on the transport and then the units work. If you try to click on the units and move them to the current ground contiguous marker for the transport they gather beneath it and don;t get in.
  7. takfloyd

    takfloyd Active Member

    Messages:
    202
    Likes Received:
    165
    It took me and my friends a good 10 minutes to figure out how to put units in Astreii. The last 5 of them were spent not knowing that we'd already picked up a unit, because we were trying to load a dozen of them into one ship expecting it to work. Pretty sure it doesn't say anywhere that you can only transport one at a time.

    It is not self explanatory at all, much like a lot of other stuff like teleporters and how energy works.

    It only takes a few hours to figure everything out, but I'm pretty sure those hours are frustrating enough to a lot of people that they stop playing forever.

    A proper tutorial should have been implemented at launch.
  8. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,050
    Likes Received:
    2,874
    Yes, I agr...

    ...rnnooo. That would have meant, at least some other stuff possibly not make it. I mean, they can make a tutorial anytime, and people have how-to's right now people can look up.

    I mean, it is difficult to look up stuff, but it is one-time-used-ever to have a Red Alert 3 style how-to-play tutorial, and tbh, the first time I played the Red Alert 3 tutorial was after beating one of the campaigns, because I was bored and wanted to see random junk. I only played it because I am one of those guys who "reads the back of potato chip bags and cereal boxes".
    radongog likes this.
  9. masterevar

    masterevar Active Member

    Messages:
    310
    Likes Received:
    100
    Yes, there should be a proper tutorial, even though i would have never gone through it, i´m the guy who doesn´t read them, i skip the tutorial, maybe read pop-up hints and loading-screen hints, then i just try to figure the whole game out myself. Works pretty well. After a week or so i tend to watch a youtube-vid to see if i missed any features or so.
  10. Krossmaskinen

    Krossmaskinen New Member

    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    2
    It took me a good while to get that metal is used for stuff produced in buildings, and energy is used when fabbers build buildings. And yes, the orbital transports were a tough one to figure out, as mentioned above you usually select a couple of units and send them in to the transport.

    I would've loved a tutorial on this.
  11. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    Fabbers and buildings both use metal and energy together when building something. :p
  12. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,946
    Likes Received:
    6,820
    I don't know why you would think you can load more than one unit into an astraeus. The thing is tiny.
    squishypon3 likes this.
  13. radongog

    radongog Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    638
    Likes Received:
    295
    I really would appreciate a tutorial mission in PA, you could do so many nice things there! :D
    And let it be voiced by John Patrick Lowrie! :eek:
    warrenkc and cdrkf like this.
  14. bluestrike01

    bluestrike01 Active Member

    Messages:
    258
    Likes Received:
    66
    I too find it difficult to know what is loaded and wich are still empty.
  15. MrTBSC

    MrTBSC Post Master General

    Messages:
    4,857
    Likes Received:
    1,823
    a tutorial and propper tooltips ...
  16. Krossmaskinen

    Krossmaskinen New Member

    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    2
    Do you mean when fabbers help factories, or in general, fabbers use metal and energy, and buildings too use metal and energy? In that case, that's something that needs to go in the tutorial :p

    Most games don't have relative size dropships, look at starcraft, doesn't look like you'd fit two siege tanks within one of those tiny ships :p I know this isn't starcraft, but it's the unit sizing that probably most people are used to. And PA doesn't feel like a game where you manage units one and one either.
  17. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

    Messages:
    2,641
    Likes Received:
    1,843
    I think that that part is one of the few things that is actually in the tutorial we have atm.
  18. masterevar

    masterevar Active Member

    Messages:
    310
    Likes Received:
    100
    I guess it´s easier to figure it out if one have watched the kickstarter-trailer. There you can see the astraeus picking up the commander.
  19. elkanfirst

    elkanfirst Active Member

    Messages:
    216
    Likes Received:
    117
    I still don't get it why it's so unrealistic asking for a game to be completed at launch.
  20. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

    Messages:
    7,971
    Likes Received:
    4,356
    Total Annihilation never had a tutorial.

Share This Page