I just convinced two work-friends to buy the game and join me, and seriously, it is difficult to become even slightly proficient in this game. Here's some challenges they faced, and I don't think these are unique among new players: 1. Mice that are missing scroll wheels makes zooming nigh-impossible. Mac users with mighty-mice are seriously disadvantaged here. 2. Pole lock is disabled by default. Navigating the camera around the planet left them very confused as to orientation. 3. Nobody is going to go into the keyboard settings to find out you can shift-click commands, build units, area-command, rally factories, assist, or anything. Without a guided walkthrough of what click-drag-key combos do what, they are going to be seriously handicapped. 4. Inviting a player to a game should not only pop open the invite on their screen but also let them know that the connection is in-progress so they don't get confused why they don't join in immediately 5. Economy basics. Streaming eco is pretty different to starcraft and red alert, enough so to lead to some additional confusion. Because the commander generates metal and energy, the metal points are not immediately and obviously used to increase your eco. In addition, the metal extractor building is on the far-right edge of the build bar.... the last place the native left-to-right users of the game will look at. 6. Discovering single-player does not have a full tech makes their acclimation to the game difficult. They hear stories of planet-smashing and orbital wars, but if they can't figure out how because they haven't unlocked it yet, it adds frustration. 7. It's not obvious that you can set up a private, you-versus-an-AI match with a full tech tree because the option is hidden inside "Multiplayer" (new player thinks 'I don't want to play against others') and then "Create Game" ('why would I create a multiplayer game when I don't want to play against other humans?') and THEN they will see that an AI is available. A 10-15 minute tutorial to guide the player through these basics might be helpful. Thoughts?
Isn't some of this stuff (though not all) in the new [PLAYER GUIDE] button in the main menu? Number three for sure. Probably point five too. Also, regarding 7, [AI SKIRMISH] is located under the [SINGLE PLAYER] button, eh? I like your other points, though I am not sure about 6. The first few moves is all about gathering new technologies. And the empty spots on the build bar in-game sort of indicate that more stuff may still be coming. A scripted tutorial would be best of course. That will take a bit of work though, I think.
I know what you mean, i remember the first time i played pa and there was only that youtube video telling me to "Annihilate Everything mohahaha" T_T, so yea no help at all, had to start do ai battle and what not and i didn't know half of what i can do... only recently this short player guide came out but it still lacks info, and i think it should be like old rts games were you actually had to do something in the tutorial...
The game has always n eeded a good, interactive tutorial. But saying that, I'd like to think that people are capable of seeking out the information they need in order to learn the game. But I also know that I will play a game for 5 or 10 minutes and if the UI pisses me off, or something else for that matter, I'll stop playing and play something else. So, lack of tutorial might have lost PA more players than the poor reviews...
I totally agree. A month ago or so I was wondering if I could make an interactive tutorial server modification. I think it is probably possible to do these things for an interactive tutorial via modding: - show interactive "okay now do this" messages. Even video based if you have a video - show 3D previews of structures where the player is supposed to place them - shows other sorts of effects to mark areas. - react to all sorts of alerts "oh you just scouted air, now do xyz" - spawn units and do something when they die - pause the game to give the player time to read info and react to stuff - mark UI elements. So the player would be asked to place a mex, see a 3D preview AND a red marker on the mex button. What cannot be done is control the AI in any way apart from switching it on and off. I think I can imagine a mod that basically takes the player at the hand it walks them through a 1vs1 vs the AI step by step and have them win vs the absurd AI. Another training scenario would involve a larger game where the player is guided through an interplanetary vs AI game that ends in him making an annihilazor or similar. Such a mod could be played in two ways: - we setup normal public servers that have a mod that redirects new players to a custom server that has the modification. - we provide an installer that modifies the local game files of the player. To get the back the player has to validate their game. I think it is obvious both these ways have issues and that such a mod would be substantial work. More work than I was willing to put, as I realized it got bigger and bigger the more I worked on it. Is anybody else interesting into making this kind of thing? Maybe as a group we could do this without going insane on the work. Stuff that can be done in separate: - design a system that allows to write "script" files to show messages, react to alerts, pause the game, trigger the preview of ingame effects etc. The core of what defines the whole thing. - work on the installer/the system to setup proxy playfab servers - work on developing the effects definitions to preview buildings. I made a thread about this a while ago that ended with "very likely possible". - work on thinking up the exact scenarios to be played. What do we actually need to tell players? - work on making fancy video messages to be used to inform the player on what to do - probably more I cant think of right now.
Occasionally I see players struggling and want to make an ingame help mod that will do things like see a unit button being clicked a lot and suggest shift-click or continuous build. The problem is the people we need to reach probably don't know about mods and the people who know about mods probably don't need as much help.
I am going to create my advanced camera controls tutorial once my exams are over (expect it by the end of may -this time I mean it).
Well my last exam is 18th of May so I have the rest of that month to create a video with high production quality which can hopefully be added into the game. I think 13 days is enough to do that
True, although maybe you want to give yourself a few days just to chill, maybe get a few beers in Exams can be stressful
Quite so, and it is for this reason that I reluctantly will be withdrawing from PA to a certain extent for the coming months until my exams are over. That'll mean less participation in esports events and fewer uploads on my youtube. However I will try to remain on the forums in a good capacity.
I agree with everything except number 1. If you are even remotely into gaming having a mouse without a scroll wheel is a stupid idea. Tell your friend to go out a buy a new mouse for $20. Scroll wheels on mice have been the standard since like the late 90s.
A good tutorial is needed asap. Totally agree with @cola_colin. Looking forward to that tutorial @wpmarshall, I've only just started using the free camera etc. Hard to learn!
