Having a tutorial "mission" for new players to play through would be highly beneficial to PA. It would allow new players to grasp some of the key concepts of PA in an interactive manner, and if done correctly could be fun to play as well. Not only could it be fun, and quite informative for new players, but a pre-programmed tutorial "mission" could serve as a good basis for people wanting to make a campaign, and would probably require an advanced system editor, both features that would do the game a lot of good in the long run.
Nah, let them learn by geting rekt bi teh l33t mastr rase. Great idea! Although It's probably best to just have a normal game with dumb AI and tooltips so we don't have the "boring-***-ultra-slow-zzz" type of tutorial.
That may be true, depending on how someone makes the tutorial, but having a pre-programmed "mission" would allow people to mod in their own "mission" if they want.
Trying to understand PA through tooltips would be like trying to learn to fly a F-22 Raptor fighter through tooltips. Aside from that, emralids makes a good point about needing campaign support for the modders anyway.
I don't think anyone opposes this idea. I just think that it's a low priority compared to other features, and shouldn't be in the game until after 1.0. Maybe even after a few major versions as we'll be missing some pretty big features in 1.0.
I respectfully beg to differ. We were all new to this style of RTS once and, as they say, "There's no second chance to make a first impression" once PA goes gold. If we want a new generation of players to be entranced by depth and grand scope that PA holds and to help form a vibrant and growing PA community, we're going to need to introduce them to things gently instead of dropping them into the deep end of the pool. If anything, I would say that a well thought out and welcoming tutorial is the single most crucial remaining feature that Uber could produce for the 1.0 release.
Completely agree, a tutorial available when mostly everyone already got the basics is useless. Making an awesome game and having new players giving up because of lack of directions would be shameful. The sooner the better (for the community as a whole)
I disagree with the idea of creating a "mission" tutorial. Within multiplayer-focused games, scripted tutorials are a thing largely endemic to AAA titles, which generally have full campaigns anyways. Open source games almost never have scripted tutorials. Indie games generally have tutorial-esque sections only if they focus on a single-player campaign. Some games use video tutorials instead. Generally speaking, I think video tutorials can often be more direct, faster, and contain more information than similar scripted tutorials, but I don't have a lot to back that up. Think about this, what would an NS2 scripted tutorial have to contain in order to communicate the basic information contained in their videos? What would a PA tutorial have to contain? How many tasks would the player have to complete? Can it be completed in 15-20 minutes? If it cannot, can you save your progress within the tutorial? This can quickly turn into a very difficult task coding-wise in addition to design-wise. Even if a a good video tutorial might not be as effective as a good scripted tutorial (and I am not sure that is the case), scripted tutorials have more difficult constraints and considerations. Explaining the game to the player using actual words and presentation may require significant thought design-wise, but isn't a problem coding wise, and certain design constraints are relaxed significantly.
This game is just to complex (its an RTS, some dont even understand basics of an RTS) it needs a tutorial teaching basics of moving armies, constructing buildings then specifics with PA like its econ and planets. Ive had to teach allies the bear basics of the game since the video tutorial didnt really teach them what they needed to know
A lot of new players also don't seem to grasp the concept of scale. They come into the game building one, maybe two factories, don't expand, and then wonder where you got all of your units from.
I'm sorry but millennia of the science of education contradicts this. The words of the ancient Chinese philosopher Xunzi (310BC - 237BC) survive to this day poetically rendered as: "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." It's beyond dispute: people learn by doing. It need not be complex; the TA introductory missions were simple but instructive, e.g. -Take some units and destroy other units ("A Hero Returns") -Build a factory and produce enough land units to destroy an enemy base. ("Core KBot Base, Destroy It") -Basic naval operations ("Beachhead on Thalassean") -Basic air operations ("Hydration Plant") Similar tutorial missions coupled with small orbital, interplanetary, and planet smashing short missions should suffice.
No, as in the concept of RTS in general, as in they have more then one unit, the commander, that there is fog of war, buildings and selecting multiple units
Right, doing is definitely a superior method of learning, if a person can do *properly* the task at hand. Actions learned wrongly can sometimes be difficult to correct. However, what I mean in that quote is that it takes more time to teach doing than it does to merely show. People also learn by seeing. If I can remember what I need to do and what that looks like (expand!), I am empowered to learn by doing when facing the AI. I have played quite a few scripted tutorials that have the player do and understand the mechanics, but leave the player lacking a basic understanding of how to actually play. That they leave the player to learn while playing. As such, I'm not sure that would change with a scripted tutorial. It could, but that is by no means necessary.
A lot of the benefit of the scripted tutorial, would be in the fact that it could be used as a base to script other "missions" for mods.
Serverely overestimate. Anyway, I like it, I mean in any good tutorial you can play normal speed if you know exactly how it plays out, but if not it pauses to let you read and/or make commands.
Like @emraldis said - I think the basis of having a tutorial structure in place will be able to make a scripted campaign. Modders will be able to make a massive campaign and that in itself would be awesome. I definitely think there should be some form. I think it would even be possible for modders to do now though?
