👩‍⚖️ 🚌 🍃 Six tips for making the right game tutorial 🉐 👨🏼‍🍳 ♎️

A simple question: at what point in development do you need to think about a tutorial?

Almost all of my past tutorials are a failure. They were often delayed until the very end of development. When there were only a few days left before the launch, there was always a person who asked: “Should we not make a tutorial?” We were too busy with real development to think about it. “I know the game like the back of my hand. It’s not so difficult to understand, she doesn’t need training, ”I often told myself.

Once we developed a game . In it, the player had to go through the doors that blocked the character’s vision, leaving behind challenges and prizes. The player could freely cross the game world, but literally the whole game remained locked behind the passed doors. We made a tutorial restricting the movement of players (error No. 1) with pauses and text (errors No. 2 and No. 3).

Tutorial is the most important part of the game.

Imagine the first user experience in your game as a hungry customer who wants to eat in an excellent restaurant:

- Hi, I would like to see the menu, please.
- Fine, here is the first course.
“But there is dirt and stones in this plate!”
- Yes, we know, but believe me, the rest is very tasty.
“I don't care, I don't want that.”
“Sir, I'm afraid it must not be missed .”

Think of the tutorials as the first presentation of your game, of input and contact. You put a lot of effort to finish the project to the final boss - now you need to make a lot of effort to reach it. On average, 75% of mobile users who download a game never open it again. Have they seen this boss? No. They saw the tutorial, and nothing more.

Tip # 1: People don't like being taught

People want to play. They come from work, from college or school, and do not want to pay attention to anything else! Do not teach, but let them learn. People know the map of Azeroth better than their own city, they can name the entire Baratheon house with their bastards, each League of Legends champion with lor, skill names, damage and even color. Use tangential training , letting you enjoy what they are immersed in.

Tip # 2: Keep Streaming

Mihai Chikshentmihalai is a smart person with a smart theory . He describes the “flow” as a mental state in which a person is absolutely concentrated, does not know what surrounds him, and uses every mental process for what he is doing. Just as we watch a movie (which we really like), you can spend two hours and not even notice it. And yes, the streaming tutorial is what you want to achieve. Basically, we should increase the challenge as the player gains skills.

Challenge the player. Let him figure it out. Take another one as soon as he overcomes the previous one. Create a flow between the complexity of the new challenge, the easy struggle to complete it, and the excitement of overcoming it.

In flow theory, useful and clear components are: clear goals, limited attention, instant feedback and satisfaction. Of these, we can learn a lot.

Tip # 3: Not everyone learns the same way

Not everyone receives information the same way, each person has their own learning style , and this has been studied by psychologists for a long time (there are already 71 models). But this is not so necessary for us.

The VARK model identifies four different types of students: visual, audio, digital, and kinesthetic (watch, listen, read, and touch). Remember each of them: try to present ideas in the form of images, use audio feedback, allow players to learn through trial and error, or give them the opportunity to see how other people fail.

Tip # 4: Balance Experience

Asher Wollmer (developer of Threes ) explains that each tutorial in a game must perform four tasks:

Relax the player. Do not bother with unnecessary elements, let him experiment and practice. Do not overfill the screen with things that he does not understand or should not understand. Keep clarity and simplicity (Remember tip # 2? Keep clarity of goals to achieve flow).
Excite the player. Show him the possibilities of your gameplay. If they train on wooden mannequins, then hint that amazing dragons are waiting ahead.
Respect the player. Do not treat him like a robot, do not give commands and wait for them to repeat them. Do not indicate what to do - ask for something to do, and they will understand everything.
Teach the player. All this does not matter, if the tutorial does not end, we understand from the player’s side (Tip # 1).

These recommendations may be opposed to each other, but this is how the balance works. An absolutely safe location can be replaced by disorientation, but if you specify exactly what the player should do, he will not feel smart. This is not a game if there is no challenge, even in the tutorial.

Tip # 5: use mechanics to teach mechanics

Scott L. Rogers writes in his book “Level Up: The Guide to Great Video Game Design” that “Mechanics are what a player interacts with to create or maintain gameplay.” If you have tools to interact with the game, use them. For example, a player needs to be taught that treasures are hidden behind some walls, but they must first be destroyed. We can use a pop-up window with explanatory text, a luminous sign or arrow. This is not mechanics, these are examples of how to tell the player what to do (Tip # 4) - avoid this. But then, how to teach?

If the player knows how to attack - let him attack. Put something that he needs to destroy right in front of the wall. The player will see that his attack (which inevitably reaches the wall) destroyed it, revealing secret rewards. You did not say a word, you did not indicate anything, the player himself discovered this and now he feels smart (again, Council No. 1).

Tip # 6: Additional recommendations

People do not like to be taught. We have already found out, but you can add a little. People do not like to read. An image is worth a thousand words, so try to show as few words as possible. Reading is a pause that interferes with the game. Saving rhythm is what you need.
Do not be tasteless. Do not ruin your aesthetics with vulgar tutorial elements (glowing fingers, moving arrows, pop-ups or shiny contours).
If later in the game the tutorial is unavailable, then at least make the most important information always available. For example, the tab "Information" in the menu or something like that. The presence of redundant information is confusing as well as its complete absence.
Addition to Tip # 2: Always keep a cool surprise behind something else. Surprise the player!

So, when should you think about the tutorial of your game?

Now.

Six tips for making the right game tutorial