| Author | Thread: Tutorial/New Player Improvement Suggestions |
[ADMIN] ArkhamPosts: 902 Location: Mallow Magus Age: 129 years old Clan: AGOMC | Message #7986 Posted: Jul 24, 2008, 4:30 pm |
I'm looking for suggestions on improving the tutorial. A recent comment was that it didn't feel like it taught what was needed to jump right into the fun parts of the game. I'd like to improve this.
Overall goals with this:
1) I want someone completely unfamiliar to how browser games work to be able to start playing as soon as they finish the tutorial;
2) The game can seem overwhelmingly complex to a newbie, of this there is no doubt. I'd like ideas on how to present concepts like golem assembly in a simple manner to make the game playable right out the gate;
3) I want thoughts on what the five most important things to learn from the tutorial are. When you finish the tutorial, what things are absolutely vital to be aware of?
In addition to these changes, I'm in development on a new "Quick Start" page. When it goes live:
1) It'll have five quick easy-to-use links to help players along: Build Stuff (workshop), Equip My Golem (grabs the best eyes and powersupplies from your bin and automatically installs them in the golem on your worktable), Fight Monsters (a quick link directly to your nearest hunting area), Repair My Golem (moves your golem to the worktable and then takes you to that page), Explore the World (a link to the locale page), Customize my Settings (a quick link to your profile for setting avatars, etc). I picked these because they're the most useful and common functions in the game.
2) You'll be able to move around the locale map without a compass; you just won't be able to fight anything in the new location. Alternately, I'll remove this restriction for fighting entirely and give the compass some other effect, like a reduced motivation cost for attacking creatures/magi further away.
3) Moving a golem to an outside slot when a golem is already there will automatically bump the existing golem back to the basement (unless it's on a mission). Same story with the worktable. Saves having to move a golem out of those slots to replace them. Likewise, if you have only one golem, it'll move that one outside if you try to fight something with no golem outside. These will be useful for everyone, not just newbies.
Hopefully that shows the direction I want to go with making the game more newbie friendly. :)
More suggestions on making the game newbie friendly?
Kep |
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laidanPosts: 1158 Location: Mottonsborough Magus Age: 118 years old Clan: OASIS | Message #7990 Posted: Jul 24, 2008, 4:48 pm |
| The main thing I remember from way back when I first started was just starting to feel like I knew where things were, then newbie premium kicked in and confused me again. Maybe wait another few days before invoking that? |
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NanashiPosts: 1115 Location: Asylum Magus Age: 124 years old Clan: OTAKU | Message #8019 Posted: Jul 24, 2008, 6:13 pm |
for me the trial premium was a matter of score/exp not time (don't know whether that was changed before i joined or not). it is a nice surprise but you can miss out because of the time restriction.
another thing to consider is putting daily tips up on an entry page for anyone still under newbie protection. The entry page could have a countdown timer that says how much longer they are protected with a tip about scavenging or what it means if a golem part is missing. |
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[ADMIN] ArkhamPosts: 902 Location: Mallow Magus Age: 129 years old Clan: AGOMC | Message #8144 Posted: Jul 25, 2008, 2:11 pm |
Good ideas, thanks. :)
I already have a random tip generated on the help pages. It only has five or so tips, but copying that and expanding it for the quick start page is a great idea. Besides the tips on scavenging and part loss, what others would be good to include?
For the 3-day premium trial, that's given based on score/xp. I could increase the score/xp required before you're given that; or I could turn it into a "redeem" method.
For example, instead of just having the 3-day time automatically added, you would instead get ~10 tickets and a new option on the premium page to redeem that many tickets for 3 days worth of premium. That might also tie in with another idea I'm pondering, to give 15 tickets automatically with each new account so new folks could have the option of going PvP-free for 30 days.
I'm thinking I'll do both; give 15 tickets but increase the score/xp before the free trial kicks in.
Kep |
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PeggaPosts: 702 Location: Jaaron Magus Age: 126 years old Clan: ADV | Message #8147 Posted: Jul 25, 2008, 2:51 pm |
| Arkham said:
That might also tie in with another idea I'm pondering, to give 15 tickets automatically with each new account so new folks could have the option of going PvP-free for 30 days.
You might want to make a special, unsalable ticket for that. I'd hate to see people generated multiple multiples just to sell the tickets on the market. |
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HalfteaPosts: 1307 Location: Darghelm Magus Age: 137 years old Clan: ADV | Message #8164 Posted: Jul 25, 2008, 5:20 pm |
| Or if not a unsaleable ticket, then a check box where they turn it on for a one-time PvP free period. I'm not sure, but a status check could probably be coded for that fairly easily, just like for Special Artifacts. |
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[ADMIN] ArkhamPosts: 902 Location: Mallow Magus Age: 129 years old Clan: AGOMC | Message #8174 Posted: Jul 25, 2008, 5:57 pm |
No-sale tickets are easy enough to do as that's already supported by the item system. :)
Kep |
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ViconiaXunraePosts: 226 Location: Andulaz Magus Age: 123 years old Clan: ADV | Message #8197 Posted: Jul 25, 2008, 11:06 pm |
| The thing that confused me most (which is why I didn't get right into the game), was that there was so much text. In the tutorial, it explained things too deeply. It gave bits and pieces of history and whatnot (if I remember correctly). It was just so much reading, I didn't know what was noteworthy and what was just flavour text. Going through the tutorial, you worry that every single thing is extremely important, while most of the things are pretty self-explanatory (at least for me anyways). Hope that helps a little. |
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NanashiPosts: 1115 Location: Asylum Magus Age: 124 years old Clan: OTAKU | Message #8198 Posted: Jul 25, 2008, 11:13 pm |
| Yeah it might help to have someone other than Arkham and whoever else might have written code for the game to read over the text that will be visible to any going through the tutorial. Kind of like proof-reading. |
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[ADMIN] ArkhamPosts: 902 Location: Mallow Magus Age: 129 years old Clan: AGOMC | Message #8285 Posted: Jul 26, 2008, 3:11 pm |
I'm planning to trim down the wordiness of the tutorial quite a bit. I was discussing this with another designer just last night. The resource section in the tutorial, for example, goes on and on about resources, when all that's really needed is:
These are your six primary resources. They refill and you can make golems out of them. They are: Flesh, Bone, Wood, Clay, Stone, Iron.
These are your secondary resources. They do not refill so you will have to find them from creatures or by raiding other magi. You can make golems out of some of them, but not all. They are: Adamantine, Glass, Gems, Copper, Bronze, Brass, Silver, Gold, and Money (or Gold Coins).
I mean, wow, much simplier than than entire full page I currently have in place. What was I thinking?
Perhaps this weekend I'll chop out a ton of text from that, but I may take a break and work on something a little more fun like spells or new golem art. ;)
Kep |
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KyomiPosts: 274 Location: Andulaz Magus Age: 129 years old Clan: OTAKU | Message #8286 Posted: Jul 26, 2008, 3:15 pm |
How about an option to chop out the text blocks in the various places?
Every time I go selling things, I must scroll down, enter items/prices, press enter, scroll down , etc etc.
With the removal of that text, I could just enter things, press enter, and not need to fiddle about so much. |
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ViconiaXunraePosts: 226 Location: Andulaz Magus Age: 123 years old Clan: ADV | Message #8302 Posted: Jul 26, 2008, 5:56 pm |
| One itty problem I found was that choosing the "best" eyes and powersources didn't choose the "best" ones. I had a clay tablet, and an alchemical acidstone in my storage bin. It decided the clay tablet would be my best choice. I always put my acidstone on my golem, so I know he has the necessary slots and weight capacity for it. Unless there are multiple things that determine "best", and what I do is not considered to be ideal? |
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NanashiPosts: 1115 Location: Asylum Magus Age: 124 years old Clan: OTAKU | Message #8307 Posted: Jul 26, 2008, 6:54 pm |
| Viconia, that problem is fairly typical in any game that has a "best" selection feature to equip a char. It is not you. For instance FF XII will equip the best weapon on a char based on the weapon with the highest attack power that char can equip. It is simply a matter of the criteria Arkham set to determine the "best" powersource. I'm just guessing here but do you put the acidstone in the abdomen or the chest? If you normally put it in the abdomen, the code might have been looking for the strongest powersource to put in the chest. Otherwise...I haven't a clue. |
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ViconiaXunraePosts: 226 Location: Andulaz Magus Age: 123 years old Clan: ADV | Message #8327 Posted: Jul 26, 2008, 11:20 pm |
| I always put it in the chest since it is the only slots I have available. My guess is, it's because he's heavily weighed down at the moment, so maybe it determined that for the weight capacity remaining, the clay tablet would be better for loot, instead of thinking I needed more energy. I am curious to see what type of algorithm is used to calculate that. |
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| Endovior Posts: 172
Location: Nournsland
Magus Age: 122 years old
| Message #8335 Posted: Jul 27, 2008, 1:04 am |
| Depends on just how heavily weighted down you are. It may be that it's impossible to equip an acidstone at the moment? |
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NecariaPosts: 505 Location: Rildesjan Magus Age: 120 years old Clan: OASIS | Message #8336 Posted: Jul 27, 2008, 1:15 am |
| It seems to be buggy in general, see my soon to be posted bug report. |
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| Sconibulus Posts: 664
Location: Shuul
Magus Age: 121 years old
| Message #8338 Posted: Jul 27, 2008, 1:18 am |
| Could we get an unequip my golem? It would often be nice to take all the armour and equipment off at once. |
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NecariaPosts: 505 Location: Rildesjan Magus Age: 120 years old Clan: OASIS | Message #8340 Posted: Jul 27, 2008, 1:23 am |
| There is one already, but it's premium only.(well, it's remove all armor, and remove all items, but close enough) |
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ViconiaXunraePosts: 226 Location: Andulaz Magus Age: 123 years old Clan: ADV | Message #8352 Posted: Jul 27, 2008, 2:14 am |
| Endovior, I can equip the acidstone, so it's not an issue of not being able to equip it. |
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| Shuja Posts: 23
Location: Arzenbourg
Magus Age: 125 years old
| Message #29255 Posted: Apr 14, 2009, 4:33 am |
If I recall correctly from when I did the tutorial there wasn't very much of an explanation of how Motivation accrued, or was used. It might be nice to have one of the random tips - or a section of the tutorial - be about the rate your motivation accrues, and how it is used.
I don't remember if spells were explained in the tutorial, but I remember when I got my first spell slot it took me several days to figure out how to actually learn a spell.
Information about how valuable the Homonculus is could be very valuable to new players. The game generally encourages you to keep a golem outside your workshop, but putting your Homonculus out is just asking for trouble... On a related note, you may want to explain how to use the Practice Dummy to test your golem to see if you can fight a higher level monster! It took me a long time to realize that the P.D. existed and by then I'd already lost several golems to higher level mobs when I thought I could take them on.
With respect to upgrading your workshop, you may want to have tips about what upgrading each building will actually do; I remember thinking that upgrading the Artificer Lab would allow me to build a wider variety of items, and that the Hidden Room would grow at a higher rate so I could protect my primary resources from pvp.
Anyhow... I'm sorta rambling, I have lots of ideas for further improvements in general and I'd be happy to share more of them... just later. :)
-Shuja |
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