Learning is an important part of any video game. It shows the players the basic mechanics and helps to immerse themselves in the process. But developing a convenient and useful tutorial can be a difficult task. The Game Career Guide resource has collected six recommendations that will help avoid common mistakes.
Use less text
“Sheets” of text are a bad option for learning. They kill the pace and interfere with immersion. Players will skip the text instructions, even if they really have something useful in them. The tutorial should be as interactive as the other elements of the game, so let gamers try out the mechanics that they will need in the passage.
Do not impose training
Developers often think that a gamer needs to be provided with all the necessary information before the start of the main game. This is a common mistake. The imposition of learning is overloaded with information and confusing. The right solution is to break the training into small fragments that are activated when the player encounters something new.
Try to make learning fun and exciting
We remember new things better when we are interested. Therefore, the training must be made no less interesting than the gameplay in the main part of the game. This is not easy, but it is necessary, because training affects the first impression that gamers will get from the game. Think about what details of your title seem to you the most exciting, and use them in training.
Help the players consolidate their knowledge in the main gameplay
This advice echoes the idea of creating mini-tutorials explaining various gameplay elements. Help players consolidate their knowledge by highlighting these elements in the main part of the game. So they will be able to feel the benefits of new skills. If it turned out that the gameplay began to feel better in training than in the rest of the game, use these developments to improve the main gameplay.
Listen to the advice of the players
The quality of training is well tested during the testing of the game. Elements that seem clear to you may not be so obvious to other people. Therefore, keep in mind the target audience of your project and listen to the advice of the test participants.
Add help to the game
The information from the training should always remain available to the players, so add help to the game. This will give gamers a sense of support throughout the passage and will not allow them to be disappointed in the game if they took a break and forgot some important elements.
It is not necessary to spend a lot of time and resources on creating a good tutorial. The main thing is that it will benefit the players and help them navigate in various gameplay situations. This is what should be given the main attention during the creation of training.
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