Post by Praesumo on Jan 31, 2015 1:28:22 GMT
I've had the chance to watch others play the game for the first time now. It's easy to forget how hard some things can be to figure out in this game, especially when they're not intuitive or obvious.
It's clear to me that a better & more comprehensive tutorial is needed. One that isn't stretched over multiple levels (where you finally get told how to save, or use a camera on level 3) It all needs to be on ONE level. The FIRST level.
I think it would be good to have the VERY FIRST LEVEL be a simple tutorial, where the player can ONLY progress by following the instructions.
Like
"Place this wheel, now click 'F' to change it's direction"
"Good." (progress bar fills slightly)
"Now click the wrench icon in the toolbar and set the wheels speed to 2.00 and the controls to A and D."
"Well done!" (progress bar fills again)
"Now press X while hovering over the wheel to delete it"
"Great!" (more progress)
"Let's bring the wheel back now by clicking the 'undo' button in the toolbar."
"Awesome!" (More progress)
Everything from "X" being the hotkey for delete and "spacebar" being the hotkey for start/stop the game should be included. These things are NOT obvious. It should also teach the player that there is a center of gravity tooltip that can be used, that you can change certain items rotation with "F", and it needs to be readily apparent that the "wrench" allows players to alter key inputs and part settings. It also seems that (at least for people distracted by streaming) that the white "do this objective" text CAN be overlooked.
Just a thought. Making this game more intuitive (By immediately teaching players the basics) will make picking up the game easier, and (in the case of streamers) MUCH easier to show it off to hundreds of people at a time.
It's clear to me that a better & more comprehensive tutorial is needed. One that isn't stretched over multiple levels (where you finally get told how to save, or use a camera on level 3) It all needs to be on ONE level. The FIRST level.
I think it would be good to have the VERY FIRST LEVEL be a simple tutorial, where the player can ONLY progress by following the instructions.
Like
"Place this wheel, now click 'F' to change it's direction"
"Good." (progress bar fills slightly)
"Now click the wrench icon in the toolbar and set the wheels speed to 2.00 and the controls to A and D."
"Well done!" (progress bar fills again)
"Now press X while hovering over the wheel to delete it"
"Great!" (more progress)
"Let's bring the wheel back now by clicking the 'undo' button in the toolbar."
"Awesome!" (More progress)
Everything from "X" being the hotkey for delete and "spacebar" being the hotkey for start/stop the game should be included. These things are NOT obvious. It should also teach the player that there is a center of gravity tooltip that can be used, that you can change certain items rotation with "F", and it needs to be readily apparent that the "wrench" allows players to alter key inputs and part settings. It also seems that (at least for people distracted by streaming) that the white "do this objective" text CAN be overlooked.
Just a thought. Making this game more intuitive (By immediately teaching players the basics) will make picking up the game easier, and (in the case of streamers) MUCH easier to show it off to hundreds of people at a time.
