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Denver, 8:34 PM
Tue Dec 1
63 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/27/09
[www.amazon.com]
He first started playing games a little over a decade ago, having had very little prior experience. His first approach was to attempt to read the manuals cover to cover, but quickly founf that, without a point of reference [through playing the game], none of it made sense. Once he started playing the game and feeling his way through various scenarios, he could then use manuals to supplement his "lived" experience.
Those interested might be curious about the book as it then goes on to discuss how this approach to learning can be beneficial outside of the realm of gaming.
09/26/09
09/26/09
I've never seen a tutorial that actually explains everything 100% and the "manuals" nowadays are half "here's how to put the disk in" and never what you really need to know.
MORE MANUALS!
09/26/09
i do prefer manual on paper tho. inagme guides are nice and all when it can be toggled off or you can choose your tutorial but when i get stuck somewhere or i wanna test something out its way ezier for me to look it up in the booklet.
09/26/09
09/26/09
That way, non-gamers can learn how to play, whereas seasoned gamers aren't having their hands held.
09/26/09
I'll admit, however, when it comes to more complex RTSs and city-building games I do get annoyed with less-than-adequate instruction manuals, primarily because slogging through the tutorial campaigns can in some cases take over an hour, and I have no interest in doing so just to find out that I've missed one tiny aspect of unlocking something I really want and just can't seem to get. Many games also cover that by outlining the requirements for something when you hover the mouse over it, but still, I hate getting into a new game only to discover that there was something I probably should have started building twenty minutes before, and a browse through a decent instruction manual can prevent that frustration.
09/26/09
09/26/09
Manual: Porque!?
Jamie: Necessito mas!
Manual: Lo siento
Jamie: -stares at the manual-
Manual: -stares back-
Jamie: -stares harder:
Manual: -stares intensely-
Just isn't the same anymore.
09/26/09
The problem with text manuals for instructions is that people are not as apt to read them, especially new players (or "non-gamers") who will typically assume the game will teach them all they need to know. Plus, they have to "translate" the text description into in-game action, often without enough feedback to know if they're doing it right.
On the other hand, any experienced gamer will agree that slogging through repetitive, unskippable, enforced tutorials is pretty awful.
If one's mechanics are simple enough, (and this is purely educated opinion,) the best bet is to heavily suggest how the player should go about doing certain things without beating it over their head; that way, the experienced players can blast right through without being stopped every three seconds to be told which button makes you jump, and inexperienced players can get the help they need to learn the ropes.
In more complicated games, it absolutely needs to be 100% optional. Unless your tutorial fits (neatly) into your narrative, we're in a day and age where good design means accommodating many kinds of players, and being able to skip tutorials will go a long way with certain kinds of players.
This is especially, ESPECIALLY true in sequels. Give players the option for a full tutorial, a tutorial that only goes over new content, and the option to skip altogether.
09/26/09
Why not make it the other way round? Have the game learn from the player instead. So, for example, if you have to jump on a table - just press or waggle or point whatever feels best to you, *and the game maps that as the control*.
You teach the game, rather than the other way round.
Why shouldn't that work?
09/26/09
Some games do use a limited form of this though. Halo and Battlefield 1943 ask you to look up and down and figure whether you like inverted or regular Y-axis look from which way you move the stick.
The general principle of having games adjust to fit you and learn from you is a good one.
09/26/09
And it might just end up giving a lot of player feedback into what controls really work for players.
09/26/09
The Internet would effectively neuter sales by misjudging it.
A good tutorial, of course, will tie the events into gameplay and the story.
That said, an instruction manual listing all of your abilities, suggested use, major characters with background information, and maybe even *gasp* some stuff that isn't in the game that isn't necessary to the plot or would break the flow if explained might be nice. More than 10 pages of item lists.
09/26/09
1) Needlessly lengthy tutorials. And an addendum to that, tutorials that pop up for the most idiotically simple things that you could figure out on your own throughout the entire game. I really dislike it when a game spends 75% of its time guiding you through a tutorial and only letting go for the last 2 or so hours of gameplay.
2) Mandatory tutorials. This, unfortunately, plagues nearly every game released. They really need to put in a very simple option that says "is this your first time playing?" when you start the game so that if you say no it won't bother you with a single pointer. It's really annoying especially on games like Assassin's Creed that make you go through probably over an hour's worth of tutorials that you already know because you already played the game. Just a simple option and it all goes away _<
09/26/09
The problem is no one writes a good manual. Generally I pick up gameplay very quickly, being a lifetime gamer at age 22 now. But there are always occasions when something is unclear, or not described in enough detail, causing me to reference the manual. The worst is when that happens, but there is no explanation of what I'm trying to find out, in the manual.
Fat Princess has an in-game manual, and it's pretty awful. It gives you the very basic level of information, and nothing more. Since it's essentially a reading manual, it should have higher levels of detail than in-game tutorials.
That's my opinion in general too. Give me a minimalist in-game tutorial. But also include a text/reference manual of some sort that gives some good DETAIL about things. That way if I need more information, I can find it. And I want it to be DETAILED information too...
09/26/09
You can usually tell how good a game's instructions are by whether or not you have to look at the manual at all. If you can get most of the controls and basic idea of how to play the game from the active tutorials or just through gameplay (or at the very least, by customizing and/or memorizing the game's control layout), then you should be ok. There are times though when the gameplay or tutorials glance or completely skip a command or feature, most commonly if there are multiple ways to execute the command or feature.
If I've bought a game and have to wait a while before I can play it (like if I pick up something I preordered a while back during a lunch break while at work) I may crack open the instruction manual to get a preview of what to expect, but more often than not, I'll just pick it all up while I play.
09/26/09
09/26/09
09/26/09
Nintendo's are always amazing. Full color, lots of neat art, great layouts, and such. It's how all instruction booklets should be.
And yes, the smell of new paper mixed with plastic is unbelievable.
09/26/09
09/26/09
09/26/09
I could cover or skip parts but I just chose to jump into a game blindly in hopes tutorials will help me out. Similar to what I did in Fallout 3, talk about wandering blind after that tutorial (Growing up) part.
09/26/09
I haven't had the time to read the manual of the other Nintendo games I own but hopefully not all of them have started this trend. I think Twilight Princess didn't, which was good.
09/26/09
Now Grandia, that had an amazing manual. The last 10 pages were an actual walkthrough of the first town and then dungeon in the game. So cool.