[POLL] NADEO, Introduce players to this game = Tutorials

[novationx]

Dear NADEO & community,

I'm creating this thread because I would like to know the answer to the following:

"Is ShootMania easy to learn/play for a new player?" aka "Do we need tutorials?"


PROBLEM
When you explain this game to a new player it sounds really easy. It's basically rockets versus laser everywhere (or just rockets) and everything can be done with space/mousebutton2. So how hard can it be, right?
Even the developers consider this game to be simple. I've read several times on the forums that they want to keep the game simple. ( thats not a bad thing )

So, is this game really that easy? NO, only in theory.

Problem#1 - You simply do not know what you can do & how to do it.
New players dont know how to sprint or use stamina and they dont know what all the different colored blocks do.

Problem#2 - No explanation results in a slow learningcurve which is a waste of time.
I remember in 2012/2013 when I started playing this game. It was sooo difficult. It took me months to learn how to sprint and even after months in the game I was learning new things.
I convinced all my friends to play this game and they all said its insanely hard the first weeks. It's easy to give up and that's what most of my friends did.

Problem#3 - New players get owned & are powerless
Now (2014), it has become even worse. The skillgap with new players is huge. New players get completely stomped in every gamemode (especially Matchmaking Elite).
You cant run away & hide. The enemies rush you ( because of their better stamina usage ) and you get pwn'ed. The round lasted 10seconds & game over. They have no time to learn.
There are also too few players to play with people of your own level.

Problem#4 - New players dont want to invest their time anymore into this awesome game.
A result of the first 3 problems is that new players think this game is too hard and rather quit then keep trying.

Problem#5 - This game has a small playerbase
We really need the extra players, that's the only way this game has a future & can grow.
More players = More teams in cups = More cups = More cups with prizes = More lans
More players = More activity in titlepacks = more motivated titlepack-creators = More quality titlepacks
More quality titlepacks = More players
Its a circle without an end.

For me this is top-priority. Make new players feel like this is THE game of the century when they first launch it.


-------------------------


SOLUTION
Guide new players into this game. Prepare them for battle. Show them the possibilities. Tell them its more than just "walk, aim & click to fire"

There are several possible good tutorial-methods, but I hope we can all agree that tutorials are very necessary.


Suggestion#1 - Firing range ( aka train your aim )
Create a firing range with some animated targets ( which almost every game has ) and use it so people can configure their aim-sensitivity.
Take it to the next level and make it a community thing:
" I just finished the firing range in 35seconds. Do you think you can get a better time?"

Suggestion#2 - Help notifications in game during your first matches
"space bar to jump"
"hold stamina to sprint"
"you can now capture the target"

Suggestion#3 - Loading screens with tips & tricks
"Please wait while the map gets loaded.
Did you know your laser reloads faster on metal surfaces such as the bluepads & speedpads? Become faster than your foes."

"Please wait while the map gets loaded.
Did you know you can do bigger walljumps on red walls?"

Suggestion#4 - Obstacle/Parcour course with different difficulties
Track#1 - Walljumps
Track#2 - Grappling
Track#3 - ...
Or make it 1 big track and make it as the firing range in suggestion#1.
"I finished the obstacle course in 2min33. Do you think you can beat me?"


New players will save this awesome game. For me this is top-priority.


-------------------------


Questions for NADEO:
- What's your opinion about tutorials?
- Do you think this game is easy?
- What do you consider more important than the actual playerbase?
- How high is this on the priority-list?
- How many players actually bother to play until they are Echelon GOLD?


Sorry for the long read. I wanted to explain things more & even add screenshots, but I think I made my point. Ty for your time & feedback.
Cheerz


PS : I am very grateful for the comeback of ESL GO4SM & your investement in other cups. I mean it. ; but it would be awesome to see new players.

TLDR : Make it easy for players to stay.

[fleo]

I do agree on most of your points, there is my opinion:

- Elite is clearly not for beginners, even with tutos and tips they shouldn't play this mode too soon.
- I've heard about an obstacle/timeattack MM, that would be awesome to have easy maps where you automatically play against players of your level.
- I remember when I once invited someone to play this game, there were royal and battle beginner servers, does it still exist? Beginners-only servers are good but that's not funny with too few players...

I guess, according to Nadeo's way of thinking, it's up to the community to create tutos, the only times I've seen some it's in obstacle but they were still quite hard for beginners. However I'll be grateful to have Nadeo's point of view and some help to get started otherwise I'm not sure we can find players with enough motivation to start this kind of project anymore..

[novationx]

Well after 2-3years the community clearly didnt do it.
+ I dont think that what I am asking can be made by the community.

It would be awesome to just have a tab "tutorials" in the main-menu in the navigation or just as a titlepack that comes pre-installed. Instead we got 'Platform' which nobody ever plays.

[adamkooo2]

I made tutorial title pack for TM :

Title pack is 85% done, so I don´t have coloured menu and tutorial in menu
Includes custom music on all maps
Map D05 is looking as server map(music PSY Gentleman)
First maps are how to ride and how to drift( and loop)
Map D04 is TM2 Valley trailer map with custom music
A04-A06 are on drifting
*powered for new players TM
Link:
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/q79j13cqbx3c0o ... .Pack.Gbx?

[Alexey85]

Tutorial in general is a good idea.
Solution #1 doesn't seem so important to spend time on it. Others sound nice.
I have another suggestion, not sure however if it would be effective for SM. It is to have a tutorial obstacle run with tips right in the game world. Like for walljumps there would be a wall and text near it saying "approach the wall aside, jump, strafe to it and press jump again to walljump". Better if there would be ghost showing it as well. Then there would be red wall with tip saying "this type of block make your walljumps higher", then a ledge with tips "fall off and move forward" and mid air text "press and hold jump button at this point" to demonstrate glide. I found this idea in the beginning of this gameplay video.

[novationx]

gameplay video.

Exactly like this would be awesome
Good suggestion, thanks.

[Livert]

Suggestion#1 - Firing range ( aka train your aim )
Create a firing range with some animated targets ( which almost every game has ) and use it so people can configure their aim-sensitivity.
Take it to the next level and make it a community thing:
" I just finished the firing range in 35seconds. Do you think you can get a better time?"

I like the idea of making it a challenge^^ You could use something similar to the medal system in trackmania.

Suggestion#2 - Help notifications in game during your first matches
"space bar to jump"
"hold stamina to sprint"
"you can now capture the target"

I think the game is too fast to really pay attention to these tips so they might end up being more annoying than helpful...

Suggestion#3 - Loading screens with tips & tricks
"Please wait while the map gets loaded.
Did you know your laser reloads faster on metal surfaces such as the bluepads & speedpads? Become faster than your foes."

"Please wait while the map gets loaded.
Did you know you can do bigger walljumps on red walls?"

I really like that idea Other games do it that way as well so it can´t be a bad idea

Suggestion#4 - Obstacle/Parcour course with different difficulties
Track#1 - Walljumps
Track#2 - Grappling
Track#3 - ...
Or make it 1 big track and make it as the firing range in suggestion#1.
"I finished the obstacle course in 2min33. Do you think you can beat me?"

I like this idea as well but it needs to be thought through... In my opinion there should be one tutorial map which everyone needs to play the first time they log into the game. That tutorial map shall only explain the basic movement itself, the different movement blocks and the different weapons. It shall focus not on some difficulty of the moves but on the functionality of the different blocks. Making the tutorial too long or too difficult might piss people off before they are even really playing (although this might solve the smurf problem )
At the end it might say something like "For a better understanding of the different blocks and movement possibilities check out the other tutorials!". Those could be maps which focus on combinations of the blocks or relatively easy moves like a double walljump... Those additional tutorials should be voluntarily playable...

I also would like to see a tutorial being added to each titlepack which explains how the game mode works. I think a simple video which starts automatically when you start a titlepack for the first time would be the best idea. For Elite it could be structured somehow like this:
1. The different Teams, their weapons and armors, the number of players actually playing at the same time
2. How does a team win? (this part should also include what the timer is good for cause it´s not obvious at all for a beginner, at least it wasn´t for me back then...)
(3. Maybe some tips how to play on which team, for example as a defender look for something to hide behind or as an attacker try to keep some distance and look for highground, when the time is up try to capture the pole, and so on...)
(4. Maybe some typical things how most maps in elite are structured.)

[novationx]

Suggestion#2 is my least favorite too, but in the end its better than nothing.
I was just brainstorming & i wrote down what came to mind.

I also didnt bother to make my suggestions mega-awesome, because that would have made the post too long. I just wanted to know what NADEO & the community thought about the game & tutorials.
If NADEO likes it I'm sure they'll come up with something far greater than my simple suggestions.

[Alexey85]

I'd like to add that the game indeed was quite simple at beginning, but even then it had trilaser that wasn't obvious to figure out yourself. Then later were addded walljumps, hooks, block for hight jump, block for bigger walljumps, etc. - quite a lot of things were added, so that a newcomer might not figure out on his own all of them quickly enough.
To save the effort of implementing a tutorial, just a simple video referenced somewhere in the maniapalent would be very useful for new players - explain trilaser, stamina, walljumps, hook, block for high jumps, block for higher walljumps, reload speed, etc.

[Livert]

To save the effort of implementing a tutorial, just a simple video referenced somewhere in the maniapalent would be very useful for new players - explain trilaser, stamina, walljumps, hook, block for high jumps, block for higher walljumps, reload speed, etc.

Disagreed... Referenced somewhere in the maniaplanet would mean beginners would have to find it before they can watch it which wouldn´t work. Tutorials need to be obvious. The best way to make sure that a lot of beginners recognize it is to leave them no other choice than watching/playing the tutorial before they can start to play the real game. In addition I think a video wouldn´t be enough here because there is a lot of different theoretical movement stuff and simply too much input for one video. So in my opinion "learning by doing" is the way to go here^^