When
you first start a game you likely have no idea what you are doing or
even how to play. Luckily, every game usually comes with an
instruction manual that tells you how the game works and what rules
to follow. It covers many basic controls and aspects of gameplay, but
never mentions the more advanced topics of the game. Those the player
tends to figure out as they progress. For those of us who never read
the manuals, today's games feature in-game tutorials that perform the
same functions. But are these tutorials really necessary?
The
purpose of a tutorial is to explain how the game works. Without this
the player may find themselves lost and confused. As for veteran
gamers, figuring out gameplay is very easy. For newcomers, not so
much. It may take a little longer for a novice to grasp the mechanics
of a game, but today's tutorials seem to think the average player
needs to have their hand held constantly. These tutorials will pop up
on the screen with an excessively detailed explanation on what a
particular function does and how to perform said function. Not only
that, they pause the game to do it. This interrupts pacing! Worst of
all, it is for the most trivial of commands. Even a newcomer can
realize that the directional buttons are used to move around. They
can easily guess this just by pressing the buttons. They can even
figure out what the other buttons do by pressing those, too.
Yet,
tutorials are still needed in most games due to the complexity of the
game's mechanics. They just have to be implemented properly. How is
this done? First, I would gauge how difficult it is to play the game
overall. Second, I would see what aspects of the game require a
little explaining in order to fully understand. Finally, I would put
these hints in places that do not disrupt the flow of gameplay and do
not obscure the screen.
You
see, if the game is so simple that the player needs to only focus on
one goal, then a tutorial is completely unnecessary! Even if there
are a few rules to follow, the player should only have to see them
once before starting anything. If they forget something, they can
always check a manual or pause the game and see if the pause menu has
any option to view the rules. But what if a game is more complicated
than that? What if the game has mechanics that expand and change as
the player progresses? I'm just going to use Braid as an example. One
of the first rules you see in Braid is that you, the player, control
time. Magnificent power, that time controlling thing is! Anyways, the
first thing a player will notice is that time can be turned back.
There is a little hint that explains this, but it only shows up once
and never again. Simple mechanic, right? As you progress, the game
introduces new mechanics such as rewinding time to create a shadow
that performs your previous actions. Through observance, the player
can see this. There is no explanation nor hints that tell you how to
do this. The mechanics are so simple that a tutorial is hardly
needed.
More
complicated games, however, do require tutorials. Let's say the
player is trying a role-playing game. If anyone who has played RPGs
knows, they tend to have a lot of stats and numbers. Most of these
games do not describe what each stat does or how it affects gameplay.
Over time, I learned that terms such as “STR,” “PWR,” or
“ATK” generally affect how much damage (more specifically
physical damage) you deal against a target. Those may be easy to
figure out, but terms such as “AGI” or “DEX” are enigmatic.
What do they affect!? Does AGI mean Agility? Is that how fast I can
attack? Does it affect critical chances? Is it meant for dodge
mechanics? It's hard to find out what this term means unless there is
a manual or in-game tutorial explaining what the attribute stands for
and how it affects gameplay.
As
I mentioned before, implementing tutorials is usually done wrong.
Pausing the game to tell the player how to rotate the camera is not
necessary! A little hint box at the bottom of the screen will
suffice. Shoving it in the viewer's face comes off as overwhelming
and intimidating. It's like trying to read a popup book about
cooking. The game is pushing information into your head and you're
not quite ready to take it all in yet. This is why we chunk our
information so we can internalize it faster.
I
say tutorials are necessary for games with complex mechanics, but not
for games with simple rules. What do you all think? Do you believe
tutorials are necessary in every game or just some? Should they stop
the gameplay so you can read it carefully or not disrupt the flow at
all? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
