A More Interactive Tutorial

Tutorials. Something that more often that not ends up being a boring, unskippable button-mash before you can actually start playing the game.. Therefore I feel a more interactive tutorial would suit Starbound well.

This is what we know so far about the start of the game:

• 'Starbound's story-driven, planet-hopping adventure kicks off as you narrowly avoid being destroyed alongside your doomed homeworld. Set adrift in the cosmos, you crash into an abandoned space station, which soon becomes a central hub for exploring the galaxy. "Players will be tasked with repairing this station and bringing it back to life whilst investigating those behind the homeworld attack," Brice explains.'

(I will put under each section what it would teach the player)

The Tutorial

1. The game begins just after you awake from crashing into the space station. You walk around a bit first to get used to the movement controls before the ships AI kicks in with the tutorial.
2. The AI explains that the ship is in desperate need of repair before it will be fully functional again, and you will be tasked with finding the necessary resources. Luckily you're floating just outside the atmosphere of a planet.
3. A nearby chest would contain a sword, shield, gun, torch and basic resource gathering tools.
   • How to use chests
   • Equipping Items
4. The AI would then tell you how to get down to the surface of the planet (whatever the game mechanic is, eg teleportation or a smaller landing ship). The AI will continue to speak to you on the planet surface.
   • How to travel to the surface of planets
5. Once you've landed combat basics would be explained against some easy mobs.
   • Jumping
   • Battery + Health Mechanics
   • Blocking Mechanics
   • Melee + Ranged Attacks
   • Enemy Attack Animations - Walking past passive enemies won't damage you
6. Next you're tasked with collecting some basic resources.
   • Gathering Wood
   • Locating Ore + Mining
   • Using the Torch
7. The discovery of a lost npc on the planet would cover the basics of rescuing and recruiting npcs for your ship.
8. Once these basics have been discovered you're free to explore and gather the other resources as you want. Once all the required resources have been found you will have the option of returning to the ship and beginning the repairs so that you can then travel to other planets and begin the game proper!

The developers have already stated that the back story is going to be based around the destruction of your home world. So, why not make the tutorial happen during this destruction? Kill two birds with one stone and teach players how to play the game as well as telling them the back story. If there is any kind of final enemy to defeat in the game now would be as good a time as any to introduce them too.

The Tutorial

1. Begins in good old pokemon fashion, as you climb out of bed and go downstairs.
   • Movement controls
2. You're told that the local wildlife is acting far more aggressive than usual and you're required to help with the group in charge of 'controlling' them.
3. A nearby chest would contain your sword, shield and gun.
   • How to use chests
   • Equipping Items
4. Once outside the npc moves on to combat basics while fighting some deer etc.
   • Jumping
   • Battery + Health Mechanics
   • Blocking Mechanics
   • Melee + Ranged Attacks
   • Enemy Attack Animations - Walking past passive enemies won't damage you
5. Next you're tasked with collecting some basic resources.
   • Gathering Wood
   • Locating Ore + Mining
   • Using the Torch
6. The invasion then begins and you're chased until you reach the safety of an escape ship with a few other survivors.
7. You then crash into the space station and the game moves on from there.

Any further gameplay mechanics can then be explained as and when they are required/introduced, eg vehicle use.

Both of these ideas could also be integrated together into one tutorial, with the combat taking place on the homeworld, and resource gathering taking place after crashing into the spacestation.

Two further options to consider are either:

• The tutorial should be skippable from the start to allow people that like to learn from playing to jump straight in.
• It should be compulsory at first, but in further playthroughs it would be skippable.

I think if any of the tutorial took part on the original homeworld before it's destruction then the tutorial should be compulsory so that the story elements are properly introduced to the player. Let me know what you think and any criticisms you might have!

 

Any tutorial would be better than none. That was one of the hard parts about Terraria and Minecraft...Even the basics had to be discovered...without the Wiki I don't think I could have enjoyed either game.

 

Supporting this.
also the tutorial sounds like a great beginning to the game

 

Yeah. I never really had that because I ended up watching a lot of youtube videos before I played them, but the principle is the same. Anyone that is new to these games probably wouldn't have a clue where to start without someone either explaining it to them or reading stuff online!

 

I remember my first MC experience...Hey what's this button do?...ok nothing...this one? ooooh I have a block of dirt!!...hey what's that walking bush...

 

Yeah kinda ruined it for me seeing as I already knew how to progress in the game. And what all the enemies did

 

Yeah, that is why I don't intend to watch any LPs before I have had a few hours of frustration in the game.

 

But you start in your spaceship, after your home planet was obliterated...

 

Yeah but the developers can easily change it to their liking if they think this would make a good tutorial. The story says "Starbound begins with you fleeing your homeworld in a space shuttle" but I'm sure they could add in a tiny bit for the space shuttle part. Who knows, maybe they were even referencing the option to skip the tutorial and just start off in your escape pod

Everything seems to line up perfectly except for how you described getting to the space ship. I think it would make an awesome beginning to the story and be perfect for the tutorial.

This post just made me realize something: What are our original Homeworlds going to look like??? If you choose to be "human", is it going to be a very advanced Earth? I demand answers!

 

Yeah, I admit the main glaring hole in the story is how you end up in charge of a ship, as I said at the end. I did think about you just running to your ship on your homeworld and escaping with a few other npcs. It still just didn't make sense to me that if you were any kind of important figure in the town (in charge of your own massive ship) why you'd be out hunting deer and collecting wood and rocks... But yeah it was more about the idea than the specific details. Hopefully they've already got something similar to this seeing as they're planning on having more of a story element to the gameplay

Maybe you could do a few other quests after you arrive on their ship, and then that somehow results in you becoming commander or something. Who knows! I'll have a think.

Who knows! I expect it's just going to be random though, if we ever even get to see our original homeworld in the final game.

 

Um. easy! You aren't the owner or captain of the ship. You are a lowly maintenance worker on the ship and the officers sent you to collect stuff. Then they are all killed in the first attack, you grab as many people as you can save (some NPCs should be able to be saved or lost depending on how good you do) and you rush back to the ship and lift off.

 

Yeah but then where do all the people that know how to fly the ship and stuff come from? And why wouldn't they take charge instead of you? :/

 

The best thing of Terraria was the learning. Figuring out "oh, this is how i get dirt. Yey a square dirt house with only two walls! Oh what's this guy? is he helpful? no? ok dieeee! oh wait, I CAN'T KILL HIM!!! oh maybe this jumpy thing is friendly! oh wait no... he just knocked me off a cliff. How do i get up?" ect.

I have very found memories of screwing friends over in co op, connecting our little huts with the weird, uneven hallways, and figuring out "oh, air is important to watch. Haha you drowned I take your coins."

As a side note the guide was actually the perfect balance of useful and non-intrusive-non-spoiler.

A mandatory tutorial is terrible, make it optional and fine. (this isn't to be rude but hours of Terraria took the wonderful discoveries away, please don't do that with this without the wonderful hours)

Also, if there is a tutorial hopefully its less ridged than most e.i. no: "mine this block. error, it apears you tried to mine the block that is closer to you" lol

 

Fair enough. You're entitled to your opinion. Even with this system you'd still have nearly all of the 'what does this do?' moments though, it would just be there to slightly ease new players into the game rather than dump them completely in the deep end. Seeing as this game is going to have a few more complex mechanics than other games with regards to shields and using two hands and attack animations and things, and I feel it would be better than having a 'guide' figure seeing as you're going to be moving about from planet to planet so much.

Nearly all of the points that you made would be perfectly unruined other than the digging of dirt. I expect that 99% of the players will either have played Terraria or Minecraft anyway, or read that blocking breaking is part of the game before they start, so this tutorial wouldn't exactly be spoiling anything. All it would do is show you is the very basics about game elements, like both hands being independent; basic shield blocking and combat; and very basic resource gathering. It would just introduce you to the very basic gameplay elements, it wouldn't show you all the tools in the game or ruin all the discovering of the ore and enemy types or force you to build a house or anything like that. There'll be a whole universe to explore and discover, a little tutorial at the start isn't going to take anything away from that.

 

the universal answer to technical Sci-fi questions: the AI does it. I want an interactive AI ingame to serve the same purpose as the "GUIDE" in Terraria. Like Ender's Shadow (or should I just call you Bean?) said:

This would be a great way to have a non-intrusive teacher. Just have an AI that can analyze your stuff and bump you in the right direction.
I want more of an introductory story than Terraria or Minecraft have. If I want a game that dumps me in a random world with no backstory, then I will play those, but I want to play Starbound, a different kind of sandbox game where I have a past, and there is a story. Some intro at the beginning would be nice even if it didn't teach us much. (not long...and definitely ESC skippable...)

 

Skippable works.

How would the intro-tutorial work for co op? especially different level characters joining the same game.

(sorry if I was a little strong but I saw the manditory and freaked , however as I said Zellman's skipable aspect seems good)

As for the story I might suggest:

1. Wake up, moving tutorial, invasion blows hole in your house
2. Run around frantically
3. Escape ship grabs you
4.Ship gets hit and goes down on planet
5.Wake up
6.Learn basic survival skills: mining, shelter creation, inventory, combat, etc.
7.Build a signal type thing and get rescued and taken to a space station

However if you read the official story you'll notice neither your nor my story works. So maybe something along the lines of:

On the escape shuttle you learn movement. Then the shuttle gets hit and you have to go get supplies and weapons (inventory) to fix the ship (building) and fend off enemies (combat). The rest will happen at the station, when you land on your first planet, and when necessary.

 

Yeah that's why I wanted to concentrate more on the principle of a more in depth story element to the tutorial, rather than the actual specific details of the story itself. There's no point getting het up over how it would all work as I'm sure the developers have already decided on the story anyway. There hasn't really been a lot of detail on the story, and I expect it's going to stay that while until the release really.

Well the tutorial would not be on for multiplayer because that could create all manner of confusion. But it's like any game really, multiplayer isn't where you'd go first for the learning experience and the story if you want it. Multiplayer is always really more for having fun with friends than getting engrossed into the story.

I did write:

So I didn't set it in stone. I just said that I'dprefer it to be compulsory the first time so that people don't go instantly jumping past any kind of story. It wouldn't be forcing much upon the player, and it would be more about introducing them to the world and the story than making them feel like 'Oh god I have to do a stupid tutorial. Mash enter until it's done'.

Imagine like portal 2, the tutorial was completely part of the game and a good introduction to the gameplay, it didn't feel like you were just been patronised into pressing buttons before you could get on with the game. This is why I felt that it should be compulsory the first time you play, to make sure players get the most out of the game and don't just skip it because they feel they already know everything or just want to get on and play. The turorial would be part of the game.

 

Well since your original home world is destroyed, in multiplayer it could take place on a planet that is for tutorial purposes only and not be visible in multiplayer. Similar to how a lot of MMO's will have a "tutorial island" or similar where it's not a part of the game and sometimes your own private instance. Once you complete and leave this private tutorial area you aren't allowed to return. Normally there is no reason to return but in Starbound's case the reason would be because that planet no longer exists due to it being destroyed.

 

I think the tutorial should be the ship being attacked by an unknown enemy as the back-story describes, You are awoken by the attack maybe and gather supplies to escape or fight your way out or perform repairs, the in-depth tutorial is a great idea, especially since this genre is still very fresh and could potentially attract lots of people who didn't play Terraria.

 

Updated quite a bit!