Will Starbound have tutorials or is "every man for himself"?

I hope that theirs no tutorial! Much more fun to explore the game and learn everything on your own! Of course that's my opinion but I don't think there will be a tutorial.

 

Have the players do story missions that would organically teach them the ropes. That's probably the best way to do it. Even then, though, Terraria had no missions or tutorials and, as I said, half the fun was discovering new stuff and new ways to do things.

 

Now this is a good idea! Much like the Mega Man X video above referenced. Organic teaching is a symptom of good game-development.

 

I think that the tutorial should be done in hints that don't tell you directly how to play the game, instead they use curiosity to teach you, instead of straight out telling you, like in The Legend of Zelda, where you had to figure out how to get to the bosses in the temples by yourself.

 

Here is my opinion on how the tutorials thing should be approached.

Most basic, simple, obvious controls like WASD for moving and SPACE for jumping - No tutorial, just a CONTROLS read out in the main menu. If you can't be F'd taking 12 seconds to read the short list of basic controls and then start whining "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" you deserve to fail.

Not so obvious but still relatively basic controls like a combination of input commands to perform a special attack, or some form of inventory shortcut - In-game "optional" tutorials like a sign you can read or an NPC you can talk to. (Obviously reading signs and talking to NPCs would be in the above category [but for complete shits and giggles, I'd love to see a sign that reads "press this button to read a sign" or vice versa for an NPC]) These would cover such things that aren't as obvious as moving left and right but still don't require a lengthy explanation, e.g. A + B for Sliding Attack, Wiring can cross any block except-. If there are special moves or tasks that a player can perform, like a drop attack with a melee weapon or shooting a switch with a gun, perhaps a visual could accompany the instructions, to draw the player's attention to the possability. For example, show an NPC performing the task and when the player talks to them, they state the instructions, perhaps with an added witty comment.

For things that are more complex, such as the intricate and complex workings of a core feature of the game (like Redstone Wiring in Minecraft) optional tutorials could be provided from the main menu (or in Single Player the Esc/Pause menu also) that explain these things in more detail.


This way the tutorials are placed in-game without loss of immersion and can be skipped if people don't want to read them or already know them.

 

A thing to keep in mind is that the game DOES have intro segments unique to each race. So you probably needn't worry about learning how to play. I assume the intros are playable, so by the end you'll probably know the basics before you end up actually thrown into the big wide universe.

 

I don't see why having a tutorial or not will be such a big issue. Chances are that they design of the game will lead you through how to play it. Oh and even back in the days of the SNES, I can tell you I never read instruction booklets-- I just looked at them. Why didn't I read them, you ask?

Because I was four when Yoshi's Island came out and couldn't read very well.

The instruction manual was, thankfully, also part picture book. You look at the controller and the buttons and it gives you a sketch of what Yoshi is supposed to do when you press it. 'Yoshi can throw eggs when you press this smooth purple button here? COOL!' Back then they had to realize that they were marketing to all types of players, including a very young audience, and including people that... well, can't read. Terraria isn't the best example of games without tutorials working well. Just have a little more faith in the developers. I'm sure that whatever kind of teaching mechanisms they use, it will work and it will work well enough to actually play the game.

Even if it's a pain in the ass hold-you-by-the-hand tutorial that leans on the fourth wall so much that it ends up shoving willing suspension of disbelief screaming out the window of a high rise apartment into traffic.

But I have a feeling it won't be.

 

Well said! I also think that the developers have a plan to how they will solve this, and wether we have the tutorial or not, it probably won't matter that much ^^

 

Most games do That.

I was playing Mass Effect since last week, with time I were doing my missions and find new stuff, menus, or kinds of content for the first time... The game gives me an quick overview of everything.

And then there is an Manual (codex) in the menu to check everything if we need it again.

 

Idea! Players will have a logbook in the game, and a small section of it might be dedicated to controls and gameplay? So when you make a new character, one of the first things you'll se is a message telling you that something was added to your logbook!

 

Yup Starbound as an Codex... An Manual Category in the Codex, with tricks, hints, and game mechanics info is awesome.

 

Word from Tiy on the subject:

 

I Saw that. It's short what I meant. The game itself be an "natural guide" that does not force us but it makes it easy to learn every mechanic, giving hints, etc..

 

Awesome! I think that's the right way to do it, and it sounds like they have a plan

 

lol navi the worlds most annoying spec of light with wings

 

Don't remind me. Please, this thing has lowered my patience hundred-fold.
Dammit Navi.

 

I never liked games that baby-sat you through the whole game, I love finding things out for myself. I only looked at the Terraria wiki when I wanted to make the Hardcore mode boss peices. And, having everything handed to you by a 'tutorial' would be extremely boring to me.

 

When I first played though Terraria I didn't even know there was a wiki till I got to hell and I think it was a better experience to discover everything first hand

 

As long as it explains only the essentials, I wouldn't have a problem with a tutorial.