From Chris: Help creating tutorials, please!

[kasnavada]

I love having a good wiki on hand for complex games; easily the best way to quickly learn about one specific thing. The trouble with the AI War 2 wiki is that it's not limited to just AI War 2 and most searches return AIW:FC results, which could lead to epic levels of confusion on the part of the uninitiated.

I don't like wikis. As a whole, they just have the content of the game in text format. And require a lot of manpower to stay updated, are frequently out of date, don't do mods... Well, except for one, but it's not really a wiki.

https://larzm42.github.io/dom5inspector/

This site extracts the whole data of the game and place it in a linked format for anyone to use. That's immensely useful, especially given the insane amount of content the dominions series had. Since it extracts the data of the game and mods to make the website, it's dynamic, always up-to-date, and...adding mods will give you the exact content your game has, mods included.

Only downside, it was not done by one of the devs, but by a community member... so it breaks from time to time.

AI War could use this. And throw wikis in the trashbin.

[x4000]

Various notes:

1. Yes, having tutorials outside the game that we link to means that as things change we need to update them.  That's an unfortunate side effect.

2. The wiki for AI War 2 isn't really meant to be consumed directly as such; all the good stuff is INSIDE the game, in the "How to Play" section.  The actual wiki  has only secondary information and things like release notes right now.

3. I'm fine with having advisers or similar (I did something along those lines for The Last Federation, recall?), along with things like the little missions (same deal in that game), but I'm concerned with the amount of time it might take. 

4. My biggest problem is that I'm not sure what it is that people want to know right now that they don't.  I very much get that there are a variety of things that people might not understand, but what exactly those things are for a returning player, versus a brand new player, versus a player who has played X other game and came in with XYZ expectations versus someone else who played Y other game instead... it's not exactly a homogeneous audience.  And I'm not part of that audience at all, because I already know how to play, so I'm having to imagine what other people want to know.

5. As far as unit tests being broken right now, that's because the only reeason we had the unit tests in the first place was so we could run simulation code and then attach a profiler to it.  But that gave us such bad results that we found better ways to profile while actually being in the game.  So it's more a point that the unit tests aren't really useful for any practical purpose, so we've not bothered to maintain them whatsoever.

6. As far as the evolution of the game goes, it's hard to say if things would change so dramatically again that the basics of how to play would be invalidated tutorial-wise.  Probably it will happen eventually (unless the game just tanks or something), but it's hard to say how long that would be.  Mostly even if the game does really well I would want to focus on additional content and behaviors and interesting things, versus redoing core systems over and over again.  That's what EA was for.

7. I'm certainly not opposed to doing some LPs myself or having other people do them and I link to them.  Maybe doing that plus having some in-game advisers would get the job done, but I could REALLY use advice on what to communicate to players in the advisers fashion.

[kasnavada]

4. My biggest problem is that I'm not sure what it is that people want to know right now that they don't.  I very much get that there are a variety of things that people might not understand, but what exactly those things are for a returning player, versus a brand new player, versus a player who has played X other game and came in with XYZ expectations versus someone else who played Y other game instead... it's not exactly a homogeneous audience.  And I'm not part of that audience at all, because I already know how to play, so I'm having to imagine what other people want to know.

I'm not sure that here is the best place for this either, to be honest. I doubt anyone here has less than 10 years of strategy games under his belt. If you want a complete newbie, grap 12 year old somewhere in your neighbourhood that has not ever played a strategy game before, let him play one hour (record him), then play another hour with him (and record it too), and... you'll have newbie questions to write dozens of tutorials about.

Apart from that. Given that I kind of wrote 3 pages about my issues IG...
- explain how the camera moves. How to select things. Explain a few button (C-click, double click... and nothing else really). Just add that other commands are in the "controls" menu.
- how to move stuff (it's not always left click selects, right click moves). That said, it really should be.
- how to read the planet map.
- explain status effects (paralysis, engine damage... reclamation, parasite, zombie...)
- explain "XP"
- write to player that they know how to read, and that there is a reason why there is a box of text in the bottom.
- explain why the local tab is useless (kidding).
- explain that the fleet screen is there to get details about fleets and to SWAP stuff. BTW, the swap screen could use some work... like being replaced by a series of boxes, representing fleets, where you could swap ship lines by drag and dropping them. Also, how to assign hotkeys.
- explain how to read the tech screen, what makes this tech good or bad depending on your current circumstances. By the way, the tech unlocks tab could be twice as big and SHOW THE ICONS of the affected units, between the title and the cost. And if you could add an indicator for the level too. That would help a lot. Thanks in advance. Like, really thanks thanks thanks.
- for the build screen : tell the players that they need a fleet to start a construction on a planet (when capturing planets).
- for the build screen : explain that forcefield block mines, and 2 basic defensive strategies. Defending a wormhole (mines & tractor turret near the wormhole, other turrets try to cover the path to the command station and the wormhole), or defending a station (if there are 6 wormhole to a planet, place the command station far from the wormhole and fan out the turrets to protect the station). This could also explain basics of "your turret have a long range, don't put them in the way of the enemies".
- Explain the role of the 3 main command stations. 1 for heavy defense, one for medium defenses, and one if you're completely safe.
- Explain AIP.
- Explain threat. By the way, I noticed macrophages are green, unless there is 1 AI ship on the planet, at which point they're orange. Is it possible to split them ? Thanks again.
- how to read the galaxy map, the objectives there, and a rough "simple" guideline that would be enough to win a AI 5 game (capture at least 8 fleets, all ARS, some GCA / IGC, break all AI reducer you can). Tell the player that this won't work at higher difficulty level or with different "lobby" options.
- Explain how ARS work (the closest transport actually does the hack, if you hack a ship you already have in your fleet, it combines with the existing fleet line). Which is strange BTW, as you can't group them by swapping. I think one of those behaviour needs to be removed, else I just keep my fleets at 4 ship lines until I explored the entire map, which can't be how you intended to use them. IMO, they shouldn't merge ever - similar ship lines should have a minor modifier like +5% damage or +5% shield to keep them different. Not enough to change gameplay, but enough to not merge ship lines.
- Explain what citadel and battlestations do and how they can be used (offensive, defensive).

I think that kinds of cover the basics.

That said, we kinda forgot the question asked as first.

Once you've defined what you want as a tutorial, I'm ok for writing / making a few.

[BadgerBadger]

Before I buy I game I will usually watch an LP or two, just to see if it looks like fun to me. So I'd definitely say there should be at least one online before we get to 1.0.

[AnnoyingOrange]

I think something like AIWC's tutorial could work: a very short, heavily scripted campaign that explains the very basics such as "where is the map", "how do I build ships", "what is a fleet", and "what is energy".
10 planets would probably be more than enough, even if you were to reserve one planet per capturable type.
That way there wouldn't be much to update when gameplay changes are made, while still giving new players enough info to actually understand what's going on.

[Sounds]

(Snip)
...
THAT is what I hate about video tutorials. You can't actually TRY anything, get a feel for the controls, or have your attention directed to where it needs to be. Instead its an info dump ("you can walk on walls") and then you get thrown into a LIVE multiplayer game with EXPERIENCED players and expected to not suck (because no other play modes exist).

In total agreement with you here. It is better to learn through actual game play experience.

The time I've resorted to watching 'lets play / video tutorials' has had mixed results - either the game is put away to reattempt later or never to be played again. For the reattempt case to occur generally coincides with how much initial experience/fun is had learning/stumbling through to that point. If the learning approach bores you to tears, is counter intuitive, or lacks a sufficient cohesive starting point/direction, etc.) generally results in no further play.

Don't misunderstand; it doesn't mean video clips don't have a place. The best use is when they are short and focused on key aspects of the game that are not always immediately obvious (but simple in execution) to a first time player (e.g. Fleet movement across galaxy). For the cases where a more complex concept needs explanation (e.g. hacking, fleet selection/make-up, AI threat progression, etc.) give the player hands on experience that provides a sense of accomplishment. This hopefully puts the player in the position to stick around for the deeper game.

This is where thematic objectives are useful. Rather than forcing a player to follow a precise set of steps, the idea is to incentivise the player through game play objectives which are triggered by events that a player encounters (or scripted) that tie the learning experience back to immediate goals.

That all said; for AIWII it would be better to focus on:
 - Enabling the ability to allow thematic objectives initially at very general level (e.g. Establishing a foothold, First AI encounter, Strategic strike, Resource Crisis, AI Aggression, etc.)
 - Re-work (or created another separate) Wiki Site to focus on the game concepts and play details
 - Convert Tool Tip details to Wiki based format (automated process that extracts the details from the current build and aggregate the appropriate content [ships, resources, etc.]

Hope the above helps.

[Admiral]

I actually like the "How to play" documents that are in the ESCAPE menu. I have almost never watched video tutorials for any game. I vastly prefer printed manuals (and still have my Falcon 4.0 manual as a reference for how it's done).

I wish I weren't so busy at work this week as I spent a lot of today playing the latest AIW II and man, it's good. It did take me a little while to figure it out but now I have some great thoughts for improving the written documentation.

Key points:

• Fleets auto-regenerate when in systems under conditions x, y, z
• Even if all ships in a fleet die, the lead ship is unkillable and can limp home for rebuilding
• Do not try to capture all planets; the only really important ones have more fleet lead ships, offer more defensive turrets and a few others
• Talk about the types of command stations, their tradeoffs, and what the things are that they let you build
• Talk about how XP for the fleet and Mark levels for the ships in the fleet are different (the latter is tech)
• Talk about all the different things you can raid/hack/kill that do not impact AIP

I would suggest a safe beginner strategy too. Mine, which mind you I am not an expert, has been to get new fleets and then get the ship types added to the fleets, and maybe do a few random things here and there. But, I haven't won yet so I have no idea how good this will work out.

Documentation written in Markdown can be pandoc'd into whatever nice format is desired, including the in-game format that Chris is already using.

That said, my son learns everything from YouTube, and I think an outline for a tutorial series would be possible for a writer to write...

Cheers!

[I-KP]

People learn in multifarious ways: some learn best by watching demonstrations; some only with practical activity; some by reading, etc. The key point is that there is no one necessarily right or wrong way to provide a tutorial. The question is how wide a net do you want to cast in order to catch as many folks as you can within in.

I do like the Intel tab in the game at present. It helps me remember what needs doing. Even after having consumed various forms of tutorial material this sort of aide-memoire has value.

[BadgerBadger]

Personally I like video tutorials and Lets Play videos, then just playing the game.

For folks who like the Intel tab, are there things you'd like improved or changed?

And for folks who don't like the Intel tab, are there things you'd like to see covered in there that might make it useful?

[I-KP]

As an Intel tab liker, the only thing I've found that annoys me at the moment is the tooltip - it's effing massive (in some cases), often covering up the thing that's being highlighted on the map beneath. Maybe have a wee checkbox within that tab to suppress tooltips on hover over? Or, as I'm not sure that these items need tooltips at all, for further information, i.e., the current tooltop content, LMB should pop up a window instead.

Also, in an effort to reduce the length of the list, perhaps consider condensing multiples of the same thing into one item? (Destroying Co-Pros and wotnot.) Hover over one item and you see all locations highlighted on the map anyway.

[Asteroid]

As an Intel tab liker, the only thing I've found that annoys me at the moment is the tooltip - it's effing massive (in some cases), often covering up the thing that's being highlighted on the map beneath. Maybe have a wee checkbox within that tab to suppress tooltips on hover over? Or, as I'm not sure that these items need tooltips at all, for further information, i.e., the current tooltop content, LMB should pop up a window instead.

Also, in an effort to reduce the length of the list, perhaps consider condensing multiples of the same thing into one item? (Destroying Co-Pros and wotnot.) Hover over one item and you see all locations highlighted on the map anyway.

One of the modifiers (ctrl or alt) hides tooltips. The tooltip tells you so.

The fact you didn't notice suggest discoverability of this feature could be improved... Or tooltips could show at the lower-left instead of right over the map, so you don't have to know about a feature just to be able to see the map.

[I-KP]

'Hold SHIFT to hide all tooltips' is shown on some tooltips but not all, and not on anything in the Intel tab (to name but one). It does indeed hide tooltips on Intel tab items.

To add to the confusion, on some locations where it does say hold Shift to hide it does nothing, e.g., on the galaxy map for planets (but does work for objects - confusion reigns).

I am, gradually, getting used to the interface foibles in AIW2; consistency of input and control could probably be improved a wee bit.

[kasnavada]

And for folks who don't like the Intel tab, are there things you'd like to see covered in there that might make it useful?

Some of the text is... strange.
- "Hire mercenaries from Beacon". Ok, we CAN hire them, but it's probably not a good idea most of the time.
- "Claim VS Capture" tooltips. I have no idea why half of it is claim, the other ones are capture. On GCA, the intel tooltip says "capture", the tooltip of the object on the map says "claim". In truth, there is multiple  mecanics there, so it makes sense to have both words. I could imagine "capture" for this that you can move, and claim for things you can't move. And, hack for stuff you hack.

About missing information, the only hing I think is missing is that the toolships should tell how to realize the action.
Example: "Capture GCA on shadbolt". The tooltip states what it does, give more turret, and which turrets. It should tell that I can capture it (until it is destroyed) by building a station on the planet, or that I can get it permanently by hacking it. And that hacking costs more when (...) you get the thing.

Some of the tooltips are outdated too : "Scout 70 more planets" doesn't tell how to scout. That said, fog of war just had a rework, so maybe it ain't the time. But, this one still mentions leaving scout on planets to scout like in AI War I.



That said, to me, the intel tab shouldn't be there in this form. Everything that it contains should be on the main map (investigate unknown beacon and distribution nodes are missing). It mostly is, so, fine by me.

Since it would already be on the main screen, I would re-design the intel tab completely, probably making it into an entire sub-screen covering a large amount of the screen, which would basically be a disguised tutorial, that would organize all objectives into categories.
AI Objectives:
- Main objectives => beginner section, exploring, destroying the AI, important objectives and alerts (waves, instigator bases, raid engine and so on)
- Minor objectives and "AI control" => destroying data centers, coprocessors, neutering planets, warden bases...

Player Objectives:
- Reinforce player offensive objectives (can't find a good name for this)  => everything that makes the player able to attack with more strength.
- Reinforce player defensive objectives (same as above) => everything that makes the player able to defend himself better.

The point of the intel tab would then be renamed "AI war current status" and be a place where everything can be seen at a glance. On one side, I'd have the Icons of every fleet, and the hotkey to select it (if it exists), and it would be color coded from green if everything is ok with it (80+% of its ship built to Red if disabled.

Hovering on an objective or fleet would make this screen 80% - 90% transparent and show where the action can be done or where the fleet is, the camera would slide to move the objective close to the center of the screen. Clicking anywhere would close the screen at the current location.

... It's probably a lot of work for minor bonuses.

[RocketAssistedPuffin]

I feel like I'm going nuts temporarily but, I kind of want to make the tutorials now.

So if you still want those, just throw me the tools and I'll attempt it.

[x4000]

I feel like I'm going nuts temporarily but, I kind of want to make the tutorials now.

So if you still want those, just throw me the tools and I'll attempt it.

That would be a godsend, I think.  That's the really super big thing the game is lacking right now.  I'll work on tools for you and anyone else who wants to make tutorials of whatever sort, and I'll add tools as folks need them.  Some of these can also be "challenge scenarios" that people choose to set up, and my goal is for it to ALL be xml, no code compiling required.

Probably keeping each tutorial short and having multiple of them would be an easier way to create them and for people to consume them, honestly.  Also easier to test them.