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Found 8 results

  1. I've recently been watching a lot of Game Maker's toolkit these days and I saw a lot of videos talking about the effectiveness of game tutorials (specifically for more complex games). After pondering this subject for a little while, I wanted to create a topic to discuss ideas for an effective tutorial for Xen 2. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GV814cWiAw Xen 1 and the more recent steam demo for Xen 2 in February have been criticized for a lack of a tutorial, and for good reason. Many strategy and tactical games are complex enough for players to easily get confused with the ui and mechanics of the game. This has been shown in the February demo when I saw a lot of topics about people not being able to figure out how to spend more time units for more accuracy or couldn't figure out how to shoot aliens at higher elevations. And with the addition of the geoscape and air combat as well, it is easy to imagine a new player getting turned off because they don't understand how to play the game. So my question is, what is the best way to convey all of this information to the player in a game like Xenonauts or its sequel? I have sat through many tutorials for several strategy and tactical games that just tell you to click this and click that and they don't actually tell me how to play the game that well and they bore me with all of the massive text boxes and arbitrary clicking. The firaxis Xcoms also turned me off a little bit when they did these same tactics and it felt really tedious to have that much handholding and that much reading and clicking. The difference of enjoyment when you choose to turn off the tutorial in those games are staggering. I heard that you guys over at Goldhawk plan to make a tutorial that plans to introduce the player to various mechanics of tactical combat and introduce them to the main threat of the Cleaners at the start of the game. I would like to know how you would go about making that tutorial instructive at teaching new and veteran players about the mechanics of the game and the threat the that cleaners pose to the survival of humanity while still keeping the battle engaging and fun for new and veteran players alike. Another important thing that the tutorial absolutely needs is to convey the design philosophy of Xenonauts as a whole. Xenonauts is a true simulation that allows the player to play however they like without any sort of handholding or being shown what to do by the game. The tutorial needs to show that sort of philosophy as well to introduce new players to the design and feel of the game while still conveying all of the important information needed to fully experience the game. Then there is the issue with the geoscape where the player would go from one tutorial to another in quick succession, which can easily become really jarring. The geoscape has an arguably more complicated ui than the tactical battles do, so I'm also wondering how you guys can convey this information in an engaging way while easing the player into another tutorial (or tutorials depending on how you structure it). Air combat a little afterwards might also be another hassle for you guys to overcome as well. Yeah, this is a pretty huge task for this kind of game. And with the high expectation of this game due to the success of Xen 1, this is easily something that can make or break this game. So, I'm really interested in seeing your ideas for this tutorial.
  2. I wonder whether there is any intention to implement a tutorial of some kind within the game. I am aware that the original XCOM games did not come with such and that the idea of a comprehensive in-game tutorial is a relatively new one, popularised by the digitalization of video games and, for me, the lamentable concomitant absence of a manual that might also act as a doorstop. I recently purchased the game being no longer able to resist the lure of a real successor to two of my favourite games of all time - the music being almost as iconic as the gameplay in both TFTD and the original. I am finding it challenging to navigate all that the game has to offer without plenty of failures and the need to constantly restart. Trial and error can be an interesting and rewarding method of learning a game and twenty years ago, when I had far fewer games and there was a tendency for all games to be really challenging and therefore often requiring a huge time commitment, it was a perfectly valid method of learning the mechanics and intricacies of a game. It seems possible however, that a large number of players, who might otherwise enjoy the game, may find themselves put off by the difficulties that learning the game might present. It is possible that a decent tutorial might open the game to a greater number of players and add to Xenonauts's commercial success as well as indicating that there are a large number of people still willing to play these types of game. No doubt this has been discussed before and it would be much appreciated if some knowledgeable person might point me in the direction of such a conversation.
  3. As the game has recently been released on steam, and... having drunkenly perused the forums a lot this week/end I'm guessing that one of the less important for the "game" but more important for the game's success will be a tutorial for the easy/normal modes. It probably would have been great to have a simple one in place before dropping this on steam, but I really think that it might be worth taking some time off of the balancing and development to put a little something together for the first timers. And trust me, I'd rather the game just be done, but I really think this would help perception of the game. Maybe we could have a forum mod put together a stickied thread with a lot of helpful startup tips for each phase of the game and a link to that added to the launch screen. Discuss?
  4. Now bear with me here. Introducing new players to a game such as Xenoanuts can be difficulty, and a new player may be overwhelmed initially when they start a new game. One of the criticisms of the original XCOM was its lack of player direction and I know from personal experience that I had no idea what to do when I started playing the original XCOM. Say what you will about the new XCOM game by Firaxis, but I feel they introduced their concepts relatively well. My only complaint being you can't skip the "intro" cut scenes when you talk to the heads of different departments. So how do we create a tutorial for Xenonauts that is better than some popups saying "This is where you hire personal"? We create a tutorial surrounding the first encounter between Humanity and the Aliens, the Iceland Incident. This can achieve a few things. 1. Allow players to not be forced to play a tutorial. 2. Introduce the player to many concepts in a controlled environment. 3. Better show off the games lore. The Tutorial could also have the player take control of the squad of soldiers in the novella Crimson Dagger, since this would allow players to fight on the surface and in the UFO. Very little aesthetically would have to be changed, the Basic Armour art is very representative of the uniform worn by US/NATO soldiers back in the late 50's, the gun model does not have to be changed significantly with only the Inventory art having to be changed to reflect the older style weapons if we want to maintain historical consistency. Here is how the basic Tutorial would play out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction to Base Managment (Player would be in control of a US/NATO base in Europe. Introduction to Radar (Base would pick up UFO) Introduction to Air Combat (Player would take control of the first Interceptors against the UFO, lose horribly) Introduction to Ground Combat (Player would launch a transport unit, could be a cargo plane, to the crash sight of the UFO) Learn basics of Ground Combat (Show the player moving from the base camp to the frontline) UFO entrance (Player entering the UFO) Mission Over (Nuke would go off and end the mission, and finish the tutorial) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The only disadvantages I can think off with this tutorial would be the loss of development time to create it, and that it may remove some of the mystique of the some of the Aliens since you have already fought them before, albeit with weaker weapons and equipment. Thanks for reading, and please leave your thoughts.
  5. Hey all, I read a thread a bit ago that suggested a tutorial to teach new-to-the-genre players how to play the game. I was thinking it could be either activated anytime from the main menu through a "Tutorial" tab (or something, whatever works), or it could be a checkbox when you start a new game (similar to the Iron Man checkbox) that you could select to have the tutorial start before you start your game. Personally, I like the checkbox idea, it's kind of like a commander training that you can go through before you take control of the organization. Going with the checkbox idea, I think that it should be selected by default (though still uncheckable) on the easiest difficulty, and totally disabled on the highest difficulty. This would make newer players (who'd pick easy more often than not, perhaps) guaranteed to get the tutorial unless they opted out by unchecking the box, and it'd make the masochists who want to play the insane difficulty have to know about the game before they play, unless they enjoy failing miserably. Anyway, it's not really a priority, and would/should be done after all the mechanics and UI changes and everything is smoothed out, and all we have left is balancing. EDIT: Since Gauddlike asked nicely, I'll edit this post to include ideas of perhaps less-than-intuative things that newer players should be taught in the tutorial. If anyone has any ideas, please share them in this post so I can add them to the tutorial list. Thanks! Geoscape: -Explain Radar ranges, how (unless I'm embarrassingly mistaken) the inner ring is the detection range, and the outer ring is how far away they can get before they are lost. (That is right, right?) - Ground Combat: -Grenade quickslot mechanics (L-click to use grenade, R-click to select grenade, esc to esc) -Change aim levels with R-click or scroll wheel. -Switching fire mode using the weapon image icons and hotkeys. - Air Combat: (Perhaps a simple still-image with clickable help boxes would do for this one) -Throttle -Fuel Level -Evasive maneuvers -Missile locking behavior -
  6. Hi, I apologise if this has been covered already, but I couldn't find a conclusive answer in the old tutorial threads around the forum. It's been a long, long time since I played X-COM, and stumbling into the Xenonauts Alpha I was actually surprised to see that I remembered very little. The manual is extremely bare bones right now, so I was just wondering whether a tutorial of some sort was planned before the final release? It's suggested a couple of places, but as I said, nothing really conclusive is around Either way, I'll probably play the shit out of this game and I'm glad I donated. It's just a question of how much time I'll end up spending figuring out the basics (and since I'm rather busy a tutorial would really help me).
  7. I am passing on a request for an in game tutorial It could be a more complex interactive one- or it could be a hit next option describing the layout Break it down into different categories, so you don't have to play through the whole thing, just the bit your stuck on. Geoscape, Research, Manufacturing, Intercept, Base Management, Ground combat. I think we sometimes forget that not everyone has played xcom, or that not everyone who played xcom understood xcom.
  8. pretty much the title. i preordered it cause i remeber fond memmories of x-com but having not played x-com for 20 years or so and a lot of things haviung happened since then i realised i knew nothing and was pretty much trila and erroring which is hardly ideal. i was thinking that a short tutorial at start of new campaign would make the game a lot more accessable especially as the new features i didnt really get like a screen popped up saying i was skint upon which i was looking at a war room with regions listed with a monitary value next to them which i didnt understand one bit. ok granted i may be stupid or impatient but i'm probably not the only one. also wanted to make a post to see if the linking thing had worked lol;)
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