Tutorial Suggestion

[Steelpoint]

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.

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• 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)
  

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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.

[Gauddlike]

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/708-Should-there-be-a-a-tutorial-of-sorts

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/175-Ground-Combat-Intro-Stage

Few ideas covered in previous threads that might be of interest.

I still am not overly keen on giving a tutorial mission that is impossible to win, or to survive for that matter.

[Steelpoint]

Few ideas covered in previous threads that might be of interest.

I still am not overly keen on giving a tutorial mission that is impossible to win, or to survive for that matter.

The tutorial would be separate from the main campaign since there is almost a 30 year difference between the Iceland Incident and the start of the Alien Invasion.

Thanks for the links, I guess I missed them when I was searching for other threads on this matter.

[Gauddlike]

I understand the chronology.

I just don't like the idea of giving a player who is likely to be completely new to the game, if not the genre as a whole, a tutorial that will always result in them losing every last soldier.

For some it will definitely put them off the game.

[Steelpoint]

Well, according to the Lore the only survivors where the officers at the command post and the wounded pulled back from the fighting.

As much as I dislike forcing actions for the player to do, we could have a sequence where one of their soldiers is wounded and is pulled back, probably before they enter the UFO. So when the nuke does go off there will be one survivor, which can lead into the post mission debriefing.

[GizmoGomez]

How about a simulation? Or just stills from the game, screen shots basically, with writing on them, explaining what things are?