I’ve been debating to myself whether I should include a tutorial and if I should, how would I go about doing it?
Before that, I have some questions
Tutorial VS No tutorial. How would it affect the game?
Preventing players from quitting?
Is a tutorial important to players?
How would I introduce the game in a subtle way so that players will not feel that the game is hard?
Background Info on what I'm making
I am developing an open-world exploration game. The player is able to choose their own path(mage, tank, ranged or melee) when they are on their own in the game. Kill mobs, upgrade armour and weapons, farm, raise animals, fish…
In my opinion, tutorials are very important.
Having a tutorial keeps people from leaving the game right away because they don’t know what to do.
From what I’ve seen, tutorials are pretty important to people.
What you can do is gradually make it harder as the player goes on depending on what the game is about.
Depends on the game and how easy it is for a new player to grasp. If it’s like an obby/tycoon/roleplay, etc. then it’s not needed, as those games are self explanatory. I feel simulators should, as each simulator has its own gimmick, they don’t all make immediate sense when you join.
Best way is to just get a friend who has no clue how your game works/what to do, and have them join. Don’t tell them what to do. If they figure it out quickly enough then you should be fine
I would go for a tutorial for a game like this because an open world game to some could be overwhelming on where to start off. I would implement a tutorial where it doesn’t really feel like a basic tutorial but like an introduction into the game that goes over the basics of the game mechanics and the world. If there is lore in this game or quests, you could tie those into this too for a rich introduction where the player may be interested to learn more about your world/game.
If you make a tutorial where it seems boring like just screens of text describing things, people are most likely to skip it. Like I said before, make it more like a mandatory quest, things to do and an reward for completing it.
The last thing is that you don’t want people to think this game is hard? Why is that? If a game is too easy for too long then it may get boring after a while. I think the best solution for that would be to make the game easy in the beginning so the player can learn and know what they are doing and then progress the difficulty up while the player plays so the game isn’t always easy, there’s a challenge then.
I’d suggest a tutorial game, it will give the players playing the game a feeling of what the games about and how to play it. But the truth is some players aren’t that patient, so if you do decide to go with a tutorial game you should add a skip button