On 12 January 2011 21:25, David Ploog <dpl...@mi.fu-berlin.de> wrote: > 1. Perhaps the standard messages should be disabled for the tutorial. > (E.g. if you step away from the starting staircase, you'll get some > message a la "Found staircase".)
That's odd, but IMHO should be fixed in the code itself. While announcing staircases in general is helpful (including in the tutorial!) announcing the staircase you just came through is less so. > 2. The two disconnected parts of the map (when players are supposed to > look at the X map for the first time) are too far apart in console. They > should be closer. Ah, I was wondering about that. Will change that. > 3. It is good that 5 is introduced right away (no more 's'). Yes. :) > Do we want to tell players that it will take at most 100 turns? I assume > they'll learn about healing later. Yes, and I think that's where I'll have to explain that search = rest, and also the various restrictions, i.e. stops when interrupted etc. > There should also be some occasion to teach '.' as "wait" (rather than > "search" or "heal"). Yes, but I'm not sure where. Other than hints mode, the tutorial is entirely position dependent, so it's not like we can actually count on a monster being somewhere at a certain time. Maybe something about waiting in a corridor and waiting for the monsters rather than storming out into the open? I don't want to include any tactical stuff, at least not by outright telling the player. Giving them the tools, yes, but not telling them why they should be doing so. > Great stuff. Do you need help with planning the other lessons? Not specifically, but since I only start planning the details for one level once the one before has been mostly completed, it might take me a while. If you've got any suggestions, feel free to send me an email or add them on the wiki page. The last map in particular (the easy-mode mini-Sprint orb run) will need a lot of thought. https://crawl.develz.org/wiki/doku.php?id=dcss:usability_project:tutorial_redesign Currently planning lesson 2 (monsters and combat) but I haven't even decided yet whether spellcasting should be lumped into combat or get a lesson of its own. However, I've devised what I hope is a lovely puzzle for next lesson's first level (on how to deal with monsters): The exit room to level 2 contains three staircases, each in a glass cage with a different type of monster in it. The player needs to examine the monsters and compare their descriptions to figure out which of the three doors is safest to open. I haven't decided on the exact monsters yet, but I'm thinking something like wolf ("large and strong", "very fast"), porcupine ("its bite is painful and its spikes are sharp") and something comparatively harmless like a cockroach or ooze. This is supposed to teach the player that examining unknown monsters is worthwhile [**] and, without actually needing to say so, that not every fight needs to be fought. The problem comes in preventing the player from getting killed horribly [*] by accidentally going back upstairs using the wrong staircase. Maybe I should use hatches instead... *) For what it's worth, I don't mind if the player dies during the tutorial (I'll add a special death message) but it should be a meaningful death (for example, if they decide to try meleeing the porcupine despite the severe warning) not due to not knowing about how to set exclusions (and I don't intend to cover the latter in the tutorial at all). **) A problem with simply telling the player to examine a single monster (as the hints mode does) is that a lot of the time it's just not very meaningful. The player might remember that they can find out about monsters' speed and resistances this way, but there are so many other things they are taught that this seems like one of the less important ones. However, I think this will be much easier to remember if they are faced with an interesting puzzle and if it's a question of surviving a group of monsters. If it also provides fun, so much the better. One other question: At some point the player needs to be told about how to save their game. The tutorial lessons are supposed to be short enough for this to not be a real issue, but I think this is one of the standard meta commands the player needs to know. I'm not sure where to put this. Right at the beginning with the greeting and message history? Or at the end, as a treat? Any ideas? I certainly don't want to start the tutorial out by pointing at the full list of commands, though I'll eventually have to - there are so many of them. :( Decisions, decisions. As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome. Thank you! Johanna ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Protect Your Site and Customers from Malware Attacks Learn about various malware tactics and how to avoid them. Understand malware threats, the impact they can have on your business, and how you can protect your company and customers by using code signing. http://p.sf.net/sfu/oracle-sfdevnl _______________________________________________ Crawl-ref-discuss mailing list Crawl-ref-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/crawl-ref-discuss
