Perfect tutorial in the game - tips from PopCap
- Transfer
At GDC 2012, one of the authors of Plants vs. Zombies told how he managed to interest a casual audience in a strategic game.
The game's designer, George Fan, is sure her secret is in a good learning mode. About how to create such, he told in his material on Gamasutra .
1. The training mode is part of the game
“We try so that the player does not feel that he is going through the tutorial,” says Fen. Most users want to play right away, so if they suddenly realize that to do this you first need to learn something, then most likely they will quickly lose interest in the project.
“I realized that the game should not have a regime that would be called a tutorial. Ideally, you should tell the players about the rules of the game so that they don’t even know that they are being taught this, ”he continues.
2. It is better for the player to make something “do” than to “read”
“The ideal way to tell how to play is to take some action in the game,” says Fen. Of course, the text allows you to reveal the subtleties of the process, but it will never bring the user pleasure comparable to the action.
For example, the first level of Plants vs. Zombies can be seen: the player instantly “catches” that the plants shoot from left to right, i.e. in the direction from which the zombies move slowly. So at the first level, the user develops basic game skills, understands its mechanics.
“Players will learn how to play just by playing, there is no need to tell something in detail,” concludes Feng.
3. Stretch your training
At PopCap we realized that you don’t have to spread everything about the game in the first minutes of your acquaintance. Learning its basics is much more effective if it is extended to a large number of missions.
For example, in Plants vs. The Zombies player learned about some aspects of the game - including money - only after the tenth level. As for the difficult moments, they were discussed only towards the end of the game. So, according to Feng, players are more interested in the gaming experience. Only with its receipt from them the desire to learn something in the game can wake up.
4. Make the player do something
Quite often, a player just needs to do something in the game to understand how everything works in it, ”Feng said.
In Plants vs. Zombies developers told the players how the money is raised, quite simply. They placed a gold coin and an arrow above it on the playing field. If a player clicks on a coin, he instantly understands how to take items from the field (and not only money).
As for the icons, it was enough to make them blink, so that the user understood how to handle them.
5. Less words
“There should be no more than eight words on the screen at any time during the game,” says Fen.
At most, these are labels like "To take a bag of seeds, click on it." This is brief, simple, and most importantly, understandable.
6. Do not impose
A text that pops up during a game and stops it will upset anyone. Therefore, game alerts should be passive, not distracting the user from the process.
7. Remember the adaptive hint system.
Users should understand what to do in the game, but do not lead those who already figured out everything by the handle.
During testing, Plants vs. Zombies Fen saw that some users do not understand that plants need to be planted on the left side of the screen. To solve this problem, he developed a whole hint system that works only when the player does something wrong.
“A player should have a chance to feel smart if he does everything as he should. But using an adaptive hint system, people like my mother will also understand how to play properly. ”
8. Do not annoy users.
No numerous reminders and notifications, otherwise it will cause irritation to the player.
For this reason, Fen advises making all the text appearing in the game both explanatory and entertaining. All unnecessary - in the trash.
“You should not bombard the user with one empty message after another - the player will simply get tired of them and turn off the game,” Fen discloses.
9. Emphasis on graphic design
Good design and thoughtful art can help with player training. When working on Plants vs. Zombies, artists tried to make it so that by the appearance of a monster or plant one could guess its functional purpose.
Peashooter (pea plant) has a giant mouth for throwing shells, for example.
10. Use human knowledge about the world of
Plants vs. Zombies is largely an ordinary tower defense, but from the very beginning of work on the game, Fen wanted everyone to understand why the towers cannot move, and the attackers are so slow.
The way out is the correct selection of heroes. After all, everyone knows that plants can not move, and zombies barely crawl.
So it turned out that both plants and zombies are ideal heroes for playing in the tower defense genre.
And, according to Fen, if users see that game characters behave as they should be, they will most likely get the game, however fantastic it may seem at first glance.
By the way, this applies not only to heroes, but also to game bonuses. In many games, gold coins and diamonds are used as them, that is, whose value each of us perfectly understands.
Read this and other materials on the development and promotion of games on mobile platforms on the App2Top.ru portal
The game's designer, George Fan, is sure her secret is in a good learning mode. About how to create such, he told in his material on Gamasutra .
1. The training mode is part of the game
“We try so that the player does not feel that he is going through the tutorial,” says Fen. Most users want to play right away, so if they suddenly realize that to do this you first need to learn something, then most likely they will quickly lose interest in the project.
“I realized that the game should not have a regime that would be called a tutorial. Ideally, you should tell the players about the rules of the game so that they don’t even know that they are being taught this, ”he continues.
2. It is better for the player to make something “do” than to “read”
“The ideal way to tell how to play is to take some action in the game,” says Fen. Of course, the text allows you to reveal the subtleties of the process, but it will never bring the user pleasure comparable to the action.
For example, the first level of Plants vs. Zombies can be seen: the player instantly “catches” that the plants shoot from left to right, i.e. in the direction from which the zombies move slowly. So at the first level, the user develops basic game skills, understands its mechanics.
“Players will learn how to play just by playing, there is no need to tell something in detail,” concludes Feng.
3. Stretch your training
At PopCap we realized that you don’t have to spread everything about the game in the first minutes of your acquaintance. Learning its basics is much more effective if it is extended to a large number of missions.
For example, in Plants vs. The Zombies player learned about some aspects of the game - including money - only after the tenth level. As for the difficult moments, they were discussed only towards the end of the game. So, according to Feng, players are more interested in the gaming experience. Only with its receipt from them the desire to learn something in the game can wake up.
4. Make the player do something
Quite often, a player just needs to do something in the game to understand how everything works in it, ”Feng said.
In Plants vs. Zombies developers told the players how the money is raised, quite simply. They placed a gold coin and an arrow above it on the playing field. If a player clicks on a coin, he instantly understands how to take items from the field (and not only money).
As for the icons, it was enough to make them blink, so that the user understood how to handle them.
5. Less words
“There should be no more than eight words on the screen at any time during the game,” says Fen.
At most, these are labels like "To take a bag of seeds, click on it." This is brief, simple, and most importantly, understandable.
6. Do not impose
A text that pops up during a game and stops it will upset anyone. Therefore, game alerts should be passive, not distracting the user from the process.
7. Remember the adaptive hint system.
Users should understand what to do in the game, but do not lead those who already figured out everything by the handle.
During testing, Plants vs. Zombies Fen saw that some users do not understand that plants need to be planted on the left side of the screen. To solve this problem, he developed a whole hint system that works only when the player does something wrong.
“A player should have a chance to feel smart if he does everything as he should. But using an adaptive hint system, people like my mother will also understand how to play properly. ”
8. Do not annoy users.
No numerous reminders and notifications, otherwise it will cause irritation to the player.
For this reason, Fen advises making all the text appearing in the game both explanatory and entertaining. All unnecessary - in the trash.
“You should not bombard the user with one empty message after another - the player will simply get tired of them and turn off the game,” Fen discloses.
9. Emphasis on graphic design
Good design and thoughtful art can help with player training. When working on Plants vs. Zombies, artists tried to make it so that by the appearance of a monster or plant one could guess its functional purpose.
Peashooter (pea plant) has a giant mouth for throwing shells, for example.
10. Use human knowledge about the world of
Plants vs. Zombies is largely an ordinary tower defense, but from the very beginning of work on the game, Fen wanted everyone to understand why the towers cannot move, and the attackers are so slow.
The way out is the correct selection of heroes. After all, everyone knows that plants can not move, and zombies barely crawl.
So it turned out that both plants and zombies are ideal heroes for playing in the tower defense genre.
And, according to Fen, if users see that game characters behave as they should be, they will most likely get the game, however fantastic it may seem at first glance.
By the way, this applies not only to heroes, but also to game bonuses. In many games, gold coins and diamonds are used as them, that is, whose value each of us perfectly understands.
Read this and other materials on the development and promotion of games on mobile platforms on the App2Top.ru portal