Alpha 7.1 - Feedback: New Tutorial

@Hummel-o-War , Thx for the F1 info... I had the section of the mission highlighted when going to the PDA log but it was not set to the main mission part.. it was still showing the log from the first mission: The Day After. Good to know you just need to highlight the main mission title to get the log info.

 

After you access this armor locker, you'll get a message that tells you to drag and drop the armor to your armor slot.. Add to this to also drag and drop the mods for the EVA and O2 as well to the mod slots.. I did not do this the first time and it got very cold out there too fast

 

Again, I can't really help with the grammar or undocumented key-combos, but here is my nitpicking:
The introduction doesn't give a good first impression. If it doesn't want me to explore, then why does the tutorial give me things to explore?
And what are the basic controls that I'm supposed to find in the key bindings? The key bindings aren't categorized, so one doesn't know what to look for. Additionally, I don't mind the developers, or anyone, to tell me to look up the key bindings, but others do.
Here is a post on Blizzards Heroes of the Storms forums: https://us.battle.net/forums/en/heroes/topic/20754406591
The OP asks about ''How to use sprays/banners/announcers/voice?'' and gets a reply with 55 down-votes that tells him to look up the key binds.
It's of course subjective but I found it to be worth mentioning to you
I suggest making the tutorial area more linear with checkpoints to discourage exploration and giving the player the basic movement and use key binds (W, A, S, D & F to use). Also, the most useful key bind to mention to the player would be the PAUSE key, so one could pause the game whenever they need to. The in-game hints should be removed when starting the tutorial because it conflicts with the tutorial.

When getting the light armor, it tells the player to undress it from the locker so they can put it in the repair station... The problem is, they don't have any armor to undress to begin with, and the armor is already fully repaired.

When I arrive at the hangar and are to find my items, I see that the tutorial gives information for every item I pick up. I don't think that's necessary because it already gives information as the player is about to use them. I.e when using the lever, you get information on how to use the bike. The only exception here is the nigh-vision, because it might be day on the moon when you mine, so the player won't use it. Maybe have a different section in the tutorial where the player learns to use all the different light sources before they go out to mine? Also the indicator for you getting ore is on the lower left now, not right, same with the jet pack indicator. The ore scanner sees ores at 100 meters, not 40, according to the new patch notes if I remember correctly

When getting the HV, you learn you are able to emergency-exit by double tapping F. No matter how many times I press F, my character won't leave the HV when it is moving.

When inspecting the fuel tanks before they explode, I think that the player should be reminded to put on their helmet because there is no oxygen. Who knows, some might die and have to do everything again if they pick the wrong re-spawn option. Also, I think informing the player that they can rotate with Q and E when they use their jetpack without gravity is better here, than later inside the hangar.

When delivering the specimen to the locker, and the place explodes, the locker is on your right, not behind you. So maybe say ''turn to your right'' and not, ''turn around''. Also, when looting the shotgun, another message pops up. And while reading it, you will get attacked by a creature which may kill you.

When replacing the medium armor with the heavy armor, the tutorial says that you should put on all the boosters. But then it says that I should look on the stats to see the difference that the booster makes. Well, if anyone is like me, they might think, ''hmm ok, so the EVA boost makes my armor go down, then I better not equip it.'' And then freeze in the hangar later.

By the way, I take back what I said about the story in my last reply, it seems to be beneficial to give me reasons to do the things I learn...

I hope my feedback here helps, the tutorial was actually kinda fun and I'm looking forward for more, even though my stance on having a tutorial in this game seems like a waste for me. It's alot of things in this game, even if you make it fit into the tutorial, the player will never remember it all. All the knowledge I have is from alpha 3-4 where we were able to press F1 at any time and read the tutorial that was in the PDA.
ps: sry for my bad grammar

 

Just as I thought.. I did miss something the first time running through this part... Glad I started over Btw.. one of the rocks not seen in this pic just behind me was not responding to me drilling it.. I did not try the T2 drill tho.

 

Thank you! I understand the tutorial ends there, but in the older tutorials, the generated game is still playable. so are we meant to stop playing and go start with a normal survival game?

 

Second sentence: Seem like the scientists finally managed to grow these crystals. < add an s to Seem so its: Seems like the scientists... >

 

three words here turn to one: never the less to: nevertheless.

 

Dragazhar, when you finish the tutorial, you will be able to review everything that has been written to you, so you can correct everything there.
It saves you and us from all the screenshots

 

For some odd reason... once I was told to mount my bike or HV and head to the greenhouse.. I had no indicator where to go.. There was no wp.. I wandered around the nearby craters to find it.. IE.. the crater southeast of the main admin building.. This building on the right is the working building.. the one in the background is the damaged greenhouse if you get closer to it... far left of the screen.

EDIT.. note the right side of the screen. I have no objectives listed. PDA tells me to go to the greenhouse. the mission is not updating might be the reason why I did not see a wp to the greenhouse?

 

Previous part complete.

I'm at the greenhouse but no update.


Last part of the log. I think I am stuck. I decided to fix the window I saw and add 2 growing plots but that did not do anything to update. I think I might have missed an actuator from the constructor to the HV that should have updated the mission maybe? I went out of the hanger door and walked around the the HV that was parked on the landing pad from the constructor using the switch to open the hanger door if this helps. I also, before I left to go find the greenhouse, put down the motorbike and mounted it. I drove around to see if the mission updated but alas...

 

Encountered a couple of problems. Got too cold on moon when trying to find items to repair greenhouse and died. Second problem, went to cook anniversary cake but could not remember the food processor unlock code. Looked back in log but could not find it. Can't go any farther. May have to restart and write down codes. However, the tutorial is much improved. I'll have more comments when I actually am able to finish it.

 

For a new intro sequence, this is pretty good. It gives a context for using the tools, teaching the new player the controls, but not making it seem like an officer aboard a warp-capable doesn't know how to operate those tools. (presumably, a veteran player would skip the tutorial)

I need to go back and dig through the lore. I seem to recall that humans had not yet encountered any alien races (unless it has been changed). As such, the narrative starts to break down for me with all the aliens milling about at a Terran station. Once we get to Akua (or wherever), it's fine.

That said, I really like the fact that aliens start spawning in at one point. This gives me the idea that there was more than just a fuel source and a new drive system aboard that ship.

Spawning the small vessel felt like a bit of a cheat at this point. If there was some sort of "rapid prototyper" or some other piece of tech which were fabricating the ship, it would make more sense.

While you can still grab stuff from the moon, such as from the greenhouse, I could not remember the lock code for the food processor on the moon, and couldn't get access to the one on the station. And the mobile processor can't do much with veggies. So it's a slow starvation game once the tutorial is over....unless you can remember the lock code to the food processor.

All-in-all, it's a good start! Some grammatical errors which have already been noted and some narrative holes which I'll talk about in another thread (once I writ it up).

 

For me, approaching the food processor, or any other item which required a lock code, did bring up a code....but it was always the last one I had entered. So long after I'd made the cake and opened other containers with different codes, I could not see the proper code for the food processor...and the PDA logs were all basically empty for me. I'll have to see if I can go back through and get screen shots of it.

All the entries were things like:

==Get explosives

==Empty Container


...with no details at all. It was as though completing the task erased everything but the bullet points.

 

The problems i had with the tutorial are:

1. main gripe - If you miss something, it breaks easily. I got to "leave tech area" but fell through a hole or gap in the wall into the hanger i needed to be in, but not the route i needed to take so i was stuck, with no yellow markers on screen or PDA log instructions. i had to re-load and re-run run various parts as this kept happening. i read that exploring could break it but i didn't purposely ever do this but got stuck three or four times and had to load a save - in a tutorial...

2. When i finally got to outer space in a ship i couldn't do anything, there was no end and I had to manually quit - or at least i assume that's how it ends? The PDA Log says "to be continued" which is Irony incarnated as that;s exactly what doesn't happen.. I couldn't reach the planet in the small ship and flying around aimlessly for ages got me nowhere either so i just quit

3. I have now started "New Game" and have no idea how to build my own base, or where that should ideally be, the essential items required to power it, run it, protect it, re-fill my oxygen tank or grow food on a temperate planet etc etc - but i DO know how to repair an already built greenhouse on a moon!!

I personally would prefer a tutorial that taught me the basics i need to get going then learn as i go with maybe hints and tips, rather than a convoluted "story" showing me a lot of end-game mechanics and firefights with aliens & guns & rocket launchers. I wouldn't mind the latter if there had been decent, essential learning in it but it took me ages to complete, and when i started the actual game had no idea what to do.

 

PLEASE DISREGARD MY FOOD PROCESSOR COMMENTS

Yep! Absolutely user error. I was NOT looking at the PDA Log. I was looking at PDA Info.

 

PS a different code for each container that you have to go looking in the PDA all the time for was a pain in the R's and a completely unnecessary mechanic (that i can see)

 

not sure if its me but when i click start tutorial it says this: