Tutorial improvements?

Perhaps a little tip : Was watching a new player on twitch the other day doing the full tutorial. When he went for an actual game he was baffled as he forgot most of it allready. Seems to me the amount of different stuff to learn overwelmed him. Solution might be repetition to bake it in.
Perhaps in a manner of steps (1 , 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4 , ...) to accomplish a certain mechanic, then move on to the next mechanic ?
When you've taken him/her through this procedure, let the story tutorial be its last phase. If that doesn't help he/she probably has alzheimer ...

 

The problem I had when I played the tutorial was getting ahead of the PDA missions preventing the objectives from completing which stops you from progressing. I also died of Starvation several times where I couldn't find any missing window panels to replace on the green house.

I think if I was going make a Tutorial myself for a game like this I would scrap the story approach and literally make it a basic training simulator "Space Cadet school"

i.E:
Start in a plan box room, instructed how to move, jump, take helmet off etc then proceed through the next door. (Be better if it was audio description and could easily be repeated) Next room you learn how to pickup, open inventory, eat, drink etc

Be great if there was little video tutorials on the PDA on how to do things as well.

 

IMO the biggest problem is the format. It needs to be something other than reading a bunch of text. The best way to improve it would be to replace text with a computerized voice, and have the player drone fly around and point out things you should be looking at or moving toward. The drone could even have some sort of laser pointer type of thing to highlight the target of the lesson.

 

I would like to help ... the new player starting now and the impression they get, resulting in the review of the game.
BUT: I am not sure if I can be constructive helpful. Anyway if someone wants to read what my impression was earlier and what it might be if I started as new player now:
This is just my personal impression, please understand I don't want to offend anyone, I love this game !

[ short version: tutorial very confusing,
remove story completely at the beginning,
learn basic steps , movement, looking around, interaction, 1st 3rd person view, food.
I think it would benefit new players if there was a option to ignore oxyen and temperature in the first part, also first building experiences on Akua should not be in danger by temperature]

I have 730 hours in Empyrion, all single player. got the game feb 2017 and its one of my favourite !
I remember when I started with the tutorial I was surrunded by green nature and really liked that, learned which plants to eat and which animals I don't have to be afraid of, built my first base later just open on grassland and later 1 drone came and I learned that I can shoot them. Built my first garden open and loved it.
around 12/2017 I came back after 3 month (?) brake and tried the tutorial - got confused what to do and what all the story messages were, didn't really make much sense and got stuck because I processed something too early and didn't find the resources again after I got the message to process that part= I quit tutorial there and remember my frustration I would have had if that would been my first impression.

Just now I started the tutorial and took notes of I might have thought and done if this was my first contact with Empyrion:
Briefting - story is confusing, remove "message received"
too much information at once to keep in my head

next step: I see half a picture of a planet = confused > add info with key w a s d for movement and mouse look around

look around, see "welcome to station" on left and click - message "food poisening" use toilet
> my first step in empyrion is to use the toilet ? I don't like that . better learn movement

message says "lets make a sandwich" then on my way to the kitchen I get shocked by a new message popping up
= more confusion, "party last night" story is confusing because I was told to make a sandwich,
new info about locker but I didn't finish the sandwich, shall I skip that now ???

on the way to the fridge, (but I only know it's the fridge because I know the game already) message pops up
"beep ....F.... " message is gone, did it say something ???

ok, standing in front of fridge, where is the message what I was supposed to do ?
(the message from the beginning of pda I already long forgot)
*** at this point I would think first time about refunding game ***
or turn to youtube and watch a video about with beginner tips

if there was any help within this I would be pleased, if not, sorry for wasting time. cheers and happy days

 

Yup agree with that - speech much easier to digest, new game with lost of text can be a bit off putting. Keep it simple go through the basic motions and advance from there. Don't complicate with story lines etc leave the story making for the player once they're free and in the sandbox.

Ideally have chapters of the tutorial that players can revisit at any time to be reminded of how something works. Like Chapter 1: Movement right up to Chapter 10: Building a SV

 

I've proposed similarly tech (Not voice, but that would be a nice addition), of having 'conversations' triggered from the PDA-stages, so that you get the info more fluently atleast (with an animated portrait, to spice it up visually).
I really like the idea of using the playerdrone to make 'cinematics' aswell! While it would likely be a little hard to code, I'd love the concept!

 

Hi, I have played the Story Tutorial and seeing Earth is great, as a experience player I got through it easy. I have also played the Robinson Protocol. They both work well for Empyrion Galactic Survival. I feel most players will skip/miss one or the other because the option is there after trying. I think it should be combine together as two parts with you starting with the Story Tutorial to have training to be on the Titan and then once after the Titan gets attacked you escape from the Titan to start the Robinson Protocol after you have landed on the planet (with out a shelter) just what you have on you and in your escape pod.

 

This is not a game for persons that might be lazy or impatient or such. You need to understand you probably will fail and have to try many times until learned all. Most tutorials and missions/quests ought to try pick up when something is done and not forcing doing it again because did it out of order. Also as other have mentioned an option to go into the PDA and activate a section (if possible) for repetition, along with a help guide. Most devices have an option to activate "show on HUD". That could be used to help in "open the fridge" to locate the fridge.

It should be both text and voice, since some might have hearing or audio issues, some could have reading issues. Pictures/video of stuff could help too (what does corn dogs look like and maybe be found).
So could early on have some info and links to some YouTube (or similar) tutorials, as an option for those that might feel the need for it (and do not get it themselves to check).

I use to take a look at key bindings to see what possibilities there are of actions. Also I often change some bindings. What often is not seen, is key combos, like SHIFT and CTRL a key (or more) to make some extra action, like picking up the bike. Those should be given extra attention in a beginners guide. Seen several streamers/YT's that have played a bit not using some time saving options. Like eating food from inventory or boxes, or get something to/from hot-/toolbar fast without drag&drop and similar.

I have played Empyrion for a while, but still there are stuff I learn. Recently that was the building tools, mirror and editing. But now this is still an EA game, so changes occur that you might miss.

See if I do detailed suggestions on changes.

 

My biggest takeaway from the Story Tutorial is that the game has tons of lock codes for almost every device and box you will ever encounter. While it's definitely useful to have the lock codes covered in the tutorial, it's really excessive. Maybe it's intended as a way to prevent the player from moving ahead too soon, but the overemphasis on such a mechanic still seems very much out of place and frankly serves as a distraction (even to experienced players, let alone newbies!) in such an already very information-dense tutorial. If there's a way you can automatically unlock boxes as players get to the correct part of the story, that would be helpful.

And there are way too many weapons included in the story. It's a tutorial, all players need to know is the basics of the weapon system. It's cool if you want to make a point that there are short range and long-range weapons and they have different stats, so it certainly makes sense to include 2, but it just throws a ton at you. Information on exactly what each individual weapon does is not something newbies need at the tutorial stage.

I'm not surprised newbies are struggling to determine which information is meaningful and to retain it when they move into the main game.

The other thing that struck me as particularly odd in it was the inclusion of the flashlight. The story even then says that it's mostly useless since you have your shoulder light. Introducing the shoulder light is good, but as long as the flashlight is mostly redundant (it is a bit brighter, but you can't use it and any other tool at the same time), I'd suggest just introducing the shoulder light and leaving the flashlight out entirely. Again, this is just information clutter that newbies do not need.

Oh, and it's item clutter they don't need, too. The above-mentioned weapon issue is also a contributor here.

I think the Robinson Protocol does a much better job at putting things forth in a straightforward and focused way that isn't confusing or overwhelming.


I do like what you're going for with the story tutorial, the information overload just needs dialed back. Focus on the most important things for a newbie to know, details such as weapon stats they can learn later. Focus on the broad strokes of the systems being introduced.

And like others, I did absolutely love seeing Earth

 

I just played through the 'tutorial'.
It's really well made. Here's a few things I noticed:
-When done in the greenhouse (adm), the door will shut behind you, and the code is not conveniently at place. Slight inconvenience. Possibly use a signal to keep it always open, after the task is done.
-The PDA refers to the cake as 'anniversary cake', in the completed/start text.. This is misleading, as it is called 'cake' (might confuse new players?)
-Cake requires alien honey, which was not present in the fridge (It is present as 'plants', but the PDA states that you should pretty much ONLY do what is said, and it only tells you to take wheat )
-On the 'make it flight ready', perhabs hint to the player using their suit-light? (would be a nice place to remind them)
-For the 'flight ready', Id recommend actually telling the player that you want them to just use the control panel (p) I tried first filling fuel, oxygen, ammo, etc. and eventually opted to look in the PDA for description, to then finally give up, and look in the yaml for the actual requirement

Other stuff, related, but not PDA-
-Having the player use the bike, in an area filled with rocks seems like a horrible idea, when the bike gets stuck on EVERY rock
-The drills (Nice providing both tiers btw), is still broken as a joke, and doesn't respect the players facing, but kinda just makes a sphere-mine around the player (usually resulting in just sinking straight down)
-Exiting ships (HVs anyway) have become REALLY tense, which is an annoyance in the tutorial (I find anyway)
-The gravity in the station is a bit harsh.. Especially around the quest 'hangar control', I was actually struggling to (normally walk) up the stairs. (Even running proved a little difficult).

Overall I'd give the tutorial scenario a huge applause. Not counting the above mentioned things, I really liked it, and it gave a cool feeling.
It was a little over-the-top intrusive with dialogs (the prompt ones), but given the current tech, that's making good use of it!
I would like to see it continue further, into the 'expedition' and 'crash of the titan' in some aspect.. I think it would fit nicely, and possibly touch on some of the CV-aspects aswell (such as how to warp)
Aswell, as making new players have a relation to the MS titan wreckage on akua, and have an idea about why they always start dropping down in an escape pod

 

I first started playing a few months ago, and I started with the tutorial. I got stuck on the elevator, I went into it but had no idea how to go up/down the elevator. I thought the elevator would be a platform that would come up and I would step into it, and I couldn't find a button to push to make it come. So I gave up, and just started playing the game trial and error.

I eventually figured out how elevator blocks work, but the tutorial did not help me, and that is where I abandoned the tutorial.

Since I never finished the tutorial, I can't evaluate the whole thing, but here's some other things that took a while to figure out, which I think could be in a tutorial:

* The fact you can press L to turn on a suit light
* You can right-click with construction blocks to get other shapes
* That you need to install an ammo box to make turrets work
* That useful medical devices are hiding in the "deco blocks"
* How food and showers can affect radiation damage
* The fact there's a drone, and some of the things you can do with it
* How to flip over an overturned HV
* That some rifles have a scope which can be accessed by right-click

I learned these things all either by accident or by reading forums. They were not obvious from in-game. While some amount of in-game learning is OK, many of the things you should know from the beginning from "basic training", for example you should know from the beginning that your suit has a light on it, or how to look through the scope on a sniper rifle.

(FWIW, I still miss having a "real" elevator that is a platform and I can push a button and it takes me to the right level. Current elevator can be confusing on space stations where there's multiple exits and you don't know where to stop and which direction to face to exit. Real elevators could also be used horizontally as tube-type transport across ships, etc.)

 

The tutorial seems to have been updated since then
There's a message telling you to use c and space now for the elevator.

There are included now. (Suit light is lightly touched on initially, but no use-case is presented), mutli-block one is used at the repair greenhouse part

I don't believe these are touched in the tutorial, no

This is being mentioned, and used, in relation with using the furnace

The drone is not being touched in the tutorial, no

This is being touched on, when you use a HV.

I honestly kinda skipped over the messages for weapons. It *might* be mentioned, and it might not. But you are atleast presented with a lot of the weapons to play around with

 

I think perhabs having a room dedicated to target practice could be an idea? Giving the player the ability to test out different weapons and stuff.
Tho this might also be a good idea for it's own scenario

Ooooh. This sounds promising!

 

That's all interesting info and insight into how this works. Thank you for sharing that!

I feel like my post was pretty critical, but I really do like the scenario, and look forward to seeing what you do with it moving forward

 

Yeah, I now realise what you meant with 'breaks easily' wow
I for fun tried to do things a little different.. doesn't leave much room for error.

Perhabs some things that could be nice (also in the tutorial) would be a progress.. like for mine <amount> it would tell you how much you've obtained (0/80, 11/80 (...))
(general PDA thing)

Shooting the dead plants really gets you into trouble

Anyway. I've got one more thing for the end- of the tutorial.
When it asks you to spawn it, perhabs point out to the player, that the completed blueprint will be shown on top? (Otherwise they might get confused)

You may still want to look into the gravity for the hangars. I've posted some vids in the bug section showcasing how bad it is

Also. I'd still recommend pointing out you want them to use (p) control panel in the last quest.. still isn't obvious.

.. Fun fact.
If you try to enter 'tera' you get a coq and end up in darkness.

 

Ah. I didn't expect anyone to actually go there. It was more of a comment because I was actually amused by it

Yes, I went with godmode, after (accidently.. ehem.. ) blowing up the sv
Ah. So you do get tp'd away atleast. Good to know. So it won't make players too confused, if they do 'what is intended', even if they *do* continue playing after end.

 

I refer to the main menu story tutorial...

Maybe it's rude to say, but: trash it. Ther's several reasons:

1) There is too much input in a short time you can't keep in your head
2) When the game get new or changed content, the tutorial must be rewritten every time in text and 3D
3) Empyrion is a pure survival and exploration game - so it doesn't fit to have a tutorial as seen atm

Best way for me would be a speaking suit combined with tutorial videos.

Empyrion is a great game with much potential... Nice!