Re: Training Advice

these are great suggestions, i was also planning out a training sequence...

I also believe that the integration is important - medal of honour does 
this well with the drill instructor walking you through the paces - 
america's army basically IS a training mission, but it's well done, for 
what it is...

I think a basic overview of the control system, basic functions should 
be enough at the beginning of the game, and then throughout the game, 
the first time a specific task or action is required, to intersperse 
comments or 'tips' to help the player.  this way you can get them 
playing, learning the basic motions, and gradually increasing their 
knowledge at the set intervals defined by your gameplay/techtree arc, 
helped by the tips and potential 'helper' scenes that are interspersed 
as well...

keeping the characterizations 'in-game' helps, having an npc remind you 
that you are playing a game is annoying, but tips and clues i find 
aren't too intrusive.  gta 3 (all gta's) did this well...

mike w
www.bendingreality.com

Paul Hoza wrote:
> At 11:17 PM 6/3/2004, you wrote:
> 
>> > I'm currently writing the intro training level to our game.  I'm
>> > curious if anybody has any advice on how much to teach the player
>> > before the game starts in earnest.
>>
>> Nothing.  The game starts THEN you teach the player.  The last thing
>> you want to do is sit a player down, tell them show to play, then have
>> them go off and play.
> 
> 
> I want to add that people need to be [more] careful about the decision 
> to be immersive or not with the training.  There's the tried (and 
> tired?) method of Basic Training interrupted by a major event and 
> "you're the only soldier close enough to the action to help out.  It's 
> time to show us what you can do... now go save the day!"... it's been 
> done very well and very poorly, but this is an example of trying to sink 
> the player into the environment and stay there during training.  
> However, I really think this went terribly wrong in Knights of the Old 
> Republic, where you have a quickly engaging storyline and characters 
> (and mood) which is instantly disrupted as the guy you're talking to 
> starts telling you to click with your left mouse button and push the 
> space bar.  Major "shake my head" moment for me and ruins a mood that I 
> now have to get back into.
> 
> Thief, Call of Duty, Deus Ex... you're being taught how to use the game 
> but I felt more like I was already playing.  If I recall correctly, when 
> the tutor was telling me how to do something, he never yelled out "now 
> hit the 'R' key to reload", but instead he told me to reload the weapon, 
> and text appeared on the screen telling me to hit the "R" key.  I think 
> this is a decent balance in most situations.  If the drill Sergeant is 
> trying to sound authentic, talking about my keyboard is just silly.  I 
> accept a quick GUI display with much less penalty to the suspension.
> 
> Magic Carpet.  I think still the most fun I've had learning a game.  
> Things were uncovered as you went along and explored.
> 
> Hrmm.... now I'm not sure where my rambling is going.  I'll just sluff 
> back into Lurker Mode!  :-)
> 
> Paul Hoza 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Mike Wuetherick
Gekido Design Group Inc
www.gekidodesigns.com
(604) 872-6970


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