Is there any tricks for making a tutorial level

(Bora Kasap) #1

I’m going to make a tutorial level for my game, i wanted to ask before start, maybe you know something useful in “generally” for making a tutorial level for a completed game?

(Nate ) #2

What do you mean by “tricks”? Are you referring to something in terms of how you code your tutorial level? Or are you talking about what you should include in your level?

If it were me making a tutorial level, I would put strong emphasis on the user controls. Get the player to really understand how the character moves and interacts with the environment. Who the bad guys are, what your weapon is, how to use your weapon, how to interact with game objects, any collectibles and or goals per level etc. If this isn’t that sort of game, and it is more of a puzzle, one screen kind of game, then I would make sure you go over the basics of the game. Step by step force the player to interact with the tutorial for their own edification.

So depending on the game, I would focus on movement/controls as well as the basic mechanics. Just make sure to engage the player so they are not just hit with a wall of text and die of boredom before they even play your game.

Hope this helps!

(Bora Kasap) #3

Thank you for reply. Yeah, i asked for tricks about how should code this tutorial, i don’t wanna think & try some weird ways then get things harder than it should be. :smiley:

(FNX) #4

Here are my tricks:

  • split each player abilities in very small levels (ex: in a platform make a straight level to use arrows, one with 1 hole to jump, one level with 1 enemy to be killed for guns etc…)

  • don’t put text on screen, where possible use graphics (don’t write ‘left click’, make an icon instead)

  • ask your friends to test your tutorial without telling them what’s going on and listen to their feedback

  • always try to use less controls possible and avoid confusion (mouse click is better than key X, handling both doing the same action is the best)

(Bora Kasap) #5

It looks there is no tricks about code :smiley:

anyway, i love what you told, thanks to you both. The real problem is, i have to put texts to screen and teach all the keys to user one by one… there are lots of keys and lots of gameplay logic details… it’s gonna be hard to do…

(Willard Torres) #6

To add to the experience, you can have an easy-to-access screen for all the controls, in case the user forgets while playing.

For the coding part, maybe you can use an invisible entity with a hitbox as a marker. Every time the user collides with that marker, it triggers something (text appearing, level changing, etc). You can make a callback system by giving each hitbox a name and a function to call whenever its collided. It calls that function (a function preferably in the MainWorld class) and that function handles the rest.

It’s not the only way, and it’s probably not the best way, but its a start.