| Author |
In-game tutorial... |
Chromix
Cadet
Joined: June 29, 2001
Posts: 3052
|  Posted: 2005-05-21 07:54
Some of you might have already seen the nice in-game messageboxes that were implemented some time ago.
There is a plan to use them for in-game tutorials. So new players will see some of those annoying messageboxes during their first few hours in the metaverse.
I.e. if a players hull drops below 50%, a message is displayed, telling the user how he can (E-)Jump & get his ship repaired.
Or if an enemy ship (that isn't jumping at that moment) comes in sight, some combat basics are displayed (mash the space bar, spam SHIFT-H). 
The point of this posting is to collect some more suggestions for situations, in which some more of these hints could be displayed.
Things like "When a user is in trouble, show a message that he should ALT F4 immediately" aren't going to help, since a) "is in trouble" needs to be defined, i.e. "has 5 enemy > destroyer class ships within 700gu, engines are destroyed, not more than 2 allies near" etc. and b) ALT F4 isn't a valid tactic
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Placebo
Vice Admiral
Joined: September 16, 2003
Posts: 450
| Posted: 2005-05-21 08:51
"You are about to hit a planet, it is advised you take evasive manoeuvres such as 'A' or 'W', good luck".
"The bright object you have targetted to jump to, is a sun. It is recommended that you choose a different target".
"As you may be able to see, your jump trajectory is red, this means you will hit something along the way, please choose a different course".
"That large thing your flying towards is a station, maybe you should choose a smaller target".
"The planet you are closest to has just launched its planetary defences, please turn around and press ctrl + J".
"You just died, you n00b".
"You have just targetted Placebo, bad idea, he may ban you, you better run".
Ok, so maybe that last one is a little unrealistic, but maybe we could give this little helper some personality?
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RedDoggy(1)
Fleet Admiral
Agents
Joined: August 14, 2004
Posts: 118
From: Oregon
| Posted: 2005-05-21 08:59
I can't tell you how many times I hear the same questions over and over in the MV. We have probably all heard them and know them by heart now.
These questions should be addressed to new players before or in game. Its not that we don't want to help, but they seem to come on during a large battle and that's the worst time.
If someone gets the basics (and not everyone wants to go into newbie server) then the questions asked can be more complex. After all what DS vet doesn't like to talk about tactics. But I've answered enough questions about JDs, gates, supply, I don't even want to list them as that I'm sick of the same ones over and over.
Perhaps newer players can help the brand new people, since they were not too long ago in their shoes.
For myself it detracts from the game to have to answer newbie questions. Ya this sounds selfish but you all know its true. The newbie asks during the worst times; doesn't get the answers; and then gets pissed off that they can't understand the game or are being ignored.
This is a problem for the MV since anyone can get on the chat and spam for all to see. Lets keep our player base happy as well as addressing the needs of new players (so they don't leave confused and upset) by making a better tutorial that answers all those same questions that the noobs have.
Just thought I'd put this here since its been on my mind. And the other day with the 3 faction fight near Big Boonie we had a newbie on, that asked the classic DS questions in the middle of battle.
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Chromix
Cadet
Joined: June 29, 2001
Posts: 3052
| Posted: 2005-05-21 10:48
Quote:
| I can't tell you how many times I hear the same questions over and over in the MV. |
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Exactly that are the questions that need to be dealth with in the in-game tutorial.
Quote:
| I don't even want to list them as that I'm sick of the same ones over and over |
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Well, once we got enough "If the player does ABC, display the message XYZ to him" suggestions, covering all those aspects, you won't see those questions that frequently anymore 
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-05-21 14:10
How about a series of initial messages about the use of Shipyards, Starports, Factories, and, I dunno, friendly & enemy ships and planets (how to tell them apart?).
How about the first time a player clicks on a friendly ship a pop-up dialogue with the ship class & the description comes up? Like it appears once for an Assault Destroyer, Battle Cruiser, Torp Cruiser, ETC ETC?
When they first select a specialty ship (supply, bomber, engy... anything that might fall along that - ICC Sensor Frig would be a good example) give a short list of dos & don'ts of using the ship. Like with a Bomber, don't fire bombs within 100gu of planet, clear line of sight (no ships, asteroids in path) to planet. With supply a quick use of the Y & Shift-Y. Engy, a quick popup of how to get started on a planet, and when they click a building to build it (before it actually is) have a quick description of it (and the names of its upgrades maybe?) pop up.
Sensor Frig & anything else that has ECM & ECCM standard have a brief DON'T RUN ECM & ECCM AT SAME TIME! Ask teammates if they need ECM coverage to lower their signatures, or ECCM coverage to raise enemy signatures.
I'll actually THINK about it later
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Azreal
Chief Marshal
Joined: March 14, 2004
Posts: 2816
From: United State of Texas, Houston
| Posted: 2005-05-21 15:00
I would think that one saying "Do NOT put this pilot on follow" would be appropriate advice for the newbie who targets me.
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bucket link
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-05-21 17:32
Pfft you, Bito.
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Darkspace: Twilight
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2005-05-21 17:51
Quote:
|
On 2005-05-21 07:54, Chromix wrote:
Some of you might have already seen the nice in-game messageboxes that were implemented some time ago.
There is a plan to use them for in-game tutorials. So new players will see some of those annoying messageboxes during their first few hours in the metaverse.
I.e. if a players hull drops below 50%, a message is displayed, telling the user how he can (E-)Jump & get his ship repaired.
Or if an enemy ship (that isn't jumping at that moment) comes in sight, some combat basics are displayed (mash the space bar, spam SHIFT-H).
The point of this posting is to collect some more suggestions for situations, in which some more of these hints could be displayed.
Things like "When a user is in trouble, show a message that he should ALT F4 immediately" aren't going to help, since a) "is in trouble" needs to be defined, i.e. "has 5 enemy > destroyer class ships within 700gu, engines are destroyed, not more than 2 allies near" etc. and b) ALT F4 isn't a valid tactic
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Saw Faustus testing this in the 1.481 beta test
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Lark of Serenity
Grand Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: June 02, 2002
Posts: 2516
| Posted: 2005-05-21 22:33
"This is a Dreadnaught. it is most likely this will be the enemies main target. if youre brave, you'll vainly attempt to defend this dreadnaught as your enemy slowly drains all hope from your factions chances at winning this fight. if youre smart, you'll keep a good distance of 250gu to stay out of the impending explosion range"
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Admiral Larky, The Wolf
Don't play with fire, play with Larky.
Raven Division Command - 1st Division
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Ragglock
Marshal
BIOnics Industry Syndicate
Joined: May 29, 2001
Posts: 1955
From: Denmark
| Posted: 2005-05-21 22:45
"you have just selectet your first ship to fly " <-- now long explanation on how to locate shipyards, how to use shipyards, how to store your ships and select another spawn location / shipyard .
when they buy from an factory:
"you have an new device in your cargo this is how you install it"....
buy new drives:
"to install new drives you have to turn them off first"......
[ This Message was edited by: Ragglock on 2005-05-21 22:51 ]
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P:@12 C:$38
LOVE the smell of human flesh in the morning smells like MVictory
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Fattierob
Vice Admiral
Joined: April 25, 2003
Posts: 4059
| Posted: 2005-05-21 22:58
player selects a planet:
"This is a planet. Your ship cannot land on the planet. Hitting the planet with your ship is bad"
Player first opens up GCQL:
"The play button is on the top of the screen. THE TOP OF THE SCREEN"
Player first sees a green coat in the lobby:
"People with green coats are moderators. White is for admin, yellow is for regular users, and the darkend coats are for AFK's. Remember to suck up to the green and whities!"
Player has an enemy near them:
"use your cursor to select an enemy. Enemys have a red diamond around their ship. Friendlys have a green diamond. Weird things have yellow diamonds. Mash the spacebar button to fire"
Player selects a star:
"Stars are hot. your ship is not able to go near a star without blowing up. try to keep that in mind"
Player lags:
"You are lagging! Continue?
[yes] [sure!]"
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Axalon
Vice Admiral
Joined: June 15, 2003
Posts: 442
From: East Windsor, NJ, USA
| Posted: 2005-05-22 00:47
When user first enters an engineering ship and jumps to a planet to build:
"To build a structure, select a diamond on the target planet. F3 provides a 360 degree view of the planet, ideal for building."
When user chooses colony base:
"Tip: Build non-defensive structures near the poles to protect from enemy bombers."
When user has 3-4 buildings up:
"Tip: Never build in clusters, as it makes your planet very vulnerable to bombs. Spread out your buildings!"
When reaching the power limit:
"The planet is about to reach its power limit. Any future buildings will be unpowered! Build more Power Generators!"
When user hasn't built defense bases but has the tech to build them:
"Tip: Build defense bases to protect the planet from bombing runs!:
When user builds all basic buildings:
"Tip: Build Research Labs to increase the planet's Technological capabilities."
When user selects a Defense base:
"Tip: Build defensive structures near the equator, to maximize their range and bomb interception capability."
More to come.
-Axalon
EDIT: Typo.
[ This Message was edited by: Axalon{Absolut} on 2005-05-22 00:49 ]
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Chromix
Cadet
Joined: June 29, 2001
Posts: 3052
| Posted: 2005-05-22 02:48
Hmm, most of this seems to be rather useful, well, except for "You just died, you n00b", as there is a messagebox for it already 
Hints for building planets are a good idea. The problem with "after the user built A, B and C" is, that an internal "record" of the users actions needs to be kept. Also there is no good way yet to determine who created a building. This complicates things quite a bit.
So I'm tempted to go the easy route, and just present those building guides when the player selects a planet that has free space to build + an active colony base.
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LordShard
Cadet
Joined: April 28, 2005
Posts: 140
| Posted: 2005-05-22 19:04
For building why not display your factions techtree, and how many of each building are on that planet?
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Don't press Ctrl W!
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-05-22 19:37
'cause there are no more tech trees, there are tech requirements
/me shudders to think of the tech tree system...
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