Comments on: Getting Left Behind by RTS Tutorials http://flashofsteel.com/index.php/2006/09/04/getting-left-behind-by-rts-tutorials/ The Best Strategy Game Blog in My House Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:40:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Scott Lewis http://flashofsteel.com/index.php/2006/09/04/getting-left-behind-by-rts-tutorials/comment-page-1/#comment-507 Scott Lewis Mon, 04 Sep 2006 17:32:03 +0000 http://flashofsteel.com/index.php/2006/09/04/getting-left-behind-by-rts-tutorials/#comment-507 The biggest problem with "smart" tutorials, that sense when a player and provide appropriate direction and feedback, is that it's nearly impossible to discern what the player is intending to do. That's one of the things we're hitting in Railroads tutorial is determining how telling the player "hey, you can sell stock and get some extra money!" Outside a goose-stepping tutorial, do you wait until they try to build something they can't afford? Are not making any money? From my experience, it's clear that the player needs help sometimes, but determining how to detect they're having a problem is where the difficulty lies. The biggest problem with “smart” tutorials, that sense when a player and provide appropriate direction and feedback, is that it’s nearly impossible to discern what the player is intending to do.

That’s one of the things we’re hitting in Railroads tutorial is determining how telling the player “hey, you can sell stock and get some extra money!” Outside a goose-stepping tutorial, do you wait until they try to build something they can’t afford? Are not making any money? From my experience, it’s clear that the player needs help sometimes, but determining how to detect they’re having a problem is where the difficulty lies.

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