Hand-holding tutorials suck. Why are developers so afraid of giving player full control in the tutorial?

[dose]

Games don't come with manuals now, so players have to taken through the controls during the game.
As others have said, just because you personally don't need to be shown, doesn't mean others don't.
Restricting what the user can do and taking them linearly through the different actions makes it easier to design and stops the user from screwing up the flow. Eg., if you could jump from the very start and then part the way through the tutorial you're taught how to jump, that wouldn't make sense.

Saying that, there's no reason why they can't be optional, unless they're tied to the beginning of the actual story/game.

 

[Skies]

That mostly sounds fine if I, as an experienced or returning player can pick up the flashlight and hit all the targets immediately as soon as I get into the level.
But modern games don't do that. You get locked in place while an NPC tells you the history, importance, and virtues of flashlights for two minutes; doesn't let you run until tutorialized; you can't pick up the flashlight until they tell you to pick it up; you can't switch it on until they let you know what button it is; they gate you through each individual target and then confirm that you've got it before you move on to the "how to open gates" tutorial.
It takes five minutes for something I could get past in 15 seconds if they gave me control.

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You most definitely can, and I built both tutorials with that in mind. But like I said I still had players struggling with the mechanics because my tutorial wasn't restrictive enough.

The player I mentioned didn't read the unavoidable NPC dialogue, and instead just pushed random buttons and proceeded to fumble around. Eventually he did go back and read the NPC dialogue to get past the gate. But then he failed to put the pieces together of the ghost extinguishing cutscene and using the flashlight to open the gate to equal the flashlight could kill ghosts, so he proceeded to die multiple times before even trying the flashlight on the ghost.

In the end he figured out all the mechanics, but I felt it painted a negative layer over his lasting impression. If I had a tutorial in place like the one you so dread, maybe none of that would have happened. And that's the dilemma here. I imagine most triple AAA developers assume someone like you is going to push through their over-bearing tutorial, while a player such as the one above might quit out of frustration if they don't have each mechanic hammered into their head.

 

[SofNascimento]

XCOM2 is an interesting example of a well done hand-holding tutorial. It helps newcomers and if you don't want you can simply skip it.

So if it's well done it can work.

 

[Rendering...]

They're not so offensive that they put me off the game, but they should always be skippable on your second playthrough.

Though I will say, I started first Gravity Rush the other day and I was pretty annoyed that not only couldn't I jump in the first sequence, but the game wouldn't even let me adjust the camera. It was a bit much.

 

[Woffls]

I played tutorial for World in Conflict today and there were separate steps for moving the camera with WASD for each damn key. I bailed and will learn the hard way thank you very much.

 

[Deleted member 7462]

There's no need for tutorials for someone like me, just give me a chunky paper manual i can refer to for big sims or leaflets manual i can read on the toilets for the rest when i am back home and we are set.
I'll use advanced things when i learn about them, no need to lock them up.

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Honestly, this shows my age, but I'd much rather have a printed manual that I can refer to and be dropped into the game than have to go through a slowly-paced, restrictive tutorial.

Some games get tutorials right - BotW comes to mind immediately as one that didn't feel too restricting and that gave you some room to fuck around - but most don't.

And yes, I get that some people need them or use them, but from my perspective, sometimes my desire to play at allis killed by a tutorial that is particularly slow and restrictive to the player. I've put down PS+ games that I was willing to give a chance because I found the tutorial so slow that I lost interest. The Surge is one of these. In fairness to it, it's trying to deliver story as you slowly move toward the first major checkpoint, but I think it took me a couple of times to actually get to the gameplay.

 

[sn00zer]

I used to agree with you until I had to teach my dad how to play modern games. Go teach your mom/dad how to play games then come back and say how dumb tutorials are. Games are so fucking complicated now, these tutorials are absolutely necessary.

 

[Pargon]

And yet... 95 hours....

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I don't think I ever saw that shrine either, in the time I spent with the game.
I figured out those techniques through gameplay experimentation, but it's a good example of how the game does a bad job of teaching players despite the lengthy and drawn-out introduction sequence.
The Great Plateau probably takes most players a couple of hours to get through, and yet it doesn't manage to teach them everything they need to know.
Most of these forced tutorials in games, or games which wall off the player and gradually hand out features, are bad at what they set out to achieve.

[…] In the end he figured out all the mechanics, but I felt it painted a negative layer over his lasting impression. If I had a tutorial in place like the one you so dread, maybe none of that would have happened. And that's the dilemma here. I imagine most triple AAA developers assume someone like you is going to push through their over-bearing tutorial, while a player such as the one above might quit out of frustration if they don't have each mechanic hammered into their head.

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Yeah, that would be my assumption too - that it benefits them more to force the tutorial on everyone to avoid losing players that would struggle with the game otherwise, than players who find it annoying.
But I've definitely stopped playing games or even refunded them because I did not want to deal with the game's bullshit when it wouldn't let me just play the game.

 

[Deleted member 679]

Yeah, I really dislike when the game limits your buttons for whatever reason. Let me experiment, let me test the buttons, please!

It's fine if you want to cover all the basics in the tutorials, but no reason to not let me use anything but the one specific move you're trying to teach. Keep that on screen, but let me just do whatever. Players who need them to learn will follow what's on screen, and those who are replaying or prefer to experiment themselves get to do it as well.

When I learn a new move, I want to try it out once and then incorporate it in my arsenal, I don't want to be forced to do the exact move three times and then the enemy dies and I have to remember to incorporate that new move in the next fight.

 

[MarioW]

We have a usability test lab in our studio, and I can say under observation that more hand holding usually works best for the majority of gamers in terms of learnability and ultimately enjoyment.

As a specific simple anecdote, hardcore and especially male gamers have a tendency to skip past tutorials when they shouldn't. We had a level based game in which the early skippable set of levels was labeled "Tutorial" or similar. 100% of male test subjects skipped these levels, then found the game too hard and became frustrated because they assumed the game worked a certain way when it didn't. Simply relabeling "Tutorial" to "Easy" meant nobody skipped these levels, they actually learned how to play the game properly, and reported satisfaction went up.

Game developers handhold because it works, and in a lot of cases they will have proven that it is the better option against alternatives.

 

[Deleted member 679]

We have a usability test lab in our studio, and I can say under observation that more hand holding usually works best for the majority of gamers in terms of learnability and ultimately enjoyment.

As a specific simple anecdote, hardcore and especially male gamers have a tendency to skip past tutorials when they shouldn't. We had a level based game in which the early skippable set of levels was labeled "Tutorial" or similar. 100% of male test subjects skipped these levels, then found the game too hard and became frustrated because they assumed the game worked a certain way when it didn't. Simply relabeling "Tutorial" to "Easy" meant nobody skipped these levels, they actually learned how to play the game properly, and reported satisfaction went up.

Game developers handhold because it works, and in a lot of cases they will have proven that it is the better option against alternatives.

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I never skip because I don't want to lose content. Tutorials are usually their own levels, no way I wouldn't want to experience that on a first playthrough, even if I hate it at the end. Surprised it was 100%.

 

[effin]

We have a usability test lab in our studio, and I can say under observation that more hand holding usually works best for the majority of gamers in terms of learnability and ultimately enjoyment.

As a specific simple anecdote, hardcore and especially male gamers have a tendency to skip past tutorials when they shouldn't. We had a level based game in which the early skippable set of levels was labeled "Tutorial" or similar. 100% of male test subjects skipped these levels, then found the game too hard and became frustrated because they assumed the game worked a certain way when it didn't. Simply relabeling "Tutorial" to "Easy" meant nobody skipped these levels, they actually learned how to play the game properly, and reported satisfaction went up.

Game developers handhold because it works, and in a lot of cases they will have proven that it is the better option against alternatives.

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Cool to see ya on here! (Blake from Little Lost Fox) - I hadn't considered reframing them as 'easy' levels instead of tutorial levels. That's some good insight.

 

[SomaXD]

Tutorials themselves should be cut entirely from in-game. Return to printed manuals.

a load of time and money could be saved by skipping making in-game tutorials, even if they printed manuals, they would STILL be saving time and money by skipping tutorials.

GIVE ME BACK MY MANUALS!

 

[Pottuvoi]

Dark Souls 2 had nice short skippable tutorial area, it was nice and refreshing to see.

Really dislike in game tutorials which are slow and limit gameplay.
Especially if they continue far into game, there is something wrong if there is tutorials after first quarter of a game.

 

[Teuthex]

We have a usability test lab in our studio, and I can say under observation that more hand holding usually works best for the majority of gamers in terms of learnability and ultimately enjoyment.

As a specific simple anecdote, hardcore and especially male gamers have a tendency to skip past tutorials when they shouldn't. We had a level based game in which the early skippable set of levels was labeled "Tutorial" or similar. 100% of male test subjects skipped these levels, then found the game too hard and became frustrated because they assumed the game worked a certain way when it didn't. Simply relabeling "Tutorial" to "Easy" meant nobody skipped these levels, they actually learned how to play the game properly, and reported satisfaction went up.

Game developers handhold because it works, and in a lot of cases they will have proven that it is the better option against alternatives.

Click to shrink...

That sounds right. My male family members have a habit of not reading the manual for everything they buy, from Ikea furniture to audio systems, and then proceed to be flummoxed by things 'not working'.

As I said last page, every game could be someone's first. And while my father who is good at putting stuff together might be able to do without the Ikea instructions, not everyone can, and I personally know that good tutorials helped me get into gaming.