Era Tutorial

[Tim_Rocks]

I've released Era PC's very first tutorial system!

Hopefully this will increase the player count, getting players in and playing is what Era needs! I've used an on screen helper as well as in game helpers to assist new players in learning how to interact with NPC's and other players as well as cute little screen shots in game.

Currently the only way to use the tutorial is if you login via a new account or a guest login. I've gotten a few tutorials done, we have a gun shop tutorial, digging for shells, mining, inventory, and showing players how to chat. Obviously there's still room for improvements and I have a few more tutorials that would be wonderful to have completed. For now, I'm just leaving it up for constructive criticism on how we can improve it (spelling, new tutorials, confusing issues, glitches, etc); no ones perfect.

[Fulg0reSama]

Tim does not rock, also would prefer someone who iconic.

[WillaWonka]

"someone who iconic"

What.

[papajchris]

Someone like Zeus

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by Fulg0reSama

Tim does not rock, also would prefer someone who iconic.

You should do the tutorial, I am teaching lessons on the thug life 24/7 son.

[TSAdmin]

Brb, changing my grab key to "Z", although you probably thought of that

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by TSAdmin

Brb, changing my grab key to "Z", although you probably thought of that

I did actually, although I haven't implemented it yet. I'm planning on adding an interaction indicator. It's pretty much a floating bubble of options you can perform when you get close enough to an NPC (lots of games do this).

[Fiberwyre_P2P]

Missing tutorials:
trash picking
sparring
using the mall
random slash commands
buying a car
using the ATM
flower picking
how not to get scammed


I would recommend adding tutorials that would only appear once and aren't absolutely necessary for a new player to get up and go to the outside world rather than the tutorial.

For instance, you go to the car dealer and something pops up on your screen that tells you how to use it. Or if you go to the lumber mill, a tutorial pops up explaining that as well. Add an option to turn off tutorials, turn it off by default for old players, turn it on by default for new players. But, like I said, each tutorial would only appear once, and that's if you're going to a place that has a tutorial for the very first time.
And you could add an option to reset tutorials and have them appear again as if you never saw them the first time.


It worked for WoW.

[Tim_Rocks]

Well yes Fiber, I haven't done any of those tutorials you listed yet. I have buildings setup for them, it just takes time to do each one. And I will most likely insert tutorials outside the tutorial system. All great ideas, I think I'll do a mall and trading tutorial since they're pretty straightforward scripts to read.

[-HateD-]

Originally Posted by Fiberwyre_P2P

For instance, you go to the car dealer and something pops up on your screen that tells you how to use it. Or if you go to the lumber mill, a tutorial pops up explaining that as well. Add an option to turn off tutorials, turn it off by default for old players, turn it on by default for new players. But, like I said, each tutorial would only appear once, and that's if you're going to a place that has a tutorial for the very first time.

Something like this with a recurring :help command would be cool for people that get really messed up and play and can't remember how to buy a car to drive drunk with, knawmeen.

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by -HateD-

Something like this with a recurring :help command would be cool for people that get really messed up and play and can't remember how to buy a car to drive drunk with, knawmeen.

Three options:
A) Make it so these helpers don't appear ever again after the first use unless you haven't logged in within 30 days.
B) Make a login feature that asks if you're drunk.
C) Why not both?

[BlueMelon]

Originally Posted by Fiberwyre_P2P

Missing tutorials:
trash picking
sparring
using the mall
random slash commands
buying a car
using the ATM
flower picking
how not to get scammed

A lot of the stuff listed here we want players to discover on their own. Flower picking doesn't really require a tutorial, if you goto the flower shop it explains it quite well, same with using the ATM and buying a car, sparring, its pretty self explanatory.

[-HateD-]

Originally Posted by Tim_Rocks

Three options:
A) Make it so these helpers don't appear ever again after the first use unless you haven't logged in within 30 days.
B) Make a login feature that asks if you're drunk.
C) Why not both?

Why not just make them show up again if you say :help in the level (if you're doing it level by level) or if there's a :tutorial option that lets you go over old ones again if need be. I don't really see a need for this since I didn't need them to figure out the game, but just trying to cover bases.

[Fiberwyre_P2P]

Originally Posted by BlueMelon

A lot of the stuff listed here we want players to discover on their own. Flower picking doesn't really require a tutorial, if you goto the flower shop it explains it quite well, same with using the ATM and buying a car, sparring, its pretty self explanatory.

I don't think self-explanatory means what you think it means XD
If flower picking and everything else was self-explanatory, you wouldn't need explanations in the shops.

Basically, to make shops/services that have quasi-tutorials already in them a non-issue, you just strip those old ones out, and use one unified pop-up tutorial system.

That's one thing about Era that hasn't really so much annoyed me as kind of been in the background and becomes noticeable every now and then. The systems on this game, for the most part, are really patchwork. Nothing really matches with anything else, since everything was made by different people, at different times, with different teams. Everything just feels fragmented.

Those little tutorials are a good example. Sometimes you talk to someone who gives you a multi-page chat pop-up to scroll through. Sometimes the explanation is just a little note on a GUI. Sometimes it shows up in the messages in the corner of the screen. Sometimes it'll set your chat to display the explanation. It just doesn't have the feeling of a unified, monolithic help system that you now have the opportunity to create.

Monolithic - adjective:
consisting of one piece; solid or unbroken.

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by -HateD-

Why not just make them show up again if you say :help in the level (if you're doing it level by level) or if there's a :tutorial option that lets you go over old ones again if need be. I don't really see a need for this since I didn't need them to figure out the game, but just trying to cover bases.

Have you tried the tutorial? You can re-start a tutorial at any given time if you've missed something.

@Fiber, I like the way you think.

[Fiberwyre_P2P]

Originally Posted by Tim_Rocks

@Fiber, I like the way you think.

Yay

[BlueMelon]

Originally Posted by Fiberwyre_P2P

I don't think self-explanatory means what you think it means XD
If flower picking and everything else was self-explanatory, you wouldn't need explanations in the shops.

Basically, to make shops/services that have quasi-tutorials already in them a non-issue, you just strip those old ones out, and use one unified pop-up tutorial system.

That's one thing about Era that hasn't really so much annoyed me as kind of been in the background and becomes noticeable every now and then. The systems on this game, for the most part, are really patchwork. Nothing really matches with anything else, since everything was made by different people, at different times, with different teams. Everything just feels fragmented.

Those little tutorials are a good example. Sometimes you talk to someone who gives you a multi-page chat pop-up to scroll through. Sometimes the explanation is just a little note on a GUI. Sometimes it shows up in the messages in the corner of the screen. Sometimes it'll set your chat to display the explanation. It just doesn't have the feeling of a unified, monolithic help system that you now have the opportunity to create.

Monolithic - adjective:
consisting of one piece; solid or unbroken.

Very true, I like how you represented it as patchwork. Its exactly what the server is, old stuff stays old, new stuff looks new, every developer has their own way of doing something, whether it be levels, GUI, etc.

[Scoper]

Am I cool yet



A unification of Era's scripts would pretty much require taking the whole server down, working on it for months/(years?), extensive bugtesting and fixing, and then a rerelease.

Since we can't even keep a consistent manager for more than a ~year, this is not really an ideal situation.

Ha I said we like I'm still here. You.

[Fiberwyre_P2P]

I don't think anyone was talking about unifying all of Era's scripts.

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by Scoper

Since we can't even keep a consistent manager for more than a ~year, this is not really an ideal situation.

Heh.

[callimuc]

Small bump. I've been testing it with my guest account and realized these three errors:

1. Dollar sign being way off (in the shop where you can sell your shells; also happened to other text parts inside that NPC)


2. "You're" instead of "your"


3. 'Up' and 'Down' arrows displaying small notifications are on the very left next to the map (also been there during the tutorial), while on my other account (having a gold subscription) they are on the very right. Not sure where it is supposed to be but either one seems bugged


Else it does look very nice covering the very basic stuff. Maybe you should also explain how you can earn more HP and cover some other stuff you come around pretty often (sparring, strafing, hotkeys etc)

[bloodykiller]

there needs to be an incentive to spar, it would be nice to have more ppl hang out at the spar complex rather than at unstick

[Fulg0reSama]

I kind of wish that Era actually had some form of Goal as a character other than just playing with guns in a sandbox environment town

I mean it has these RPG elements incorporated into it and obviously not being utilized to the form they were designed to be.

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by callimuc

stuff.

I'm not sure the first and third errors are actually caused by the tutorial. I could be wrong, but I'm leaning towards no since the script doesn't trigger other scripts. Aside from that, I had the story line for the tutorial proof read several times. Lol, must've missed it.

I can't fix it though, so good luck!

[Scoper]

Originally Posted by Tim_Rocks

I'm not sure the first and third errors are actually caused by the tutorial. I could be wrong, but I'm leaning towards no since the script doesn't trigger other scripts. Aside from that, I had the story line for the tutorial proof read several times. Lol, must've missed it.

I can't fix it though, so good luck!

I miss proofreading everyone's everythings QQ