Tutorial Suggestion

[Twasta]

So, I've been thinking about what a tutorial level for Warframe would look like and have come up with the following concept (I wrote this while half asleep. Grammar errors and unproffesionalism may have occured during the creative process):

 

• The Wake Up Call

 

The tutorial would start out with a black screen and lotus telling you that you have been in cryosleep for an undefined amount of time. She urges you not to panic (as if she has to) and the screen suddenly goes active. Now: This would start out in first person until the moment we get to the actual introduction of movement mechanics, meaning that everything but walking and using doors/switches would have to be deactivated until the proper time.

The cryopod opens and Lotus tells you to leave the chamber. The first door would open by itself (dont ruin the flow of the moment and all that). And the outside is truely a sight to behold: Your frame walks onto a rotunda of unimaginable size, with hundreds of chambers in view across the massive cylinder that is inside the Orokin tower your avatar has been asleep in for such a long time. The door closes and is locked behind you (you are supposed to proceed onwards, dont linger), a mission marker guides you along the rotunda to the Tenno's equivalent of the normal elevator encountered later on: A Teleporter (this is to establish the technological superiority of the Tenno. You can also just use a regular elevator, but I actually want to introduce the specific mechanic for using panels in a later paragraph). An animation plays, the teleporter brings you down to the tutorial area: A large cuboid hall, flashes in the distance tell of other Warframes being tested for combat readiness. Lotus asks you to remain still as she activates the simulator.

 

• Movement tutorial

This is were it get's hairy: You are dealing both with new players (have not played an FPS) and the nerds like me who never have to look at their keyboard to hit the right buttons. You want to teach the former all the necessary mechanics, and not bore the latter. So, off we go: The simulator fires up and the game finally switches into third person perspective and the player is finally faced with the full amount of buttons that can possibly be mashed. First thing to learn: Movement. And please: Do not say "BUT I AM PLAYING A HIGHLY TRAIN3D W0RRIAR! I KNO HOW 2 WALK!". Lotus isn't here to change your diapers, she's testing if you are combat worthy. And this is more of a hardcore approach to a normal medical exam.

Obstacles in the following order would have to be conquered, each accompanied by a voiceover from our lovely community manager:

1. Walking over a beam. Falling off would reset the player back to infront of the obstacle. Basic movement is thaught.

2. Crouching.

3. Climbing a ledge. And do not spoil the wallrunning here. Keep that as a surprise. This test teaches the climbing mechanic and jumping.

4. The first special maneuvre: Doing a wallrun over a chasm. The player thinks that this is "kind of cool" and really wants to learn more.

5. Wallrunning and doing a backflip to reach a higher spot. This could get frustrating for the new players, so display the proper key combination the entire time AND give a hotkey that has Lotus explain it again.

6. And last: Doing a jump kick to get across a really deep chasm. This is both awesome and educational. Lotus tells the player afterwards that the remaining knowledge will surely come to him once they are in the field.

Okay, now let's get down to business. Explaining combat, loot and related crap.

 

• Explosions

 

The simulator rumbles, the rooms are rearranged (moving floor panels and all that, no overpowered holodeck shenanigans). We will take this in the following order: Melee, Pistol, Rifle, Abilities.

Meleeing can be used to explain how to use not only the sword, but how to break certain loot containers. Lotus asks you to murder the living hell out of one of those green cylinders. A hotkey prompt appears and our newbie get's his first taste of machine oil. The container would NOT drop energy, the player will get that later. We move onwards to the next room, with an obvious hologram (not a Grineer, not a Corpus, not an Infected. You are released into a foreign galaxy, let the bad guys be a surprise) as target practice. Your char takes out his sidearm for the first time and you can unload on that n***** (guess the reference). This would also yield the first bit of experience, as the player moves towards the next test, Lotus explains level progression. The next door is opened with a panel that must be hacked. This slows the entire thing down a bit and Lotus has more time to babble. The rifle test is the same as the pistol one, Lotus only gives a bit of extra info on the types of weapons that can go into this slot. The last one is the most difficult.

With the current system we can not explain how all of the abilities work in the confines of the tutorial. Give them an Excalibur, Slash Dash and show them how to use that. Lotus should say that no ability is like the other, the players will get to burn any further bridges as they come to them. The best thing would be preview films for the abilities when you hover over them in the market or arsenal.

And lastly: What are we doing here.

 

• Bring me five dead furry things

 

The player exits the simulator and gets teleported to their own private spot. Your character kneels and you are zoomed to the galaxy overview (this gives a fluid transition to the normal menu and an explanation where your Warframe is kneeling/standing the entire time). Lotus explains it, the map is – for now – outside of our control. The first system is selected and the mission types explained. I want to urge you to implement a short video (.bik etc.) for each type, once again not showing the enemies, but placeholders.

The remaining menus will not be explained. Why? Information overload. Add little question mark icons next to everything that give a text blurb explaining what the funny buttons all do. This way you can also cut down on the necessary line recordings. Voiceovers are expensive. I am also assuming that the tutorial is added once the GUI is considered to be final, or close to.

And that's it. The player is off on his first mission and discovers additional moves, gains experience, unlocks abilities and recolors his Warframe to bright pink.

 

One thing that will also be needed is an ingame knowledge base that explains everything in detail. And I really mean in detail. Hotkeys, menu navigation, mission and enemy types, details on all weapons, abilities and warframes, what the items do, how the foundry works, how the arsenal works, how everything works. This is for reference for everything not explained in the tutorial and when a player has trouble working the controls. A link to the official forums should also be present (not the Warframe front page. That would just be messing with people).

 

This is very basic, I know. But that's what this thread is for. Take the ideas apart, rearrange or replace anything you consider broken and put it up for discussion. Superbus Via Inscientae and all that.

[Slorch]

and most importantly add a text thing that says that fusing mods dose not combine them only make the one mod better.