About tutorials

[evodoc]

Watching famous youtubers and seeing other low level players it became obvious to me that lot of these players have no ideas about how some things work in this game, especially the cooldowns. With Guns of Icarus "soon" to be ported to PS4 (and maybe XBOX1?) the game will reach an other, large demographic who are kinda used to being their hand held by the game. So I think it is pretty important to have a proper, detailed tutorial about all the things. The devs already made effort to make it more useful but there are still things to cover. So why not discuss what we think the tutorial should include?

Here are my thoughts:
First of all, the countdown should be removed. Maybe different levels, like basic and advanced tutorials, in which case the basic is kinda done.

For the pilot the all of his equipments should be presented. There could also be some challange maps for example going through some gates in the air with different versions; like a regular one, one with only reverse available, one filled with dummy ballons and mines - which could introduce the player the crew managing skills.

For the engineer, the first thing should be to fix the equipped tool detection bug. And it would also be useful to show the player that the rubber mallet is not always the most suitable tool for repair, because for minor repairs the spanner can be more practical. The buff hammer also should be introduced.

For the gunner all of the guns and ammo types should be explained. And also mentioning that the guns turning and reloading speed suffers when it gets damaged.

Any thoughts?

[Eukari]

Some things I'd like to see taught in a tutorial:

Pilot

• Turning the ship to keep your guns on the enemy.
• Moving the ship out of the way of enemy fire.
• Avoiding debris, what a sandstorm is and how to spot it compared to a normal cloud.
• When to use, and when not to use things like Kerosene and Moonshine.
• Spotting enemy ships, and why it's important.

Gunner

• Leading your target.
• How different types of damage work. (i.e. use Gatling for armor, explosives for hull, Carronade for balloon)
• What different ammo types have to offer, and when you should switch.
• When it's time to get off the gun and help repair.
• Spotting enemy ships, and why it's important.

Engineer

• How the repair cooldown works.
• What to repair first, and when that can change.
• When it's time to get on a gun and help shoot.
• When it's time to get off the gun and back to work.
• Spotting enemy ships, and why it's important.

[Captain Smollett]

This thread is great, great suggestions here.  I hope Muse happens to see this and maybe if I have a chance I'll go through the tutorials again and see if there is anything I could add.

[Rainer Zu Fall]

Eukari, I would cut the "Spotting enemy ships" from the Pilot tutorial and replace it with a "Why it is important to not bring a spyglass as pilot and let your crew spot enemy ships"-ish point.

Also, I think showing difference between various repair tools as engineer might be worth including.
(Yes, I know you only wrote exemplary things.)

Otherwise I really like this setup and those ideas!

[James T. Kirk]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I heard something about voice acting in the Dev Fireside Chat...

Could this be the beginning of a guided tutorial?

[Eukari]

Alright, here's an updated list. Please feel free to add suggestions.

Pilot

• Turning the ship to keep your guns on the enemy.
• Moving the ship out of the way of enemy fire.
• Avoiding debris, what a sandstorm is and how to spot it compared to a normal cloud.
• When to use, and when not to use things like Kerosene and Moonshine.
• Why you shouldn't bring a spyglass, and getting your crew to spot for you.
• When you should get off the helm and help repair.
• How a ship's capabilities affects how you should fly it. (i.e. Squids are maneuverable and can camp blind spots, Galleons should remain as stationary as possible)
• Building an effective loadout, and what to look for when picking guns.
• The difference between a brawler, a sniper and a support ship, and the different roles they play.
• What the best tools are to bring with each ship.

Gunner

• Leading your target.
• How different types of damage work. (i.e. use Gatling for armor, explosives for hull, Carronade for balloon)
• What different ammo types have to offer, and when you should switch.
• When it's time to get off the gun and help repair.
• Spotting enemy ships, and why it's important.
• Using the compass to call out enemy ship locations.
• Coordinating fire with teammates. (i.e., waiting for armor to fall before using your explosive gun)

Engineer

• How the repair cooldown works.
• What to repair first, and when that can change.
• When it's time to get on a gun and help shoot.
• When it's time to get off the gun and back to work.
• Spotting enemy ships, and why it's important.
• Using the compass to call out enemy ships.
• Coordinating repairs with your crew.
• The difference between the Rubber Mallet, Pipe Wrench and Spanner, and when to use each one.
• What buffing does and how to use it effectively.
• The difference between the Extinguisher and the Chemical Spray.

[Swizy]

I think there are too many things in that list that you will simply learn by playing matches or observing. What the Tutorial should show you is only how to get started. imo there should be an explanation of the ship. What are the Engines, what is the hull, balloon, Guns, How does a ship get killed and how to survive. A general overview of everything.

Sandbox tutorials should however show more specific stuff. So for the pilot it's how to steer in all three dimensions, explanation of some of the tools and their effects on your ship and crew management (as in how to control ai and to show the importance of engineering).

as for gunner I think it should be treated the same. Show them short to long range guns and explain the effects on the enemy ship each damage type does. Same with the different ammo types. only show them about three and let them find out about the others by themselves. Also let them experience what angle means so that you learn something for when you're captaining.

For the Engineer it's important to know the difference of a spanner and a mallet. That makes him very valuable on any ship as a beginner. Next the extinguishing and of course explain him the difference between broken parts and damaged parts. What the cool-down is should be explained aswell.

Everything else I say let them try it out by themself. It all comes by experience and too many tutorials will be skipped eventually.

[Rainer Zu Fall]

I agree with Swizy, it's a bit too much now. Introducing a 2 hour tutorial per class is definately not what we want the new players to complete, this wouldn't be an appetizer for the game itself.

[evodoc]

I agree with Swizy, it's a bit too much now. Introducing a 2 hour tutorial per class is definately not what we want the new players to complete, this wouldn't be an appetizer for the game itself.

As I wrote in the opening post, the tutorials doesn't have to be a single piece for a class. Maybe it could be separated to different levels or sections (maybe a separate tutorial for every gun/tool/ammo?). But anyhow, one of the most recent review also highlighted the lack of information ingame:
http://fronttowardsgamer.com/2013/08/30/guns-of-icarus-online-review-pc/

It’s not like the tutorials in Guns of Icarus Online are going to teach you what you need to know. There is a bare bones tutorial for each of the three job classes, and the first half of each of the three is exactly the same. They start you from the Playskool My First PC Game perspective by teaching you WASD to move and mouse to look around. Open note to the developers: anyone picking up Guns of Icarus Online already knows this, I guarantee. Then each job class has more of a specialized walkthrough just to teach players the basic commands, and that’s it. There are six different types of airship, a dozen or so different guns, and a dozen or so items you can customize your character with. A passing mention of these things in the tutorial would save players some real headaches of finding out the hard way.

For some small subtle tips I would love this to happen also:
https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,2283.0.html

[Eukari]

Those suggestions were based on what I hear others (and myself) consistently complaining that new players can't do. It doesn't necessarily need to have every single one of them; it's just a list of possible "trouble spots" that a better tutorial system could focus on. If you really want the bare-bones of what I think a tutorial should teach:

General

• Spotting enemy ships

Pilot

• How to fly
• What all the pilot tools do
• Importance of communication

Gunner

• Firing arcs
• Damage types
• What different ammo types do

Engineer

• What Rubber Mallet/Pipe Wrench/Spanner do
• Difference between Extinguisher and Chem Spray
• What the DynaBuff hammer does
• Different types of repair hardpoints

Some of you are advocating for a more "figure it out yourself" policy when it comes to some of the tools/ammo, but I think that, if it's in the kit, the tutorial at least needs to cover "This is what this is, here is what it does." Advanced strategy and tactics can be puzzled out, but everyone should know the basics.

[Keon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCPcn-Q5nKE

At least some of this is applicable.

[Dev Bubbles]

Hi everyone, sorry for not responding to this thread til now.  I've been reading this thread, and so has Jay and Eric, so this is not ignored by any means.  In fact, I was content to let ideas collect until we are ready to work on this, and now we are   The last list by Eukari is great, and it's a basis for us to expand on the tutorials.  The earlier stuff I agree is a bit too much for right now.  I think with the beginner stuff as well as the new reticule and hit indicators, we should be doing better in helping new players contextually.  For contextual stuff, it's going to be harder to script in tutorial, because my idea of say repair priority or when to get off gun to repair may be different from someone else's.  And this could change with balance changes.  For example, right now, on the Spire, when Matt and I fly, we basically tell our guys to almost never get off gun, and especially not the gunner or the engi/gunner on merc, while getting the engi/gunner on artemis to repair hull.  I don't know how to teach that effectively in tutorial, and someone else might fly it differently.  On Galleon too, when I'm balloon locked vs not, my repair priority and tactic is also different. 

So I think it is better for us to expand on the basics, and keep it to skills, guns vs components, spotting, etc.  That way we can give them the knowledge and tools for them to learn and discover the more advanced play. 

Thanks!  Howard