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Videogame Tutorials
Welcome! This is a guide page written by Víctor Gil Espallargas, CITM student for Bachelor’s Degree in Videogame Design and Development.
Quick introduction to tutorials
The word ‘tutorial’ comes from medievale times (even if it doesn’t seem like it), which defines a method in education of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture, a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task.
With this acknowledged, we can start to think about proper applications for videogames tutorials. Nonetheless, two important factors must be clear beforehand in order to understand the proper usages of this method:
1. Not make it look like a tutorial - The way of making a tutorial fun in a videogame is to mask it as another situation or feature in the game, narratively and thematically.
2. Do not overflow with information - Make a proper use of the resources a developer has in order to grab the player’s attention, this is also an important point because we, as devs, do not want to ‘break the magic’ and set the player out of the experience or even less, cause boredom.
I leave here a set of examples about optimal good tutorials in videogames:
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
- Exaggeration of the old TLOZ turotials, where we used to start on a small village before being thrown to the bast world of Hyrule. This tutorial consists on retaining the player in a smaller portion of the map but at the same time containing the major number of game mechanics the game has to offer.
Undertale
- In a less fast paced game, Undertale excells in teaching players how to play the game without even noticing about being in a tutorial. Great convination between narrative integration and knowledge.
Super Mario Bros
- This game is close to perfection as far as teaching is concerned. It doesn’t even have a former tutorial, Super Mario Bros has such an intuitive gameplay that it does not need to explain the player how to move Mario.
Bayonetta
- Quick 20 second cinematic introduction followed by an iconic Hack’n’Slash level, just you smashing buttons and quickly learning all the basics about defeating hordes of enemies.
DOOM Eternal
- Similar to Super Mario’s way of teaching, in a more complex way, DOOM Eternal has a set of complex mechanics that have to be properly explained but apart from that, the player is involved in a costant tutorial and test of skill in order to survive. The way this game is concieved is to constantly move position at the same time the player shoots hordes of demons.
In summary, this are the steps to follow for a proper creation of a videogame tutorial:
Information and links!
10 Wonderful Videogame Tutorials
10 Disastrous Videogame Tutorials
Top 10 Best Videogame Tutorial Levels
What should a good video game tutorial have to be useful and not be annoying?