We've made a google doc which has a summary of the tutorial and links to videos of each part. It is still changing a lot, there are still bugs and we have a lot more testing to do, but … in the meantime, feedback is welcome :)
Definitely encourage slowing down and exploring the whole island or most folks will miss a bunch of goodness. I know I would have.
I like it that there's no instruction for the spinach garden. Instead, encouraging interaction with everything that glows will get new Glitchen learning about the world for themselves. I think it's great that there's a new thing in the tutorial that the player isn't led through. I remember stopping and reading everything and trying everything - and being delighted at discovering its warped charm - was a large part of my early game joy.
Charming introduction and it would definitely have encouraged me to continue.
1. EZ Cooking needs more explanation of how to use the knife and board... although telling players everything does not engender the inquisitiveness required to play Glitch successfully at the start.
2. Thoroughly agree with previous comments on the Spinach harvesting. New players could find themselves in trouble and older players could be annoyed by newbies not knowing about replanting.
3. Inquisitive players will find the side streets and secret room but those who are used to bombing around games will plough on through to the exit, thereby missing out on a whole lot of good stuff.
Imagination, upgrades, movement & basic controls : OK, the flamingo is cute (ah, getting used to two-in-one flamingo), maybe the set could have something more to it
Item interaction, food/drink/character metabolics : good good
Home street, houses, decoration mode and initial skill selection : just a thought, couldn't this make part of a quest (getting a house/home street) ? maybe it will lighten the tutorial, or maybe it's good the way it is :)
This is just my opinion, overall I enjoyed it, it's well written, well paced - the way the glitch chracteristics are introduced is very well made.
I will collect some more input. oh, thank you for sharing!
Edit* The players I invited are completely glued to Glitch :)
Oh wow, these are amazing. This is a really great introduction to Glitch. A lot of game tutorials feel so far removed from the actual game experience that it just turns into a tedious process of hurryupletsgo--but I don't feel that here. This tutorial really encourages playing and exploring (aside from one part, as noted below) through all the information you're getting thrown at you, without the hand holding and the overexplaining that is apart of many tutorials.
So, most importantly: asfdsgfs those flamingos are my favorite
I feel like the desire to rush through Gentle Island exists simply because of the quests. The first quest is 'concluded' at Progress Way, for the most part, up until the quest to just get off the island is introduced. I don't feel that specific quest is entirely necessary--I think it would encourage new players to really get the point of Glitch and go exploring if there's no immediate and easy incentive to get off the island.
I also agree with the concerns that folks are having about the spinach--even though the new player can't tend those plots, just a short explanation that plots need to be tended, watered, and replanted with future gardening skillsets would prevent a lot of accidental griefing by new kids, I think.
I personally like how the card upgrades are introduced and used up until Progress Way. Really encourages folks to spend their iMG!
Niggling design note: the random inclusion of CAPS in places (i.e. EGG for the dustbunny, CHEAP BAG VENDOR, etc.) feels awkward to me? Mostly because it's not a stylistic choice I don't think I've seen you guys apply elsewhere in Glitch.
Thank you so much for the tutorial videos! I am itching to start a new alt and play from new, but I am resisting the temptation for now... in the meantime, I poked and prodded my significant other to sign up last night, so I look forward to watching someone new play through the tutorial. May have better things to add to this conversation after I do so!
I agree about the weirdness of the two-headed flamingo. Other Glitch creatures are fairly clear representations of regular animals. Perhaps it would be better with simply two flamingos - although that helicopter spinny thing they do with their legs is cool. :D
With regard to explanations, less is more IMO. There is the interaction with butterflies, which conveys the idea of interaction with animals. I don't think the new player needs to be led through each type of interaction with each type of animal.
I realize it's a very fine line to walk, but if any explanation at all can be cut out, cut it out. New Glitchen need to have the fun of discovery themselves.
With that said, the one exception is the garden harvesting. I think slightly more explanation is necessary there, although I would recommend against giving them a hoe at that point.
How much to encourage them to explore everything on Gentle Island becomes quite a dilemma. If I were experiencing the tutorial for the first time, I would most likely rush through it in order to get to "the game" (even with the gentle hint carved into the tree; which is fantastic btw). I presume most people will. Even though they might facepalm later at missing out on new streets and a secret room, I would still recommend erring on the side of less explanation and less leading by the hand (whenever possible).
Overall, the tutorial is excellent and conveys the charm that is Glitch's main attraction extremely well. It absolutely makes a person eager to play! Well done.
While I realize it's blindingly obvious to us, one thing that I don't think is ever explained in either tutorial is that the other characters you meet in the game are actually other real people somewhere in the real world. While your initial response to that statement might be "well duh", I find that there is a wide world of people, some of whom do not play games much, who need to be told that and even more, given some particularly gentle way of coming out of their shell and talking to other players.
It looks great. Nice and light with the music and interactions. I agree with points made about crops and cooking and gathering needing more detail- but it's clear you have to make choices in order to get them through the tutorial in a reasonable amount of time.
On another note, It might just be from watching it as a video with an experienced player, but it seems as if far too much emphasis is placed on jumping quoins, rather than game play. I'd hate for new players to get the impression that Glitch is just a massively multi-player console side-scroller.
Rufus T. Firefly, remember once you start getting skills you get quests. The tutorial is pretty much "Move, eat, upgrade, home street/house." Those are the important things to get out of the way at the start. Hopefully players unfamiliar with Glitch will get through the first 15-30 minutes of tutorial and be intrigued with stuff to start exploring. To give them too much at the start might be too intimidating.
I think WalruZ has an excellent point, and addressing it might be an opportunity to do something unique and fun.
I'm not sure what would be unique. But it might be fun to have a the new Glitch walk through a short gallery of portraits of new Glitches and those in the top spots on the Leaderboards. You might not use the word "leaderboards", just "Notable Glitchen and New Arrivals!" This would hint that "this is what another player looks like," and encourage recognition and participation. Also, it might be a good segue to introducing the Vanity and Wardrobe.
Or, you could drop just them in the middle of Cebarkul (or where-ever there is a large collection of Glitchen at the time).
These are really great - so glitchy! Lots of good comments above but I will add a couple of my own:
1. The rewards for each path vary wildly in value to a newly imagined Glitchen - if you pick AH, all you get is some meat, grain and milk. LGT gives you a very few cherries, beans and bubbles and a watering can, but nothing to boost your energy. EZ cooking offers the best - a knife and board and a good supply of food.
2. It was mentioned in passing, but the energy meter needs to be discussed, even if it is a simple "watch that energy level - eat a sammich." Most games restart you from the beginning when you die - I think it should be clear that dying does not mean the end of your game. Not the full details of hell and stomping grapes, but a clue that it does not all end with death.
ETA: there is so much to see and understand at first, I do not think the idea of upgrades needs to be mentioned. They will not be able to upgrade for a long time and will not remember what they heard here when they can.
Hooray! The tutorial is so great it makes me want to be a newbie again!
I've been playing so long that my memories of the old tutorial are fuzzy at best, but I remember really liking planting the bean. But it made it a great frustration that there were so few patches to be found once I got into the game.
I do think that the orientation the player gets in these first few minutes sets up expectations for everything else. Give them a way to take care of something growing, even if they don't get a hoe. Or perhaps leave them a hoe to find that has only one or two uses left, and no way to repair it yet? Let them break it, and figure out that they can sell it back to the cut-rate vendor for a measly few currants?
One thing that struck me is that there seems less relationship with the giants in this intro than in the old one. It was helpful to start with the idea that you were "inside the head" of a giant, complete with giant neurons (yay the locked room), and that everything that happened was part of the giants imagination from the beginning. That made the quirky-ness of it all quite charming. I find I don't remember my introduction to the shrines. I'm assuming that interaction with those, and the whole favor quoin thing, comes in early quests?
All in all, though, I think it's a very wonderful way to enter the world. And yes, I really want a flamingos (singular article, plural spelling sounds about right, don't you think?).
I like it (only watched first video so far). I think I agree that more emphasis needs to be placed on the STORYLINE. I also think that if this is the "actual" tutorial then the speech bubble thingies that pop up need to stay on screen longer. I had trouble reading them quickly.Considering if I were a newbie and having to then comprehend what I needed to do it might be difficult. Some foreign players or those with reading disabilities may get discouraged.
Edit: Watched a few more of the videos and had a few more things occur to me.
1) The chat should be specifically pointed out along with how to type in local chat so as to be able to interact with others.
2) The item menus should be highlighted better and players should be reminded to TRY EVERYTHING. There is no "wrong" in Glitch. I always liked this saying and it doesn't appear to be included anymore.
After watching, it may be unclear to the newbie on how to access the iMG menu, since the quest log and upgrade cards always pop up on thier own in the tutorial. Other than that, I think it's great!
...oh, but one more thing. Where do us greeters come in? :D
It may be too lengthy but OTOH, it is so delightful that I think I would have enjoyed it when I was new. Speaking from my own experience, I have always wanted to just start playing to see what a game is like. I seldom like Tutorials. After playing a while, I have questions but there are seldom answers so I look in the game forums. I had almost no Tutorial when I arrived March 10, 2011. I had some problems because I had always used a mouse. It was difficult to get Help at the time. No one on Global would speak to me, nor would the other two players on my street. I nearly left at that point but I knew I had some Friends here someplace so I just kept asking for help until someone told me about how to use the keyboard. This Tutorial is a great improvement over my experience and I think that even people like me will enjoy it.
You might discover later that some things could be changed and maybe shortened. It might be better to only offer one Skill, Animal Husbandry.
I would have enjoyed doing that tutorial. Agree there should be some explanation of tending and clearing once the new Glitchen leave Gentle Island. It's the beginning of good citizenship. Also agree there should be some signal that exploring all streets is a good thing even if those streets aren't on the straight and narrow. I like the ability to choose what to learn first although some explanation of how the skills are related would be good. Looks really good.
i think you did a great job. you can't tell people everything! it's an exploring game and i think you made that clear. but the flamingos......could there just be one that's not connected to another? creepy......
I have no problem with the flamingos, myself. I don't find them creepy. And creepiness isn't always a bad thing, either. There are, after all, other aspects of this game that are a little creepy. Think of it as like having Maurice Sendak and Tim Burton as a couple of the writers!
We can't see keystrokes, but on Gentle Island, is the Upgrade window opening on it's own as soon as the base iMG for a card is available? Or is it the dev using a hotkey b/c they know when the iMG has been reached?
It's fine that the window opens on its own during the starry floor part of the tutorial...but after that it would just get annoying. trying to jump or do things and having the window pop up.
I know from illicit experience that it opens on its own. It just gets on the edge of annoying right before you leave Gentle Island, and then it stops doing that. But, I think it's only annoying because I'm used to the game behaving in other ways. My worry was that new players might get used to it and be confused when it turns off, but again I'm not really in an unbiased position to gauge that. So the new crop of new players are crucial to this stage of Beta testing! As mentioned above, they will be surveyed for their impressions!
I love the new tutorial. I wouldn't have had to force myself to keep playing to figure out what the point of the whole thing was if I'd started with the new tutorial. It definitely addresses all the problems that I had with the old start. I particularly like the text in the background explaining what kind of game Glitch is and what the point is - relaxing.
I hadn't played video games in a long time when I started Glitch and my experience of video games was jump around, defeat things, move to a higher level, finish game. I really had trouble figuring out what the point was and people saying "there is no point" or "playing is the point" didn't help. I find the new tutorial really helps to fill in the gaps for players like I was.
WalruZ makes a good point. I didn't know that the person talking to me when I first started was an actual person and I didn't know what normal interaction with other players should be like. I am kind of shy so I just scuttled around on my own trying to figure things out and didn't even think to ask questions of other players.
Maybe there isn't so much emphasis on the garden so it doesn't trigger horrible memories of Farmville, or so many people have already played Farmville and know how the garden might work.
You will definitely not be able to go there with your existing characters —that'd be a few months of work and I bet there are other things we could do with that time that you'd enjoy more!
But, in the fullness of time it'd be fine if you want to create an alt to go through it (we're just asking that people not do it right now so our stats are cleaner). So, the answer is yes.
If I may present a case of quasi-metrics, I just watched my kid sister play through the tutorial (the closest vicarious experience I had available) and:
She liked the flamingos, even! Imagine that. Pun intended, based on this Direct Quote: "I like that you Imagine everything." So the overall switch to iMG seemed to be a totally worthwhile eXPerience, in my opinion. Leave no pun punintended!