In-game Tutorial

[DoctorB0NG]

Dear coders, mappers, server owners, players, etc

Over the existence of Renegade-X, one major thing has been missing and is crucial for any game: an interactive, in-game tutorial. In the past, other things have taken higher priority but now I think Renegade-X is to a point where a tutorial would be the greatest thing to increase the daily player base by retaining more new players.

Mappers: How difficult would it be to create events through kismet and other mapping tools where a character could run around giving vocal advice to the new player? For example, McFarland would run around on Walls and teach the player how to place mines, how to purchase vehicles, and other crucial details.

Coders: How hard would it be to implement parts of the PT UI and other in-game UI elements to help guide the player throughout his/her tutorial experience? For example, when the new player opens the PT, certain elements would highlight/illuminate to emphasize the in game dialogue.

What sort of overall collaboration would be required for this to be done? Would this burden mostly fall on the coders or the mappers?

[Terekhov]

IMO there should be more than one tutorial. Lets you put the player in different situations - behind a mammy repairing in a siege, sneaking into a base with SBH (though maybe we shouldn't encourage that ) etc

[RypeL]

Yeah I think the easiest way would be to put the player in different situations in an existing map. Like put him in a damaged building, spawn some bot enemies and tell the player to repair the building. If he manages to outrepair the onslaught he is teleported into the next situation. I think text overlay or even voice over would be enough. A mcfarland running arround with him would complicate things.

How easy this could be done in kismet is something Havoc might know very well cause of his experience with Black Dawn.

[Axesor]

^ I like this scenario. But I don't think that players should be teleported anywhere. Quests may be done "smoothly" without need to travel long distances: Defending the Base->field stuffs->sieging enemy base. There could be green marks on screen leading where to go and text telling what to do + maybe highlighted character in terminal for each quest. Player should be familiar with repairing vehicles/players/buildings with text "repar control pannel for more efficient repairing", using rep tool/airstrike/ion, with "correct" mining (until there will be more noob-friendly way) and at the end he could use ion with vehicle's cover - the end. This tutorial run may take 15-20 minutes.

I think map Lake Side, on GDI side is perfect for tutorial.

[kenz3001]

we have been talking about this for some time ... but we haven't had the time

[Ruud033]

I think Havoc is the perfect candidate as Rypel also mentioned, black down had a lot of these elements!

[maties7]

I think the easier way is just make video tutorial and put this directly in game. Probably creating standard tutorial will consume more time and player will not teach more than from video with the exception of control. And even batllefield had a video tutorial (

).

[DoctorB0NG]

Video tutorials aren't as engaging

[yosh56]

I only have one request...get Nielsen, and have McFarland walk you through the entire tutorial...

Oh come on, I know Im not the only one.

[RoundShades]

I only have one request...get Nielsen, and have McFarland walk you through the entire tutorial...

Oh come on, I know Im not the only one.

Logan did it in Renegade, didn't he? McFarland would make sense here then, both are the right character to be associated with training and/or touring a base.

[testman]

Not just Logan. Sidney, Gunner, Deadeye, Mobius and final boss also appear.

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I think that that it isn't necessary to have any characters as tutorial guides, CABAL / EVA should be good enough for start.

Most important is that tutorial explains basic mechanics, makes new player try out those mechanics, and present the player with a challenge where all of newly learned skills come into play.

[Bananas]

Just a summary of what I've found and poked at. Not amazing with udk, so probably gonna look like a nub.

I have a general idea of what I think the tutorial should be. It shouldn't be super hard to do I imagine. General layout would be something with some exploring if people want. Something like... spawn as player as gdi -> explain basics -> player encounters mines, have them pick up repair gun to disarm them and get by -> player learns about credits/mct -> player encounters obelisk and has to get by (basic hide behind rock wait blah blah) -> stealth area explaining it -> perhaps an area where they can play with all the gdi stuff. Swap player to nod -> get by or kill agt -> repair xxx -> use sbh/stank to sneak by -> explain the concept of mining buildings -> nod exploration spot?

I poked around with kismet and ran into a few issues. The biggest issue is displaying text on screen or objectives. Play announcement kismet node only plays sounds, the text won't show up. I had a similar issue with drawtext not showing up either. Some googlefu seems to relate it to not using UT hud or something with gametype. You can display log text which comes up as the EVA text. It doesn't look good, but would be a start. Another method is drawimage if you make a texture of the text (probably not worth using). Using flash is a good option for some/all and just display movies. I don't have access to flash though, nor do I know much about it. The only thing I found is a way to convert images into swf which I can then display on screen.

That's just from a kismet point of view. It's probably possible to create a custom kismet node that draws on a canvas or possibly even just calls the way airstrike/beacon/commander mod text is displayed. Was going to poke at that some, but not great at unrealscript (or anything udk haha).

Next issue I ran into is spawning bots/pawns as certain characters/meshes. I couldn't figure out a way using a factory to do this. I can spawn bots just fine, but don't know how to make them not soldiers. I haven't looked into actors/skeletal meshes much though. I'm sure havoc or another dev would know how to do something like this much better. Basically adding depth to the tutorial with different bots and it's needed for spawning sbhs as an example.

I'll look at this a little more, but I'm sure other people know much more than me. I think a simple tutorial would be nice to start working on.

[Agent]

General layout would be something with some exploring if people want. Something like... spawn as player as gdi -> explain basics -> player encounters mines, have them pick up repair gun to disarm them and get by -> player learns about credits/mct -> player encounters obelisk and has to get by (basic hide behind rock wait blah blah) -> stealth area explaining it -> perhaps an area where they can play with all the gdi stuff. Swap player to nod -> get by or kill agt -> repair xxx -> use sbh/stank to sneak by -> explain the concept of mining buildings -> nod exploration spot?

I'd like to expand on this a bit to make it understandable to a 5 year-old who's never played an RTS or FPS before, and take some inspiration from classic Ren in terms of the first 3 steps. Here's a full start-to-finish script, that i think would be nearly ideal.

:Basic:

1) Spawn as a GDI Soldier

2) Explain basic controls to the player (WASD movement, jump, sprint, crouch, etc)

3) Have the player climb a ladder to get across some boxes

:Purchase Terminal, Repair Gun as Disarm Tool, Proximity Mines:

4) When leaving the enclosed area, there are mines in the way. Point the player to the nearby Purchase Terminal, and tell them to buy an Engineer to disarm those mines! After they have purchased an engineer, tell them to use the repair gun to disarm mines.

:Building Armor, Repairs, MCTs:

5) The player exits to see that the Weapon Factory is at 60% health and 0% Armor. Tell the player to walk into the Weapons Factory, guiding them to the Master Control Terminal. Tell them to heal the building by using the repair gun on the Master Control Terminal. While they're repairing, explain that repairs are more effective when done to the MCT. After that, explain Building Armor. The player must fully heal the building.

:Advanced Defenses, Rushes:

6) When the WF is healed, spawn 2 stealth tanks: Spawn an empty/neutral but damaged one near the AGT's entrance, and another Nod one (don't put in a driver) somewhere in the AGT's line of fire so it gets destroyed. Make sure this is close enough for the player to hear. Tell the player something like "sounds like a Nod vehicle rush is coming in, let's get to the AGT and make sure they don't take it".

:Mines, Over-mining:

7) Get to the AGT, and tell the player that the mines killed the driver of the vehicle after they were silly enough to get out. Tell the player to purchase a Hotwire and replace the mines in the door-way, to prevent further enemy entry. Remind them not to over-mine, or else they'll leave other places undefended!

:Stealth:

8) Tell the player to heal the Stealth tank, and take it. Explain how stealth works.

:Silos, Vehicles in the field:

9) Tell them to leave the base in the stealth tank and go capture the Silo, since they're a Hotwire.

10) When they reach the Silo, explain to them how to capture the Silo with the Repair Gun. When the Silo is captured, spawn an enemy AI in the stealth tank, have them kill the player (preferably a scripted 1-shot), and tell the player that they're a dumby for leaving a vehicle out in the field!

:Respawn, Harvesters, Refinery, Credits:

11) Spawn the player back in the GDI base (Destroy the stank when they spawn so it's out of the way). Take them to the Tiberium field near the Refinery, and explain how the harvester collects Tiberium, and deposits it to give the player money. Tell them that this is a highly important objective early in battle.

:Crates, Spies, SBH, Ion Cannon Beacons, Obelisk:

12) Tell the player to go pick up a nearby create, which spawns after the explanation about the harvester is done. Force the crate to be an SBH spy.

13) Let the player know that they're super lucky, and give them an Ion Cannon Beacon. Let them know how Ion Cannon Beacons work, and that they can normally be purchased in the Items menu of the Purchase Terminal. Once they've been briefed, tell them to go make bacon out of that Obelisk.

:Building Destruction:

14) When the obelisk is destroyed, the player will have a large sum of credits. Have them return to base, and meet up with Doctor Mobius (voice over by DoctorB0NG would be hilariously great).

:Real Tanks:

15) The Doctor introduces the player to the Medium Tank.

16) Player blows something up. Might skip this step. Might let the player explore vehicles for a bit.

:End:

END) "Well you've finished your training. Time for the real battlefield, Soldier! Wait... Did anybody else notice that nuke beac-" -Player gets sniped shortly before nukes hit, and Nod wins-

The above doesn't really explain the following though, and may want to get worked on a bit:

1) EMP Grenades

2) Smoke Grenades

3) Air strikes

4) Repair tool

5) How to use certain characters for certain tasks

6) The arsenal of neither side is really explored at all in-depth.

7) Crates other than spy crates

I leave strategy out of this in general, because honestly most of that can just be learned in-game. As long as they know not to leave their vehicles out in the open, what a rush is, and general mechanics they should be fine. That's the kind of stuff you'd generally expect to either read up on or learn through playing the game.

[Axesor]

I like Agent's scenario, but I think that it can be done better to include more things.

8, 9, 10) Tell the player to buy Gunner and repair tool. Silo would be captured in half-way in neutral-tell the player to capture it with repair gun. Meanwhile explain the difference between rep tool and rep gun. Stank is stolen-tell the player to use EMP to disable stank's stealth cloak and destroy stank with the flak cannon, and tell the player that they're a dumby for leaving a vehicle out in the field

...Yeee well I guess It would be too difficult for newbie..

But I think that point number 7 should be fixed instead of sayin that there is only one correct way to use mines. You know what I mean...

[Agent]

As long as we're using this broken mining system with limits, there will always be a correct way and a wrong way to use mines.

[XD_ERROR_XD]

As long as we're using this broken mining system with limits, there will always be a correct way and a wrong way to use mines.

For these situations, you could add an ending phrase you could always say something in the lines of:

"If you are still unsure on how something works or is used, and don't want to look silly asking these questions, a good way to learn can be to observe instead. Game mechanics are easier to understand if you see them in action instead of just getting it explained by word" blablablabla.

But the game is still in Beta, and to create a fully fledged tutorial right now would make it quickly obsolete in future patches. I'm all in for explaining the basics of the basics in detail, trying to absorb too much in a single period of time only makes you forget most of it. That's why i liked the very straightforward and simplistic tutorial C&C Renegade had.

[Henk]

I like Agent's scenario, but didn't like the ending, I think it's better to let the player win at something instead of die.

The other points aren't really all that necessary for a first tutorial, maybe make a Basic Tutorial and an Advanced Tutorial.. (or 3 levels even, oh and reward the player for completing them?)

But as long as the mining system is "broken", why not try to get this: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=75969 You don't even need a tutorial for mining if you have this.

(As long as it's easy to implement)

[testman]

make a Basic Tutorial and an Advanced Tutorial

That would probably be the best for the current state of game.

We start making basic tutorial which would include things that most likely won't be changed in future, and then wait with Advanced tutorial for when game is mostly finished.

System Shock 2 had tutorial split into basic and advanced, but if I remember correctly, advanced part was optional.

I would however, somehow strongly encourage new players to go trough advanced tutorial.

[Agent]

But the game is still in Beta, and to create a fully fledged tutorial right now would make it quickly obsolete in future patches. I'm all in for explaining the basics of the basics in detail, trying to absorb too much in a single period of time only makes you forget most of it. That's why i liked the very straightforward and simplistic tutorial C&C Renegade had.

Yeah, that's part of why I suggested what I did; the only thing that I anticipate even maybe changing out of the things mentioned would be the mining system. Wouldn't be too hard to remove and replace that small bit, though. The unintuitive limits are important enough in the current system that they must be explained so that players don't mine poorly. It's one of those dumb broken mechanics carried over from Renegade -- nobody is going to understand it unless they played Renegade.

[yosh56]

I poked around with kismet and ran into a few issues. The biggest issue is displaying text on screen or objectives. Play announcement kismet node only plays sounds, the text won't show up. I had a similar issue with drawtext not showing up either. Some googlefu seems to relate it to not using UT hud or something with gametype. You can display log text which comes up as the EVA text. It doesn't look good, but would be a start. Another method is drawimage if you make a texture of the text (probably not worth using). Using flash is a good option for some/all and just display movies. I don't have access to flash though, nor do I know much about it. The only thing I found is a way to convert images into swf which I can then display on screen.

EZ fix though, that day I learn what a kishmut is.

[DoctorB0NG]

Tutorial is rather important. Hopefully someone can step up.

[Henk]

Someone should write a plan and a script for the tutorial.

What things have priority in the tutorial?

In which order do you teach it?

Do you break the tutorial up into multiple segments/skilltraining levels?

To save time on aesthetics we can take all the materials and meshes from 1 or more existing levels, or maybe even better, make it take place on modified versions of Islands, Walls and/or Field (just to name some vanilla maps)

[HaTe]

Tutorial needs to make it on this list.

How would you suggest we go about this?

The best way I can see to do it is to have the tutorial mode open up upon completion of game installation and it goes through all of the basics.

My rough draft proposal for this:

Spawn player as GDI soldier on with 9 team bots and 10 enemy bots on minimum difficulty and 5000 credits. Before player can move, go over the buttons (space to jump, C to crouch, double tap C to hold crouch position, F for first and third person switching, scoreboard usage, chat usage, zoom in with weapon, fire weapon, switch weapon, etc.). Have the notification appear like a beacon notification, and make it only switch to the next one when the player has pressed that button. Then go over movement (WASD), sprint, and walking buttons. Then inform the player to press E at a purchase terminal. There, the tutorial explains what each building's function is relative to purchasing options, as well as the special items. Go over the characters whilst highlighting the PT information for each of them. Then do the same for the vehicles. Have that part skippable with ESC so that if a player is familiar with the items, they don't have to hear or watch any repetition. Then have them purchase a character and a vehicle, and then enter that vehicle. Highlight a path to the enemy base on the HUD and inform them to drive to it. There, notify them that this is the enemy base and it is your team's goal to destroy it whilst keeping yours alive. Then give them to option to switch to team Nod, end the tutorial mode and go to the main menu, or continue playing the tutorial.

I think scripting it like that would be best, unless someone has something better in mind.

P.S. I posted this and then read Henk's post after it told me there was a new post. Werid lol

[Agent]

Moved some posts from the progress list to this thread, since this thread is much more relevant.

[HaTe]

forgot to put explain the MCT too. Saw 3 engineers inside the barracks repairing the purchase terminals today.

[Axesor]

@HaTe: if you ever played any FPS game with the familiarization with the FPS game (wasd, jump, sprint, crouch), you may know how annoying it is.

I suggest to split that in 2 parts: 1st familiarization with the first person shooter and 2nd: familiarization with the RenX.

When the player launch the RenX for the first time, there would appear message "Begin first person shooter tutorial?" (or something like that) and after that appears message "Begin Renegade X tutorial?" both with a check box "Do not show this message next time"

In the main menu would be added Tutorial option next to the Skirmish with these both FPS and RenX tutorials.

I believe that scenario was already written on the 1st page and imo it was very good:

:Basic:

1) Spawn as a GDI Soldier

2) Have the player climb a ladder to get across some boxes

:Purchase Terminal, Repair Gun as Disarm Tool, Proximity Mines:

3) When leaving the enclosed area, there are mines in the way. Point the player to the nearby Purchase Terminal, and tell them to buy an Engineer to disarm those mines! After they have purchased an engineer, tell them to use the repair gun to disarm mines.

:Building Armor, Repairs, MCTs:

4) The player exits to see that the Weapon Factory is at 60% health and 0% Armor. Tell the player to walk into the Weapons Factory, guiding them to the Master Control Terminal. Tell them to heal the building by using the repair gun on the Master Control Terminal. While they're repairing, explain that repairs are more effective when done to the MCT. After that, explain Building Armor. The player must fully heal the building.

:Advanced Defenses, Rushes:

5) When the WF is healed, spawn 2 stealth tanks: Spawn an empty/neutral but damaged one near the AGT's entrance, and another Nod one (don't put in a driver) somewhere in the AGT's line of fire so it gets destroyed. Make sure this is close enough for the player to hear. Tell the player something like "sounds like a Nod vehicle rush is coming in, let's get to the AGT and make sure they don't take it".

:Mines, Over-mining:

6) Get to the AGT, and tell the player that the mines killed the driver of the vehicle after they were silly enough to get out. Tell the player to purchase a Hotwire and replace the mines in the door-way, to prevent further enemy entry. Remind them not to over-mine, or else they'll leave other places undefended!

:Stealth:

7) Tell the player to buy Gunner and repair tool, heal the Stealth tank, and take it. Explain how stealth works.

:Silos, Vehicles in the field:

8) Tell them to leave the base in the stealth tank and go capture the Silo, since they're a Hotwire.

9) When they reach the Silo, explain to them how to capture the Silo with the Repair tool. Silo would be already captured in the half-way in neutral - tell the player to capture it with repair tool. Meanwhile explain the difference between rep tool and rep gun. When silo is captured, spawn an enemy AI in the stank - spawn EMP in the players hands and tell them to use it to disable stank's stealth cloak and destroy stank with the flak cannon, and tell the player that they're a dumby for leaving a vehicle out in the field!

:Respawn, Harvesters, Refinery, Credits:

10) Spawn the player back in the GDI base (Destroy the stank when they spawn so it's out of the way). Take them to the Tiberium field near the Refinery, and explain how the harvester collects Tiberium, and deposits it to give the player money. Tell them that this is a highly important objective early in battle.

:Crates, Spies, SBH, Ion Cannon Beacons, Obelisk:

11) Tell the player to go pick up a nearby create, which spawns after the explanation about the harvester is done. Force the crate to be an SBH spy.

12) Let the player know that they're super lucky, and give them an Ion Cannon Beacon. Let them know how Ion Cannon Beacons work, and that they can normally be purchased in the Items menu of the Purchase Terminal. Once they've been briefed, tell them to go make bacon out of that Obelisk.

:Building Destruction:

13) When the obelisk is destroyed, the player will have a large sum of credits. Have them return to base, and meet up with Doctor Mobius (voice over by DoctorB0NG would be hilariously great).

:Real Tanks:

14) The Doctor introduces the player to the Medium Tank.

15) Player blows something up. Might skip this step. Might let the player explore vehicles for a bit.

:End:

END) "Well you've finished your training. Time for the real battlefield, Soldier! Wait... Did anybody else notice that nuke beac-" -Player gets sniped shortly before nukes hit, and Nod wins-

I've edited that a little bit

[XD_ERROR_XD]

I believe the more the player is engaged in the game, the more easily he/she manages to pick up these kinds of gameplay features. What i'd like to see is have a player spawn with no weapons inside a building. Put remote c4 inside a building, lock the doors and make them find out how to destroy it.

A building tutorial could go like this:

*teleports player outside building*

This is the Tiberium Refinery. A key building to any base.

*teleports player inside building*

Now try to destroy it. The doors have been locked, and any weapons you need are provided.

*rocket launcher spawns*

Pick up this weapon and try to damage this building with it.

*shoots rocket launcher*

Good job, but damaging the exterior only deals minor damage. Now try to find it's weakspot.

*if a PT is shot*

Good try, but damaging or repairing this part of the building deals no damage.

*if the MCT is shot* Good job! You have now found the weakspot of any base! attack this to deal maximum damage!*

*remote c4 spawns*

Now destroy it using this weapon!

*destroys Tiberium Refinery*

Excellent work. The Tiberium Refinery provides a team with a static income. Destruction will drastically reduce this static income.

*Teleports player outside Power Plant*

Please notice how this Power Plant is heavily damaged. Destruction will disable advanced base defences and will increase production costs.

*Teleports player inside Power Plant and locks the door, Repair Gun spawns*

Now use this weapon to repair the building!

*Repairs PP exterior*

Well done, but once again the MCT will increase the output if it's hit by the Repair Gun, increasing the repair speed.

*Completely repairs PP*

Good job! Your building has been repaired, but permanent damage has been sustained. Please note how the Health Bar of a building does not replenish.

*Teleports player outside Weapons Factory*

This is the Weapons Factory. This building can produce units like this APC outside. However, the APC is damaged and needs repairs. Try to repair it!

*Repairs vehicle*

Well done. Please note how the vehicle did get completely repaired, and how the Power Plant did not. The health of buildings cannot be replenished in any way.

*Teleports player inside WF*

Now try to purchase the same vehicle that you repaired outside!

*purchases APC*

...You can figure out the rest

The flow of a tutorial must be very logical, simplistic must contain only the absolute basics which are needed to understand some of the more complex mechanics by yourself. Player knowledge is best taught by experience.

[DaKuja]

Ye, an Tutorial Map is what this Game needed. Bunch of Players get frustrated because they dont know what happen right now, in the worst case they got flamed/kicked by overmining, running around and don't know what the hell to do.

Maby there can be more than 1 Tutorial's like :

1 Basics : Movement,Buildings and there Jobs,Shooting Training like in the Original Ren.

2. Infantry : Purchases diffrent Units via PT and do some diffrent action to show the Pro and Con's - That Gunner destroy Tanks in less of Seconds etc.

3. Vehicles : Purchases diffrent Vehicles, some small Track where they can drive around to get an the feeling, some small Battles where also Pro/Con of every Vehicle like :"We need more Firepower leave the tiny Humvee and take one of the Big Ones! *Enter the Medium Tank! and shoot the Nod Light Tanks in pieces!*

Seems that would be the right Time to improve my Skills in the SDK with the Kismets and everything.

[Redline]

You could always just create a tutorial video too. Just a 5 minute video that runs through everything. Or a 10 part video series you have to watch with labeled titles. That way people could download the game and maybe the new launcher has a link to the youtube tutorial.

Just force them to watch it the first time they start the game. It would require a lot less actual coding/kismet. You just need 3-4 people to act out scenarios (SBH c4 rushs...MCT rep/destroy...tank reps...getting out of your tank in field...etc...)

I think thats the easier option that gives the same info just the player doesn't have to act it out.

[Xtractor]

saw this guy did a YT tutorial video 2 years ago and been watch almost 4000 times

idk whos he is here but that's pretty good numbers for a YT video

I might do a little something someday with all the videos I already recorded from pug