Teaching without words. Essentially, allowing common sense and simple reasoning to do the teach the player how to use the mechanics of the game.
Allow me to give you a real world example. When approaching this door, do you push or do you pull?
Without words, it's not really clear. You either need to try and get lucky or they need to put up a sign, with words. Now, how about this door?
Only one option right? It's pretty clear you can only push, so that's what you do.
The second design shows people how to open the door, in the moment it takes to walk toward it.
This can be applied to games too.
Levers are used to open doors. Early in the game, the player is trapped in a room with a door and a lever which are very close together. The next level moves the lever farther away. Quickly, players learn that if they find a door that's locked, they should be looking for a lever. This uses limited choice and proximity to teach the player that these two things are connected.
There's a really hard enemy, every bullet you shoot at them just bounces off. Sometimes, that enemy will turn around, and you spot a small tank on their back that's a completely different color than anything else on their body. Shooting that tank makes them explode. This uses limited choice and object highlighting to teach the player that the highlighted object is important.
Games that do this well are fantastic. They don't need tutorials or wikis. Utilizing incremental introduction of new features and mechanics allows you to teach the player how to play the game, without saying a word.
Teaching without words.
Allow me to give you a real world example. When approaching this door, do you push or do you pull?
Without words, it's not really clear. You either need to try and get lucky or they need to put up a sign, with words. Now, how about this door?
Only one option right? It's pretty clear you can only push, so that's what you do.
The second design shows people how to open the door, in the moment it takes to walk toward it.
This can be applied to games too.
Levers are used to open doors. Early in the game, the player is trapped in a room with a door and a lever which are very close together. The next level moves the lever farther away. Quickly, players learn that if they find a door that's locked, they should be looking for a lever. This uses limited choice and proximity to teach the player that these two things are connected.
There's a really hard enemy, every bullet you shoot at them just bounces off. Sometimes, that enemy will turn around, and you spot a small tank on their back that's a completely different color than anything else on their body. Shooting that tank makes them explode. This uses limited choice and object highlighting to teach the player that the highlighted object is important.
Games that do this well are fantastic. They don't need tutorials or wikis. Utilizing incremental introduction of new features and mechanics allows you to teach the player how to play the game, without saying a word.
Teaching without words. Essentially, allowing common sense and simple reasoning to do the teach the player how to use the mechanics of the game.
Allow me to give you a real world example. When approaching this door, do you push or do you pull?
Without words, it's not really clear. You either need to try and get lucky or they need to put up a sign, with words. Now, how about this door?
Only one option right? It's pretty clear you can only push, so that's what you do.
The second design shows people how to open the door, in the moment it takes to walk toward it.
This can be applied to games too.
Levers are used to open doors. Early in the game, the player is trapped in a room with a door and a lever which are very close together. The next level moves the lever farther away. Quickly, players learn that if they find a door that's locked, they should be looking for a lever. This uses limited choice and proximity to teach the player that these two things are connected.
There's a really hard enemy, every bullet you shoot at them just bounces off. Sometimes, that enemy will turn around, and you spot a small tank on their back that's a completely different color than anything else on their body. Shooting that tank makes them explode. This uses limited choice and object highlighting to teach the player that the highlighted object is important.
Games that do this well are fantastic. They don't need tutorials or wikis. Utilizing incremental introduction of new features and mechanics allows you to teach the player how to play the game, without saying a word.
