[KarlMariaSeeberg]

hello,

a while ago i asked for the menus of urt to be made more user friendly, more accessible for new players who don't know how to utilize the .cfg .. taken they even know it exists... this idea was turned down cause menus seem to be difficult to handle in idtech3 ...

for some reason i remembered there is this tutorial you are asked to watch when starting urt for the first time...

i think this tutorial demo would be a great or at least convenient way to explain quite a few different aspects of urt...

let me take you back :)

what i was missing when i started playing this game was a proper tutorial that can teach you how to strafe jump and more importantly circle jump ... movement is urt's most important unique selling point (sorry for using that awful word) and all i found were a few sites explaining how to do it but there were hardly any videos .. let alone demos that would have helped... so why not make the tutorial video something that provides solid input .. maybe on a map that is built to teach you basic jumps...

keeping maji's promise in mind that urt hd will include many maps with vertical gameplay a tutorial in 4.2 could be a test run ... if you are a new player you are pretty much a walker and you see those other players do this amazing jumps, you envy them but there is not much guidance... i think as long as you are a lemming on uptown more than once in ...say 20 minutes.. you don't get the full urt experience... you should try to change that by getting the beginners to get a grip on the basic stuff.. as i have mentioned personally i think a map designed for this purpose would be the best way to go here...

additionally you could tie in the whole console and cfg info .. or at least point into the cfg's direction .. not sure if you can make opening the console to be visible in a demo .. but if it was explaining just a few commands or explaining where this .cfg file is stored would be a direct link to that file and all the customization that can be done with it ...

cheers

karl

[fr.Biddle]

Seems like happyjumptutorial ?!
After have it to teach the player not only about movements, but aiming, chat, preferences, etc, right ?

[Noxtty8]

I don't think it's very complicated to learn the basic movements, now that the jump mode is official, people will take a look and probably play 'happyjumptutorial'.

[FS HappyDay]

I've thought about this, too. I think an official intro tutorial map would be awesome. Other games like Valve's Half-Life or Team Fortress 2 have pretty good tutorial maps. Maybe sometime in the rather distant future I might attempt a full tutorial map for urt. There might be some limitations to the possibilities though, e.g. you can't have the bomb and flags in one map at the same time. So, i don't know, might be hard to implement, or would need some code changes.

[FS CMM|Johnnyenglish]

Happyday, on 20 June 2013 - 07:25 AM, said:

you can't have the bomb and flags in one map at the same time. So, i don't know, might be hard to implement, or would need some code changes.

You could just place the flag models, to show what they look like and use decals to create bomb spots... just thinking aloud.

[KarlMariaSeeberg]

hello again,

i think i have pleyed happyjumptutorial .. (it's the one map with the arrows guiding you?)

but i was thinking along the lines of even more basic support ..

the trial and error approach for jumps is something i would love to break ... "stand close to the ledge and try 100 times because at some point you magically will figure it out." .. jumping should be broken down to smaller segments to make players understand what they are supposed to do in order to achieve a certain jump .. i am talking about the whole "move forward while slowly drawing a curve with your mouse" routine ..

just a vague idea:
why not have a map where a player has to follow a path laid out on the ground (a stright line:) he can hear a sound if he moves forward on that line, if he stops the input the sound will vanish... and additionally (now it's getting weird and i am not sure this is doable) there could be a tiny "lightsabre practice droid" you need to keep your aim on while moving .. the movement of the droid makes sure you actually get the mouse curve right... (i am laughing hard while writing this .. since it sounds like a fairy tale) .. this way players could get a grip on curve jumps ..

aside from that i was eager to get the console covered... all the stuff the menus don't provide access to..
but aiming, flags and bombs.. why not :)

cheers

karl

[FS HappyDay]

Johnnyenglish, on 20 June 2013 - 09:11 AM, said:

You could just place the flag models, to show what they look like and use decals to create bomb spots... just thinking aloud.

Sure, that's the simple approach but that's not very interactive. Actively capturing the flag, planting a bomb, defusing a bomb, jumping, shooting, swimming, that's what I would like to see in an introduction map.

KarlMariaSeeberg, on 20 June 2013 - 10:36 AM, said:

the trial and error approach for jumps is something i would love to break ... "stand close to the ledge and try 100 times because at some point you magically will figure it out." .. jumping should be broken down to smaller segments to make players understand what they are supposed to do in order to achieve a certain jump .. i am talking about the whole "move forward while slowly drawing a curve with your mouse" routine ..

The difficulty about teaching someone how to jump is that it's really hard to put into words. Watching someone do it, doesn't help that much either. The only way to really learn it is to do it yourself.

KarlMariaSeeberg, on 20 June 2013 - 10:36 AM, said:

there could be a tiny "lightsabre practice droid" you need to keep your aim on while moving .. the movement of the droid makes sure you actually get the mouse curve right...

That's a pretty good idea imo. It should be possible to implement with correctly timed trains and/or scrolling textures. This actually looks to me like the best way to teach jumping.

Anyway, another possibility for an intro tutorial would be a set of videos, which is probably the easiest solution as it doesn't require any code to be changed. However, videos are not interactive either. Other games like Unreal Tournament 2004 (I think) are using videos to explain their game types and mechanics. The problem with the current demo is that it is outdated, doesn't cover much and is not very appealing. There should be a menu point "Tutorial Videos" in the main menu with a list of short videos explaining the different parts of the game. Preferably the videos should play right in the menu and a nice voice should guide you through the video.

Of course, there could be both, a tutorial map and some videos. Just my ideas..

[fr.Biddle]

If we had a tutorial like in Quake where an animated carracter would teach you the basics it would be nice, indeed.

[KarlMariaSeeberg]

well, let me dream some more...

the basic idea is to have a map that breaks down jumping into smaller movement patterns... pressing forward ("follow the line") + getting the right jump beat (could be a sound/ pulse that tells you when to push the jump button) + moving your mouse ("the little light sabre droid" or could be one of those little chopper drones) .. all three put together would allow you to do an actual long distance jump .. but the light sabre droid thingy could be helpful for - of course - aim training and more importantly setting the mouse to your desired/ a comfortable sensitivity .. so if a player fails a certain task (e.g. "only use your mouse to keep the droid in your crosshair while standing still") taken this is input the engine is able to measure .. he could get information on how to change his settings > "push shift+esc to open the console, type /sensitivity" ... and so on and so forth .. not sure how this information could be displayed..maybe a series of tutorial demos followed by the player actually entering the same map after he watched the tutorial...

for me personally this is all about finding a way to help new players to learn how to jump .. but of course you could add planting bombs... picking up flags... maybe even design tasks that force you to use specific controls, e.g. your WALK button (the most underestimated bind in urt btw.) > you need to walk silently and take out enemies that you only can see when in an upright posture (so crouching is ruled out) and you have to equip a silencer ..
if you don't use walk the enemies will hear spot you, kill you and you won't be able to entered the next sector of the map.. same if you don't use a silencer...

but of course you could add a lot more to a map like that...

the major focus here should not be on fancy looks or a cod like training mission experience .. voice acting and all .. but to really give new players information about what can not be accessed using the menus ... help them find a comfortable setup .. and teach them to make the best out of it ..

[Noxtty8]

badfurday made some videos on how to jump if I remember well. A map like that sounds complicated, a demo maybe not tho.