Designing a Good Game Tutorial
Across game studios I’ve heard it called an onboarding, a tutorial, the new user experience (NUX), and the first-time-user-experience (FTUE). No matter what it’s called, it’s the place where you’re able to teach players what you want them to learn and engage them in the game from the start. A good tutorial can make players feel engaged and motivated to continue playing, while a poor tutorial can lead to frustration and churn.
When designing a game’s tutorial, I keep these goals in mind:
- 5 seconds to fun
- Scaffold information
- Introduce long term and short term goals
- Improve through testing and iteration
5 Seconds to Fun
It’s important to get the player to fun as soon as possible! This doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be five seconds, but it’s a way to remember to get the player invested as soon as possible to keep them motivated. This could be in the form of agency of choice, a fun mechanic to play with, or allowing them to make progress and offering a quick reward.
For instance, in the text adventure game I’m currently developing at Bodeville (working title You Are CEO), we want to get the player to choose their avatar, their name, and give them a fun text choice within the first minute of playing.
Scaffold Information
The first thing I do when designing a tutorial is list out the information I need to teach the player and prioritize it. Here’s an example using You Are CEO:
- Emoji as a main mechanic
- Long term goal of becoming CEO
- Choices have impact (short term goals)
- Earning a title gives you access to new content
It’s best not to dump all the information on the player at once. People will get overwhelmed and forget information. Instead, make sure to prioritize a select few things, including the short term and long term goals, and introduce any further mechanics or information as the player progresses through the game.
Introduce the Player’s Goals
Players should always know what they need to do and how they are progressing.
Great games have long term goals and short term goals. I like to explain the long term goals as soon as possible to give context to the game. This isn’t just in the game but also in the marketing materials within the store, advertising, and community for a game.
Then once they know the long term goal, offer them a short term challenge and reward them for completing it within the tutorial. For example, in Viva Piñata, once you add a plant to your garden, a new piñata immediately visits your garden. I’ve written an entire breakdown on the Viva Piñata tutorial and onboarding for the game in this article.
Testing & Iteration
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different onboarding approaches and gather feedback from players to see what works best.
