I don't like tutorials

Bitfighter is an arcade game, needs gameplay quickly accessible. Certain things are explained by Inline help, but I find inline help an inefficient solution, because it breaks immersion. (this isn't Civilization)

I would suggest a demos mode at the title screen itself. a recorded game specifically tailored to show players cool stuff they can do. Lots of games do this

I'm trying to make a list of stuff to put in, I wouldn't want any demo to last more than 20 seconds.

Demo 1: Loadout Bitmatch! with seeker
Start a player newly spawned with the standard loadout. He waits a few seconds for the spawn shield to run out, and then zoom! Now bringing up the loadout menu. (show the loadout slow) Have about 10 seconds of standard loadout combat. the player finally reaches the loadout zone, and (yeah!) firing that Seeker weapon. but the other guy knows how to shield, and it hits him instead

This will make every new player who sees the demo aware that hey, customize ships. better than a tutorial and more immersive too - it's watching actual gameplay from somebody


Demo 2: Rabbit/super-turbo
Our player grabs the carrot in a FFA rabbit game! He strikes a kill.. starts running.. gets health, they will notice.. uses super turbo to get away. oh no, a forcefield! Shoot the TRIANGLE! the other player catches up! *explosion*

introduces rabbit, super turbo, forcefield health

Demo 3: Engineer/teleporter/forcefield
Our rising star brings up the loadout menu, He selects engineer. He finds a resource item. He makes a teleport, one on each side of a forcefield. he is about to go in.. but he gets zapped, and then the enemy to add insult to injury goes in himself

intro: engineer, teleport, mysterious turret and forcefield

[Skybax]

Since Bitfighter is so fast-paced, I doubt a video would provide much learning experience, especially since they wouldn't even know what keys were being pressed unless someone voice-acted in the video to explain what's going on. I would much rather read some quick sentences about what does what than sit through a video. I hate games with video tutorials.

it's NOT a video tutorial. It's a demo like the old arcade games used to have. I think Galaga had that!
The purpose of the demo is to show you what you can do in the game. It is NOT to handhold, only to get the player excited and show him how to play the game. Have him be active even as an observer - it works for Wii sports.


you have a point about keys being pressed. But as is now (many people will skip tutorials) there is no incentive to see these things that the keys make happen until you see the game.
Show the game first.


Late edit: I kind of feel bad about this topic now because I did not do it well. I'll fix it up a little

[watusimoto]

We had a proposal a while back to do just this... unfortunately, the dev who was motivated left before the work was complete, and we never saw it.

The main problem I see is that there isn't tons of room on the main screen. We could push the main menu to the side to make a little more, but still, there isn't much.

But, generally speaking, I like the idea. It's the implementation details where I get stuck.

We had a proposal a while back to do just this... unfortunately, the dev who was motivated left before the work was complete, and we never saw it.

The main problem I see is that there isn't tons of room on the main screen. We could push the main menu to the side to make a little more, but still, there isn't much.

But, generally speaking, I like the idea. It's the implementation details where I get stuck.

Take a recording and play it after idling in the main menu section, flashing the word "DEMO" with no sounds except the main menu music. Or have the PC play a simple map. To cancel, you click once to indicate whether you want to exit the demo or not, before 2 seconds you hit it a second time to exit the demo.

Take a recording and play it after idling in the main menu section, flashing the word "DEMO" with no sounds except the main menu music. Or have the PC play a simple map. To cancel, you click once to indicate whether you want to exit the demo or not, before 2 seconds you hit it a second time to exit the demo.

Bingo

The main problem I see is that there isn't tons of room on the main screen. We could push the main menu to the side to make a little more, but still, there isn't much.

One of two things I'm thinking of right now:

1. Make the main menu transparent. The game in the background will silence when opening submenus.

2. Make it work like those opening cutscenes in AAA games. When the player idles for a time, the main menu disappears and switches to a bit of gameplay.

[watusimoto]

Or maybe follow the lead of arcade games that cycle through a series of screens/demos while waiting for your precious quarter.