Concerning The Landing Tutorial

[Zuffler]

I backed ED a while ago but wanted to wait for the tutorials to be implemented before putting any time into it. I was most happy to see they'd been released. However, having just played for 30 minutes, I have a couple of suggestions for the devs. Forgive me if this has already been posted.

If the intention is to have the docking tutorial then I think the following would be most useful.

1). Explain how to navigate through the comms menu, i.e if the default key is 'W' for down then give the user a prompt to 'press w to highlight 'leave hangar' or 'launch'.
2). Explain that space bar (or whatever the default is on release is going to be) is the 'select highlight' key.
3). Explain that upon launch, the W key is accelerate and you need to be at a certain speed to take off (instead of just scraping along the launch pad like I did.
4). If the user is able to rotate/strafe left/right and potentially crash during the launch sequence, this needs explaining before they've even left the station potentially.
5). Once the user has left the station and is asked to 'turn around and face the station', again the controls of how to do so need to be explained.
6). When asked to request permission to dock, this needs to be clearly explained. After 6 attempts I died every time.

Yes, I could wade through the options menu and write down all the keys I need to use in order to do this but I honestly don't think this is what you're looking to achieve by writing a tutorial. It's kind of a waste of effort if not done right and leads to potential frustration to the end user. With regards to the options menu, may I also suggest you consider a series of tabs grouping the different aspects of your ship i.e Weapons/Comms/Shields/navigation etc?

I'm sure a lot of you are laughing, thinking 'what a noob, RTFM' but I'm looking at this with completely fresh eyes and this has been my experience so far. For the record I've been in the video game industry for 20 years (Hi Sickminion!).

This is not a criticism, merely a suggestion, from what I've seen this is shaping up to be amazing and I look forward to reliving my days of dogfighting Anacondas and Asps and breaking hyperspace jumps to fight Thargoids whilst scooping up those exotic/alien artifacts that used to sell so well

 

[Nomadski]

While I don't understand why so many people have a hard time working out how to do the most basic of functions, such as drop landing gears or turn on lights etc given the controls are all readily available to the player in the control menu, I do actually agree with you that the tutorial should hold the hand a little tighter, and be a little more informative about the processes required to achieve what the separate objectives of the tutorial ask you to do.

They should assume the player has no knowledge of Elite, or indeed any flight sim to be a real introduction to the game. Perhaps a separate interactive UI tutorial either separate to, or part of, the landing tutorial.

 

[Darzil]

I was a little disappointed with the Tutorial. I started earlier today, having not played Elite since I moved on from the Spectrum a few years ago.

The graphics and interior was amazing, freelooking around was great, and all went reasonably well for a while.

For me the main thing the Tutorials could have done with was a few pointers on what keys did what. I spend ages trying to work out the key to turn supercruise off, especially as it's now J, not C as shown in the keyboard controls map! I've never spent so much time pulling up help and controls option menu during a tutorial!

 

[Monk]

The flight check needs to be in the tutorial. I remember doing the tutorial first and being lost. I thought, well, if this doesn't make me less lost I might as well just play the game. So I get into the game and see the flight checklist and all is better.

The control bindings in the options are just too overwhelming for a first time player, imo. The checklist does a great job of introducing the player to the basic controls, just so they know what they can do. This must be in the tutorial.

 

[chrisreb]

Agree that there needs to be a lot more handholding for new players, Cannot get a first trade in a new start as nothing affordable - perhaps a heavy hinted first trade assist?