New Player Experience

[Titus Balls]

I posted this here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...l)-(long-read)?p=5522766&posted=1#post5522766

But I wanted to repeat it here in the suggestions forum

What I'd love to see is this:

You start the game in Shinrarta Dezhra, home of the pilots federation (the alternative here is an empty system near Sol that is converted to starter system that is permit locked with no way to get the permit). Frontier have a chance to do something different here like a small cutscene explaining you are about to do your final exam to join the pilots federation.

You start in a Sidewinder with no money, and here they do they standard ship control checklist (how to look around the ship, what the panels are). Then you need to launch the ship, explain contacts around the station - get in to supercruise (show the user the nav panel and the system map and how to get into supercruise). Show the player how to navigate to another planet in the system, how to exit supercruise. Then they have to collect something in space (showing cargo scooping). In Horizons they then are shown how to land on a planet, get out in an SRV, collect items, get back in the ship and take off again.

Then you teach them to dock the ship in a station. At this point the player is handed a combat mission. Here we show them how to load out a ship, then they have to go out of the station, into supercruise and interdict a target (who should be reasonably easy but not so much that it gives a false impression. Then you show them how to hand in a bounty voucher for 1000 credits.

Then that's it - they've passed, they get their first 1% on their Combat rating. Now they are told to go into the mission board and take a mission to drop off data. Also to buy a cargo rack and buy some cargo. This shows these mechanics. They are bid farewell and told to set a course for the target mission system (showing the galaxy map and transactions panel). If it's a locked system then there is no way to get back in. If it's SD, then they are told they will be allowed back when they are Elite.

When the player gets to the mission destination this opens up "The Contacts". These are 7 people who provide different mission tracks. Bounty Hunting, Mining, Trader, Explorer, Pirate, Federal Navy and Imperial Navy.

These tracks have a fixed length in that each has 1 end goal.

Bounty Hunting: Provide a chain mission to chase pirates that ends up in the players receiving an Viper.
Mining: Provide a chain of mining missions with interesting POIs that ends up in the player getting a Cobra MkIII
Trader: Provide a chain of mining missions with interesting POIs that ends up in the player getting a Adder
Explorer: Provide a chain of mining missions with interesting POIs that ends up in the player getting a Diamondback Scout
Pirate: Provide a chain of mining missions with that give the player a chance to pirate NPCs and ends up in the player getting an Eagle


The federal and imperial navy tracks should expose the player to fighting in combat zones, with some relatively easy ones. These end up with money and rank gains (or if they go down the same mission route as above an Imperial Eagle and Viper Mk IV are up for grabs)

Players should be able to opt out of these, and they could be made available to older players anyway.

I think if Frontier built this into the start of the game it would give players more real experience of playing the early game and give people a good understanding of the basic mechanics.

 

[Morrenwell]

While I definitely agree the new player experience is pretty lacking, I'm not sure I'd want it to be replaced with something so static - nor do I think players should be forced into doing basic flight training (the UI tells you to do the training missions, if you chose not to that's your problem).

I would like to see something more like an abstract, non-diegetic UI that lets you chose some very basic features about your character's background and maybe presents some basic exposition on the E universe. At this point, for instance, you could chose whether to start in Federal, Imperial, Alliance, or independent space, and your starting system could be randomized to some extent. You could also be prompted to create your HoloMe at this juncture.

However, if the game starts offering singular, direct goals, even temporarily, I think that's just being misleading about the nature of E gameplay. The game will always involve you actively choosing to partake in various activities - even CGs, which are the closest Elite comes to a main storyline, are by voluntary participation only.

edit: why are emoticons turned on by default in a game whose abbreviation contains an emoticon

 

[Titus Balls]

While I definitely agree the new player experience is pretty lacking, I'm not sure I'd want it to be replaced with something so static - nor do I think players should be forced into doing basic flight training (the UI tells you to do the training missions, if you chose not to that's your problem).

I would like to see something more like an abstract, non-diegetic UI that lets you chose some very basic features about your character's background and maybe presents some basic exposition on the E universe. At this point, for instance, you could chose whether to start in Federal, Imperial, Alliance, or independent space, and your starting system could be randomized to some extent. You could also be prompted to create your HoloMe at this juncture.

However, if the game starts offering singular, direct goals, even temporarily, I think that's just being misleading about the nature of E gameplay. The game will always involve you actively choosing to partake in various activities - even CGs, which are the closest Elite comes to a main storyline, are by voluntary participation only.

edit: why are emoticons turned on by default in a game whose abbreviation contains an emoticon

It doesn't do that, except you replace the training missions with it in game and how you earn your ship and first 1000 credits. When you get the contacts your not doing anything rigid, you can ignore them. Or do once, say mining, then do that for 6 months. You can dip in and out of it at any time, but the idea is to provide context for ship features and why things are they way they are in the game. You only need to show the player once how to do something and they can learn from there.

 

[dafrandle]

However, if the game starts offering singular, direct goals, even temporarily, I think that's just being misleading about the nature of E gameplay. The game will always involve you actively choosing to partake in various activities - even CGs, which are the closest Elite comes to a main storyline, are by voluntary participation only.

I disagree, mount and blade warband has a tutorial that is very similar in nature and it works excellently. (note that in mount and blade warband there is no story you just live in medieval world)
All that is necessary is a way to opt out of the tutorial.


however

When the player gets to the mission destination this opens up "The Contacts". These are 7 people who provide different mission tracks. Bounty Hunting, Mining, Trader, Explorer, Pirate, Federal Navy and Imperial Navy.

These tracks have a fixed length in that each has 1 end goal.

Bounty Hunting: Provide a chain mission to chase pirates that ends up in the players receiving an Viper.
Mining: Provide a chain of mining missions with interesting POIs that ends up in the player getting a Cobra MkIII
Trader: Provide a chain of mining missions with interesting POIs that ends up in the player getting a Adder
Explorer: Provide a chain of mining missions with interesting POIs that ends up in the player getting a Diamondback Scout
Pirate: Provide a chain of mining missions with that give the player a chance to pirate NPCs and ends up in the player getting an Eagle

i disagree with this.

in MB:warband when you finish the tutorial (which is to remove the corrupt guard of a city by stabbing them) you are thrown into the game -- the merchant (who give the tutorial) gives you a few ideas of what you could do at that juncture (if i remember correctly)

I don't think that after the "tutorial system" you should have narrative driven mission chains that the player gets without picking them up at a station (so to just have them thrust his direction)

rather there should be an explanation of these mechanics in the tutorial system -- or when they encounter them first

for example: the new player looks at an FAS -- the Ship Broker would say you have to have rank with the federal navy to buy that and explain it quickly. that way you don't get the idea that native missions will keep getting thrown at you.

That matters because if the players first 2-5 hours of the game is narrative driven missions and then they are just thrown into space to do as the please it would be jarring.
Whereas "They are bid farewell" and then leave the starter system -- that is a transition and the player will realize that the game has opened up now and there are no heavily narrative missions for them anymore -- they have control of what they do now.

what i mean buy that is that they are forced to realize that they have control of what they do now. they don't have a bunch of mission chains to just keep sitting on. Why re mission chains bad? because the normal game doesn't really have them.

giving the player a bunch of mission chains to play and then dropping them could make them think -- "i've experienced everything" and then they quit