Recently a developer blog was released on the official website of The Chronicles of Spellborn to show you the efforts and philosophy behind the game's new tutorial.
The details are as below:
In the last post (Easy to learn...hard to master) we explained how assumptions have caused problems in experiencing Spellborn. We assumed that controls (2 hands simultaneously) and game play (dodging, agile movement) would come naturally to people.
When designing the tutorial, our first focus was that "the enjoyment of Spellborn stands or falls with the players understanding of the combat system."
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With that in mind, the tutorial had to be quick for people who already know the basics, without sacrificing these basics. And that's why we start at the beginning:
WASD for movement, and simultaneously using the mouse to look around and aim.
This is logical for anyone who has ever played a first person game. But for those that have not and even though it is just a minor adjustment, we still need to explain it.
So Spellborn's tutorial slowly lets people use what they learn to advance. First we tell them to use a key to move, then we show them a target and ask them to move into it.
In following that route we ran into something else. Explaining "everything" would keep people locked in a tutorial for hours and we don't want that for the players. After all, you bought a game, not a schoolbook.
So how do we get essential information across, yet at the same time, don't hold advancement for those people that simply already know everything?
That is why the tutorial works on three separate layers.
