Ways to make salem new person frendly

[nomotog]

H&H not not the easiest game to get into. I don't think anyone would argue with me about that, but I don't think that it has to be the same way in salem. I'm not saying that salem needs to he simplified or easyfied. Just a little smother starting out.

There are many ways you can do that. A tutorial is a must in game like this. In fact it needs a lot of tutorials that pop up when you need them.

It could also include a goal system, where you tell the game what is it you would like to do ,Ex I want to build a fur hat, and the game brakes your goal down into steps ,Ex Go here, make knife, kill rabbit, make hat.

Another thing I think would help out with starting, is if the game didn't start you off alone in the woods. It could start you next to players. That way they can help you out and maybe give you some idea of what you should be doing. Sure they might just kill you, but at least that would be some interaction.

That's what I think. If you have ideas on how the game can be easier to start post them.

[delra]

I think the best way will be a welcome package left by other more seasoned colonists for those who just join in. :-) Like in the US - a rifle and a ticket down south on the same ship that just brought coffins of the previous group.

[Romtos]

Extensive ingame tooltip clarification would be a great help. It can give on-the-fly context relevant help on any object, action or character without any action but hovering over the relevant thing.

[Bad Karma]

There are many ways you can do that. A tutorial is a must in game like this. In fact it needs a lot of tutorials that pop up when you need them.

It could also include a goal system, where you tell the game what is it you would like to do ,Ex I want to build a fur hat, and the game brakes your goal down into steps ,Ex Go here, make knife, kill rabbit, make hat.

Another thing I think would help out with starting, is if the game didn't start you off alone in the woods. It could start you next to players. That way they can help you out and maybe give you some idea of what you should be doing. Sure they might just kill you, but at least that would be some interaction.

Great example of what would be horrible ... Go try Carebears or something.. Hardcore games ain't for you sir HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[nomotog]

Great example of what would be horrible ... Go try Carebears or something.. Hardcore games ain't for you sir HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Even the most hard core greifer man will benfit from a game thats attractive to new players with a steady influx of new players to prey on.

What if they put the salem wiki inside the game? You know you are going to use it.

[Brother Bean]

But I know how the game works, isn't that enough?

I'm not a huge fan of formalized tutorials. What I hope we manage to do is to make the early game a learning experience in itself, and If nothing else I suspect that our dear producer/publisher will force us into making it a bit more user friendly than H&H currently is.

[nomotog]

You know, given the nature of salem. Maybe it should be the players who manage new players.

[MastaFogey]

The community is critical in teaching new players. Look at Minecraft, for example. With no formal documentation or in-game tutorial, it was(is) the fan-based wiki, forums, video tutorials, etc that came to the rescue of new players. It'll be even easier to accomplish in Salem since it's online and new people will likely have access to veteran players immediately. Some sort of in-game "helper" association would be great...

[skippermonkey]

You know, given the nature of salem. Maybe it should be the players who manage new players.

I for one cant wait to stab the new players face

this permadeath and free-pvp really interests me

[Tapewormz]

Salem would probably benefit from a Bradygames guide for sure. Thank god for the wiki for HnH. Although, part of the fun was discovering what you can and can't do in it. After a couple of deaths, I learned some important lessons.

[Keyalha]

Well the curiosity System ( which imho is partially flawed ) had one very good side.

It only let you craft/ Build what you are activly pursed and what you are aware of which made it less frustrating for a new player to learn whilst it was not overly easyfing the process of getting used to the game.

[dwiseman57]

Minecraft's new achievement system kinda works as a tutorial. Make a wood pick and mine some stone, then make a stone pick and mine some iron... etc. I wonder whether something like this might give some early goals and direction to a sandbox game like Salem? I'd hate for the "sandboxness" to be ruined by a lengthy tutorial or "tutorial quests" - so an achievement system works well because its non-invasive.

Thoughts?

[nomotog]

Minecraft's new achievement system kinda works as a tutorial. Make a wood pick and mine some stone, then make a stone pick and mine some iron... etc. I wonder whether something like this might give some early goals and direction to a sandbox game like Salem? I'd hate for the "sandboxness" to be ruined by a lengthy tutorial or "tutorial quests" - so an achievement system works well because its non-invasive.

Thoughts?

That's a nice idea. You just have to make sure that the achievements tell the player how to do things.

You don't want to actually lock the player up in a tutorial at the start. It's boring and it actually makes the game harder to start because you have to run through a lot of stuff before you start playing.

You also want to avoid giving new players things. You give a newbie a fishing pole and they won't know how to use it or how to get a new one.

The last preview I read talked about the UI being really good and intuitive, so it sounds good.

[Keyalha]

Great example of what would be horrible ... Go try Carebears or something.. Hardcore games ain't for you sir HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You sir are the first person i shove my fist up your A**** when we meet in salem, go get a life...

[nomotog]

Is there any measures against greefing ? Is there any chance forming bosses to catch those fellas, who have gone for killing spree ?

I reckon it would be nice having something like dynamic missions, getting bounty for catching criminals (murderers) and being able to split it between party. (and some guard against exploiting so mates kill and get killed for profit)

As i'm not against permadeath, it does seem to be very tempting to cloak yourself in black and taking the role of the Grim Reaper.

Pera death shouldn't be that hard if you play as part of a village. (Maybe they should have a system that helps match up newbies with villages.) You maybe six feet under, but your village probably still stands with most of your items. Death might actually be a good thing as it gives you an excuse to try out a new job.

Their will be ways to track down and kill the players who have caused truble and kill them. Even when they are offline. (Edit: I put a idea about bountys into idea thread.)

[Tapewormz]

Well the curiosity System ( which imho is partially flawed ) had one very good side.

It only let you craft/ Build what you are activly pursed and what you are aware of which made it less frustrating for a new player to learn whilst it was not overly easyfing the process of getting used to the game.

I think it's less flawed than gaining LP from baking 50 billion buns. I prefer cruio's over just getting LP from any little thing.

[Tapewormz]

Other than playing smart, getting a group together and making walls. No there are no measures against griefing other than revenge. You'd have to collect the scents of battery or murder and when your perception is high enough...Seek out the criminal, summon and kill him when he's offline.

Just play smart.

[Eonwe]

Great example of what would be horrible ... Go try Carebears or something.. Hardcore games ain't for you sir HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This is ridiculous. I played Mortal Online with a griefer guild. There is nothing wrong with guidance early on in the game. Nobody is saying let the game hold your hand or force you down a path, just having some tooltips and guides to get started.

Want to know why Mortal Online failed besides horrible crashes? It has an impossible to grasp crafting/refining system with absolutely no help or guidance besides 'waste hours of work that might be stolen from you by looters in order to find a slightly more efficient way to refine ore.'

[Mabs]

just have a wiki up and running, most people will tab out to find stuff

[Niptium]

Minecraft's new achievement system kinda works as a tutorial.

This!