Instructional
Design document for NRR Instructional System
Info
To better inform players about the game and explain how to play, we have designed an instructional system that gives them information about nearby items and systems that will benefit them greatly. To try and do this while not killing the flow of the game we found splitting the instructions into different types which corresponds with the level of importance. So only some of the instructions will take the player out of the action meaning this is something the player needs to do to progress.
All of the instructionals follow the same method of only displaying when something is new to the player, once they have then discovered that. It's logged and will not display again.
Types of Instructional
For types of instructions, we decided to make three different options, them being: Objects - these create a widget on top of the item when near an object that the player can pick up or interact with. Camera zooms - these lock the player into a screen focusing on the target with an added hud overlay. Hud screens - these will lock the player screen onto a visual diagram showing more extent of a system.
Objects:
Most object instructions will be triggered on an overlap that surrounds the item itself so when the player walks near an item it presents the widget above it either leading them to it or away from it. We would have liked to have more of the items as an object widget however a lot of our collectables will move so fast towards the player character the player wouldn't have enough time to read it. These will deactivate when the player interacts with them or a custom timer runs out
Camera Zoom
The camera zoom instructionals are a lot more rare as we didn't want the player to be taken away from the core gameplay as we found too many jumps in the camera would be annoying. These similar to the object instructionals use an overlap that's attached to the object, when the player walks within this the camera is taken over by this instructional target locking it to a new fixed view.
These zoom screens will usually try to use the target as a centrepiece with added text to hint/describe what the player can do with them. If the player then presses the interact button (E/Controller X) while on this screen it deactivates and returns the camera to the normal player character.
Hud Screen
The hud screen instructionals work as a middle ground between the two previous, so the player camera is not moved around however information is displayed on the player hud, while all player controls are disabled and enemies + enemy projectiles are shut down temporarily.
The trigger for these will vary between the player overlapping the item or picking up the item. This is because we wanted to try and show the player what collecting the item looks like for a couple of seconds before showing further information on it.
To try and help the player learn the systems that interact with the items around the map for particular instructional screens, elements of the player hud will not fade away or even flash/zoom in to present a relevant counter or visual display of the player interacting with that type of object.
Methodology
For all of the collisions, it seemed to make more sense to create a new collision channel solely for the player interacting with instructional overlaps. As we have a lot of different collisions going on between enemies and the player it hopefully will make it clearer to work on. Especially as all the items that have instructional overlaps have a separate overlap sphere called "Instructional Overlap" the only thing they have turned on is overlap on the instructional collision channel.
To make these three instructional types work, we have designed a system that works within the player singleton that will record whether the player has interacted with all the systems and objects. As the player state singleton is the object that holds all the information we need between player runs this is perfect for recording the instructionals. So when the player interacts with a new item, it checks this singleton and if the player hasn't it's recorded as now completed.
Early Stage Development
On our first test with public play testers with the new instructional system implemented, our feedback showed some of the instructions were too text heavy as players didn't want to stop and read too much, as it sort of killed the fast-paced flow the game uses. This seemed quite prominent on the HUD screens and some of the camera ones. To try and help this we will move some of the instructionals from HUD screens to simple widget overlays or possibly have larger widgets that take up the top corner of the screen but don't stop the player from moving. The goal is to not stop the player from moving unless it is extremely important or in an area where the player isn't in a fight.
In some areas, the instructionals did work well and some systems were explained through them however a lot of the basic systems still needed to be explained by someone who knew them. To counter this we may go into explaining the more basic systems of the game like equipping weapons and using abilities.
There's still quite a lot of development to do with the instructionals system however as a first implementation we believe it was successful. As it is something that can only be tested by people who have never played the game, presenting it at shows and events will be very helpful for getting the system well-rounded and working perfectly.
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