Slow storyline = Tutorial!

[idbeu]

I'm sure this has been mentioned somewhere, but in light of today's blog post, I thought I'd bring it up. I was thinking about the storyline, and how some people want a good story, and others just want something that drives the action. I think you can please everyone with a complicated overall story, especially if the snippits of story that drive the action are simple.

So here are some things I'd personally like to see to build up a story. I'll put my time where my mouth is and write something.

1. From my point of view, the key to a good story is to branch it out in several different directions, and allow the branches to merge over the course of the storyline. Not all the branches have to resolve. That gives the overall story some mystery.

2. A tutorial is really just simple gameplay, which lends itself well to the first several levels. If you make the first few levels simple, giving Turner the ability to only block or only punch and block, and slowly give him the ability to do more, it will be a natural way to teach. The key here is to create a situation in which his diminished abilities are believeable.

Those first two points can be combined as follows:

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Scene 1:
Turner is walking into a town. The town is almost deserted, although there are a few people here and there. The goal is to get the user comfortable with movement keys. Let him walk around the town (somewhat aimlessly), talking to people and exploring. Give him stairs to climb, doors to open, ledges to jump down off of. Similar to the first level in Lugaru, where you Turners daughter at the top of that big rock thing.

Scene 2: Turner finds a bar. Everyone is playing games and drinking and hanging out; apparently, everyone goes here after work. Turner walks to the back of the bar and orders a drink. He notices a guy dressed like no one else in the bar. Everyone is ignoring the strangely dressed increasingly-drunk guy.
A fight breaks out at one game table, and soon everyone is shoving. Turner, annoyed, is punched by a random stranger. Now clearly, Turner could rabbit-kick everyone out a window, but Turner just wants a drink. Why is it so hard to just relax with a nice carrot-martini? The guy that punched Turner is clearly drunk, but he swings again. Turner doesn't want to hurt the poor guy. He blocks the punch, trips the fellow, and lays him gently on the floor. Everyone is punching everyone else. Rabbits are thrown onto tables. Glasses go flying. Turner finds himself blocking punches left and right. He gently pushes rabbits into chairs, blocking what he can, and calmy disabling particurally drunk-angry rabits, before lying them on the floor. He reverses a few attacks from rabbits swinging chairs. Turner heads for the bar to smack down a few coins before leaving. The bartender is trying to restore order and isn't paying attention. Turner leaves the coins, ducks under a bottle thrown somewhere near his head, and turns to leave. The strangely dressed guy stubles right in front of him, crashes into a couple stools, and falls to the ground.

"You aren't ANYTHING like the Tulplas!" he yells at the bar stool. With surprising quickness, the drunk rabbit flips the bar stool into the air, and smashes it with enough force that it flies across the room and breaks into pieces.

Turner is a bit shocked. That is not the kind of quickness you expect from a weird drunk guy, wearing tassles on his collar. Turner backs away from the guy, who has passed out on the floor, and leaves the building.
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Study Questions:
1. Who is the random drunk guy?! Why was he dressed so strangely, and where on earth did he learn to fight? He's clearly in bad shape, but he's also scary-good.

2. What the heck is a Tuplas?

3. What kind of attacks did you learn to reverse? How do you trip someone? How do you dodge from attacks?

4. What is the best damn drink ever? Is it shaken or stirred?

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Scene 3:
Turner walks out of the bar, right into the face of eight, heavily armed guards. I'm talking super-heavily armed. They have an armored cart. They have rope. They have weapons. There is no way Turner (you) are going to take them, and you know it. Maybe once you learn how to rabbit-kick, but not now. You still accidently crouch when you mean to walk backwards. There is a scary moment where you seriously consider running for your life. Then one talks.

Head Guard: "You! Is Rathcorpef in this building?!"

Turner: "Ackk- Oh! Uh, I don't- Who is that?"

Head Guard: --

The guards push past Turner and rush into the bar. You can do whatever you want. For about 30 seconds, the sounds of fighting in the bar go silent. There are sounds of a scuffle. Then two of the eight guards burst out of the door, holding the strangely dressed rabbit, still clearly drunk, bound tightly to a large pole. They throw the bound rabbit into their cart, tie the pole to restraints, latch the door with several locks, and then wrap the rest of the rope around the entire carriage.

Turner: "Don't you think that's a bit much for one drunk rabbit?"

The Head Guard, his mouth red with blood, whips around and growls angrly. "Tell that to them!"

The door to the bar has drifted open. Several rabbits, previously happy with games and drink, are all standing in shock around the bodies of six, meanicing and heavily armed, dead guards.

An older rabbit grandma walks up from a nearby house. "He was an old troublemaker anyway."

No one else seems to agree. Some appear downright terrified.
************************************

Study Questions:
1. WTF?


*****************************************************************
Here is a list of where the story continues in this thread.
April 11: Some backstory is located at the bottom of this post.
April 12: Scenes 4 and 5 have been posted.

[Eruditemoose]

Wow, that is a brilliant way to start the game. It's great that even in the tutorial, you're being introduced to the story and led to some interesting questions.

The only thing I think could be a concern would be overwhelming the player in the bar fight. Getting stuck in a brawl and having to block a lot of punches in the first few minutes could be could be a bit of a trial by fire, but I guess that could be solved by limiting the number of fighters that Turner is interacting with at a time and slowing adding more.

I really hope that the guys at Wolfire can find a way to use this, because this is easily the most interesting way to start an RPG/brawler that I've seen in years. GJ.

[alethiophile]

I also like the idea of being able to consciously fight to incapacitate, rather than to kill. One thing that annoyed me about Lugaru is that, in the episode where Turner is attacked by a guard with a staff and similar, it's darned hard to keep from killing him.

[kehaar]

Pretty cool.

I love the idea of being able to be a spectator at a brawl, participating or not as you saw fit. It would be fun if the map editor could place 5 or 10 characters and let their AI's duke it out on some cue.

Also, throwing bottles and stools sounds great!

I think I recall hearing about how the makers of The Lord of the Rings tried to get their characters to fight for wide shots of the big battle before the walls of (the White City, capital of Gondor, I forget it's name). They wanted a general melee, nothing scripted or too detailed; the "camera" would be high and distant.

I guess they got it ironed out, but the story I heard was that the AI's, considering their best tactics, ran away from each other and refused to engage.

[Ac30]

carrot martini? lol
Good tutorial mission ideas.

[bigbutbald]

Great idea

[Ozymandias]

I am currently too lazy to read that whole post, but I will say... it would become very annoying if you are an expert player but have to go through a tutorial mission every time you want to play the campaign. That sort of stuff should be second nature to you by now.

If anything, after an opening sequence (or whatever is going to happen) then you should be able to either go to the tutorial section or go right to the next part of the game.

Example, there's a fork in a valley or whatever, and one of them leads to the tutorial and the other leads to the game.

Or you could simply have a tutorial like in Lugaru, completely separate from the main campaign.

[tokage]

I am currently too lazy to read that whole post, but I will say...

You should read his post, it has some interesting ideas in it.
Nonetheless I also would prefer a tutorial not related to the main story, either as a kind of skippable prolog or totally seperate from the game. Maybe something like Turner's morning training? Maybe quite similar to the Lugaru tutorial.
Why? Simply because it will be difficult to find a good and short story element to inroduce all of the options you have for your player character. If it would be done like in the OP you would have introduced blocking and tripping, but what about wall kicks? What about the rabbit kick? How to show off different weapons? It would probably take too long to introduce all these and than you would play half the story with some not unlocked abilities.

[TheBigCheese]

Amazing! Awesome story telling!

Personally, I prefer this kind of opening to the opening suggested in the blog post. Considering that most of the players coming to Overgrowth will have never played through Lugaru, you shouldn't have the main character start off having a battlehardened mentality. The game takes place years after, and it would be an awkward experience to new players, giving them the feeling like they're missing key information.

This brings up another point. Overgrowth should play more like a separate storyline, rather than a continuation of Lugaru. A beginning such as this would be great to ease players into the setting, without shoving them straight into fighting. To make it more like a tutorial, the game could loosely procedurally give text comments, such as in Left 4 Dead. In L4D, the game will display the "how-to text" until you have shown competence in the skill, at which point, it will never show that specific help again. During the intial move descriptions, you could have the game freeze, with a bloom effect around the edges, allowing new players to figure out how to perform it.

Optionally, for players who are already used to the controls, you could select the option to have the scene non-tutorial, where Turner would have to fight more vigorously (add more attackers, maybe having to block flying chairs), making it more like an actual level. Of course, it could be ramped up depending on difficulty as well.

I think the main thing we have to keep in mind is that most players will be complete beginners at the game. It may seem easy to you now, but trying to learn how to play takes a bit of time to grasp. The initial moments of a game is the crucial moment that players get hooked or frustrated. The game needs to ease them in.

[TheBigCheese]

Why? Simply because it will be difficult to find a good and short story element to inroduce all of the options you have for your player character. If it would be done like in the OP you would have introduced blocking and tripping, but what about wall kicks? What about the rabbit kick? How to show off different weapons? It would probably take too long to introduce all these and than you would play half the story with some not unlocked abilities.

Introducing all of the game's features and especially weapons, would be a horrible idea. Not that it didn't work in Lugaru, but it takes away from the player discovering the game.

By introducing the weapons as they become available it keeps the game fresh. Especially since there will be more than just 3 weapons this time around.

Returning players would already know how to use the weapon, so they could choose the option (probably at the start of the campaign) to opt out of tutorials, and like my previous post stated, making the tutorials into actual levels.

[Xerxes713]

I agree with TheBigCheese: the first few levels should be like this, but the "tutorial" part should be optional. I dislike the idea of having to play the tutorial every time I start a new game.

[invertin]

I just had the random idea for the gameplay side of a tutorial. You see two rabbits do something during the big bar brawl, then maybe the bartender shouts stuff at you to tell you how to do that.

Example- One rabbit tries to kick another, but is reversed. The bartender shouts "CROUCH!" just before another rabbit tries to kick you. Of course, if Overgrowth has the same controls as lugaru, crouch is also reverse, so Turner reverses him, and the player knows that crouch = reverse. If you do get hit, a little screen or something might come up "To reverse the attack..."

I guess opting out of the tutorial in this case would just be to fight your way outside.

[idbeu]

The only thing I think could be a concern would be overwhelming the player in the bar fight. Getting stuck in a brawl and having to block a lot of punches in the first few minutes could be could be a bit of a trial by fire (-Eruditemoose)

I think it'd be less of a dangerous thing and more of a overwealming thing. I wouldn't imagine you could get killed in this scene. It'd really be something designed to overwealm your senses in some way; make you feel apart of the environment.

the first few levels should be like this, but the "tutorial" part should be optional. I dislike the idea of having to play the tutorial every time I start a new game. (Xerxes713 and others)

The goal would be to make it feel like it wasn't a tuturial at all. No stops in action should be allowed, even to point something out to the user. The first level in Luguru was good about this; forcing you to learn how to jump high in a safe environment, without keeping the experienced player from just blowing past it. I think it can be done even better, with every aspect of the game.

One thing that drives me a little nuts about Luguru (and mods) is when someone talks, it forces you to keep clicking through their speech; you can't just skip it. Same with the tuturial; it requires that you do what is asked before continuing. If the first few levels of OG are slow, driving story and creating situations that encourage the player to use a particular skill, new users will learn, and experienced users can blow through it without a problem.

I also would prefer a tutorial not related to the main story [...]. Simply because it will be difficult to find a good and short story element to inroduce all of the options you have for your player character. [...] what about wall kicks? What about the rabbit kick? How to show off different weapons? It would probably take too long to introduce all these and than you would play half the story with some not unlocked abilities.

Ahh, but that is up to the challange of the storyteller. And not all weapons have to be demonstrated. The rabbit-kick could be demonstrated by requiring Turner to break out of jail, and need the rabbit-kick to break out. The weapons would be introduced as they are aquired.

The advanced techniques, such as wall kicking and flip-kicking (I made that up) are perhaps best left for "tips" that unobtrusively appear when confronted with the first difficult enemy. And we don't have to rely on only letting the story teach the player. A sandbox area where you can learn the advanced techniques is probably a good idea.

I think the main thing we have to keep in mind is that most players will be complete beginners at the game. It may seem easy to you now, but trying to learn how to play takes a bit of time to grasp. The initial moments of a game is the crucial moment that players get hooked or frustrated. The game needs to ease them in. (-TheBigCheese)

Yes, I absoutly agree. I think we should also remember that OG will have different controls from Luguru, adding a second attack button. I suspect a lot of us are going to have to adapt to the new controls just like a newbie. There may (hopefully!) be a lot of different combinations for us to get use to now.

Example- One rabbit tries to kick another, but is reversed. The bartender shouts "CROUCH!" just before another rabbit tries to kick you.(-invertin)

Ah, I understand your point, but unfortunatly the bartender is working for the same group that took Rathcorpef in the third scene. Shocking, I know. You may remember the grandmother from the same scene; she's the bartenders mother. I don't know very much about this town, but I do know the bartender's family (in particular, the bartenders mother and decesed father) were once in the service of the rabbit king. You may remember him from Luguru. I think the bartender was some low-level guard there a few years back. Pretty much a nobody.

Anyway, it's curious how this "Rathcorpef" fellow was just taken away, aye? You might be interested to know what kind of government grew up since Turner overturned the king. And you'd be further interested to know why Turner did nothing as that government was overthrown three seperate times. I don't know how to connect the dots yet; I only hear rumors. But if I were Turner, I'd probably keep out of it all too.

Oh, unrelated note; have you ever SEEN a cat tear the ears off a rabbit? No?

I still have nightmares.

[TheBigCheese]

Yes, I absoutly agree. I think we should also remember that OG will have different controls from Luguru, adding a second attack button. I suspect a lot of us are going to have to adapt to the new controls just like a newbie. There may (hopefully!) be a lot of different combinations for us to get use to now.

Even the more reason why it needs to be tutorial-like. If someone throws a punch at you, a new player would have absolutely no clue what to do. Even if it had "hit Shift to block" at the bottom, they wouldn't be able to read it fast enough.

This is why I suggest the freezing for newer players, with the option to completely eliminate all the annoyances if returning players want to just play the game. The level could be converted for these experienced players into a more difficult level, one that they couldn't just blow through, but considering it would be the first level, nothing too terribly difficult.

[idbeu]

Scene 4:
As the carriage rolls off, a few rabbit waiters from the bar drag the corpses out back, where they are laid out in the grass. Someone wonders aloud if the bodies will be picked up by the guards the next day, but one of the rabbits dragging a body scoffs.

"They don't care about their own. We may well bury them to ward off the vultures."

A few rabbits from the bar drift toward home, talking to themselves in shock at seeing Rathcorpef taken. But eventually, most of the rabbits move back into the bar, where the games begin again. A few homes down, a lone rabbit is posting flyers on each door. As he approaches, a couple rabbits still standing outside talk.

Ugly Rabbit: "...what it means for us. What now?"
Uglier Rabbit: "We will think of something. This has happened before."
"But we didn't have this kind of pressure. We've been isolated out here. The cats never drifted this far north-"
"Yes yes."

There is a silence between the two, as the flyer-poster approaches.

"What now?"
"Another warrior from the resistance they're trying to track down, I suppose."
"Heh."
"I kinda wish they'd try to go after Turner"

Both rabbits grin. Turner's ears cock slightly. This was not expected. It had been almost 5 years since he uncovered the traitorous actions of the former rabbit king. As he wandered the land since, he heard several (silly) stories of his heroics, including one that made him laugh out loud. He had been in a camp near the southern region of Teer, maybe a year and a half after. Some dolt with a banjo started singing about how 'The Great Turner' beat the alpha-wolf with one punch.

"A punch so hard, the devil cried"
"The Wolf only felt the wind, before he died"

Turner giggled a most not-manly giggle to himself at the time. He got some stares. But although he heard several (stretched) stories about his adventures, he didn't hear a single one that made him out to be anything but a hero.

The rabbit with the flyers was wearing a smart uniform and a satchel with the flyers and nails. "You boys saw any of these traitors?" He nailed a flyer to the door. The photo on the door included three rabbits. One of the rabbits looked nothing like Turner, but he knew exactly how he looked five years ago. (cut scene to a photo of Turner from Lugaru, complete with the old graphics and everything) It was him.
"You look familiar, bunny!" the officer spat. "I don't suppose you ever served to help one of these three traitors, have you?" He paused. "Well, I guess not. You don't have a fighters build on you."

As night took over, people started leaving the bar. Turner gets a tip about an inn to stay the night, so he headed off. On the way, three drunk rabbits approached him.

"This one is with the Guard!" one of them slurred. "See his blue pants?!" As if blue were only worn by the Guard. "Get him!"

As the rabbits approach, a few tips pop up near the top of the screen. "To attack, use the Attack Key (Mouse_1). To reverse an attack, crouch (c) and attack (Mouse_1) at the same time."

As Turner fights, a few rabbits from the bar watch. One of them is the bartender.

After the fight, the camera cuts to Turner walking into his room at the Inn, and falling asleep.

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Study Questions:

1. Your first real fight! Are you excited? What a rush! I hope you didn't kill them. Gosh, you'd feel bad if you killed them. But how GREAT was that? Did you see that awesome reverse? You swung his face right into the ground! Oh man!

2. Why do those ugly rabbits want the Guard to find Turner? Wait, do they? Or were they just suggesting that Turner would kick their ass? I don't know.
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Scene 5:
Turner wakes up in a jail cell. A guard, sitting at a table nearby, is idly flipping his keys back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Turner has a headache, and the scene is kinda washy... he has to get his bearings.

From the cell next to him, a forced whisper. "Hey! You awake?"

NOTE:
I could go into the stories that this prisoner next to him tells, but it's really a story for another time. It's another branch with a new character and new info that can be used later. Turner is in prison because the bartender saw him fighting, and thought it looked suspiciously like the same rabbit that fought his way through the king’s palace all those years ago. Turner is in prison until the Guard is summoned and arrives to pick him up.

There is pretty much nothing else to do in the cell but listen to the crazy rabbit in the cell next to you, run on about his stories. You try a bunch of things, like kicking and punching the lock. You punch the door. You punch the ground. You jump as high as you can and kick the floor. You crouch and punch the walls. You try to jump and punch the walls. The rabbit next to you continues to tell his stories. Finally, you wander near the window. A tool-tip comes up. "To perform a powerful rabbit-kick, run at your target and press the Jump and Attack buttons simultaneously." Ah ha!

You try it. The window bars rip out of the rock and fly outside. The guard hears you, rushes into your cell, and beats you senseless. The game restarts at the checkpoint. This time, you try to be quiet. The guard hears you, rushes into your cell, and beats you senseless. As the game restarts, your neighbor whispers "Wait until the change of the guards!"

Which is all well and good, but now you can't seem to fit through the window. A tip appears. "To crouch, press C"

You escape into the evening, and run as fast as you can toward the forest.

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Study Questions:

1. You learned to rabbit-kick! You can't wait until you run into some thugs in the forest! Discuss.

2. The prisoner in the cell next to you had some interesting things to say. For example, he's heard rumors that the cats are looking for Turner! Interesting. You didn't even know the cats were this far north.

3. If you ever run into a small hole again, I bet you know how to get through it! Try not to pee yourself in delight.

I hear the forests in this region are crawling with bandits. Those rabbits that have families to feed, and can't afford the price of carrots, are turning to robbery. The growing famine in the southern region has made it's way north. Hunger can motivate a man to kill for a few heads of cabbage. It's just not safe to travel. People are getting desperate.

Luckily for you, you have no food to steal. But you are getting hungry. And hunger can motivate a man to kill.

4. Would you murder a family of four for a few loafs of clover bread? What if I threw in some fresh kale leaves and a small bushel of endive greens? What if the family was only three and the child were ugly?