Tutorial contents

[takkaria]

So, I want to make an in-game tutorial for V. At the moment my plan is to start in a custom dungeon, take the player through combat, running away, picking up items, 'u'sing them (universal use command), Word of Recall and then the shops.

I'm looking for suggestions for other things to include. What was confusing when you started playing? Do you have experience of showing Angband to new players and what did they find unintuitive?

[Nick]

Die. Not you personally

[Antoine]

Switch between ASCII and tiles?

Set up multiple windows with e.g. monster/object lists?

Set up a macro and use it?

A.

[Hajo]

I'm looking for suggestions for other things to include. What was confusing when you started playing?

Hardest was to learn the commands. Oh, I've become hungry - how do I eat something? How can I wield/take off equipment?

It took years for me to find out that I can combine torches for a longer lasting light.

And I was confused about the versioned spells (not sure if they are still named this way) like "recharge", "recharge II" and such - I wanted to know the differences, but without reading the code, it was seemingly impossible to find out.

The actual throwing damage for items is a bit obscure too.

And I must admit I'm still not entirely clear about the difference of "identify" and "*identify*".

A thing that puzzles me till today is why wands are used differently from rods and staves. If an item has multiple uses, it's clear that one needs different keys to distinguish them, but from a players view a rod, a staff and a wand are similar enough to use one common key - at least in my head.

[Mondkalb]

Look around (using the overhead map), look at monsters and items, inspect equipment and inventory items, browse books; disarming / tunneling / use of stairs.

[quarague]

Switch between ASCII and tiles?

Set up multiple windows with e.g. monster/object lists?

Set up a macro and use it?

A.

If you want these, I would put them in an optional second part. I agree that they might be useful to know but personally I've never used any of them.

Maybe also show where to find the help file and the key bindings, ie teach to help yourself.

[eMeM]

I think few videos on youtube would be better than new written tutorial.

[takkaria]

I think few videos on youtube would be better than new written tutorial.

It's not going to be a written or a video tutorial; it's going to be in-game.

[Mondkalb]

I take it that you have something similiar to the tutorial in Sil in mind? It is quite well done.

[Raajaton]

Teaching players to 'l'ook at monsters around them and 'r'ecall monster memory seems to help a lot of people. I have a little bit of experience in getting a couple of people into the game, and teaching them how to discern how dangerous monsters are before they try to take them on seems to help quite a bit.

For my first several playthroughs I had no idea how to 'A'ctivate items, so that could be useful to include.

* targeting for magic and archery. Showing them some of the commands to speed up play like 'h' for auto fire and 'n' to repeat previous actions.

I assume you had all these in mind already, but these are all things that helped me a great deal when I was first learning the game.

[fizzix]

using the enter command window should be enough to explain most of the commands.

Have the player choose to examine two weapons, and then demonstrate why daggers are better than broad swords early using the Inspect command.

Have the player get paralyzed by a floating eye, then give them free action and let them try again. (might want to really hack this so it works properly) Perhaps give them a ranged weapon also.

Similarly, have the player get hounded by a poltergeist, then give them SI and let them try again.

Give the players scrolls of treasure detection and trap detection so they can see how they work.

Let the players identify an item (maybe a shield of resist fire and one of resist cold.)

Give a spellbook and teach the players how to detect monsters. Something like "knowing what's coming is important." Then have a fire hound or giant salamander, so the player can choose the resist fire shield.

Make sure the player uses one scroll, one staff, one wand, one rod, one potion and one mushroom.

I'd explain autoinscriptions on spellbooks and wands too, but maybe that's an advanced topic.

[Monkey Face]

I would show that the dungeon is bigger than can be seen on the screen. Also, I would show the difference between magma, quartz, granite, and permanent wall.

[HallucinationMushroom]

My first experience in a dungeon quickly ended when I explored the only tunnels that both lead to dead-ends. I reloaded a few months later, while my brother never did.

Searching for secret doors at junctions would be basic and crucial.

[qwerty]

I would say that when I first picked up Angband I didn't understand how you were meant to use stairs and thought it was just a shopping game. Perhaps demonstrate going up and down stairs and explain that there are more dangerous monsters on lower levels.

[LostTemplar]

So, I want to make an in-game tutorial for V. At the moment my plan is to start in a custom dungeon, take the player through combat, running away, picking up items, 'u'sing them (universal use command), Word of Recall and then the shops.

I'm looking for suggestions for other things to include. What was confusing when you started playing? Do you have experience of showing Angband to new players and what did they find unintuitive?

Add drolem or amhd to the tutorial, so it allways end with "breath poison, you die." message.