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[KamikazeRat]

Needs quite a bit more polish. But one heck of a good start. Felt engaging, funny(especially if you shoot the captain). looking forward to more.

My notes: Tried to approach is as though i had no idea that Battletech or Mechwarrior even existed. (needed to erase practically half of my child-hood for that one)

• -In the first section, explaining XL engines, and talking more about rear armor, would be good.
  
• -The first section seems pretty good as far as explaining things, and whatnot. You need to carry all that level of detail over into the academy portion. Further examples below.
  
• --Mech selections, what are they? i get new guns, and no explanation of what they are...PPC? whats that? LRM? how do these work? Gauss rifle doesn't fire when i click it. See the idea?
  
• --The different tutorials. Gauntlet. ok. now what do i do? what does Cored mean, and why am i running. Does the rapid fire range ever stop? what do i do? how do i exit?
  
• -After "running cored", and exiting out, im still cored.
  
• -A better explanation of weapons and their ranges, instead of just throwing a chart up "here study this", work through the whole weapons grid. Have the recruit fire at a targets in optimum range, extended range and out of range with each weapons system to get a better idea.
  
• --To go with the ranges, explain the cooldown bar a little better.

Im hoping that the second section around the academy, just isn't finished yet, and more instruction will be added to the whole thing, along with maybe some advanced courses.







Some recommendations for advanced courses:

• -ECM and other auxiliary equipment
  
• -LRM how to use and how to evade
  
• -JJ course.
  
• -Masc, now that it is a thing
  
• -Evading enemies (once you figure out how to get them to move) think Running Cored, but with roving hostiles.
  
• -Hunting, finding that last danged ECM raven.
  
• -Clans vs IS tech. this could be a fun one... "here's what you're going to be up against, rookie" *Mad Cat jumps down in front of you* "did you just pee yourself, rookie?"

Over-all the whole thing needs a lot more details. It took for granted a bit too much that the person already understood the basic elements:





Enter...The wife...

So i lured my wife in, knowing that she doesn't do well with lateral movement in video games(FPS shooters and the like, if she isnt moving where the cursor is pointing, she's lost). So a perfect opportunity to see how well the new tutorial works. (she hated the old one, btw.) So she was coming in, with little experience, but she kind of knew what was going on, just from watching me play. i figure this is about the experience level of your average "what is this game, FREE? OK ill try it" STEAM newbie will have.

My Wife's notes (bless her heart):

• -Mostly she noticed all the things that i had picked up on, but instead of me saying "a new person may have a problem here" she just...had a problem there. In addition:
  
• -In the F1 cheat sheet. it says A: left turn, D: left turn. (can't believe i missed that one)
  
• -Finding the targets to shoot, in the inital area...she had some minor difficulty with that, but maybe an arrow after a bit "hey go this way"
  
• -The info-charts are far too crowded, and just dropped on her all at once "OH wow, thats a lot of stuff, do i need to know all of that, right now?"
  
• -Slowing down... on the initial run of the pilot course, she ran clear through the waypoint on the first turn "how do i stop?!" might want to cover that.
  
• -Thunderbolt is probably not the best choice for new players, the offset cockpit could cause issues. She would run into buildings with the far arm/shoulder and not really understand why.
  
• -The arrow on the ground is insanely helpful and she wishes that it could be made available in the main game. Movement is hands down the hardest part of this game (at least for her) understanding leg direction is critical, having the big arrow and the little helper bubble that says "legs that way" (once we figured out what that bubble was, might want to note that better)
  
• -Maybe after the tutorial, new pilots get a "training wheels mode" and they get to keep that arrow. Maybe turn if off when they finish out the "cadet bonus" with an option to turn it back on. (heck, i might turn it on, could come in handy, every little bit helps)

The key here is: slowly bring the level up. don't try to info-dump the players. And never assume that the person playing has any idea what they just got themselves into.(cause my wife sure didn't, heheh)






Overall- well done, but keep going it needs more.

Edited by KamikazeRat, 30 August 2015 - 10:24 AM.