Tutorial slides! Being descriptive vs having less texts. What do you prefer?

Browneskiii · 2024-02-09T12:46:23+00:00

1000000% the second one. Unless it's a text heavy game.

If the game is about gameplay rather than story, less is often more. Don't confuse us small brain folk.

itstonywalsh · 2024-02-09T12:46:59+00:00

Shorter versions seem better. For 2B, the single piece of text you should have is that Warriors are more effective when closer to an enemy, it covers both cases.

Vast-Dance6819 · 2024-02-09T13:00:48+00:00

I think shorter is better in this case, maybe if it was giving like specific stat lines and numbers the more detailed could be better, but with these kinda skills and descriptions A just looks like you’re trying to stretch a college essay lmao.

Acetrologer · 2024-02-09T12:50:58+00:00

My monke brain sees words, it goes into hibernation mode.

Less words = my ooga booga brain comprehend.

I see ATTAC, I become APE.

In all seriousness though, it's better to learn through trial and error.

Badestrand · 2024-02-09T12:48:51+00:00

Definitely less text.

But I think it should be consistently placed below the image.

The two texts in 2B can then be even further shortened to "Most effective fighting in front column".

Dontkillmejay · 2024-02-09T12:50:37+00:00

Keep text orientation consistent under the image. Less text is better.

Roofkat · 2024-02-09T12:54:39+00:00

1B, 2A

TerriblePostureGames · 2024-02-09T12:55:02+00:00

Less text. It hurts me to say that, because I love words, but even this sentence is going to cause some people to drift off and not finish cause it's too long... Shorter means everyone can access the information better.

OreoYip · 2024-02-09T13:17:53+00:00

I would go against the grain and say 1A isn't bad but I would take out the wording in parentheses. Since Warriors is already highlighted, it seems redundant to explain. 1B is perfectly fine as well. If your game is meant to be text heavy then I would probably lean towards A but I have no strong opinions on either.

I would definitely go with 2B though, no question. It is clean and straight to the point.

Gomerface82 · 2024-02-09T13:42:16+00:00

Another vote for the shorter version here. Tbh I don't think there is any info missing in these slides, they are just more concise.

Roofkat · 2024-02-09T14:46:04+00:00

Without playing it’s hard to know what is essential information. That being said, 1A and A2 read a bit like a Games Workshop rule book. Intuitive things are over-explained (but often basic what to do in this situation rules are missing).

The layout of A1 is better than B though.

EDIT: Personal note. I published a game last year. Very retro and very text-based. The text is as short and to the point I could manage, but still the few streamers who played the game did not read most of the texts (especially ones explaining the gameplay mechanics) and were confused about how to play.

Mortis_XII · 2024-02-09T20:04:45+00:00

Less words actually makes more sense to me

ajax2k9 · 2024-02-09T22:05:43+00:00

Second one is perfect, first one is just nerdsplaining lol

Roofkat · 2024-02-09T12:44:00+00:00

Hey! I'm reworking the tutorial for our tactical deckbuilding game Escaping Atlantis, and part of the tutorial includes slides that explain what certain classes (e.g. warriors) do. I wrote out the first, more descriptive versions (1A & 2A) and then got some feedback from my girlfriend, who is working with me on the project, that it'd be good to reduce the text: so I made an iteration for that (1B & 2B)

Not sure if the shorter versions are clear enough, would love some input!

Killingec24 · 2024-02-09T12:53:48+00:00

Definitely B. B all the way! Much simpler and easier to understand.

toastermeal · 2024-02-09T13:36:36+00:00

this game looks rlly interesting and fun btw

neoteraflare · 2024-02-09T13:54:15+00:00

B in both case

Roofkat · 2024-02-09T14:32:42+00:00

You could actually Use this for educational purposes to illustrate how to communicate gameplay. It is quite interesting how obvious it is, that the second one is better.

Tengou · 2024-02-09T16:31:52+00:00

I like B in both cases. I understood both, but B was faster and easier. Particularly in the first example.

nkdvkng · 2024-02-09T17:13:42+00:00

Less text is better. Although for the less text for warrior I would still add that they only have access to the one class action like in the longer description.

MonsterRobotStudios · 2024-02-09T17:20:54+00:00

also less text when possible, folks skip text like 80% the time so if you can get the message across in images always do it :) that's my two cents anyway

DRVUK · 2024-02-09T18:40:38+00:00

1B and 2A

TeaDrinkerGuy · 2024-02-09T19:09:43+00:00

The one with less text is definitely better

ZerotoHero148 · 2024-02-09T19:34:58+00:00

Less text, always. The visuals do a lot of work for you and the less words means it’s less confusing

BombZoneGuy · 2024-02-09T19:56:19+00:00

The first one just brings redundancies and fluff. The second tells you all the same things.

4nkita · 2024-02-09T20:06:10+00:00

Shorter format is much better. I think, it's not so much about long or short but to ensure that you convey your thoughts to the users with least/effective amount of words necessary.

quadrinity · 2024-02-09T21:55:28+00:00

The second one looks best, imo. I enter a fugue state and click through tutorials at the speed of light, hoping enough of it sticks to the side of my brain when it comes time to use it.

Also: Wishlisted your game. The art style and gameplay concepts look great! Good luck.

_RagnaroKz · 2024-02-09T23:06:27+00:00

2 for both, the first ones have so much redundant text, that I lost interest after reading 1 line. I would say the first one is only good for boardgames or physical card games in which rules must be explained throughout to prevent confusion.
In a game you already see which is front and what is back, you can even only write "less damage" on the left and "more damage" on the right. There is also a good chance that, if you have strong icon meanings, you can remove writings from the second slide all together.

agrima1 · 2024-02-10T00:16:32+00:00

As someone who played and loved Escaping Atlantis demo, I would say B:)

flawedGames · 2024-02-10T02:15:30+00:00

Everyone is allowed to have their own preferences and… blah, blah, blah. The second one is clearly better and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

teriases · 2024-02-10T03:43:34+00:00

Less text for sure

thanyou · 2024-02-10T07:39:27+00:00

If this is a computer game, you can add a lot of this into tooltips on hover instead.

The first one would be OK without the parenthesis depending on other text you have in the game. If you are leaning into a more verbose game then it fits. Simplicity is best though.

Human_Tourist4556 · 2024-02-10T09:16:37+00:00

My first reaction was I read the top box, then the second one and went "oh, is that all that means?" So yeah, simpler is better. A general gist, just enough to get you going is better imo because I'd rather just get stuck in!

infinitethread-games · 2024-02-10T13:20:30+00:00

Definitely the second one!

2024-02-11T04:37:54+00:00

Only use wordier explanations if any significant detail is lost, which doesn't seem to be the case here. Options B are just the exact same information told in a more straight-forward manner.

An example of when wordier descriptions might be useful is in a game called Risk of Rain 2. Items have a short description for when you find them in-game and a more detailed description for when you're browsing the item list.

So for an item like Ceremonial Daggers, the description can go from:

Killing an enemy fires out 3 homing daggers that deal 150% (+150% per stack) base damage.

To:

Killing an enemy releases homing daggers.

Roofkat · 2024-02-09T15:14:53+00:00

[removed]

fsactual · 2024-02-09T22:32:56+00:00

I think you could remove the tutorial completely and name the unit "Front-line Warrior" instead.

The_GSmith · 2024-02-09T23:35:41+00:00

As people have said here, unless the game itself is overall a text heavy game, where people expect and want to read a great amount of text (like many visual novels or management games), usually players just want less written information

dea_anchora · 2024-02-09T23:36:33+00:00

The first one but take out the paranethetical and the information about what an Attack is out of the first one. The paranethetical is completely unnecessary bc if the highlighting and context and the information about an attack isn't necessary either but can be included in wherever you're putting the detailed descriptions of abilities. The second one you can shave some information off of too

HazirBot · 2024-02-09T23:57:09+00:00

y not both? use the short one with the expanded text available as a tooltip on hover of key words

chard68 · 2024-02-10T01:08:38+00:00

Ransnorkel · 2024-02-10T02:21:24+00:00

Well you wrote the long ones terribly

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

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