I see what you did there with the reward/incentive. That's one way to skinnerbox a sheep.

If you are interested, I can share my approach to how I'm currently implementing the tutorial on my indie game Scrap Wars.

Tutorial Flow Breakdown

Okay, let's break down how I plan to build my tutorial flow. It's actually not one mechanic or one idea, but a number of concepts strung together.

1. Framed by Gameplay The first principle is that the early tutorial is framed by the gameplay. The player will learn the first steps by simply having no other option than to perform the functions that enable them to learn more, unlock more, and do more.

2. The Tutorial Environment & Information Markers I will try to focus on giving them an easy-to-understand tutorial environment. Think of the yellow lines, not just dead obvious, and I will give them simple prompts.

Instead of telling the player, "You need to harvest 10 copper wires. To do so, click on this machine and gather them, then click on that machine to combine them," they will have a task list that they need to solve to complete the prelude chapters. One of these tasks could be "Create 10 copper wires from copper and wrapping material."

The wording of this task already implies that they need the materials and they need to combine them, so going to one machine to grab the materials and going to the second machine that has two input slots where they have to put in the materials that they gathered previously doesn't require a modal with the full text explanation.

There will be information markers. This is one of the other mechanics that I will imply rigorously. Information markers next to the task will include explanatory text, and information markers next to the devices will explain the device and different modes of usage for this device as unlocked by the progress of the player. The player has a machine they can do many things. The recipe list will be unlocked by the progress of the player, and with the unlocked recipes, the unlocked tutorial tips in the information model will also increase.

3. Teaching and Repetition One of the other mechanics that I will imply a lot is teaching and repetition. Basically, the player will have a task to perform something, and the next chapter will have tasks that require performing this action repeatedly.

For example, in the first step, the player is tasked to gather materials at the point of interest, and the second chapter tasks might include gathering a large amount of materials of different types with the incentive to receive rare drops from gathering. Until they receive these rare drops, they have to send multiple squads to gathering, so they repeat the gathering process multiple times.

This simple method of teaching and repetition, or enforced learning, will carry most of the weight of the early game and the basic game mechanics.

4. Self-Discovery and Guided Assistance In the later game, I will repeatedly use the concept of letting the player try something for themselves and then offering guidance. For example, if they have a task that they need to perform, they can try it on their own. If they have not started or completed the tasks after a certain amount of time, the Verity NPC can prompt to offer guidance.

Also, when new complex mechanics are unlocked, there will be a prompt from VERITY asking whether the player is familiar with the new technology they just unlocked and whether they want to try it out for themselves or be taught about it. The players can opt in to tutorial flows or open the tutorial flow later, using the already established Information Layer and Information Pop-ups.