Problems with the two baked-in tutorials

Discussion about Rocks'n'Diamonds, Boulder Dash, Supaplex, Emerald Mine and any other BD hybrid.

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LotBlind
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Problems with the two baked-in tutorials

Post by LotBlind »

Neither of the two tutorials works perfectly as a tutorial. I think a tutorial needs to concentrate on the basics, which takes discipline from the designer. Otherwise you're left thinking you just didn't understand the rules it was supposed to teach you. If you bail out of any level, you may miss tutorial messages, which makes the tutorial pointless. (That can happen in the second tutorial mainly) This isn't a comprehensive list, just some notes I made earlier.

Problems with Niko Bohm's tutorial:
- Needs to mention that penguins can pick up emeralds.
- Some levels are pointlessly tough for a tutorial.
Sokoban is a good example! (The other tutorial has a much better Sokoban tutorial). Supaplex IV needs to die. Do the Mole has an unnecessarily difficult puzzle. Generally the later levels have a lot of annoying ones and some of them really need tutorial messages.
- "Satellites" misspelled in that level's name. So is "balloons".
- "Dragons" probably doesn't have to be so long to get the point across.
- Supaplex II and III especially are missing tutorial messages. (The latter only has 11 completed tapes as of writing this.)


Aaron's tutorial:
- For some reason I'm having a difficult time spotting the exits in the first few levels: something about the wall tile used?
- Level 12 (Emerald Mine Review) sucks big time! Unnecessarily big and tough and has pointless details. Or secrets? Again, not good in a tutorial.
- Pig Out is an atrocious RNG/waiting hell.
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Holger
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Re: Problems with the two baked-in tutorials

Post by Holger »

First of all, thanks a lot for your comments on the currently available two tutorial level sets! :)

And yes, I agree in many points. In fact, I think it's quite non-trivial to create a good tutorial level set, which is easy enough to really work as an introduction which should not be too hard, but on the other hand not being too simple and boring, offering at least some challenges here and there.

With several game engines available now, a tutorial should probably also refer to them and point out their specific characteristics (and quirks), like different behavior of placing dynamite, for example, or differences in handling input events (which can have some frames delay in the Emerald Mine engine due to it being synchronized to every eighth game frame).

Maybe there will be an updated tutorial level set available one day that covers all this, and that is still fun to play! Until then, I might find the time to at least fix some of the problems you have mentioned in the existing tutorials.
filbo
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Re: Problems with the two baked-in tutorials

Post by filbo »

I think those two tutorial sets are Historic Artifacts and don't need any changes. They are what they are, from the times they came from. (I'm a little inconsistent on this, because if there's a Historic Levelset where some of the levels are unplayable due to original design errors -- never were playable even back then -- I do support minor tweaks to e.g. add the one missing emerald, or whatever)

If a Modern Rocks'n'Diamonds Tutorial is wanted, someone should create that; not attempt to bend old artifacts which weren't quite aimed at that, into that.
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Eizzoux
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Re: Problems with the two baked-in tutorials

Post by Eizzoux »

To be honest, as a tutorial they're indeed somewhat unclear, even one of contributions "Ben Braithwaite - Ben 200" delivers you as much information as them (in a slightly weird way), and also keeps being pretty easy (but also quite linear). Anyone remembers that one?
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Algebroot
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Re: Problems with the two baked-in tutorials

Post by Algebroot »

I have my own problems with them. Specifically: Since all tutorials are outdated, there is no mention about the unique properties of some of the newer elements. What I believe is the worst case of this being DC Magic Walls.

Only by luck did I learn that unlike EM Magic Walls, crystals and pearls can pass through them. Mainly because the only addition to magic wall descriptions after DC walls are added is that the EM wall description is copy/pasted over to the DC wall description (but only with "EM" replaced with "DC"; The DC wall's description even refers to themselves as "regular" magic walls just like EM, even though they use different timers) and doesn't mention the additional features that make them different from regular magic walls (specifically, what they can do to crystals and pearls).

EDIT: On another note, it seems the BD magic wall's description was made when timers were unable to be modified as it implies it can only be active for "about 10 seconds". The second paragraph for the BD magic wall's description also misspells "separate" as "seperate".
ncrecc
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Re: Problems with the two baked-in tutorials

Post by ncrecc »

Algebroot wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 4:30 am I have my own problems with them. Specifically: Since all tutorials are outdated, there is no mention about the unique properties of some of the newer elements. What I believe is the worst case of this being DC Magic Walls.
I have had an unfinished tutorial set sitting around since early 2019, and the first level addresses DC Magic Walls... might be time to release that in all 8 levels of glory.
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