A reader on gamasutra.com commented on my recent ScribbleNauts article that people who don’t play a lot of video games would need the game’s lengthy tutorial.  At first consideration, this statement seems obviously true.  Of course you need to be told what to do the first time you do something, right?

Here’s the problem.  Your players aren’t with you for a lesson.  They’re with you to play a game.  Sure, your game may be educational, but the essence of gaming is something you experience, not something you read.  If your player was in the mood to read or study, she would have picked up a book.

Human beings as a species are pretty impatient.  Anyone who’s flown on a commercial airline knows that about a third of the passengers in the waiting area stand up as soon as the gate agent calls for pre-boarding.  People want to get on the plane now!  Similarly, many of your players will not want to go through your tutorial, no matter how clever it is designed.  They want to play your game.  Now!

On the other hand, some people are very patient people.  They will read every word you put in front of them.  You should take care not to test the patience of these people, and don’t insult their intelligence.  The game isn’t a test they’re going to have to pass with the information you’re giving them.  Don’t treat it like one by walking players through a step by step tutorial.

The best tutorials are the ones that players barely realize they are experiencing.  They let players do exactly what they came to do.  Play!  They feed needed information as the game progresses.  Some of the better tutorials do this nearly imperceptibly by putting hints in non-player character dialogue, or introducing new tools only when they’re needed, and only after players have had the opportunity to master other things in the game.

Remember though that not every game needs a tutorial.  Think of the original Nintendo Entertainment System and its vast library of 100s of games.  My family must have owned 15 game cartridges, and I don’t remember any of them having a tutorial.  Perhaps we just didn’t own the right type of games.  But all of the NES games I can remember featured simple and intuitive controls.  You didn’t need anyone to tell you how to play Super Mario Brothers, because there were only two things to do; walk and jump.  Many players walked right into the first Goomba on Level 1-1 the first time they played.  But they didn’t need to be told they were supposed to jump on or over them.  They learned from experience and did better on their next try.

When you design your tutorial, think of the verbs your player will do as they play.  These verbs could include actions like jump, walk, buy, or attack.  Ideally, the mechanisms to perform these actions should be somewhat intuitive, because they mirror controls that other games use.  Even if your player hasn't played other video games, the essential functions of the game should be something incredibly simple.  Click something to select it.  Push A to jump.  Move the joystick to walk.  Anyone would discover these actions quickly because they're what people naturally do when they have a mouse or game controller in their hands.

If user testing shows that some players just aren't getting it, your first move should be to simplify the controls.  If that's not possible and a tutorial is necessary, feed information on how to perform specific actions only when the player has already had motivation to want to do them.  That way, you are giving players information they already know they want.  If you tell them how to do something before they know why they would want to do it, the game feels more like a step by step activity.  Motivation is the key to making learning enjoyable.

Remember that you and your staff can’t learn how to play your game.  You already know it.  You cannot judge the usability of your game or gauge its need for a tutorial because it came from your own minds.  Naturally, it makes sense to you.  It’s vital that you test your game with players who are completely unfamiliar with it.  Watch and observe and resist the temptation to show them what to do.  If they have troubles playing your game, that will reveal what needs to be simplified or made more clear.