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.

This article was a featured post on gamasutra.com.

I don’t remember when I first read about ScribbleNauts, but it feels like it was almost a year ago.  The anticipation has been brewing on this one a long time, and it paid off for Warner Brothers and 5th Cell, because it has been the top selling DS game since its release.  It truly is an innovative game.  It’s a side scrolling puzzle game where the player has to solve various predicaments they encounter, such as keeping ants away from a picnic, or gathering flowers for a florist.  When you complete the mission, a Starite appears and when you’ve touched it, you can proceed to the next level.

So what’s so innovative about this game?  To solve the puzzles, you have to write.  Our hero, Maxwell doesn’t have any of the tools he needs to solve these problems.  The player must use her imagination to decide what Maxwell needs.   Anything she writes down pops onto the screen.  Then it’s only a matter of manipulating the items you’ve conjured to help Maxwell get the task solved.  Rumors on the internet say the dictionary is loaded with over 22,000 possible items you can summon.  Sounds like the makings of a terrific game!

When my copy of ScribbleNauts arrived in the mail, I told my boyfriend all about it.  He hadn’t heard of the game, but after hearing my description, he curiously looked over my shoulder as I started up my DS.  About 5 minutes in, he walked away and asked me to call him back over when it got good.  One thing was for sure.  This game ignored the rule of giving your players something fun and exciting from the get go.  What does the game start with?  A mandatory and lengthy tutorial with lots of reading.  Borrrrring!  Tedious, and unnecessary.  It would have made much more sense to allow players to figure out the simple introductory levels on their own and enjoy some fiero type of fun without interrupting their thought processes with boxes of instructional text.  When you encounter a hammer and a wall, you are told step by step to first pick the hammer up, and next you are instructed to bash apart a plank.  In the next stage, they give you a shovel and tell you that you can dig into dirt, but not rock.  Before you prepare Maxwell to make his first jump in the game, a pop-up box actually interrupts you to say “Maxwell automatically jumps over small obstacles, gaps, or ledges during movement.”  I would assume they did usability testing with grade school aged kids to see if they would understand how to play the game, but I am skeptical that players wouldn’t have been able to figure out any of these things on their own, so that leaves me to wonder.

Another thing that’s confusing about the game are the so-called “hints” that are forced upon you at the beginning of every level.  Now, the creators of this game clearly give their players a lot of credit, presuming they will be smart enough to know what objects to conjure to help them solve the puzzles.  On the other hand, they don’t expect the player to be able to figure out what needs to be solved in the first place.  They spell it out for you.  This takes away from the creative problem solving opportunity and instead makes the game more of a worksheet-like, ‘follow these steps’ activity similar to what children experience in so many school ditto sheets.  It also eliminates the opportunities for fiero that the game would have otherwise had if they had just left it alone.  For example, one level features a kitten meowing on top of a tall house, and an upset young girl on the ground, looking up at the kitten.  You might like to take a split second to decide that your mission is to rescue the kitten and reunite him with the girl, but the game doesn’t take any chances that you won’t be able to figure that out.  A “hint” automatically displays every time the level is loaded.  It makes the game feel very unnatural to on one hand be trusting the player with so much creativity, and at the same time assume they won’t be able to make sense of even the most straight forward scenarios.  I’m sure advanced levels in the game are more complex and may stump the player enough to require a hint.  A better alternative would have been to integrate more natural hints, like allowing Maxwell to talk to characters about what distresses them, or having a button you can hit to request a hint when you really need one.

The word selection in the dictionary is also a curious thing.  The game is rated E10+ by the ESRB, because it includes weapons and enables mild violence.  The dictionary includes a gun, a knife, and other weapons.  You can use them to kill other human characters in the game, and animals.  Sometimes, the game even appears to be encouraging you to do so.  In Level 1-11, a bee attacks you and prevents you from completing your task.  I tried everything I could think of to trap the bee and keep him out of my way.  I created a beehive I thought he might like to go into.  I conjured a flower, thinking he might forget me and go collect nectar.  I tried using a net to catch him.  All of these were fruitless.  The bee kept attacking me anyway.  So next, I made a gun and shot him.  That got him out of the way.  Was this really necessary?

When my boyfriend tried the game, one of the first things he tried to create was poop.  What kid doesn’t like poop?  Every animal makes poop, and poop has so many uses.  Why not include poop?  But no, there’s no poop in this game.  Knives.  Guns.  But no poop.  *shrugs*

The user interface certainly has its problems too.  Chief among them is the fact that you move items in the same way that you move Maxwell, and that is by tapping the area with your stylus.  It's very easy to move Maxwell when you only intended to move an item.  In most instances, this is just obnoxious.  But sometimes when you are interacting with objects in a dangerous area, say you're trying to build a cage around a ferocious animal, then one errant tap will bring Maxwell right over into harm's way.  Incredibly frustrating, and entirely preventable from a designer's perspective.  They could have easily designated the + control to move Maxwell, and kept the X Y A B buttons for camera movement, rather than having both sets of buttons serve the same function.

All in all though, this is a terrific game, and I feel bad about dwelling on the bad parts.  It’s just frustrating to play this game and know it’s so close to perfection.  It's very sad to think about how much better the game could have been with just a bit of child usability testing.  With sales numbers this high, it seems likely they’ll want to make a sequel.  I hope they smooth out these imperfections and bring us a game that’s even more enjoyable in future iterations!

Session with Nicole Lazzaro of XEODesign.

Usability is crucial in all games, but especially children's games.  Nobody likes to play with or use things that are difficult to use.  Should be a great session!

3:00PM - Session is subtitled 'A Pre-Flight Check List'.  I love it!  XEODesign uses emotions players feel -> improve games.  7 emotions displayed on the face, hard for people to fake.

Hacking what's fun from the player's perspective.  4 Keys to Fun:

Imagine the audience of your game.  Would your mom like it, would some stranger on the bus like it?  Paint the type of player engagement with verbs.  Frustration.  Discovery.  Curiosity.  Schadenfreude.  Excitement. Relaxation.  Generosity.  **People like games best when they can move within 3 of the 4 play styles.**  Socializing in games helps achieve some of these well because you are interacting with friends.

The iPhone has a deep emotion profile.  (YES!  This is why people are so upset when they're stolen or lost!)  Stroking, tapping someone's hand is affectionate, and this is what we do to our iPhones!  (GREAT OBSERVATION!)

Two wheels of a bike.  Back wheel = controls/usability.  Front wheel = choice/can they have fun?  Center of bike = rider not thinking of either of these things, simply having FUN!

Part 1 UX - Reduce Complexity.  Look at game and simplify it!  Reduce the amount of work players have to do to put their feet on the bike's pedals.  Don't overwhelm people with things they can do.  The more things users must click to do what they're there to do, the more users will drop off and leave you.  When it all fits in your head at once, players feel good and comfortable.

3:28pm "Just push the button!"  Keep buttons clickable.  Bounding box should be cursor to cursor and a half bigger than the icon.  Texture on buttons is bad.  They should stand out.

Players don't read.  (YES I AGREE!)  Many games have too much text.  You shouldn't have to read things to understand.  No more than 5 to 10 words.  Only an alphabet and a half wide (abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) so players can scan it.  Blue background is bad for visual acuity. 

"We'll fix it in the tutorial!" = Band Aid approach.  Don't go there!  "They'll love the game once we teach them!" You won't get to teach them.  Don't go there either.  Halo 1 tutorial = excellent.  Koi Pond = intuitive = excellent.  Have lots of sandboxy play in tutorial, not step by step instruction.  Give the player feedback during play.  Great feedback example = Peggle.  When Ode to Joy plays, you know you have succeeded.

iPhone icons are like personalizing your phone, displaying what you like and value.

Diner Dash 4 - prizes are things like coffeemakers that make the game more challenging.

There is a sin wave within the flow channel.  (WOW!  There definitely is.)  Game should get more challenging with time, and still provide periods of rest & relief.

Social bonding, overcoming obstacles together = unique bonding.  (Note: This was touched on in the Kids & Parents session on Wednesday.)

Leverage over the shoulder play & sharing.  Lines of sharing should go in a circle.  Vampire Game on Facebook is one directional.  Once I bite you, there's nothing for you to do to me.

4:02pm Cheat!  Do lots of usability testing with friends and family before formal testing.  Don't help them play, just watch their reactions and actions more than what they say in a survey.  Then, don't fix every small issue of your problems.  Instead, look at the larger system problems as a whole and fix those.  Communication systems, feedback systems, etc.

Always connect core activities with loops.  They should flow from one to the other.  You shouldn't have to back out of one activity to get to another.

Find Nicole's slides from this and other presentations here.

Richard Weil of Cartoon Network and Rebecca Newton of CrispThinking.com follow up on their 2008 GDC Austin presentation, which I did not attend.

11:00am  Rich Weil is the community director for Fusion Fall.  They plan to talk about regulatory changes in the last year.  Rebecca Newton is in charge of safety at CrispThinking, which monitors children's online behavior.

Rebecca starts us off.  COPPA changes as of Oct 2008.  Tell a Friend system- no email addresses or real names revealed.  No more than 10 characters in From field to prevent most full first and last names.  Email collection from <13 kids: You must notify parents if kids' email is in "retrievable form".  Any PII gathered and retained, parents must be notified.  See COPPA FAQ.  CyberBullying laws vary by state.  45 states have laws or pending laws on CyberStalking.

Self harm is a common theme in kids online interaction.  Guidelines / terms of service on sites should define self injury or self harm as inappropriate behavior, and point users to proper authorities for help.  (selfharm.net)  Suicide threats online are a misdemeanor "inducing panic" in Ohio!  Sexting is a common problem because children exchanging nude pictures with each other via text or email is child pornography legally.  Vermont just decriminalized it in July 09.  Ohio intriduced legislation to decriminalize it in April 09.  Helpful guidelines for child abuse and child pornography are available here.  (My note: The Oprah Winfrey Show did a mind blowing episode on child pornography this year.  Here's a detailed episode runthrough.)

11:23am Rich Weil takes over.  Boys spend 7% more time online than girls.  Girls viewed 9% more webpages.  (Boys go to the same sites over and over again.)  Top Ten Kids Gaming Sites traffic has gone down.  Rich attributes this to traffic spreading out among many sites.  Top sites include miniclips.com and clubpenguin.com.  Kids still play more games on the computer than anywhere else, including consoles.  (My note: But this could be because they measured different popular consoles separately.)

Rebecca: You should do a criminal background check on all employees who interact with children or children's data online.  Check out http://www.export.gov/safeharbor to learn more about compliance with customer data.  Review ethics and code of conduct with your staff periodically, every 6 months or so.

11:39am Rich: Several children's online virtual worlds do not keep logs.  On Fusion Fall, they do.  It's defensive to track all users, let them know and let people feel safer.

Advertising is decreasing as an online revenue source in kids' sites.  Product placement is a gray area legally.  People aren't doing much of it yet.  Parents are vary wary of recurring charges.  There are too many sites out there that kids want to play with, and it's too much to have subscriptions to all of them.  Business model updates: microtransactions, freemium, mix and match models.  It's all over the map right now.  (My note: Parents must find all this variety confusing and overwhelming!)  'Free' attracts kids!  Habbo, Webkinz and Club Penguin are the big three, but it's hard to get specific data on traffic and success.

11:49am Maine pushed an act to prevent predatory marketing to children, but it is not going through.  Follow Rebecca on Twitter for updates. 

Someone asked about data for what kids do within games.  Rich says they do have some data in Fusion Fall.  They have 2 people on staff for metrics.

Someone asked when we'll reach the point where there are so many regulations that we can't successfully do children's games online.  Rebecca doesn't see that happening in the next 8 to 10 years.  She says government wants it all to be credit card based, so we can know that a parent approves.  Legislators currently aren't too familar with child behaviors online.  Studies show predatory behavior offline is much higher than online.  Statistically, children are in more danger from predators at school or on playground.

Alright!  This is my first attempt at live blogging.  I'm excited, and waiting for the session to begin.  It's so cold in this room, my hands are shivering and it's hard to type.  But this session should be great!  It's Reaching a New Demographic: Kids AND Their Parents with Jesse Schell, Laralyn McWilliams, Matthew Schwartz, Megan Geiser and Sheri Graner Ray.  The only name I recognize there is Jesse Schell, the author of the excellent book, The Art of Game Design.  It's the most useful book on the topic I've ever read.  I'm looking forward to "meeting" the other panelists!

I'm very interested to see what they have to say.  'Kids and Their Parents' is far from a new demographic for me, because Sesame Street has been serving this demo for 40 years.  They write episodes to encourage co-viewing between kids and parents, so parents can talk to kids about what they've seen, and thereby increase the learning.  It also gives kids another opportunity to have a shared experience with mom or dad.  And what kid doesn't want mom or dad to spend more time with them?  But Sesame Street is TV.  Games are different.  Similar in some ways, but still different.  More active and engaging.  Requires more participation.  You can't knit or catch up on email and play a game with your kids at the same time.  And to enjoy a game, both parents and kids should be challenged, not simply entertained.  So here we go with the session!

11:03 am : Sheri Graner Ray is moderating.  Been in industry since 1989, has worked on arcade games and MMOs.  Asking panelists to share something about themselves that's not in their bio.

Laralyn McWilliams has worked on Over the Hedge, Lilo & Stitch, Fear & Respect with John Singleton!  Creative Director for Free Realms.

Margaret Wallace - online virtual worlds, virtual pets. CEO, Founder, Rebel Monkey, Playmatics

Matthew Schwartz - Cartoon Network's Fusion Fall, at CN since 2000, film and TV background, once bought Michael Bolton album on purpose

Jesse Schell - Disney Virtual Reality, teaches at Carnegie Mellon, owns game development company, first movie in theatre was Fritz the Cat.

11:07am : Where does parents and kids playing together work well?

Jesse: Theme park design!  You have to design things for both parents and kids.  Has been shown to work very well. 

Laralyn: Console games, kids play, parents watch and comment. Parents enjoy watching and being involved that way. 

Jesse: Club Disney failure, Chuck E Cheese style for parents and kids to play together.  Games didn't work unless kids played together (needed short and tall player, etc).  Parents didn't like it though, they wanted to watch.  Kids were left to play these games by themselves, and they couldn't. 

Matthew: Traditional board games.  Parents are active and involved.

Laralyn: Up until age 5 or 6, parents help kids.  6 and 7, play together.  7 and 8, parents expect kids to play on their own. (because kids beat at games parents at that point?)

Margaret: Generation shift too.  Today's parents are more computer savvy than our parents were.  Parents today are not as hesitant to play.  Learning curve is not as steep as it used to be.

11:15am : Why is this demographic important?

Jesse: It is children's job to play.  Long term entertainment properties are things that people want to pass on to their kids.

Margaret: Lego Star Wars - retro feel, parents love both Legos and Star Wars.

Jesse: Kids are honest.  If it appeals to them, it must be solid.

How important is teaching?

Margaret: Learning is a natural process (YES I AGREE!) Games like World of Warcraft develop leadership skills. (leading a guild) 10 year old plays Medeval 2 and Age of Empires and loves history, learns through the game. 

Laralyn: Are you making the game the parents want kid to play, or the game kids want to play?  Do you allow chat feedback to be negative?  Kids don't like games that feel like school.  Kid should not be embarrassed to talk about your game to friends at school.

Margaret:  It's tough, we're still working it out.

Matthew:  <18 year olds don't have credit cards, so you must appeal to parents on some level.

11:20am : How do you handle competition in the game? Do kids and parents compete together, or against each other?

Matthew: Boys like to show off, show mastery.  Look at it in comparison to other scenarios, like teaching them tennis.

Laralyn: Levelling up is a great reward that everyone can attain as they make their own personal progress. (GREAT POINT!)

Jesse: It's rare when parents can work together and have a shared victory.  When you can create that moment, it's really special. (ANOTHER GREAT THOUGHT!)

Matthew: When the game requires someone to lose, you're going to punish somebody.  You get tired of running the race if you're going to keep losing.

11:25am : Reward systems?

Jesse: Webkinz cash - Kids couldn't win the Webkinz cash, so parents would say "Go clean your room, I'll play the game and earn Webkinz cash for you."  You must ask, how does this game fit into a family?  ToonTown, actually mailed trading cards to families in the mail.  Parents keep the subscription on monthly bill, so to keep them paying, you must let them know that their kids are engaged and they're using it.  Every month, when they get something in the mail, the parent gets to witness the excitement they might not see if kid was only playing computer game on his own.

Margaret: Star Doll - Moms and kids use it together, moms are the moderators on the site.

Laralyn: Reward things you wouldn't think of rewarding (logins, registration) See gaia (sp?) Reward people for socializing.

Matthew: Reward based on attendance, if you log in every day of the week, you get currency.  (Cited Korean game example, but not by name.)

11:31am : How do you design for kids and parents together?

Laralyn: Free Realms- reward activities equally, and they are all optional.  Let people do what they want to do naturally.  Things parents could do to help kids, and things kids could do on their own.  Creating a space for parents and kids to play together is not enough.  Chat is not possible with COPPA compliance.

11:34am : How does age of child affect parent/kid play?

Jesse: Big factor, child is always growing and changing.  Age 7, age of wisdom and reason, kid can think for himself.  Influenced by other kids at school.  Edu software is great until this age because kids are no longer doing just what parents want them to do / play with.  They want what friends say is cool.  Brain growth and development is important.  Age 10 is an untapped parent/kid game market because kids at this age like to explore things in depth, and parents want to help them explore that.  (GREAT TIP!)

Margaret: Future Lab study shows younger kids like puzzle games and adventure, then boys age into shooters, etc.  Girls stay with puzzles.  Anecdote of Dora on PS2 easier for 3 year old than PC games.

Laralyn: Usability studies are important.  Kids under 10 use arrow keys in games not mouse.  Right hand on arrow keys, when click is necessary, they reach left hand over to hit button on mouse.  Using just a few keys in your game is ideal.

Matthew: Boys at 12 get hyper sensitive about things getting too kiddy.  Though they may secretly like it, such as Powerpuff Girls.  They would never admit to liking it, but they would watch it.

Laralyn: Skewed difficulty for Lilo and Stitch game for boys 10-13, but they said it was too easy.  They want to die a lot, because they think that is an indicator of challenge.  They aspire to first person shooter games for adults.

Jesse: Kids lie to researchers about their habits.  (IT'S TRUE! I'VE SEEN IT TOO!)  They will report play habits that are not accurate. "I play this.  I don't play that."  Often, they are not reporting accurately.

Margaret: Art style is important.  Things that you think look like teenagers, teens will not like.  They want avatars that look like 20-somethings.  (SAD, BUT ALSO TRUE!)

11:44am : How to encourage development in this demo?

Jesse: It's rare, so it's great not to have competition!  Everyone else, stay away!  (HAHA!)

Matthew: I disagree!  We need the Pixar and Miyazaki of games!

Laralyn: Figure out communication.  Dad may be overseas, parents may be divorced.  Enable play together when you are not in the same location.  Think of troubled kids, disabled kids and their parents.  (GREAT POINT!)  Add rewards to free form game play, like online "hanging out".  They play separate games and then come together and hang out, check out rewards and gear, etc.  Watch what parents and kids do together when they hang out in real life.  They talk together more than any action.

Jesse: So many forces in life pull kids and parents apart.  Less cross gender toys -> siblings play together less.  Parents work longer hours. 

Margaret: Industry does not encourage this demo because it is risky.  How about games that let parents and kids play when parent is traveling on business!

11:52am : Open Questions - my logging gets lazy from this point out.  Here are snippets I thought were interesting.

Matthew: Kids don't want virtual friends, they want to interact with their real life friends online.

All: Kid communication is very challenging to track in online systems, and COPPA makes it difficult to allow kids to talk.

Laralyn: Club Penguin makes you sign up with a parent's email address.  Free Realms figured kids would lie about their age to get more features.  What they've observed is that kids under 13 are honest about it and playing their character even with the limitations.  So you must design to let those kids feel fulfilled in the game.

Matthew: Kids are taught not to give any personal information, even gender.

12:03pm : That's a wrap!  Thanks for a great session!  Lesson learned from live blogging: Don't change your post title halfway through, it will break the link you posted on Twitter.  ;)