I've been seeing a huge number of new players recently and barely any of them know how to play the game at all. The manual is there for their benefit, but, as we all know, they would rather run headfirst into a wall than read that thing. So here's what I propose to help both new players and veterans alike:

When a new player enters a game type for, let's say, the first five times, they will get a brief pop up message that tells them what type of game and mode they are in and how to play.

For instance, if they enter a rambomatch server on realistic, there'll be a pop-up (that they have to manually close to ensure that they read it) that says something like:

Rambomatch
Objective : Only kill the soldier with the bow (add a little picture so they know what it looks like) and anyone else who's trying to get it.

If the bow is loose, drop your weapon using the drop weapon key (default: F) and run over the bow to pick it up. Then kill as many people as possible to gain points.

And then next to it would be a little blurb about what realistic mode is in the same fashion.

After the five times has passed, there should just be a message that shows on the screen for a short while that states what game style and mode plus a very, very brief message about the objective (ie. Kill the soldier with the bow to get the bow, then kill everyone else -- or something to that effect), but it would fade away instead of having to be closed. We could also add in friendly fire, disabled weapons, etc, and possibly a link to that section online manual (or an in-game manual that also acts as a general tutorial) for a more detailed explanation.

What do you think?

I think it would be annoying to have that message show up... there should be a checkbox "never show this message again" after u have read it properly, ofcourse.
other than that its a neat Idea.

Chances are, the player wouldn't even bother to read the message because they would panic when they see everyone else shooting. And if they did read it, there would be an idle player. I think such messages should show up before they join the game.
For example, clicking the join game tab for the first time would pop up a message that cannot be closed for about 30 seconds explaining to change player customization and to learn the controls so they won't be typical Soldier(1)s. Then when at the server list attempting to join a server will pop up the same type of message explaining how to play the gametype of the server clicked on. Then after they close the message they can join.

30 seconds? if I downloaded a game and a pop up think just wouldnt go away, I wouldnt like that game very much

^^True.

I was also thinking about your idea for the "never show this message again" checkbox and I think that may be a better alternative. However, I still like the idea that a little message will show telling you what game style and mode you're in regardless of whether you're new or not. It wouldn't be instrusive at all (not any more than the chatbox, at least) and it would really help people who just pick the first game they see and don't know if friendly fire is on, or if it's survival, etc.

how about.. the "never show this message again" checkbox wouldnt appear untill you have read the little message 3 times?
(u know what I mean)

How about the checkbox being in the Options? :)
Oh and.. (sry i didn't read the whole topic) when the popup shows, the player couldn't be hurt or something (he only joins the game for real when he closed the message box)

^^Another great idea, but instead of just not being hurt, howabout he also can't be seen (if in deathmatch or rambo) or he's not actually playing because he hasn't had the chance to pick a team yet (for teammatch, ctf, or inf)?

sounds good. dunno how it will turn out, but it sounds good ;)

A better idea would be that they have to go through a quick tutorial level. Like little jumping, crawling, shooting, and flying challenges that would be easy enough. Then very short little introductions to each mode. It would show you quickly what realistic was, what survival was, what advance was, what all the modes were and so on. It would take about 10 minutes, then you could go away.

quote:Originally posted by Vijchtidoodah^^Another great idea, but instead of just not being hurt, howabout he also can't be seen (if in deathmatch or rambo) or he's not actually playing because he hasn't had the chance to pick a team yet (for teammatch, ctf, or inf)?


That makes this whole idea work, IMO.

Ya got my vote.
;D

quote:Originally posted by KyklisA better idea would be that they have to go through a quick tutorial level. Like little jumping, crawling, shooting, and flying challenges that would be easy enough. Then very short little introductions to each mode. It would show you quickly what realistic was, what survival was, what advance was, what all the modes were and so on. It would take about 10 minutes, then you could go away.

I think this would be best, it should be that before you can join an online game you would have to complete the tutorial mission. This would ensure that the person actually gets the message.

That would be great, but I was trying to keep the programming that Michal would have to do to a minimum. However, if he spent the time to create triggered events, then not only could we easily create tutorial missions, but we could also have single and multiplayer campaigns and maps that actually have objectives. But then I'm just getting ahead of myself.

This is perceptibly a hit on retards killing others* in Rambomatch, even though it doesn't directly state it. Just make soldiers invincible to each other when someone has the bow.

* - There are some good players who do it purposely even though they know it drains points, but I'm talking about the retarded retards :-P

Keron, making the other players invincible is not how I would want to play a rambomatch, but you are somewhat correct in your assumption because this idea began due to those idiots.

However, this idea expands beyond just rambomatch. Whenever I join a server that has friendly fire enabled, there inevitably are many people who come in and kill teammates without realizing that they're the ones who are actually killing them. This would help alleviate the pain of the players who have to put up with the continual teamkilling as new players join (and yes, people get really angy in a short amount of time from this).

And since I play in realistic and survival servers a lot, I know that many people come in -- without realizing that those modes are on -- and totally screw up, get pissed off because they didn't know that falling would kill them and that they wouldn't be able to respawn, and then leave. Again, this solves that problem.

Of course, I'm assuming that someone would actually take the time to read the message.

NOOOOOOOH.

This new things will have new BUGs and more (Please refrain from swearing) with soldat DONT DO IT.

Just let newbies read the manual or just let then find it out against BOTS

I think there should just be a checkbox in the "options" to disable or enable those little pop-up boxes. And yes, I also like the idea of a person not being seen until he/she has closed the pop-up box.

But I say the best way is to introduce them to a tutorial level. As Kyklis said.

quote:Originally posted by sbu-spyvinNOOOOOOOH.

This new things will have new BUGs and more (Please refrain from swearing) with soldat DONT DO IT.

Just let newbies read the manual or just let then find it out against BOTS

how the hell can newbies find out that ur not supposed to shoot non-rambos vs BOTS?

how about... if u kill a certain amount of non rambo's in a round, u will get like a warning?
nah.. that would effect the shooting an enemy just before he gets the bow thing... what ever shall we do?